Passive System –
Major Pickup Manufacturers

What Changes


• Tone shifts with cable length
• Split tones lose output and body
• Parallel tones become thinner
• Frequency response changes from rig to rig

What the Graph Shows


• Large separation between 10 ft and 30 ft curves
• Resonant peak moves lower with longer cable
• High end rolls off sooner
• Split and parallel modes lose clarity and fullness

What the Player Hears


• Darker tone with longer cable
• Less consistency from one setup to another
• Split tones that sound weak or thin
• Parallel tones that can become overly lean

ProTone® System -
Using Same Pickups

What Changes


• Cable length has minimal effect
• Split tones stay full and usable
• Parallel tones retain clarity and body
• Frequency response remains stable across setups

What the Graph Shows


• 10 ft and 30 ft curves remain closely aligned
• Resonant peak stays in place
• High end remains intact
• Split and parallel modes keep their intended shape

What the Player Hears


• Consistent tone regardless of cable length
• Stable presets across rigs
• Split tones that remain strong and musical
• Parallel tones that stay clear without sounding weak

ProTone® Primary Takeaway

Passive Tone = Moving Target
ProTone Tone = Controlled System

The graph demonstrates that traditional passive wiring is influenced by cable capacitance and external loading, while ProTone stabilizes the signal at the source, so each tone remains predictable and repeatable.

Technical Aspect of ProTone®

How ProTone® Differs From Passive Systems to Provide Multiple Voicings

1. The Pickup’s Inductance

A pickup’s inductance is a physical property determined by:

• Coil turns
• Core material
• Geometry

This value is fixed unless the pickup is physically altered. ProTone does not modify this.

2. What ProTone Actually Changes

A. Effective Inductance Seen at the Output

Because ProTone:

• Buffers each coil (high input impedance, low output impedance)
• Blends signals post-buffer

You are no longer dealing with traditional passive series/parallel inductance interactions. Instead:

• Each coil behaves independently
• The “combined inductance” is no longer a simple electrical sum

Result:

• More stable apparent inductance
• Less position-dependent behavior
• No reliance on passive coil-interaction math

B. Resonant Peak Behavior (The Real Impact)

Inductance matters because of resonance:

• Passive system: Resonant frequency = function of L (inductance) + C (cable + tone cap) + load
• In ProTone:
  • Buffers isolate the pickup from cable capacitance
  • Loading is controlled and consistent
  • Coil blending alters amplitude contribution, not raw inductance

Result:

• Predictable, consistent resonant peak
• No drastic shifts from:
  • Cable changes
  • Pot tolerances
  • Parallel coil loading

C. Coil Blending vs Traditional Coil Combining

In a normal humbucker:

• Series → inductance roughly sums → darker tone
• Parallel → inductance drops → brighter tone

In ProTone:

• Coils are not electrically summed in the traditional sense
• They are voltage-blended after buffering

Result:

• Tonal changes similar to series/parallel
• Without actually changing inductance in the circuit

D. Load Decoupling (Critical Point)

Traditional guitar:

• Pickup inductance is heavily loaded by:
  • 250k / 500k pots
  • Cable capacitance

ProTone:

• Presents a very high impedance load to the pickup
• Drives output with low impedance

Result:

• Pickup inductance behaves closer to its natural state
• Less damping of high-frequency resonance

3. Practical Interpretation

What the player experiences:

• Consistency: Presets sound the same regardless of cable or amp input
• No inductance collapse: Parallel/coil-split tones don’t thin out dramatically
• Controlled voicing:
  • Tone shaped via blending and controlled loading
  • Not by uncontrolled inductance interactions

4. Bottom Line

• Intrinsic inductance (L): unchanged
• Circuit-level behavior of L: fundamentally altered
• System effect: inductance is no longer the dominant variable controlling tone shifts