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EMG Club!

#83
noisevayne said:
Can you clarify what "Not a fan of the club though, the EMG's quack" means? :confused:
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Well, it's hard to describe other than to say there is a quack with the HZ's that I haven't figured out how to get rid of with eq. Shouldn't have to work that hard to get a pickup to sound good, therefore I'm not a fan of the EMG club, even though I'm a member by default.

I like burps, growls, thumps, smooth, bitey - you name it. I hate a quacky sounding pickup.
 
#85
I'm in. I have an ESP LTD C-304 with an EMG 35-P4 at the neck, a 35-CS at the bridge and a B-30 3-Band EQ. I love this combination and haven't gotten a bad tone out of that bass yet. It came stock with a set of EMG HZ 35-EP's, which are made exclusively for ESP basses. They are pretty much a passive version of the CS but they have exposed pole pieces instead of bars. I really liked those pickups but I felt it was time for a change. I'm holding onto them so I can stick them in another bass down the road. Also, I'll post some pics when I get a chance.

P.S. Some of you guys have incredible basses! Keep them coming.:hyper:
 
#86
steve21 said:
I'm going to be joining soon, with a set of EMG (REAL EMG... no HZ) P-bass pickups placed into my Squier.
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Same here, except mine will be going in this guy:

1988 MIJ Fender P Bass

DSC00596.jpg
 
#87
well i want lucky number 13, even if 11+12 are taken. heres my lovely warmoth sporting emgs, and my traben is soon to have emgs with the stock preamp. i just cant get the musicman style pickup too stop barking and sound good. so the options are either, emg mmhz and 35hz or
another MM-TW and 35P, which one do you guys think?
 

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#88
Salizander said:
Maybe I can qualify for one of the oldest & well worn set of EMG's with this picture? I think installed these in my Fender Jazz somewhere around 89' & they still sound great and its still my #1 bass! Definitely EMG's for life!
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Those are pretty old OK! The older pickups sound better too. I had a '92 set of J's and still have a '93 40J and 40P5.

I don't use the pickups any more, but I have a couple of BTC's in my basses.

While not a bass pickup... how's this? This is an Overlend EMG mini humbucker.
 
#90
ihateusernames said:
Well, it's hard to describe other than to say there is a quack with the HZ's that I haven't figured out how to get rid of with eq. Shouldn't have to work that hard to get a pickup to sound good, therefore I'm not a fan of the EMG club, even though I'm a member by default.

I like burps, growls, thumps, smooth, bitey - you name it. I hate a quacky sounding pickup.
Click to expand...

I had the same complaint with the 40DC's. Too harsh sounding, and no manner of EQ would make them sound different.

I resigned to the fact that EMG's sound like EMG's, and that's what you hear, and not the tone of the bass. You hear the pickups.

This is fine if you like the tone of EMGs. I still think the P and J pickups sound nice (and also the 40P5 and 40J), but I don't use them anymore.

THe HZ's are just bad.
 
#91
DavidRavenMoon said:
I resigned to the fact that EMG's sound like EMG's...
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I guess so; and Bartolinis sound like Bartolinis, and Lane Poors sound like Lane Poors, and '76 P-Bass Pickups sound like... well, you get the idea.

That said, I respectfully disagree that EMGs take the bass out of the sonic equation. I'll counter that EMGs can usually make a cheap bass sound "better" -- but a really good bass (like my 6-string PBC, seen earlier) will sound amazing. Your opinion on EMGs sounds a bit negative - and you're certainly entitled to your opinion. But I've gotten LOTS of compliments on my EMG-powered tone over the years.

All of that said, I still believe that your fingers are the biggest contributor to tone. :cool:
 
#92
sixandeightstringer said:
I guess so; and Bartolinis sound like Bartolinis, and Lane Poors sound like Lane Poors, and '76 P-Bass Pickups sound like... well, you get the idea.

