Is "live otter" a euphemism for Pete pulling out his junk and handing it to them while blindfolded. Because I'm not so sure he wouldn't just for the lolz.
I really don't think people give Rob NEARLY enough credit or praise for how talented he is when it comes to quickly & accurately identifying such a vast array of tones & brands of gear
the end is nigh the end is nigh- fuckin run away the end is nigh!!! guess we just found out where the venn diagram of king ross fans and captain n' chappers fans overlaps!
They react similar, but where as the preamps in active Pickups are more often then not designed to stay neutral/not change the tone, compressors tend to colour the sound quite a bit.
Basically yes. It's the same as having a clean boost pedal, it's just built inside the guitar. Your signal hits the amp's input harder so there's less headroom resulting in a more compressed sound.
LOL Poor Captain with the volume controls! I just got my first E-II Eclipse last week and spent the first five minutes complaining of the same thing! Why isn't the neck p'up volume the top knob and bridge middle! Haha!
Reason in that case: Players perspective. Main pickup for many there is the bridge, so ideally thats the closest knob. But yeah traditionally it's the other way around, I even think they do it the ''right'' way when its 2 Vol. Also, if you get the Eclipse I that is more traditional (4 knobs in the right config, and more traditional horn) then it's like a regular Les Paul
Interesting on the four knob Eclipse! Having played it now for a week I totally get it and it's second nature now, but the first five minutes were pure confusion :)
I was ignorant of "active or passive" till this week when I bought a Epiphone SG G-400 (with after market EMG 81s)cheaply after the guy admitted it seemed to have electronic probs. New strings and 9V battery and it sounds great. And I now know about Active and Passive - previous owner obviously didn't.
when he says he's switching there guitars he should just pretend to switch them and just give them back the same guitars and see if they change their answers LOL
Aaron Also EMGs don't need grounding. And they adjust the output on their own so basically: Longer cable = Electric resistance More resistance = Less of the output gets to the amp makes sense right? I'm bad at explaining
I love the fact that a guy who owns and runs the best guitar shop in the country and who personally owns tens of thousands of pounds worth of Gibsons, USA Fenders, and collectable tube amps will often get less of these right than if you just flipped a coin at random, AND has no problem admitting it! Guitar players need to take themselves a hell of a lot less seriously and be honest with themselves that most of these cork-sniffing opinions (tube is always better than digital etc.) are just born of bandwagon insecurity, outdated info, and memes. It's an amazing time to be a musician in terms of affordable gear and technological advances, the quality gap between a £400 guitar/amp and one that costs £4000 is getting smaller and smaller.
tens of thousands of pounds of guitars? Mate he doesn't even have that many guitars, check his house tour, or cribz whatever it was called. I'm sure he got a couple more like the prs Paul gave him, but still.
Ya know, I like both styles but I think I'd rather have passive pickups just because of the battery requirement. I don't really trust myself to remember that.
If that's your holdup....it has no merit. The batteries last forever. Even a full time musician can get a year no problem with one guitar with 2 humbuckers. I can personally attest to this, as my 93 ESP has a pair of 81s. The ONLY thing that's different is you have to unplug the guitar when its not in use. When I change batteries (RARELY) I check the old one on my tongue and its still strong. Every time. If you love the active tones, don't let the battery hold u back. Cheerio.
Rick Feith I got an ESP with the EMG 81/85 combo, and I got no problem with the battery. If it goes out, you know immediately when you go to try and play it.
Shadowsoken,you should try reversing your EMG pickups,put the 85 in the bridge position and 81 in the neck position,i did this with my epiphone SG and it sounds better to me,the 85 in the bridge gives a better low end but still has good clarity and the 81 in the neck is less muddy sounding and great for OD crunch and blues tones. If you heard of Andy James this is how he has his EMG pickups positioned.
Michael Angelo H. If they play the guitars it would be pointless, yeah haha but I mean, rabbea or pete could, I don't know... Maybe compare a d-45 to a hummingbird, or something like that, I don't know, it's just an idea... If you put a parlour and then a jumbo it'd be pretty obvius yeah...
