Is there a typical pickup preamp recipe?

[Electric_Death]

I mean things like, a typical gain ratio, input/output filters, transistor based, op amp based etc.
I suppose gain is my biggest question. I don't want to be crushing my pedals with too intense of a signal.
I've recently taken on the habit of modifying pickups so it seems coming up with a good preamp is important.
I'm pretty much into home owned designs as I don't like to follow directions. My home brew overdrive/distortion design is probably a total of 12 part count for circuit board and 6 part count in the pots/switches module. Fortunately it serves me to perfection but, I'm not proficient with the popular builds I see going on here. I still perf build every project I embark on and with the part count of most popular builds, fear an attempt. My next important goal is to attempt to etch my own board which I have the supplies for.

My point being, I am the novice here but I do understand how most circuits work and am usually successful. It seems most vets have read a lot of books or know the ropes through raw experience. I'm not familiar with everyone's goals here.
-My ultimate goal is to design a solid state amp and one day market it. I often read that "hey, this is a useful hobby but you should rely on store bought pedals" so I often wonder what you're all up to building so many circuits, some of which are quite complex. My experience has been that apart from a good all-in-one digital unit, I really have not been satisfied by store bought pedals. They just don't perform in a way that is personally pleasing-there is always some type of nagging short coming.
Active EMG's?
I was unimpressed. I tried them and they sounded no better than my boutique pickups run through my pedal and really, no different.
My perspective?
Super tiny chips the size of dandruff don't perform so hot for instrument applications.
Hence my newest project.

[Minion]

I have a very simple Active electronics design that I build into all of my Guitars (It is a simple fet opamp design) , It is Pretty High gain but still very clean , I like it because it really helps me overdrive the Preamp tube in my DIY Guitar head....

I"m actually thinking of getting a bunch of PCB"s made up and building a bunch and maybe try selling them, I have made about 15 of them for friends and have orders for probably 20 more from friends of friends , Every one I have built them for loves them and can even be configured to have adjustable Gain Via a Trim pot or a regular pot mounted in yer guitar....

If yer interested I can post it for you....

Cheers