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EMG Club!

#921
Here's my EMG (HZ) loaded bass :cool:
IMG_20211115_065047_006.jpg


Here's how it sounds :D
https://youtube.com/shorts/LaLkHbzibI4?feature=share
 
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#923
Ach said:
So you have replaced the US Bartolini MTD Custom active pickups with generic passive EMG HZ? Wow
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Well, for one, the MTD pickups are not active. Two, I'm not the only person to not get on with the stock MTD stuff...even Gouche doesn't use the stock stuff. Three, I don't get the hate on the HZ pickups, just because they are passive doesn't automatically make them "cheap". I prefer passive pickups because of the way you can tune their response via different pot values. With active pickups, the tone is baked in and you're stuck with it.
 
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#925
Ach said:
Hm... Bass Lobster states they custom Barts in 535 are active (with the help of an external per-pickup buffer).
Click to expand...
He's correct that they use an EXTERNAL buffer, which means the pickups themselves are not active. They are passive pickups that run into a buffer (basically a gain stage to boost their signal) before the preamp.
 
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#927
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#928
iplay5strings said:
Three, I don't get the hate on the HZ pickups, just because they are passive doesn't automatically make them "cheap"
Click to expand...
Well put. I think that started when EMG HZs were found in a lot of import models. People started to do their own math and infered that they must be bad - which of course is nonsense. But that perception‘s been too long on the internet.
I found that sound on your MTD great. And pretty groovy playing as well
 
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#929
fibz said:
Well put. I think that started when EMG HZs were found in a lot of import models. People started to do their own math and infered that they must be bad - which of course is nonsense. But that perception‘s been too long on the internet.
I found that sound on your MTD great. And pretty groovy playing as well
Click to expand...

I think some of it too may be that in their stock form they're wired in series and EMG's quick connect system makes it a bit more difficult to change them to parallel like I did (which I think sounds much better). Also, I think people assume the HZ are comparable to something like Bartolini's Mk1 stuff...whish is also nonsense. EMG still makes those HZ pickups, while Bartolini does not make the Mk1 stuff...it's licensed to an overseas manufacturer.
 
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#930
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the HZ pickups, in fact they are better than the majority of
passive pickups out there. They sound their best with certain strings, but I'm not going to say what they are
because I might get harassed. :):):):)
 
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#931
The HZ are better sounding than the "Selects" of the 80s.
I could be wrong, but those seemed to be sort of low to middle budget pickups of the time. They do have their fans, though. No hate inferred. I had a couple guitars with Select single coils and liked them fine.
 
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#933
From what I understand, the HZ humbucker has similar construction to the active CS version. Ceramic and steel. I have the TWX in a couple different basses. When that pickup is in dual coil mode, it essentially is a CSX. I really like the tone this gives me, especially in the bridge position. Roll off some highs and I love it for some burpy finger funk.
 
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#934
GlassToMouth said:
From what I understand, the HZ humbucker has similar construction to the active CS version. Ceramic and steel. I have the TWX in a couple different basses. When that pickup is in dual coil mode, it essentially is a CSX. I really like the tone this gives me, especially in the bridge position. Roll off some highs and I love it for some burpy finger funk.
Click to expand...

Resistance wise the 4 string version of MM HZ is identical to the MM stingray classic pickups, so technically speaking would not be surprised them sounding similar if put in the sweetspot and wired in parallel, i combination with the Stingray preamp of course.
 
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#935
BassikBrad said:
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the HZ pickups, in fact they are better than the majority of
passive pickups out there.
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Couldn't agree with this more! I watched hundreds of videos as well as personally exhausted the entire catalog of soapbar models from a certain brand and still landed on the HZ. They're just nice, open sounding pickups that take whatever tone print you want to put on them. So many pickups these days have hyped frequencies to make them sound "better than average stock pickups". The issue there is you either like them, are stuck trying to EQ around them, or have to keep buying pickups till you find the ones with a tuning that you like.
 
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#938
PeaveyPlayer said:
Emg GZRs
Pj height!
60s j position

any height recommendations ?
Other then the fender guide?
Click to expand...
I just get the J to be as close as possible to the strings without warbling. Then I adjust the P pickup to blend as well as possible. If the P is too far away from the strings to sound solid, I then bring it up closer to the strings and let the J pickup just hang as best it can.
 
#939
xxcody2gunsxx said:
almost all my basses have EMG pickups and noticed a long time ago that when I pan to a single EMG I get sorta distorted sound on the low E string side .I'm wondering if others have this issue and what they do about it. I cut the mids on the BQC preamp and it helps .
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I've noticed similar results at 9v even with the X series pickups. Especially when the batteries were low. My suggestion is you should try to upgrade to 18 volts. They actually strongly suggest it with the preamp when using the dual coil pickups. I've never looked back after upgrading. The batteries have been lasting way longer for me too which is a bonus.
 
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