Just want to say that you guys are great. I'm over here serving my country (US) in Afghanistan. I'm so glad that I have Internet to watch your videos! I recently removed Ibanez emg passives (RG) for emg 81/85s. To me, the sound was greatly different (better). Thanks for your review.
It would have been interesting to try different EMG pickups, such as the 57/66 or EMG-X. Both of these have a greater dynamic range, and act a little more passive-y.
I think it also would have been interesting to use the Nazgul/Sentient set or a similar high output passive set to see if that would affect their ability to distinguish between them.
f u n k j u n k . n e t they'd have a few tonal qualities like passives. it'd still be an active and sound like such. imo actives sound more digital/sterile than passives, but they are great in lots of ways so bridging that gap isn't the worst idea
Love you guys so much, the edit is good, Bea was super fun part of it, Lee and Rob are being themselves which I really enjoyed! Y'all like family to me :D
"Goofy hair?" and do what, get the tired middle-aged man look? Bea's hair is great and I hope he goes to his grave with it. And for the record, Rob's locks were way better too.
active sound compressed. on clean, the spank is subdued. I've a set on Epi 7str. used for djent stuff- the EMGs clean up the chaos. Rob's spot on- each has an application.
Active pickups for me. I always told myself I'd never use active pickups ever. I owned a Rickenbacker 4001 for 5 years and I needed a 5 string bass for the projects I was doing. I was skeptical about the active EMGs. Needless to say the Rickenbacker didn't get used much at all after that and I eventually sold it. A $650 ESP LTD F-415FM with EMG 40DC pickups replaced a $1800 Rickenbacker 4001. Let that sink in...
One less hassle to worry about. Sure it may take two years for a battery to die as some folks said. Then again, it may take two weeks or if you forget to unplug your guitar, no sound for you! But either way the less to go wrong the better imo.
What I like about this video is that it demonstrates so well how all kinds of folks can enjoy guitars, playing guitar and making music together, from double-decade road musicians to weekend warriors.
Should have included a better range of active and passive pickups - EMG and other brands also make active single-coils, P-90s and other humbuckers. Hot humbuckers tend to sound rather same-y at times, especially under high gain.
Active v passive is too easy. I'd like to see a blind test of hide v modern glued lp's, heavy relic v non-relic strats, real v clone paf's. These are all things that some folks claim affect tone, but there is little or no data published to support the claims.
All you have to do is dig in and you'll hear the difference immediately XD The EMGs are SO much more "immediate" in terms of attack. I loved that about them, but they just don't give you as many sound options as a typical four-conductor pickup.
If that were actually true..there would be no way that so many prominent guitar players choose them over passives. I get that there is a difference, but that is more about the selection of the active pickup and settings on it, the give away I think rob was actually listening for was the difference in output volume..to me that was the only glaring difference.
Great to see those guitars being played. I own a black and gold Ltd ES-1000 guitar with active EMGs and is one of the most beautiful and most versatile guitars I know of. Really surprised me when I played it in the shop! Went to buy a Les Paul or a Telecaster, played it while waiting for the guy to get one out of the warehouse and instantly fell in love with it! Seriously underrated! The mother of pearl on it is stunning too!
I listened along while in the car on the drive to work so I couldn't watch. And I had no clue which was which. I could hear some slight difference but didn't have a clue which I was hearing at a given time. Hats off to you Chappers for knowing instantly what you were playing.
I don't really care much for the argument about active pickups being cold and sterile, no dynamics, yadda yadda. I think they can sound just as good as anything else in the right context, depending on how the set is spec'd out. I just don't like active pickups because I don't like having to deal with batteries in my guitar. 😝
Used pretty much every major active pickup brand going before becoming a passive pickup guy. Seymour Duncan Blackouts have great distorted tone while lacking somewhat the picking dynamics you get from passives, as well as having very nice cleans. EMGs less impressive distorted tone but great cleans again. Then I discovered Bareknuckle pickups.
