I've got an Ibanez RB800 and heard about the EMGs that can go up to 18/27 volts...in which I was considering doing it to mine with the stock pickups...is this a good idea?
EMG products are meant to handle 27V tops. Upgrading to 18V is a great idea (27V doesn't buy ya much from 18V). Mostly it'll buy ya more headroom, and depending on the bass/woods, bring out certain freq. better...I just did this with my Spector not too long ago, and wont look back. Ray
Well, I mean on the stock active pickups, if thats a good idea or will I just end up screwing the whole thing over?
Mine's just a "stock" EMG HZ pickups and EMG BTC System preamp. I'd suggest e-mailing EMG to make sure you're model can handle 18V, and if it can, build the harness (three battery clips and completly reversable!) and try it. If you don't like it, go back to 9V. Can't lose if you ask me. Just make sure EMG says it wont fry anything first. Ray
Nonono, the thing is that well, I doubt they're EMGs because well, they say Ibanez on them. But since I don't wanna fry anything, just nevermind I guess...I'm happy with my new SX anyways
E-mail Ibanez and ask, can't hurt, worst they'll do is say no you can't do it. I'd still say go for it, $3 later and you may have a new love, for an old bass . Ray
I dunno if its possible but if you can see the opamp, type some of the numbers you see on top into google, until you get a match with the spec sheet for it. This should give you an idea of what sorta voltages it can handle and whether you'll get any benefit from bumping it up to 18v or 27v. Thats what I did, then asked a few folk. There's a thread that goes into things in a little more detail floating around somewhere. Josh D
Just like a little computer chip type thingy. Maybe .3"x.25" (thats a complete guess, I'm at work and I don't work with non-metric units much) and should have 8 'legs' (they're really pins but they look like legs). Odds are that there should be only one, though there maybe 2 or at the most 3. Somebody a little more familar might be able to help you out, I've never seen an EMG system and its a several hours before I'm back home. Josh D
Yeah, not neccesarily just the numbers because the ID code for the thing will be alpha-numeric, ie in my bass its an RC4558, then there's the NE5532, TL072, LM6712; the list goes on. A combination of numbers and letters that looks like that, all I did was plug them in till I got a match.
Very cool. I'd try it, but I can't see the code on mine good enough. I'm not worried, I know mine goes to 27V, EMG told me . I only care about 18 lol. Ray
