Passive to active pickup, how?

[mkat]

I get my parts from Mouser. You can't beat $.09 for a FET compared to buying a few from RadioShack for $1.29 (or something like that)!

Yeah, much cheaper at Mouser.

Do you make your own circuit boards for the preamps?

[DrStrangelove]

EMG op amps

...From my understanding EMG has a balanced input to the opamp.

Thx for the memory jog.

Through the late 90's, EMG used National's LF441,
a FET version of the 741 with much lower power consumption.
They eventually went to a dual version, the LF442, so they
could actively roll off high audio frequencies (>18kHz)
which were giving digital audio processors fits.

There are more modern opamps suitable for guitar pickups,
and the trick in selecting them is to balance battery consumption
with bandwidth, slew rate, and noise.

-drh

[Kesha]

Russian version

If somebody knows Russian - article on the necessary theme. All is very detailed.

http://guitar.ru/articles/pickup/active/

In turn excuse for my English.

[Possum]

stupid simple....

All he needs to do is use a stomp box and use it as a clean boost, instant "active" pickups. EMG actually sells a clean boost active pot for that purpose. I don't see the point of trying to convert traditional single coils to active, why doesn't he just buy some EMGs?

[DrStrangelove]

...I don't see the point of trying to convert traditional single coils to active...

Just by buffering with an active circuit right at the pickup,
you get less noise and an insensitivity to cable loading.
Much of this is from the buffer's lower output impedance.

-drh

[Kesha]

Self-made variant.

Analogue of circuit EMG. Signals from coils are summarized and averaged.

The circuit can be collected separately and to connect to it the favourite passive pickups...



Such circuit will cost at us 20 dollars. Ready gauge EMG costs a minimum of 150 dollars. The difference is essential to us...

And then - isn`t it interesting to make all himself?

[Possum]

EMG afterburner...

Here's what I was talking about, see if this would work.

[mini_b]

think about the sound you want

in my experience in modifying pickups and building guitars.

the biggest difference you fing between the two is in the sound.
active pickups although cancelling hum produce less sound, meaning you need a battery to boost the volume and a preamp to sustain the natural magnetic frequency of the pickup.
active pickups are generally for heavy metal because they are very good at picking up extreme high sounds like pinch harmonics and deep lows, but they kinda blow when it comes to the mid range frequencies.

my advice would be to get some alnico pickups.
they have a nice clean sound, and when you distort, they don't disappoint.
i've experimented with making alnico pickups active but honestly there is no need to do so because they usually don't hum and they are very powerful as passive pickups.
that and they have very minimal hum, as they tend to let out a deafening squeal when you have the volume pumped and you get to close to your amp.

you can also go one up and just buy neodymium pickups which really gives you the best of both worlds because they are extremely sensitive and put out beautiful mid-range tone and clear, crisp highs and lows.
also they look mean with their vertical windings of copper wire and resin construction that's just sexy on my shecter devil.
only problem with them is that they are a bit pricy because only a few companies make them.

well, you that's my opinion anyway.

[peskywinnets]

I would think that after 4 years, the OP has already gone & done whatever he decided to do.

[David Schwab]

active pickups although cancelling hum produce less sound, meaning you need a battery to boost the volume and a preamp to sustain the natural magnetic frequency of the pickup.
active pickups are generally for heavy metal because they are very good at picking up extreme high sounds like pinch harmonics and deep lows, but they kinda blow when it comes to the mid range frequencies.

That's a common misconception. EMG (and probably Duncan Blackouts) pickups are wound just like regular passive pickups, but they have built in preamps. Their HZ line of pickups are pretty much the same as the active pickups without the preamp. So they do not put out less sound.

They also also good for all kinds of music besides heavy metal. They are favored there because they are very quiet and work well with high gain amps.

Now when you are saying "alnico pickups" you are just talking about the magnet. That has nothing to do with being hum canceling. Lots of active pickups use alnico magnets as well.

Squealing pickups is due to them being microphonic.

Now when you say "neodymium pickups" you are probably talking about Q-Tuners? There are others who use neo magnets as well, including myself. Q-Tuners are currently out of production. They are supposed to reopen next year with a new pickup design.