I'm not an EMG hater,and in fact I've owned several guitars with the 81/85 combo. That said, this video pretty much confirms all of the stereotypes of EMG pickups: they just had a cold and sterile sound when compared to the passives.
If I'd done the test I would have set the tone control on the EMG set back to two thirds or between two thirds and 10 whereas with the passives I've had them set to have tone on 10. It would be hard to tell then.
This is actually a really good demonstration of why its important that you isolate variables. I think Rob had this nailed from the gate but Lee was very interested in keeping up with the context clues- which guitar was being played at what time- which indicates he wasn't really able to tell the difference by tone alone, but needed something else to inform his decision. If you claim a certain variable makes a difference in tone, then if that is to be credible, you have to be able to use your ears to *ACCURATELY IDENTIFY* said differential without anything else informing your decision. What we see here from Lee is an example of economized guesswork, which indicates his preexisting beliefs about active vs passive may not be entirely rational.
This is a challenge? Either I have exceptional hearing or it's so obvious as to be a non issue at least between these 2 guitars. I'm not an EMG hater, but I prefer passives.
Rob: hey Rabea, when you give us the guitars, give me the active and give Lee the passive, ok, that way I can win, I can shout active active active before Lee's even plugged his in and I can win and look great... ok, mate? Rabea: but that wouldn't be a fair test, it Rob: I'll give you £10 Rabea: £10? Rob: and longer solo spots at gigs. Rabea: £10? and longer solo spots at gigs? Rob: and I've got a snickers in my pocket, oh, it's a bit melted and squished... here it's yours. Deal?
Asim Chowdhury you did it because you needed to relax your brain a little bit, therefore making it easier to retain knowledge you were trying to cram in there. Hope the test went well.
Yo Bea looking slim as hell man ! Just watched this video and right after one of the older Blindfold Challenges from 2016. You have come really far my man!
Actives all the way! I own a Strat, Les Paul, and a Carvin Icon 5-string bass, all with active pickups. Way less noise and hum, plus they eliminate the need for a buffer in your pedal chain by turning your high-impedence signal into a low-impedence signal. I haven't used passives for over 20 years, and I never will.
Finally, ESP gets some love. I own two with Actives and to be honest they do lack versatility but are required for the industrial metal sound eg Rammstein.
Here's what I heard: The EMG's were brighter and compressed. The Seymour Duncans were warmer and dynamic. The slope on the EMG's volume pot was also different, it backed off more slowly at first, then dropped off suddenly, it sounded like. The passives' volume seemed more predictable; the sound dropped off at a more uniform rate throughout the sweep. I can understand guitarists developing a preference for either style of pickup--they both have their strengths and weaknesses. Someone who demands a quiet pickup with little noise and an even, dependable level will probably like the EMG's, especially if they like a bright tone. Someone who likes to fiddle with the volume knob a lot between rhythm and lead (or just in general, for various tones) will probably go for the passives, especially if they like a warmer, rounded-off timbre. As for me, in general, I would want a passive guitar for recording and maybe informal jams and small-time gigs, and active for touring where you kind of never know what the quality is going to be of the electricity your rig is going to be required to work with.
Just once, when they're wearing blindfolds, I'd like someone to hand them a live otter each instead of a guitar. Just for the hell of it.
Hahahaha yes!!!
Ha! I see your otter and raise you a couple rabbits.
I see your rabbit and raise you a pair of raccoons
Is "live otter" a euphemism for Pete pulling out his junk and handing it to them while blindfolded. Because I'm not so sure he wouldn't just for the lolz.
Dave Sansom or the same guitar right back 😂
Rob is a monster. Not only did he correctly guess the right type of pickup with a few strums, he even guessed the right guitar company.
Plus the bottom horn is a tell tale sign no other has a les paul with a horn
Yep
Plus he could feel the surface of the pickup and the thin U neck that esp are famous for
I'd ask y'all to do a Butane VS Propane challenge, but it'd be too lopsided since propane is by far superior in every single way. I'll tell you what.
