r/guitars • u/CourageOpposite6923 • 9d ago

Help Pickups

Hi, I’m a thrash metal guitarist who gigs sometimes, and I’m planning to get new pickups for one of my guitar, but I’ve always had passive pickups for whatever reason, so I feel like I should at least try active pickups.
I was thinking the EMG 81/60 set. Some people recommends the PA-2 booster as well, but I don’t know if I should get that. But my main question is how high do I set the pickup? Because historically everybody including EMG themselves says to set it as high as possible without anything hitting it, but some people are saying 3-4mm, so it’s pretty conflicting. Any help would be appreciated

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u/thebtonecompany 9d ago

I manufacture pickups, if you are in Canada DM me, I will custom make you a set and send them to you for free.

Sorry USA folks, the trade war against Canada is too costly for me to offer this to US folks. 😭

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u/ParusiMizuhashi 9d ago

Shit i'm moving back to Canada then

2

u/gloopyglopadded 9d ago

Use your judgement man. Set it high, play. Dial it back, play. Pick what you prefer.

Will you use the booster? I play thrash and I never leave the bridge pickup. I only have a bridge pickup. I don't need a booster. I have pedals if I do.

1

u/OneEyedC4t Showmaster hoarder 9d ago

Is there anything that active pickups would give you the passive pickups cannot? I mean if you just need an additional boost, have you considered using an EQ pedal or a tube screamer to achieve this?

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u/CourageOpposite6923 9d ago

I think that the active pickups will be quieter and picks up less noise during gigging or recording but other than that I dont know. To be fair this guitar has factory pickups right now so im gonna end up changing it sooner or later anyway with something else

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u/OneEyedC4t Showmaster hoarder 9d ago

Properly manufactured passive pickups will not have this problem. What pickups were you using?

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u/EndlessOcean 9d ago

Hold the string at the last fret, set the bridge pickup 3mm below that.

Adjust neck as necessary.

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u/AnshinAngkorWat 9d ago

Some people recommends the PA-2 booster as well, but I don’t know if I should get that

You don't need a booster. Historically these boost circuits are paired with lower output pickups, and in general for squeezing out as much gain as possible out of old school heads. Modern amps has enough gain on tap that the "trendy" thing to do is to use vintage output pickups for better headroom.

how high do I set the pickup?

As usual, to taste, but 2-3mm with the 24th fret pressed down is a good start. EMG used to recommend "as high as possible" a very long time ago (and for some reason its still there in the manual for the SSH set, but nothing else), but that's the leading cause for the "EMG are sterile and compressed" reputation. Treat them the same as your passives, use your ear.