Hmm. New questions inspired by the issues raised relating to volume control:
If I only had one active pick up wouldn't that mean that whenever I switched to that pick up I would have to somehow also make time to rotate my volume pot too?
People have mentioned the added amplification going into the amp. But I'm not quite clear if it creates a rather unwanted mess of distortion OR just a constantly broken up/crunchy tone?
I still don't get the thing about passive pick ups being quieter? I'm sure that guitarists with active pickups often have kill switches...
"Today is what it means to be young..."
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Hmm. New questions inspired by the issues raised relating to volume control:
If I only had one active pick up wouldn't that mean that whenever I switched to that pick up I would have to somehow also make time to rotate my volume pot too?
Balancing the two pups would be required. You could have an on-board pre-amp added to your passive pup to do this.
People have mentioned the added amplification going into the amp. But I'm not quite clear if it creates a rather unwanted mess of distortion OR just a constantly broken up/crunchy tone?
Depends upon your amp.
I still don't get the thing about passive pick ups being quieter? I'm sure that guitarists with active pickups often have kill switches...
Actives are quieter because their lower impedance makes the whole signal chain from the pup's internal pre-amp output to the input of your guitar amp much less susceptible to interference and noise. This is one of the big advantages.
Reason for active pup guitar to have a kill switch: High gain -- so when one is not playing random string noise and guitar body sounds (knocking) is LOUD. And these guitar players often also use high gain amps, making this problem even worse
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