Hank Hill No butane is superior to propane on some matters.It boils on a higher temperature,has more carbon and more hidrogene.
Charcoal is much better. Much more flavorful grilled meats than propane.
*hwat
Sorry Hank, but well all know that Butane is superior to, and more efficient than Propane.
butane and propane are peasant stuffs. i used methane from shit and it explodes hard :)) besides methane smells good :P
2:55 _This just sounds like a guitar to me._
-Captian 2017
I loved this bit, I loved the Captain’s general stress that he literally doesn’t have a clue!
Personally, I can't wait for the Captains breakdown where he just ends up playing active 7 strings and a Kempers. 😉
Adam Hammond comment of the week goes to you 😂
hardcore djent captain
Vaseline
Andertons Music Co very deep
I really don't think people give Rob NEARLY enough credit or praise for how talented he is when it comes to quickly & accurately identifying such a vast array of tones & brands of gear
Jesus, Rory, this clown honking sound when they grab their guitars... This is brilliant.
What is the thing with Rory? I do not get this at all. Could please somebody explain? Thanks :]
@@butcherneck It's the name of the guy who edits the videos and adds all the weird shit in haha
You guys should do a blindfold test for pedals, something like stomp box vs multi effects, or cheap vs dear
I agree with this sweaty mark
Vince McMahon likes big Texan bullies good idea
#FireJBL
This is the last place I'd expect to see this, but I'm totally okay with it.
the end is nigh the end is nigh- fuckin run away the end is nigh!!!
guess we just found out where the venn diagram of king ross fans and captain n' chappers fans overlaps!
What a great video! The difference really is apparent, once Rob breaks down what he's listening for.
Lee's being baffled by the knobs is priceless
I love when they start to talk louder... cause they can't see eachother. lmao
William Kevern "I CAN'T HEAR YOU! IT'S TOO DARK IN HERE!"
I love this channel so much
JasonX401 Thanks mate - thanks for your support :-)
So basically active pickups on a clean tone sound like passive pickups with a compressor pedal.
They react similar, but where as the preamps in active Pickups are more often then not designed to stay neutral/not change the tone, compressors tend to colour the sound quite a bit.
Basically yes. It's the same as having a clean boost pedal, it's just built inside the guitar. Your signal hits the amp's input harder so there's less headroom resulting in a more compressed sound.
More or less, yes.
Pretty much. A compressor pedal with a volume boost or EQ boost.
LOL Poor Captain with the volume controls! I just got my first E-II Eclipse last week and spent the first five minutes complaining of the same thing! Why isn't the neck p'up volume the top knob and bridge middle! Haha!
Reason in that case: Players perspective. Main pickup for many there is the bridge, so ideally thats the closest knob. But yeah traditionally it's the other way around, I even think they do it the ''right'' way when its 2 Vol. Also, if you get the Eclipse I that is more traditional (4 knobs in the right config, and more traditional horn) then it's like a regular Les Paul
Interesting on the four knob Eclipse! Having played it now for a week I totally get it and it's second nature now, but the first five minutes were pure confusion :)
Oh wait, I've just googled it, is the middle a master volume? Shouldn't it be just for the neck/bridge?
The top is the bridge volume, middle is neck volume and the bottom is a master tone.
I have that on my GH600 as well and i read that it is for "Rolling" of the volume on the bridge pickup
I was ignorant of "active or passive" till this week when I bought a Epiphone SG G-400 (with after market EMG 81s)cheaply after the guy admitted it seemed to have electronic probs. New strings and 9V battery and it sounds great. And I now know about Active and Passive - previous owner obviously didn't.
Chappers, your shorts are a little too tight for my liking.
Lil bit of moose knucklage never hurt anyone
Noah G "Whittaker, take off my bra. Whittaker, take off my panties. And dont ever let me catch you wearing them again!"
Just tight enough for my liking ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Moose Knucklage new band name, I call it!
Noah G compressor all the way on those shorts lol
when he says he's switching there guitars he should just pretend to switch them and just give them back the same guitars and see if they change their answers LOL
he did at the end there
9:35 (it wasn't them holding it themselves but they would have been able to tell it was the same guitar)
Love the editing. Also, Rabea made me crack up!
