DanTravis62
Well-known member
I've never been an active pickup dude. I'm really picky about the frequency response and feel of pickups, to the point where there are certain passive brands I will refuse to use, like Dimarzios, because the midrange ends up driving me insane - I can't stop hearing 1970s AOR rock whenever I hear a super distortion.
Every guitar I've ever owned that's had an 81/85 set, has been summarily gutted, and the electronics have been replaced with various passives - generally Scott's tonenerd stuff the past couple years (the roxy is like an aldrich on steroids) but I also love Jim Wagner's pickups (the godwood and ironman are great) and a couple of duncans (the sh-14 and sh-6 are both fantastic for specific use-cases)
With Fishman eating into EMGs market as far as the whole active pickup thing, I think EMG released the Retroactives at the worst time possible, with most people having never heard about them, let alone played them.
If people HAD played them lots of them would be blown away. This is the 4th guitar I've tried retroactives in, and the first with the retroactive tele set. Every guitar I've put them in has loved them. The fat 55, super 77, maverick, and tele set.
It's crazy, because all of these companies have spent endless time and R&D trying to produce single coil pickups without the 60 cycle hum, with generally pretty poor results - the retroactive single coils are the only pickups i've ever tried that actually SOUND like single coils, just without the noise.
I assume that if the TGP tan pants types could get over their instant reaction of "EWWWW EMGS" that these pickups would catch on like wildfire with that crowd. It's actually crazy how much gain you can add with basically no discernable noise.
Here's me playing super deliberately with lots of stops - there is NO NOISE GATE. This is gain cranked on an ac15 style amp, with a MIAB and a tube screamer both gain and volume maxed. I cannot make this single coil guitar noisy, even if I try!
In conclusion, if you are, like me, a passive pickup supremacist, and racist against 81s and fluence
Or, if you want a single coil guitar you can actually gig with high gain and volume
You HAVE to try this pickup series.
They are so good, and it's amazing that they have flown underneath the radar for so long.
Every guitar I've ever owned that's had an 81/85 set, has been summarily gutted, and the electronics have been replaced with various passives - generally Scott's tonenerd stuff the past couple years (the roxy is like an aldrich on steroids) but I also love Jim Wagner's pickups (the godwood and ironman are great) and a couple of duncans (the sh-14 and sh-6 are both fantastic for specific use-cases)
With Fishman eating into EMGs market as far as the whole active pickup thing, I think EMG released the Retroactives at the worst time possible, with most people having never heard about them, let alone played them.
If people HAD played them lots of them would be blown away. This is the 4th guitar I've tried retroactives in, and the first with the retroactive tele set. Every guitar I've put them in has loved them. The fat 55, super 77, maverick, and tele set.
It's crazy, because all of these companies have spent endless time and R&D trying to produce single coil pickups without the 60 cycle hum, with generally pretty poor results - the retroactive single coils are the only pickups i've ever tried that actually SOUND like single coils, just without the noise.
I assume that if the TGP tan pants types could get over their instant reaction of "EWWWW EMGS" that these pickups would catch on like wildfire with that crowd. It's actually crazy how much gain you can add with basically no discernable noise.
Here's me playing super deliberately with lots of stops - there is NO NOISE GATE. This is gain cranked on an ac15 style amp, with a MIAB and a tube screamer both gain and volume maxed. I cannot make this single coil guitar noisy, even if I try!
In conclusion, if you are, like me, a passive pickup supremacist, and racist against 81s and fluence
Or, if you want a single coil guitar you can actually gig with high gain and volume
You HAVE to try this pickup series.
They are so good, and it's amazing that they have flown underneath the radar for so long.
