Luke II active/passive combination

[W.Suitor]

Has anyone any feedback on the pros and cons of putting a passive humbucker into a Luke, in combination with the active middle and neck as supplied by EMG. In particular, how does it affect the tone of the humbucker and middle combined.

 

[beej]

I've never done this, but would imagine that it wouldn't work out too well. You'd probaby have a tough time mixing acitve/passive electronics and would need different controls.

If you're looking for more oomph, why not replace the bridge HB with another EMG? Would make life much easier. Or replace the single coils with passive ones at the same time.

 

[slukather]

I was under the impression you couldn't have active and passive pickups in the same guitar.

Scott.

 

[beej]

I've had a coupla beers tonight so not sure how clear this will sound ...

I believe you can mix them, but you'd have to experiment to make it work. Active pickups have a preamp on board. They'll have a higher signal and less impedance than will their passive counterparts. When you attempt to combine the two at the output, the higher signal and lowered impedance from the active pickups will likely dominate the signal.

So, I think you could make this work, but you'd either need to wire the passive pickup through the preamp in some way or reduce the output of the active pickups (via resistance, etc.) to even out the signal.

Would actually be fun to experiment with, but lots more hassle than just picking up a beefier EMG for the bridge. Or, if you opt to replace everything with passive pickups, there are quite a few good brands of noise-free single coils you can use. (I prefer Bill Lawrence 280s but there are lots of others.)

 

[tommyindelaware]

from the emg site......

Can I mix EMG's with passive pickups?

It is possible to mix EMG's with passive pickups. There are three possible wiring configurations; one is better than the other two.
Use the high impedance (250K-500K) volume and tone controls. The problem is that the high impedance controls act more like a switch to the EMG's. The passive pickups, however, will work fine. If you have a guitar with two pickups and two volume pots, with a three-way switch, there is another alternative. Use the 25K pots for the EMG, and the 250K pots for the passive pickup. This way you can use one or the other with no adverse affects, but with the switch in the middle position the passive pickup will have reduced gain and response.
Use the low-impedance (25K) volume and tone controls provided with the EMG's. The problem here is that the passive pickups will suffer a reduction in gain and loss of high-frequency response.
This is the best alternative. Install an EMG-PA-2 on the passive pickups. There are two benefits to doing this. With the trimpot on the PA-2, you can adjust the gain of the passive pickups to match the EMG's. The PA-2 acts as an impedance matching device so you can use the low-impedance EMG controls (25K) without affecting the tone of the passive pickups. You will also be able to use other EMG accessory circuits such as the SPC, RPC, EXB, EXG, etc. For this application, we recommend ordering the PA-2 without the switch for easy installation on the inside of a guitar.

 

[Dodgeball]

I've asked this a couple of times now...

Guys, the whole passive pickups in the Luke question comes up fairly frequently and I have raised this point a couple of times before with no response so I figure I'll bring it up again now.

I don't think you can replace the active singles on the luke with passive pickups because passive pickups (all ones I have seen) have a 'lip' for wan't of a better word where the wires are attached. This 'lip' doesn't feature on the EMGs and concequently the routing on the luke body doesn't have room for it. So my question is this, does anybody know of a pickup manufacturer that will make a passive single coil pup without the lip so it will retrofit an EMG routing without modification to the body of the guitar?

 

[tommyindelaware]

emg hz
bill larwence
joe bardin
lindy fralin
carvin

off the top of my head.......but i'm sure there are more....

 

[Dodgeball]

emg hz
bill larwence
joe bardin
lindy fralin
carvin

off the top of my head.......but i'm sure there are more....

Thanks Tommy,

I had a feeling the boutique manufacturers would do, and of course EMG. Do you know if the more "popular" manufacturers like Dimarzio and SD would do this?

It seems that most people making a pup change go for one of those two brands.

I bring it up because I think it's something forum members should be aware of before they start mutilating their Lukes.

C

 

[tommyindelaware]

dimarzio & duncan ???? mabey as a custom order.....nothin stock........ probabally more difficult than buying boutique.
i 've talked to lindy fralin ......it's no big deal for him he said....... somethng like $5 extra.....and i think his blues wound single coils are the bomb !!!
i haven't gotten around to it yet.......but i fully intend to put a morse in my luke's bridge , a fralin stock in the middle , and a fralin blues in the neck ......

tommy

Thanks Tommy,

I had a feeling the boutique manufacturers would do, and of course EMG. Do you know if the more "popular" manufacturers like Dimarzio and SD would do this?

It seems that most people making a pup change go for one of those two brands.

I bring it up because I think it's something forum members should be aware of before they start mutilating their Lukes.

C

 

[beej]

So there ya go! Lots of options to go all active or all passive.

Yo Tommy- have to send us some picks after you've Morse-ified your Luke! For that matter, I'd love to see a pick of your Luke-ified Morse neck.

 

[kbaim]

Maybe post a pic of your Jenniferred Janice, too.




KEITH

 

[slukather]

I've had a coupla beers tonight so not sure how clear this will sound ...

I believe you can mix them, but you'd have to experiment to make it work. Active pickups have a preamp on board. They'll have a higher signal and less impedance than will their passive counterparts. When you attempt to combine the two at the output, the higher signal and lowered impedance from the active pickups will likely dominate the signal.

So, I think you could make this work, but you'd either need to wire the passive pickup through the preamp in some way or reduce the output of the active pickups (via resistance, etc.) to even out the signal.

Would actually be fun to experiment with, but lots more hassle than just picking up a beefier EMG for the bridge. Or, if you opt to replace everything with passive pickups, there are quite a few good brands of noise-free single coils you can use. (I prefer Bill Lawrence 280s but there are lots of others.)

I had alot of time to think about it at work, and thought maybe a seperate volume and tone control for active/passive would be the way to go, but would you want to start drilling holes in your Luke??? I wouldn't, don't know about running passive pickups through the EMG's preamp, that doesn't sound right to me.

Install another emg, or another brand of active pickups would be the best way to go.

Scott.