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EMG Club!

#861
pbass888 said:
Hey Emg club
So I’ve had emgs and done two shows and 1 recording ep session with a singer. I’m surprised how much I like the JA set in my fretless jazz . As posted earlier (post 845) I installed 3 sets of jazz pickups in my fretless basses.The JA seem to be great live and I favor them slightly over the jvx and original jx versions.The JA pickups seem to be slightly warmer and fatter sounding. On the live gigs they all really stood out and were clear and defined, which is what I was looking for. Great lows and mids . Worried about a mid scoop on the j set but not the case ( perhaps a bit compressed compared to my old single coil Lollars.

I think (?) JA and jvx use alnico magnets vs ceramic , reading from the Emg site.


Anyway wanted to share my experiences and reiterate how happy I am with all 3 sets of pickups from the company.
Click to expand...
JA and JVX if I recall are both alnico but the ivx have exposed pole pieces as a result gives a faded attack like a vintage/ passive J bass
 
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#863
pbass888 said:
Hey Emg club
So I’ve had emgs and done two shows and 1 recording ep session with a singer. I’m surprised how much I like the JA set in my fretless jazz . As posted earlier (post 845) I installed 3 sets of jazz pickups in my fretless basses.The JA seem to be great live and I favor them slightly over the jvx and original jx versions.The JA pickups seem to be slightly warmer and fatter sounding. On the live gigs they all really stood out and were clear and defined, which is what I was looking for. Great lows and mids . Worried about a mid scoop on the j set but not the case ( perhaps a bit compressed compared to my old single coil Lollars.

I think (?) JA and jvx use alnico magnets vs ceramic , reading from the Emg site.


Anyway wanted to share my experiences and reiterate how happy I am with all 3 sets of pickups from the company.
Click to expand...
Very cool! Glad you like them and they are working out for you.

I have only used the old school, ceramic versions of the P and J pickups from them. I love them dearly, however, if I were to buy new ones, I would certainly get the JA and PA versions.
FWIW, I use the SA and T sets on my Fender guitars, both are alnico and amazing.
 
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#864
bigtone23 said:
Very cool! Glad you like them and they are working out for you.

I have only used the old school, ceramic versions of the P and J pickups from them. I love them dearly, however, if I were to buy new ones, I would certainly get the JA and PA versions.
FWIW, I use the SA and T sets on my Fender guitars, both are alnico and amazing.
Click to expand...

I think for my 4th set (pj 4 string )I’m going to try the alnico also pax set . I imagine they kill on guitar .
 
#865
Don't know what # I am but im diehard EMG. Just about every bass I have has PJs, mostly 80s or 90s or 35p&j. I have 3 or 4 that have the BTS made lefty for me by emg. I have many others as well
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#867
Question for y’all.

Has anyone tried the both the HZ’s and the CSX/TWX with the BQ or BT pre amp? I’ve heard great things about the HZ’s and they are quite similar in construction to CSX/TWX pickups with the ceramic and steel design but fully passive.

For those that tried both, which did you like better? Did they basically sound the same? Feel the same?
 
#872
Joblivion said:
Question for y’all.

Has anyone tried the both the HZ’s and the CSX/TWX with the BQ or BT pre amp? I’ve heard great things about the HZ’s and they are quite similar in construction to CSX/TWX pickups with the ceramic and steel design but fully passive.

For those that tried both, which did you like better? Did they basically sound the same? Feel the same?
Click to expand...
Definitely more of a fan of their actives than their HZ pickups. I don't think HZ's are bad, but the actives are better, at least for me.
 
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#873
Emg club,
What height do you set the pickup on the bridge . I looked on the site and it said you can do place them close to the strings due to the low number of windings .

My j set the bridge pickup is slammed up almost touching the strings while the neck pickup is a bit further away .
Love to hear any ideas.
Thankyou
Pbass888
 
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#874
pbass888 said:
Emg club,
What height do you set the pickup on the bridge . I looked on the site and it said you can do place them close to the strings . My j set the bridge pickup is slammed up almost touching the strings while the neck pickup is a bit further away .
Love to hear any ideas.
Thankyou
Pbass888
Click to expand...
I checked my J 5 set. With the strings pressed down at the top fret, it's about 4/32" on the bass side, 3/32" on the treble side for the neck and 3.5-4/32" on the bass side and 3/32" on the treble side of the bridge pickup.

