Active humbuckers have a distinctive sound: powerful, clean, open-sounding, with excellent harmonic overtones and very tight lows. This also fits the description of a great 7-string pickup, if the problems associated with active pickups — sterile sound and limited headroom — could be eliminated. The D Activator 7™ models do just that. The Neck model has both power and clarity — the low “B” string stays solid and doesn’t sound like mud with extreme overdrive, and the high strings sing all the way up the neck. And it doesn’t need batteries.

          It's tough to get a clear tone from the low “B” string in the neck position without making the unwound strings sound brittle, and even harder with a high-output pickup. The two D Activator 7™ coils are tuned to different frequencies that complement each other and allow the pickup to “speak” clearly, with the power concentrated in the most effective frequency range. Like all passive pickups, D Activators™ require controls with a minimum value of 250Kohms. 500K is the standard all around value, and our 1Megohm tone control is best for long cable runs.