WHY ACTIVE PICKUPS?

What are active pickups and how do they work? Passive pickups work when the vibrating metal strings above them generate a moving magnetic field and a small amount of electric current is induced in the coils.

Compared to passive pickups, active pickups come with an internal preamplifier that will alter the signal coming from the coils. It compares the signal coming out of the coils to the signal it gets from the power source (battery), and then internally amplifies the pickups signal to the desired output level.

By utilizing the preamplifier you gain more output and headroom, and lower the impedance of the guitars output. Lower pickup impedance in turn will interact with your amplifier, so that you retain more high end than is possible with passive pickups.

With Lumi Pickups you gain two sides of both worlds, handwound coils that give you that creamy thick harmonic content that is created by the slight variations on the winding of the coil wire, and a preamplifier circuit created with the latest technology components. High headroom, dynamic responsive pick attack, thick midrange and smooth top end. Extended highs and lows.

We use alnico 5 magnets in our pickups for thicker midrange and the smooth top end they produce. Our high quality coil wire is made in the UK.

IN DEPTH

There are many misconceptions, unintentional and intentional marketing misinformation around active pickups.

In this article we delve in depth into what active pickups are, how do they work and why.

What is the difference between an active pickup and a guitar with active electronics? Circuitwise, nothing. The preamp is just housed inside the pickup for convenience, whereas including active preamplifier in your passive guitars electronics, you've essentially made your guitar have active pickups.

So what does it do then? Is it just more output? No, the point of active electronics is to have less noise and more tweakability for your tone. You also gain more open high end from the lower impedance of the output, reducing the high end loss with long cable runs.

Less noise? The preamplifier circuit will by careful circuit design and component values, filter out noise, hiss and buzz and only amplify the signal coming from the pickup coils.

More tweakability? The circuit design can be made so that certain frequencies are diminished or increased, and by component value selection the level of the output can be changed. This gives the advantage of getting more output from the pickup without running into the problem overwound pickup coils give, ie. muddier and fuzzier sound.

Are actives always compressed? No, our SMBH model especially is made so that you have great dynamics and low amount of compression.

Who are active pickups for? Granted, they are usually more geared towards the rock/metal crowd. They give great tight and extended lows for that powerful metal sound, and help you keep things clear and open in the highs compared to passives.

SPECS

Please verify your guitars pickup cavity size before ordering