Guitar Pickups Explained: The Ultimate Guide - Pro Sound HQ

So, as well as having the different structure types (single coil, P90 and humbucker), there is also another way that pickups can be categorised. Guitar pickups can be described as either passive, or active. Both types have the same function, to detect the vibrations of the strings, but they sound and work quite differently. 

• Passive: these are the most common type. They don’t require a battery, and work passively to detect the string vibrations.
• Active: these use a battery to boost the signal. 

To understand the differences in the sound, we need to delve into the differences in structure.

Key Differences

As you’ll remember, pickups consist of a magnet wrapped in coils of wire. As well as the different materials used in the pickup, the number of times the coil is wrapped, also affects how the pickup sounds. The more times the coil is wrapped around the magnet, the higher the output of the pickup will be i.e. more powerful. 

Passive pickups have more coil winds than active pickups. So does this mean that passive pickups sound more powerful? No. Actually the opposite is true. And this is where things get a little more complicated, but stay with me.

If you have too many coil winds, the treble becomes too weak. And with less treble, you get less clarity. This leads to a muddy tone, instead of one that’s crisp and clear. So you can only have so many coils before the sound quality suffers.

Active pickups work differently. So instead of relying on the number of coil winds to increase the power of the pickup, they use a pre-amp powered by a battery instead. This allows you to boost the output, but results in a clearer and crisper sound. 

This is why active pickups are commonly found on guitars used in heavy metal. Because, when you crank up the gain, the lack of clarity in the pickup becomes even more obvious. Having a battery powered pickup instead, allows you to have enough power, but also clearer notes when using high gain. 

Check out this comparison between active and passive pickups to learn all the pros and cons of each type of pickup

Can a guitar have both active and passive pickups?

One question that a lot of guitarists ask, is if a guitar can have one of each type of pickup, active and passive. Unfortunately, this isn’t possible. If you were to have both pickups on the guitar, and you wanted to switch between them, your speakers would probably blow. They also require different circuitry as they have different impedances. 

This is because the output of active pickups is so much higher in comparison to passive pickups, that when you switch between the two, the volume level would be completely different.