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Posted by: ElHombre Jul 19 2012, 12:43 PM

Hi

I got an ESP, my first guitar with active pickups, I have never had one before but I cant tell it has lost its power. Sometimes the heavy gain doesnt kick in, especially in the neck pickup.

So I will have to change them.
How?

Here is a pic:

There is no battery in the back, i have unscrewed and checked. So the battery is in the front, probably in the pickups. When I bought it I got two AA batterys with the case, and they seem to fit in the pickups.

So, each humbucker has screws on it


Should I unscew there? Is the battery Located there?
regards

Posted by: SpaseMoonkey Jul 19 2012, 01:48 PM

Most of the time if it was built with actives they have a battery cavity on the back of the guitar, if not and someone installed them most typical place it is put is in the same area as the volume/tune knobs would be. I've never actually seen them installed under a pickups I actually don't think that there is enough space under a pickup to install them.

It rare to see actives in that style of a pickup also. I'm sure they are made but I only know of blackouts and livewire sets by seymour duncan which both look similar to EMGs

But you've checked so are you positive they are actives? What model is it, I believe by the picture its an MH but not sure the model number.

Posted by: ElHombre Jul 19 2012, 01:58 PM

maybe they are not active.. but why did i get batteryes along the guitar?
and why have they lost their bite?

Posted by: ElHombre Jul 19 2012, 04:14 PM

anyone? does it have active pickups? What would you say? Before i rip it apart

Posted by: SpaseMoonkey Jul 19 2012, 04:50 PM

Alrighty this may help a bit in figuring this out a bit more. Take the guitar input off see if it is 2 or 3 wires to it. If it only has 2 then its not active. If it has the 3rd that goes to the battery and would be active.

Posted by: Slavenko Erazer Jul 19 2012, 04:53 PM

Man, that doesn't look like active pickups at all..
maybe you just have a active preamp???

Posted by: Azzaboi Jul 19 2012, 07:03 PM

They have poles on them which is normal for passive pickups, but not actives. Only the EMG JH Set, I know has both.

An active pickup would look like this:

Normally you unscrew the back plate off to get to the battery.

The active/passive EMG JH Set, they however has one set of those poles:

I have these, the battery is in the back but my axe has a flip out battery compartment to make it easy.

Else as far as I know, the rest are passive pickups with two rows of poles - like the ones you have pictured. Normally, when you purchase some guitars they give the option of either active/passive. There's plus/negs for either. Those Seymour Duncans are great for those that want passives rather than actives.

If they are actives it would sound sharper and with more bite, less feedback/noise, but also less dynamics. It's possible you have an active preamp? Other options would be they are passives but might have faulty cables, wiring or the pickup selector is dusty? Try wiggle the cable connections and/or pickup switch gently to see if it affects the tone.