EMG 40P5 and 40J or some other combination?

[Jo Ke]

I recently picked up a Schecter Stilleto Studio 5 and they come stock with EMG HZ's which I find kind of odd sounding. They have this thin sound with a weird honky type of mid range. Not my style at all. The bass I've played for awhile is a Mark Hoppus Fender P Bass and I love that sound if that gives any clarity to what I'm going for. I don't mind if it's not exactly the same because I want this instrument to have it's own special quality. I play heavy shoegaze with lots of distortion and fuzz at times as well.
So... emg 40p5 and 40j, 40p5 40p5 combo, or something else I am missing like a 40p5 40dc setup?
Help on this would be very appreciated!!!!

 

[basadam]

I have 35P4 and 35J, 4-string versions of the same pickup. 35P4 (in the J-bass neck location) does not sound like P-bass, nor a J-bass, rather somewhere in between. 35J sounds like a J-bass pickup.

40p5 is reverse-P style split coil pickup. I never used a Mark Hoppus bass, looking at the pics, some incarnations used a reverse-P pickup. I don't know which one was yours but if it's reverse-P you may get a closer tone.

My 35P4 is somewhat unforgiving when bending A & D strings. There is a slightly noticeable volume drop. No issue with 35J since it's a single bar magnet.

I also suggest that you check out 40TW which is a switchable DC & J pickup.

And there's the whole line of "CS" and "X" versions of which I'm not familiar yet.

 

[cfortner]

Hi,

I own a Spector Rebop 5, which came also with the HZ-PU. I changed them to 40P5 at the neck and 40DC for bridge, combined with the BTS preamp - great sound, it's another bass now! I like it better as my Euro 5 with 40DC-TW and 40CS, BTS also.

Only neck pu activated, it sounds very close to a Preci 5, combined with the 40DC very versatile sounds.

I think, the results will be very similar on a 4 string bass.

Try it!

 

[gt96g]

I think you'll be hard pressed to ever have emg's sound like a hoppus J bass. But the one thing I highly recommend is to pair whatever pickups you choose with EMG electronic. Their preamps really open up the capabilities of the pickups.

 

[ctmullins]

40P5 (be sure and get the 40P5, not the 40P) with the 40J would work, but I would put the P5 at the bridge for fatness, and the J at the neck for clarity. If you want more fatness, do a P5 with another P5. If you want fatness with deepness, do a P5 at the neck with a CS at the bridge. If you want fatness with deepness and edge, pair the P5 at the neck with a DC at the bridge.

If you want a touch more clarity and dynamic range, get the X version of whatever you choose.

 

[scuzzy]

40P5 (be sure and get the 40P5, not the 40P) with the 40J would work, but I would put the P5 at the bridge for fatness, and the J at the neck for clarity. If you want more fatness, do a P5 with another P5. If you want fatness with deepness, do a P5 at the neck with a CS at the bridge. If you want fatness with deepness and edge, pair the P5 at the neck with a DC at the bridge.

If you want a touch more clarity and dynamic range, get the X version of whatever you choose.

this is the way.

 

[Jo Ke]

40P5 (be sure and get the 40P5, not the 40P) with the 40J would work, but I would put the P5 at the bridge for fatness, and the J at the neck for clarity. If you want more fatness, do a P5 with another P5. If you want fatness with deepness, do a P5 at the neck with a CS at the bridge. If you want fatness with deepness and edge, pair the P5 at the neck with a DC at the bridge.

If you want a touch more clarity and dynamic range, get the X version of whatever you choose.

That was very helpful!! So, now that I've got an idea of which pups I should order.. I have one more question. Since I am replacing the EMG 40 HZ's, is it as simple as swapping the pups and leaving the pre amp in the bass? Not sure exactly what it is. I just know it has volume / tone / and 3 knobs for bass mids and treble eq.
Orr will I be taking everything out including the pre amp and just going with say the 40p5 at neck and 40dc at bridge and connecting all the pots and battery stuff?

 

[ctmullins]

That was very helpful!! So, now that I've got an idea of which pups I should order.. I have one more question. Since I am replacing the EMG 40 HZ's, is it as simple as swapping the pups and leaving the pre amp in the bass? Not sure exactly what it is. I just know it has volume / tone / and 3 knobs for bass mids and treble eq.
Orr will I be taking everything out including the pre amp and just going with say the 40p5 at neck and 40dc at bridge and connecting all the pots and battery stuff?

The major/obvious difference is that your HZ pickups are passive, while the "real" EMGs are active, so each pickup will need battery power. What is your current preamp? If it's an EMG, it will work, even though you may need to swap the passive volume control (typically 250kOhm or 500kOhm) with one suitable for low-impedance active pickups (25kOhm). Maybe the blend control also. But without knowing exactly what your preamp is; I can't speculate further.

 

[Jo Ke]

The major/obvious difference is that your HZ pickups are passive, while the "real" EMGs are active, so each pickup will need battery power. What is your current preamp? If it's an EMG, it will work, even though you may need to swap the passive volume control (typically 250kOhm or 500kOhm) with one suitable for low-impedance active pickups (25kOhm). Maybe the blend control also. But without knowing exactly what your preamp is; I can't speculate further.