I initially set them by eye and sound, past experience has found them pretty close to the strings with great results (like 2/32"). However, when when switching on the fly with other active basses, the EMG set was relatively a little too hot. I dropped them down a touch and it's more consistent with my other basses and sounds great.
 
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#876
@bigtone23, Thankyou for the help! I’m going to have all my bases with Emg soon but I will try those measurements now . Appreciate you checking and sharing this info !
bigtone23 said:
I checked my J 5 set. With the strings pressed down at the top fret, it's about 4/32" on the bass side, 3/32" on the treble side for the neck and 3.5-4/32" on the bass side and 3/32" on the treble side of the bridge pickup.

I initially set them by eye and sound, past experience has found them pretty close to the strings with great results (like 2/32"). However, when when switching on the fly with other active basses, the EMG set was relatively a little too hot. I dropped them down a touch and it's more consistent with my other basses and sounds great.
Click to expand...

pbass888
 
#878
pbass888 said:
@bigtone23, Thankyou for the help! I’m going to have all my bases with Emg soon but I will try those measurements now . Appreciate you checking and sharing this info !


pbass888
Click to expand...
For sure!
FWIW, my bass also has the BTS system. Not sure if the pickup signal passes at unity gain or if the BTS adds any gain or not. It's almost always set to the flat detents.
Based on how I tend to play J basses--which is mostly with both pickups at equal blend or soloed neck pickup and almost never just the soloed bridge pickup... I have another height trick I do with some of my J basses-particularly the 5ers. I set the neck pickup to be balanced as close as possible from string to string, which is usually with the bass side slightly lower than the treble side as mentioned above. I then set the bridge pickup to an equal volume with the same low to high balance, but then just slightly tweak the bass side up and the treble side down, like a 32nd of an inch on each side. This gives a little more punch/cut to the lower strings, especially the B and a little to the E. If you play with the bridge pickup soloed, it may be just a touch unbalanced from low to high strings, though.
I didn't do this height tweak with this particular bass, as I have been experimenting with soloing the bridge pickup and boosting the bass control to taste. It's a cool, burpy, mid-forward tonality, but still has the full bottom end to support a band. I need to have the low strings controlled when boosting the lows with EQ.
 
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#880
bigtone23 said:
For sure!
FWIW, my bass also has the BTS system. Not sure if the pickup signal passes at unity gain or if the BTS adds any gain or not. It's almost always set to the flat detents.
Based on how I tend to play J basses--which is mostly with both pickups at equal blend or soloed neck pickup and almost never just the soloed bridge pickup... I have another height trick I do with some of my J basses-particularly the 5ers. I set the neck pickup to be balanced as close as possible from string to string, which is usually with the bass side slightly lower than the treble side as mentioned above. I then set the bridge pickup to an equal volume with the same low to high balance, but then just slightly tweak the bass side up and the treble side down, like a 32nd of an inch on each side. This gives a little more punch/cut to the lower strings, especially the B and a little to the E. If you play with the bridge pickup soloed, it may be just a touch unbalanced from low to high strings, though.
I didn't do this height tweak with this particular bass, as I have been experimenting with soloing the bridge pickup and boosting the bass control to taste. It's a cool, burpy, mid-forward tonality, but still has the full bottom end to support a band. I need to have the low strings controlled when boosting the lows with EQ.
Click to expand...


@bigtone23
This is great information! Thankyou for this .
I do favor the bridge pickup with my old single coils and ran them neck =2 or 3 ,bridge =10 , tone =2-4 with nickel round strings. Now with emg I’m trying not to just go with my “tradition” and experimenting on gigs and sessions. I do the pickup trick with you mentioned in the last paragraph for my jazz gigs.

I love how clean the sets I have are ( just,jvx and ja.). Now up close the j-x sounded killer live (with piano ,drums ,sax and trumpet) .super clear and fat also. I like the alnico Ja for most stuff , and am still learning the jvx. I think I like them a lot because they are paired with a great HG Thor heavy epoxy neck. Jury is still out.

Your help is invaluable. I owe you a beer at least. Btw, I’m in downtown Denver Capitol Hill.
Thanks again
Pbass888
 
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