Overwound pickups & active pickups

spantini

spantini

COO of me, inc.
What are the differences between overwound and active pickups? I understand overwound have higher output as well as enhanced tonal qualities. Do active PUs affect tonal qualities in the same way? Are active PUs also overwound, or just preamped?

This is in reference to a US Fender Jazz (Passive) with Fender Custom Shop 60's Pickups. Fender's site doesn't mention overwound, but one review I read stated these are.
 
Overwound pickups are just pickups with more windings, which creates a stronger output. It's still a passive pickup. You can also change to a stronger magnet for even more output.

An active pickup starts with the same basic design, then adds a preamp circuit, and you'll need a battery for power. Most use a 9v battery. Depending on the preamp design, you can adjust the tonal balance, increase the output significantly, and compress the signal. It also isn't as sensitive to the type of tonal changes that you get with volume control changes that you see in a passive pickup.

The disadvantage is that often the output is so high that it can overdrive the amp's input more easily. If you play clean, that can be a problem.
 
it's not automatic that overwounds have enhanced tone ..... there are some that prefer the sound of lower output p'ups ..... personally I'm fairly indifferent but I have seen overwounds that were so hot you almost couldn't get a clean sound out of them.

And as TalismanRich mentions, actives can be even moreso .. I have an old strat I built 40 years ago with early EMG 'buckers in it and while I loved it at the time, it's SO much hotter than my non-active gits that I have to set the amp completely differently for it to work so I never use it anymore

I don't believe there's an inherent advantage to either ..... it's just personal taste .... but I tend to not believe in rules when it comes to music.
 
Painting with a broad brush...

Overwound pickups will have higher output, at the expense of clarity. Think the difference between a strat pickup and a coil split humbucker.

Active pickups tend to be weaker pickups with a preamp. Weaker pickups tend to have more clarity, but don't drive the Amp. The preamp is designed to make up for that. Also, the active circuit can have active tone controls that can add to the sound, as opposed to passive tone control that can just take away high end.

For bass, I've always favored active systems. For guitar, passive pickups. But that's just me.
 
The material on the bass itself doesn't state the PU's are overwound, but looking at a separate PU package (new add-ons or replacements) reveals those are overwound. I can only assume these would be the same or similar to the PU's installed in a new Custom Shop 60's Jazz w/60's PU's.

Custom Shop Custom ’60s Jazz Bass Pickups | Parts

Custom Shop Custom ’60s Jazz Bass Pickups, (2)
www.fender.com www.fender.com

Here's a short demo of these overwound PU's from Fender's page :



I'm crazy about that sound. The deep, rich, clear tones - especially the E and A strings.
 
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