Why is it that the older Rob gets, the cooler he becomes? I don't know how it is possible, he's like a fine wine or something!
Ha ha thanks man, I have not yet reached my final form ;-)
Fives Alives even tighter shorts?
Fives Alives it's the touch of grey in his beard, methinks. i'm into it!
active, passive, plug me in....what's going on here???
I think you missed the point. ^^
Aaron Also EMGs don't need grounding. And they adjust the output on their own so basically: Longer cable = Electric resistance
More resistance = Less of the output gets to the amp
makes sense right? I'm bad at explaining
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Theres also a box of vaseline left of Rob...
maxxdblade lmao now I have to watch it again
I love the fact that a guy who owns and runs the best guitar shop in the country and who personally owns tens of thousands of pounds worth of Gibsons, USA Fenders, and collectable tube amps will often get less of these right than if you just flipped a coin at random, AND has no problem admitting it! Guitar players need to take themselves a hell of a lot less seriously and be honest with themselves that most of these cork-sniffing opinions (tube is always better than digital etc.) are just born of bandwagon insecurity, outdated info, and memes. It's an amazing time to be a musician in terms of affordable gear and technological advances, the quality gap between a £400 guitar/amp and one that costs £4000 is getting smaller and smaller.
In fairness he actually rarely failed the blindfold challenges. He got it right there
I think statistically he doesn't fail as much as he believes he does.
tens of thousands of pounds of guitars? Mate he doesn't even have that many guitars, check his house tour, or cribz whatever it was called. I'm sure he got a couple more like the prs Paul gave him, but still.
ScottishCunt ScottishCunt the dude has an R8 Les Paul, a custom PRS, and a 70s Martin. That's literally £10,000 right there.
well digital is pretty sick too sooooo xP
Ya know, I like both styles but I think I'd rather have passive pickups just because of the battery requirement. I don't really trust myself to remember that.
If that's your holdup....it has no merit. The batteries last forever. Even a full time musician can get a year no problem with one guitar with 2 humbuckers. I can personally attest to this, as my 93 ESP has a pair of 81s. The ONLY thing that's different is you have to unplug the guitar when its not in use. When I change batteries (RARELY) I check the old one on my tongue and its still strong. Every time. If you love the active tones, don't let the battery hold u back. Cheerio.
David Cantrell yes, I love my emg 60/81 combo.
David Cantrell, listen to Rick, he's spot on.
Rick Feith I got an ESP with the EMG 81/85 combo, and I got no problem with the battery. If it goes out, you know immediately when you go to try and play it.
Shadowsoken,you should try reversing your EMG pickups,put the 85 in the bridge position and 81 in the neck position,i did this with my epiphone SG and it sounds better to me,the 85 in the bridge gives a better low end but still has good clarity and the 81 in the neck is less muddy sounding and great for OD crunch and blues tones. If you heard of Andy James this is how he has his EMG pickups positioned.
I've gotta say Chappers' moose knuckle really is something to behold
TRIGERED POTATO that's hilarious. I've not heard that before
Moose knuckle, what is that? a picking style?
Hahaha oh my
Blindfold challenge with different acoustic body sizess!! I'd love it
Would probably be the most obvious thing.
Especially if they end up getting one of those really thin ones. - I hate when artists play that live.
Michael Angelo H. If they play the guitars it would be pointless, yeah haha but I mean, rabbea or pete could, I don't know... Maybe compare a d-45 to a hummingbird, or something like that, I don't know, it's just an idea... If you put a parlour and then a jumbo it'd be pretty obvius yeah...
Rob, you're right about the cleans - they are lovely.
Just want to say that you guys are great. I'm over here serving my country (US) in Afghanistan. I'm so glad that I have Internet to watch your videos! I recently removed Ibanez emg passives (RG) for emg 81/85s. To me, the sound was greatly different (better). Thanks for your review.
