This paper presents a methodology for feedback adaptive control of active vibration systems in the presence of time varying unknown narrow band disturbances. A direct adaptive control scheme based on the internal model principle and the use of the Youla-Kucera parametrization is proposed. This approach is comparatively evaluated with respect to an indirect adaptive control scheme based on the estimation of the disturbance model. The comparative evaluation is done in real time on an active suspension system. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.