Active pickups and modelers

[morphine]

Hi!

I'm thinking of getting a new guitar, which will be equipped with EMG 81/85 or 81/60 sets (if you're wondering, I'm looking at the EX and EC models from LTD/ESP).

Now, the thing is: I want the active pickups as they're hotter and have the sound I'm looking for. But, and this is a big but, I'm running a Pod XT Live.

Which leaves me wondering: will the strength of those pickups (especially with the 18V mod) be too much for the XTL's input section to handle? There's a switch on the back which lets one pad the input to -10dB (or something like that), but those aren't added back to the virtual amp's drive block, which makes me think that such a switch is kinda useless :huh. I mean, one of the ideas to use hot/active pickups is to overload your amp's front section.

Anybody tried this arrangement? Can anyone explain what's wrong with my reasoning, and how this affects other modelers, such as the Axe-Fx?

[morphine]

*bump* :x

Nobody tried or wondered about this yet?

[buddaman71]

I greatly prefer EMGs with my Line6 Flextone III XL and my Digitech GSP1101 stereo rig.
The greater pickup neutrality allows the differences in modeled tones to shine through IMHO.

[morphine]

You didn't have any trouble with clipping the input stage on the Flex or the Digitech?

[buddaman71]

I have been using EMGs with Line 6 gear since the mid 90's with zero issues.

[mwc2112]

Most modelers without input levels have pretty decent headroom so you can use active pickups. The downside is that weaker pups sometimes suffer a bit. That's one of the features I thought was great on the GT10: the ability to adjust the input level of the guitar signal. It's also great on my AxeFX.

[guitar5]

I used guitars with EMGs and passive SDs into a POD XT live and everything I ran through it sounded good.

[morphine]

Interesting, I suppose I won't have many problems, thanks for all the replies.

I wonder now, however, what will it actually take to clip a modeler, and once again, what's the point of the "pad" thingie :)

[buddaman71]

Strum it hard into a clean-ish preset with the pad OUT.
If you don't hear any nasty clipping fuzz or "bad" distortion, you are good.
If you DO hear something nasty, push in the pad and it will give you more headroom on the input.

[morphine]

That's the thing that bugs me, and which got me thinking in the first place :huh. If the modeler won't add the volume level *back* in the signal chain after the input, then why does it really exist in the first place?

[buddaman71]

The pad is ONLY there to reduce the input gain in the event that the guitar is clipping it. Once a signal is clipped at the input, it can't be fixed down the road. You can always add more level down stream.

[morphine]

Yeah, I figured it'd be like that.

It's just that in end, the PodXT (and other modelers, probably) simply don't support extra-hot pickups. It seems I'll be safe with EMG actives, but some other users might not be surprised, as having to pad the input makes the hot pickups a bit pointless.

Thanks for all the input (pun unintended).