Passive pickup
A pickup that contains only wire and magnets, with no onboard circuitry or power supply, and therefore no active buffering of its signal.
Because the signal arrives at high impedance and relatively low output, it is sensitive to whatever load it sees next: long cables and too many unbuffered pedals progressively eat the high frequencies, and the volume pot's value changes the resonant response. In exchange, a passive pickup is simple, needs no battery and interacts with an amplifier in a way many players consider more dynamic. Most vintage-style guitars are built this way.
Example: rolling the volume knob back on a passive pickup also darkens the tone slightly, which is part of the behaviour players exploit when cleaning up an amp.
See also
Related
- PageActive pickup
- PageTreble bleed
- PageAlnico
- PageBlade pickup
- PageBlend control
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley
- PageAd-Rock