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Old 10-12-2010, 08:23 AM
Herb Hunter Herb Hunter is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Maine
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Think of a microphone. It converts sound into a very weak signal that needs to be boosted by a preamplifier before it can be fully amplified. Pickups often require a preamplifier also. The question is do you want the preamplifier in your guitar, where it can boost the signal before additional noise is introduced through the guitar cord (plus provide tone controls that can cut or boost frequency bands) or do you want to use a preamplifier in the PA mixer or guitar amplifier which will boost the signal and boost the noise added by the guitar cable? Passive pickups, if they have any tone control at all, will only attenuate certain frequencies, they can't boost them. So passive pickups may be noisier (some more than others depending on how strong their output) and offer little or no control over the sound making it necessary to walk over to the guitar amplifier or PA mixer for any adjustments but they don't require batteries.
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