David Jones thanks for all you do for this country 🎸🎸🎸🎸
I think you might have been serving for Isreal
It would have been interesting to try different EMG pickups, such as the 57/66 or EMG-X. Both of these have a greater dynamic range, and act a little more passive-y.
I think it also would have been interesting to use the Nazgul/Sentient set or a similar high output passive set to see if that would affect their ability to distinguish between them.
Completely sincere question here, what's the point of the extra hassle of a battery if your actives are going to sound passive anyway?
f u n k j u n k . n e t they'd have a few tonal qualities like passives. it'd still be an active and sound like such. imo actives sound more digital/sterile than passives, but they are great in lots of ways so bridging that gap isn't the worst idea
Rasputin's Beard aren't the 57/66 passive pickups?
Nope. They're actives, as well as the recent Retro Active series, the 55 & 77.
Love you guys so much, the edit is good, Bea was super fun part of it, Lee and Rob are being themselves which I really enjoyed! Y'all like family to me :D
holy shit, bea looks great. keep it up brother
Just needs to lose the goofy hair now like rob did
Charles Wood but... 99% of his tone comes from his fro. #respectthefrobro
"Goofy hair?" and do what, get the tired middle-aged man look? Bea's hair is great and I hope he goes to his grave with it. And for the record, Rob's locks were way better too.
@@Deathshuckno
Rob you're a genius! Your experience with guitars and pickups is amazing :D
Lol and 2 years later he's been shamed by Riffcity and exposed on TH-cam, then fired by Andertons. Hilarious.
MOOOORE BLINDFOLD!!!
"Shitty design."
Well there ya have it, folks. That's probably the most honesty you will ever hear out of the Captain
Rob really is good in describing the difference between the pickups, he nails it, on point.
great!!!!
Blind Tubescreamer test. Spot the real tubescreamer. There are plenty of pedals do make this one interesting.
These videos just keep getting better and better. Love the editing jokes. Great stuff!
active sound compressed. on clean, the spank is subdued. I've a set on Epi 7str. used for djent stuff- the EMGs clean up the chaos. Rob's spot on- each has an application.
woofer devlin ich a
Active pickups for me. I always told myself I'd never use active pickups ever. I owned a Rickenbacker 4001 for 5 years and I needed a 5 string bass for the projects I was doing. I was skeptical about the active EMGs. Needless to say the Rickenbacker didn't get used much at all after that and I eventually sold it. A $650 ESP LTD F-415FM with EMG 40DC pickups replaced a $1800 Rickenbacker 4001. Let that sink in...
if you put a compressor in front of the blue one would sound really similar to the black one.
Props for the editor. Just enough funny edits to make it enjoyable and not obnoxious
I just can't stand worrying about the damn batteries.
Yeah, sometimes you just lose track of 2 years.
Having to solder on a new battery clip because the old one got eaten by the Green Death is a good reminder.
One less hassle to worry about. Sure it may take two years for a battery to die as some folks said. Then again, it may take two weeks or if you forget to unplug your guitar, no sound for you! But either way the less to go wrong the better imo.
Jackie I
Jackie and I think it makes it feel more artificial and fake which ruins the concept of electric guitar for me.
Your ability to guess the maker correctly every single time is uncanny. You, sir, are amazing.
Love this channel, it never fails to make me happy. Life is full of stress and trouble, your vids seem to make it better. :) Thanks!
Rob has this on lock down!!! Personally I found the difference more apparent with distorted tones.
i feel that the eq/voicing rather than the "activeness" of the pickups will give it away, emg 81 is has just such a distinctive "emgness" to it
What I like about this video is that it demonstrates so well how all kinds of folks can enjoy guitars, playing guitar and making music together, from double-decade road musicians to weekend warriors.
Should have included a better range of active and passive pickups - EMG and other brands also make active single-coils, P-90s and other humbuckers. Hot humbuckers tend to sound rather same-y at times, especially under high gain.
