Do active pickups offer a balanced output?

T

Tobe

Simon
I have an unspectacular p-bass knockoff, but I seem to have lucked out with a good build. I like the weight and the action, and the tuning is very good across the fret board, so I'm thinking of dropping in cheap active pickups... like these...

Dragonfire P Bass Active Pickup Set,Hotter than EMG! | eBay

Anyway, active pickups boast that they are quieter, and I noticed that this kit comes with a stereo jack, so can I assume it will provide a balanced TRS output for a DI or pre-amp (and un-balanced with a typical mono cable for an amp)?

I will send the seller the same question but I thought I would see if anyone here had any thoughts?

EDIT: by "quieter" I mean less noise.
 
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Stereo Jack

Hi usually active circuit has stereo jack for battery power lead, to disconnect when unplugged, connect power on when plugged in.. Hope this helps
 
Generally, active bass pups are considered good for metal and "harder" rock genres (and thrash, which may or may not be "music,") but not at all good for jazz, country, blues or classic rock.

Someone told me that Dragonfire pups are Made in China knock offs of... EMG's. Like anything else, one can go too far with pickup "hotness." I'd be careful before I went with something even hotter than EMG's.

And jbassman is right- the TRS jack is chosen for it's ability to switch the circuitry off to conserve batteries, rather than the TRS wiring.

Oh, and if you do go with actives, don't make the same mistake a young man near here did- he bought EMG humbuckers for his Gibson Les Paul (I bought the Burstbucker Pro/Alneco 5's from him at a sweet price) and the guy who installed them didn't install the 9-volt battery connection, OR change to the 500K pots- all of which CAME with the EMG's. You would have tough the "tech" would have picked up on that clue...:rolleyes:
 
I have to disagree with the notion that active pickups in general are only good for rock and metal. Especially on bass guitars, like he is talking about.

The idea behind active pickups is the pickups themselves are weaker than passive pickups (less windings) and more accurately follow the vibrations of the strings. But that makes them quiet, thin and weak sounding. So an active preamp circuit is added to boost the output and shape the tone. This is really useful for bass.

There are plenty of passive guitar pickups that put out way more voltage than an EMG. (Duncan Hot Rails, for example) The reason active pickups are popular in harder music is because all of the power is in the high end, that make the signal hit the amp differently. The transient gets through before the amp distorts, so you can have too much distortion while still keeping the pick attack.
 
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