![]() If you’re the type of player who wants ultimate rig simplicity and would rather avoid the possibility of a battery dying during a gig, passive pickups are your best bet! GIbson humbuckers are a great example of great passive pickups Simply plug in your cables, switch on your amp, and you’re able to play away. ![]() So why are they called passive pickups? Because these pickups don’t require a battery (or an external power source) to function. This field gets “disturbed” by vibrations of the guitar strings and consequently, produce an electric current that represents your played notes – but you already knew that! Harking back to our explanation of how pickups work, passive pickups have magnets and metal coils comprising that creates a magnetic field. Remember vintage examples of Les Pauls, Strats and Teles? Those iconic guitars all feature passive pickups! Your favourite guitar tones from yesteryear and even today likely came from passive pickups, from the bell-like tones of Jimmy Page’s Les Paul to the roaring leads of Jimi Hendrix’s Fender Stratocaster. With that out of the way, let’s get into the points for passive vs active pickups! What are Passive Pickups? Humbuckers tend to have a darker & punchier character, while staying quieter in the presence of distortion. An example of a humbucker, courtesy of the Epiphone ProBuckerĪ humbucker, on the other hand, uses two single coils placed in opposite phases to cancel out 60 cycle hum – a byproduct of electromagnetic frequency interference (EMI) and radio frequency interference (RMI) that generally causes an audible hum to manifest in vintage-styled single coil pickups. Single coils have a single row of cylindrical pole pieces (magnets) wound with a metal wire (typically copper) and are usually characterised by a bright, chimey tone. ![]() So do head back there if you need a refresher course! An example of single coils, courtesy of the Fender Shaw Hot 50s Telecaster Pickup SetĪs a basic recap, a guitar pickup “picks up” the vibration of your strings and translates them into electronic signals that can be amplified. We’ve covered the basics of pickups and their constituent types – the single-coil and the humbucker – back in the “Single Coils Vs Humbuckers” article. The Radial X-Amp… the active Reamp® for professional recording engineers.Ever wonder what the debate around passive vs active passive pickups are about? It’s a topic that most of us often hear about but do we really know what separates the two pickup types? In this edition of Guitarology 101, we’ll be taking you on a magic carpet ride over the realms of both powered and unpowered pickups in order to uncover the fact and fiction of it all. Once you start Reamping, you will never record any other way. ![]() Reamping works equally well on bass, keyboards, drums and voice. A full bottom no-slip pad performs double duty by keeping the X-Amp from sliding around when placed on a vibrating amplifier while also providing electrical and mechanical isolation. This is supplemented with an innovative bookend design that creates a protective zone around the switches, potentiometer and connectors. An internal I-beam skeleton provides maximum protection against external stress which could cause solder points to fail. Features include balanced line-level input with LED peak indicator and level control, class-A circuit topology for optimal reach and frequency response, a transformer isolated output to eliminate hum and buzz caused by ground loops, a 180º polarity reverse switch to bring both amps into phase, and a dual ground lift switch for noise-free operation.Īs with all Radial products, the X-Amp is built like a tank to provide years of trouble-free performance. Furthermore, by driving two amps at the same time, new sounds and textures can be created while allowing you to make artistic decisions as the recording progresses.įollowing the critically acclaimed Radial JD7 Injector, the X-Amp employs a unique class-A circuit design that has been optimized for use with guitars. This eliminates tiresome repetition and assures a fresh vibrant performance on the final recording. Once the basic track has been recorded, replacing or adding tracks can be done well after the session player has gone home. Send the new track from your recorder via the X-Amp to your guitar amps, effect pedals or combinations thereof. Using the X-Amp is easy: start by recording a dry track using a high-quality direct box like the Radial J48. This opens the door to explore new musical sounds and spur on the creative process so that your recording stands out. ![]() The Radial X-Amp is an active Reamper™ that allows the engineer to play a pre-recorded track back through guitar amplifiers and pedals. ![]()
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