The fact that rob knew while playing is fine, but just from hearing clean being played he knew is mindblowing
Active v passive is too easy. I'd like to see a blind test of hide v modern glued lp's, heavy relic v non-relic strats, real v clone paf's. These are all things that some folks claim affect tone, but there is little or no data published to support the claims.
Nathan Wilkins great thought! I'd like to hear r see that one!
It is man some say quite noticeable, there's a tiny preamp/boost circuit there involved.
The active Pickups have a lower output impedance and therefore they sound, in a way, like a pair of passive pickups with a buffer behind!
All you have to do is dig in and you'll hear the difference immediately XD
The EMGs are SO much more "immediate" in terms of attack. I loved that about them, but they just don't give you as many sound options as a typical four-conductor pickup.
If that were actually true..there would be no way that so many prominent guitar players choose them over passives. I get that there is a difference, but that is more about the selection of the active pickup and settings on it, the give away I think rob was actually listening for was the difference in output volume..to me that was the only glaring difference.
The sound and video editing for this is video is incredible and hilarious! Amazing work!
Did Rob get dressed with the blindfold on ?
Great to see those guitars being played. I own a black and gold Ltd ES-1000 guitar with active EMGs and is one of the most beautiful and most versatile guitars I know of. Really surprised me when I played it in the shop! Went to buy a Les Paul or a Telecaster, played it while waiting for the guy to get one out of the warehouse and instantly fell in love with it! Seriously underrated! The mother of pearl on it is stunning too!
rob has magic ears hope they are insured
I listened along while in the car on the drive to work so I couldn't watch. And I had no clue which was which. I could hear some slight difference but didn't have a clue which I was hearing at a given time. Hats off to you Chappers for knowing instantly what you were playing.
Actives= no even a noise 😍
Man do I LOVE these blindfold tests.
I don't really care much for the argument about active pickups being cold and sterile, no dynamics, yadda yadda. I think they can sound just as good as anything else in the right context, depending on how the set is spec'd out. I just don't like active pickups because I don't like having to deal with batteries in my guitar. 😝
It's 2018 and you guys still kicking! Love this channel so much like it's part of my every morning coffee cups 🤘
Used pretty much every major active pickup brand going before becoming a passive pickup guy. Seymour Duncan Blackouts have great distorted tone while lacking somewhat the picking dynamics you get from passives, as well as having very nice cleans. EMGs less impressive distorted tone but great cleans again. Then I discovered Bareknuckle pickups.
True i had blackouts and i think they are real good better then emgs but the attack and stuff isnt bad. Passives have fuller tone and sound is alive
Bareknuckle pickups, are those like the Mooseknuckle pickups?
at 7:00, Rob was KILLIN IT! love your videos, thanks for supplying steady information and fun!
Chappers and The Captain: "Live Without Your Eyes"
Sound Author Ha ha that could be a thing!!
Well played gentlemen. Top shelf, top shelf.
Also helps that rob was an esp artist maybe?
glyn humphreys Ha ha yep
Rob Chapman aren't you a seymour duncan artist now? So you've covered the spectrum
I was sad I'd only just discovered your content. Then I realized this is good, I have a ton of content to watch through.
I'm not an EMG hater,and in fact I've owned several guitars with the 81/85 combo. That said, this video pretty much confirms all of the stereotypes of EMG pickups: they just had a cold and sterile sound when compared to the passives.
If I'd done the test I would have set the tone control on the EMG set back to two thirds or between two thirds and 10 whereas with the passives I've had them set to have tone on 10. It would be hard to tell then.
My face was just melted off and I just came to hear a pickup. Thank you, sir.
I can hear the difference, but there's no way I'd be able to tell which is which without prior knowledge of what they sound like.
The pick flip @ 16:00 kills me!! Awesome video, though.
Rob, it would be interesting to know if you watch all your videos back when they go up on TH-cam?
Music Ghost Yes I proof watch each video :-)
Rob you're an animal dude, insane guitar playing... love you guys
Can you do one of humbucker cover vs no cover?
Dynamic duo! Lee with the gear. Rob with the Ear.
Interesting the active pickup harmonic was an octave higher than the passive.
