So I recently got tired of the passive EMG I had in the Ibanez and decided to try putting the stock DiMarzio back in before going out to buy a new pickup. So I put it in and strung the guitar back up.

And I'm really digging the sound. The D-Activator is a great pickup. I thought it was dry and lifeless but for some reason this time it really came alive.

It's giving my EMGz a run for their money. I think I may even like these pickups more than the SD JB set my roommate has in one of his guitars.

I haven't played with any Active pups yet. I have enough fun with being passive. :-) I have factory pickups from my MIM Strat that I swapped out, I forget now what they sounded like, maybe I should build me another guitar and put them to use.

shaistan from all our
past post encounters
i have noticed a reoccurring theme and that is
METAL and so im going out on a limb here and assuming thats also
a style you enjoy playing. and i think the active pick up give you
the accuracy to achieve sounds of a lot of black metal which
is super intricate and need the littlest vibration of the strings amplified

Indeed I enjoy active pickups for the intricacy as well as the slightly compressed nature. I'm down to one guitar with one active pickup, currently an EMG 85; but I have a Duncan Blackout (that came stock in that guitar) and I'll probably end up swapping them back and forth before deciding which one I like more.

I have to say though my favorite pickup right now is the Gibson 500T. Really articulate pickup with about the same output as an active. Actives tend to give you more high end, lending to being able to lower the gain without muddying up and the 500T gives you that and does it without thinning out. I'm finding it to be a lovely pickup.

You're absolutely right about actives being good for black metal. The style of play lends itself to a thinner and more articulate sound and actives make it very easy to EQ that in (that's not to say they can't do full and heavy though).