The Irony Re: Guitars, Active Electronics

[The_Sentry]

Random thought for the night. Lately I've been playing my acoustic a lot...I'm planning on doing some shows with it. (I have a regular gig on Mondays in a wine tasting room.) Of course, it'll be with an acoustic electric which is standard fare for most people who do this sort of thing.

I have 3 acoustics...one true acoustic (Alvarez), and 2 Acoustic-electrics...an Ibanez and the Ovation.

So...something to ponder:

Why is it that so many electric guitar players have this serious aversion to active electronics while the acoustic guys...can't run to it fast enough?

Isn't this sort of ass backwards? (I'd always figured the electric guitarists would jump...but this isn't the case at all...)

[Xavier_32]

It makes sense to me. Most electric guitarists (especially around here) want that vintage pickup sound. You know, not too high impedance, not too hot, natural and buttery tube saturation. Active pickups just make all the notes sound hot and compressed.

Meanwhile, over in acoustic land, low output pickups mean you have to have a persistent and moderately strong attack in order for all your notes to be audible. All the really quiet notes just get lost. Active pickups allow for everything to get picked up and sent out to the amp/speakers.

Personally, I don't like active electronics on acoustics, either. It makes everything sound shimmery, chimey, almost synthetic, even.

[JMV]

Same thing with bass guitars. I prefer actives in my bass, and definitely in my acoustics, but can't stand them in my electrics. Go figure.

[gtr-tek]

+1 for the most part. I have some EMGs in a couple of my guitars by I don't care as much for them as they lack character. Much more variety in passive pups IMHO.

[Xavier_32]

Originally Posted by JM Vasek

Same thing with bass guitars. I prefer actives in my bass, and definitely in my acoustics, but can't stand them in my electrics. Go figure.

I definitely like actives in a bass. It's the only way to get a bass to sound as bright and twangy as I like.

[jonesy]

I really don't care much for active electronics in any of my guitars. I also think that a properly mic'd acoustic guitar sounds much warmer and more natural than active pu's.

For live shows active elec. in an acoustic will allow you freedom of movement, but if I am sitting down playing acoustic or recording at home I prefer a microphone. I have heard some really harsh, tinny sound acoustic electric guitars, very few have good electronics in them. YMMV

[mudfinger]

My aversion to batteries inside guitars also extends to acoustics with piezos; the first mod I made to mine was to pull out the EQ box and battery, and wire the piezo directly to the output jack.

Sent the signal through a good DI box on the way to the PA, and it ended up sounding quite a bit better than the crappy active electronics that came with the guitar.

[cynic79]

I think that there are two reasons for this.

First, electric guitar players are frequently stuck in the past as far as tone is concerned. We've fetishized old technology, and tend to reject anything that doesn't sound like it was developed in the 50's or 60's. Active pickups don't sound like passive pickups, so we pass on them. Acoustic players do not have such prejudices, possibly because the reality of live acoustic performance requires that the player not use the most natural method, i.e., using a microphone.

Second, part of the magic of the electric guitar is that it is not a perfect recreation of the acoustic sound of the instrument. Guitar pickups were originally driven by practicality, not tone, so it didn't matter if the fidelity of the pickup was not stellar. Likewise, electric players thrive in pushing amplifiers well beyond their limits into overdrive. We live in a land of midrange and distortion, which is about as far from the "natural" tone of the electric guitar as you can get. Active pickups tend to have a higher fidelity sound than passives, which is not what electric players generally seek. Acoustic players, on the other hand, strive for as realistic a recreation of the natural tone of their instrument. Active pickups, whether piezo or magnetic, can provide a wider frequency response with less noise than passive pickups, so they have become the preferred option for acoustic players.

My two cents.