Austin Mann might have to test this
This is actually a really good demonstration of why its important that you isolate variables. I think Rob had this nailed from the gate but Lee was very interested in keeping up with the context clues- which guitar was being played at what time- which indicates he wasn't really able to tell the difference by tone alone, but needed something else to inform his decision. If you claim a certain variable makes a difference in tone, then if that is to be credible, you have to be able to use your ears to *ACCURATELY IDENTIFY* said differential without anything else informing your decision. What we see here from Lee is an example of economized guesswork, which indicates his preexisting beliefs about active vs passive may not be entirely rational.
This is a challenge? Either I have exceptional hearing or it's so obvious as to be a non issue at least between these 2 guitars. I'm not an EMG hater, but I prefer passives.
Epic quote: "Well, I got a lot of gains bro." ~ Robert Chapman
I had my eyes open but it was easy to tell that the emgs we're emgs and the same with passive
ya, they look totally diffrent. ez
lol, the editing is getting really good on these. Much more fun to watch.
Rob: hey Rabea, when you give us the guitars, give me the active and give Lee the passive, ok, that way I can win, I can shout active active active before Lee's even plugged his in and I can win and look great... ok, mate?
Rabea: but that wouldn't be a fair test, it
Rob: I'll give you £10
Rabea: £10?
Rob: and longer solo spots at gigs.
Rabea: £10? and longer solo spots at gigs?
Rob: and I've got a snickers in my pocket, oh, it's a bit melted and squished... here it's yours. Deal?
Thanks guys. Great video as always, very informative.
got an a level maths exam tommorow why am i watching this
Asim Chowdhury you did it because you needed to relax your brain a little bit, therefore making it easier to retain knowledge you were trying to cram in there. Hope the test went well.
পড়াশুনা কর
how did you do
As an air guitar expert I’d say i loved both active and passive pickups.
should have used the EMG 57\66 instead of the old ass 81. Probably easier to tell
This video is an absolute shout.
IDK how the hell you get so much sustain. I can never get any guitar to sustain into feedback like that.
Volume ;)
Yo Bea looking slim as hell man ! Just watched this video and right after one of the older Blindfold Challenges from 2016. You have come really far my man!
Damn Rob, nice pants! :D
Actives all the way!
I own a Strat, Les Paul, and a Carvin Icon 5-string bass, all with active pickups.
Way less noise and hum, plus they eliminate the need for a buffer in your pedal chain by turning your high-impedence signal into a low-impedence signal.
I haven't used passives for over 20 years, and I never will.
Should rename these videos to: "goggle guess" (The double G)
Finally, ESP gets some love. I own two with Actives and to be honest they do lack versatility but are required for the industrial metal sound eg Rammstein.
New video. Tell them it's active vs passive and then keep handing them the same guitar repeatedly
Extremely entertaining. Rob, Dude, you have amazing ears.
#NotNotificationSquad
WTF !! Magic. Nice edition, keep it like that
9:00 illuminati confirmed.
Baked Vader your comment made me laugh a lot 😂😂😂
Here's what I heard: The EMG's were brighter and compressed. The Seymour Duncans were warmer and dynamic. The slope on the EMG's volume pot was also different, it backed off more slowly at first, then dropped off suddenly, it sounded like. The passives' volume seemed more predictable; the sound dropped off at a more uniform rate throughout the sweep.
I can understand guitarists developing a preference for either style of pickup--they both have their strengths and weaknesses. Someone who demands a quiet pickup with little noise and an even, dependable level will probably like the EMG's, especially if they like a bright tone. Someone who likes to fiddle with the volume knob a lot between rhythm and lead (or just in general, for various tones) will probably go for the passives, especially if they like a warmer, rounded-off timbre.
As for me, in general, I would want a passive guitar for recording and maybe informal jams and small-time gigs, and active for touring where you kind of never know what the quality is going to be of the electricity your rig is going to be required to work with.
BLINDFOLD CHALLENGE
GIBSON VS CHIBSON
Not only was that funny and cheeky af. But, good info thanks