I opened up the back of the bass and there's only room for two 9v batteries, cause that's what the current active pre amp is running off. So considering that each pickup will need a 9v battery, I would only have room for those batteries and not the ones needed for the pre amp. I just can't see where else the batteries would fit. But running two active pups without the active pre amp is a normal setup correct?

 

[Jo Ke]

I opened up the back of the bass and there's only room for two 9v batteries, cause that's what the current active pre amp is running off. So considering that each pickup will need a 9v battery, I would only have room for those batteries and not the ones needed for the pre amp. I just can't see where else the batteries would fit. But running two active pups without the active pre amp is a normal setup correct?

Unless everything, the pups and the active pre amp are able to run off the same two 9v batteries? I saw in the wiring diagram that there's a battery bus that has multiple slots so I'm thinking that is the way.

 

[ctmullins]

One voltage source can run everything - preamp and pickups together.

That one voltage source can be 9V, or it can be 18V. (Or it can even be 27V for EMG stuff, as their documentation states 27V is the maximum. But there's almost never a need for that.)

When you buy from EMG, they include lots of "extra" stuff: volume control, tone control, wires, battery harness, jack, and a red voltage distribution buss.

 

[PhinDog]

40P5 (be sure and get the 40P5, not the 40P) with the 40J would work, but I would put the P5 at the bridge for fatness, and the J at the neck for clarity. If you want more fatness, do a P5 with another P5. If you want fatness with deepness, do a P5 at the neck with a CS at the bridge. If you want fatness with deepness and edge, pair the P5 at the neck with a DC at the bridge.

If you want a touch more clarity and dynamic range, get the X version of whatever you choose.

I'm assuming this is for soap bar type pickups. Would these work for single J style pickups?

 

[ctmullins]

I'm assuming this is for soap bar type pickups. Would these work for single J style pickups?

Not unless you open up the pickup cavities to accept 40-sized soapbars.

EMG makes a few different varieties of J-shaped pickups. I don’t know anything about them.

 

[PhinDog]

Not unless you open up the pickup cavities to accept 40-sized soapbars.

EMG makes a few different varieties of J-shaped pickups. I don’t know anything about them.

Got it, thanks! I've been on the fence with swapping my J pickups on my Sire V7 to EMGs. I heard a bass tone last week with an EMG PJ setup that caught my ear. Now I'm gassing for something similar if possible with my V7.

 

[Brad_Pearson]

IMHO: The factory preamps in most basses these days are not great. Even brands like Ibanez that will use great pickups skimp on the preamp.

If you are already swapping pickups, you might as well get an EMG eq setup as well. Everything will be solderless after the gut, which is nice.

 

[birminghambass]

I've tried them all, in every combination. P, J, JCS, DC, CS, regular and X versions. The P is much more of a middy, punchy pickup than a normal P. Definitely not fat and warm. The J is clear and actually has more low end than the P. I don't think the EMG soap bars sound great mixed, I always prefer 2 of the same. I currently have a Spector with 35DCs, a Spector with 35Js, and a Schecter with 35Ps. I was not a fan of the CS or TW models. Also, I greatly prefer the regular series over the X. BUT, I can see how some prefer the X. Definitely more definition, headroom, and dynamic. I just didn't love the extended highs and lows
Go on YouTube and search Thunderbird EMG. The Bass Channel did a great video where they demo every EMG soap bar.

 

[Ellery]

I recently picked up a Schecter Stilleto Studio 5 and they come stock with EMG HZ's which I find kind of odd sounding. They have this thin sound with a weird honky type of mid range. Not my style at all. The bass I've played for awhile is a Mark Hoppus Fender P Bass and I love that sound if that gives any clarity to what I'm going for. I don't mind if it's not exactly the same because I want this instrument to have it's own special quality. I play heavy shoegaze with lots of distortion and fuzz at times as well.
So... emg 40p5 and 40j, 40p5 40p5 combo, or something else I am missing like a 40p5 40dc setup?
Help on this would be very appreciated!!!!

On my Studio 5 I used two EMG40P5's. Sounds killer! Wouldn't mind trying a DC at the bridge but the double P does it for me. Also doesn't hurt that I installed an Aguilar preamp.

 

[Jo Ke]

On my Studio 5 I used two EMG40P5's. Sounds killer! Wouldn't mind trying a DC at the bridge but the double P does it for me. Also doesn't hurt that I installed an Aguilar preamp.View attachment 5453944

How was the Aguilar pre amp install? and how did you find it working into the already existing knob layout of the Stiletto?

 

[StoicStrayCat]

I’m currently running the P in the neck and a CS in the bridge with a Bartolini preamp and it’s a fantastic tone.

It’s just super fat and round and it sat really well in the mix.

 

[Ellery]

How was the Aguilar pre amp install? and how did you find it working into the already existing knob layout of the Stiletto?

Easy install, it is just a tiny box, not a flat ICB. The knob layout was perfect, because I used an OBP-3 which uses 5 pots. For the mid I used a push/pull pot to take advantage of the frequency switch. I didn't bother using a bypass switch since the pickups are active anyway. The only original pot I could use was the blend, the others required a different value, but they all fit without modification.