what should I expect Luke's active pups to sound like?

[yesandno]

Hi, new to this forum. I own 2 EB/MM guitars...a Luke and a Steve Morse. I love 'em.
However, I have a question concerning what these active EMG's pups are supposed to be doing that all my other (passive) guitars are not.
I find that:
1) They aren't particularly "hot".
2) They aren't particularly "quiet".
3) The volume and tone behave normally

Since I never owned any active pickup guitar I don't know if these things are supposed to be doing something extraordinary or what?
I mean, this guitar doesn't sound or function any different than any of my others except that if the battery isn't in no sound happens. So, what's the point of these being active when theres no qualitative difference in sound as far as I can tell?
Thanks

 

[NorM]

The problem I have with EMG pickups is that nothing else will do. The lower intensity magnetic fields allow strings to vibrate so much more freely. I have them in four guitars and they are so quiet I can hear a gnat fart when I am not playing. I also have a Steve Morse and the pups there are just delicious. They are so raw that all expressiveness comes through. The EMG's do sound muddy when the battery starts to go.

 

[Estin]

i really like the dual EMG-81's i have in my ibanez s classic. i find EMG's to be a little bright and have a slight "sterile" quality to them which really lets the guitar come thru and interact with the amp. they sound really sweet thru my mesa single recto. the neck 81 sounds nice too when you role back the volume for clean tones cause its a little brighter than a normal neck pickup and it really sparkles. the newer EMG's have snap in wire harness so if yuo wanted to try like a 81 or something you could just unclip the pickup from the wire and snap in a 81 without even touching the wiring. neato!