That said, I respectfully disagree that EMGs take the bass out of the sonic equation. I'll counter that EMGs can usually make a cheap bass sound "better" -- but a really good bass (like my 6-string PBC, seen earlier) will sound amazing. Your opinion on EMGs sounds a bit negative - and you're certainly entitled to your opinion. But I've gotten LOTS of compliments on my EMG-powered tone over the years.

All of that said, I still believe that your fingers are the biggest contributor to tone. :cool:
Click to expand...

I started using EMG's when I worked for American Showster Guitars back in the 80's. Before that I used Hi-A pickups, later known as Bartolini.

Now I'm judging the tone of the pickups in the basses I build. I was happily using them for like 12 years in those basses. After a while I started to realize I was not hearing my bass. I swapped out the 40P5 and 40J for 40DC's. That wasn't better. Then I added a third pickup, a DC to the other two. A bit better. But I was always looking for more bottom, and a clearer top end, and just a more transparent tone.

I know how my basses should sound, and I wasn't getting the whole picture.

Then I wound my own low impedance pickups, and replaced the EMG's. NOW I can hear my bass!

Here's a comparison:

Here's a 40DC in the bridge position of my bass. It's running at 18V, through a BTC set flat, and into a Roland VM-3100Pro digital mixer, also set flat. The Roland had a digital S/PDIF link to an M-Audio AP-2496 card and was recorded into Spark XL.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Now here's the same bass with an EMG 40 sized dual coil low impedance pickup I designed. Same bass, same strings, same signal path.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

You can hear that the DC has a emphasized top end, and doesn't extend as low or high. The low notes sound thin. It's not smooth sounding at all. Could be useful in a dull sounding bass.

The replacement has a more articulate midrange and a deeper warmer bottom end, and also, super high highs. It also responds better to EQ, since there's a fuller pallet of frequencies available, and it's flatter to start with.

Here's the bass you are hearing

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#95
DavidRavenMoon said:
I started using EMG's when I worked for American Showster Guitars back in the 80's. Before that I used Hi-A pickups, later known as Bartolini.

Now I'm judging the tone of the pickups in the basses I build. I was happily using them for like 12 years in those basses. After a while I started to realize I was not hearing my bass. I swapped out the 40P5 and 40J for 40DC's. That wasn't better. Then I added a third pickup, a DC to the other two. A bit better. But I was always looking for more bottom, and a clearer top end, and just a more transparent tone.

I know how my basses should sound, and I wasn't getting the whole picture.

Then I wound my own low impedance pickups, and replaced the EMG's. NOW I can hear my bass!

Here's a comparison:

Here's a 40DC in the bridge position of my bass. It's running at 18V, through a BTC set flat, and into a Roland VM-3100Pro digital mixer, also set flat. The Roland had a digital S/PDIF link to an M-Audio AP-2496 card and was recorded into Spark XL.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Now here's the same bass with an EMG 40 sized dual coil low impedance pickup I designed. Same bass, same strings, same signal path.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

You can hear that the DC has a emphasized top end, and doesn't extend as low or high. The low notes sound thin. It's not smooth sounding at all. Could be useful in a dull sounding bass.

The replacement has a more articulate midrange and a deeper warmer bottom end, and also, super high highs. It also responds better to EQ, since there's a fuller pallet of frequencies available, and it's flatter to start with.

Here's the bass you are hearing

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

While I love my EMG's (40dc, 40J, BQS System, and soon to be 40MMTW) I have to say that many people bash EMG, Fender, etc. but it's cool to see someones opinion and have them go through so much trouble to actually try to explain where they are coming from. Kudos!! I get sick of the blanket (insert brand name here) sucks posts.
 
#96
pgurns said:
While I love my EMG's (40dc, 40J, BQS System, and soon to be 40MMTW) I have to say that many people bash EMG, Fender, etc. but it's cool to see someones opinion and have them go through so much trouble to actually try to explain where they are coming from. Kudos!! I get sick of the blanket (insert brand name here) sucks posts.
Click to expand...

I still have a 40J and 40P5 I bought in '93. I'm probably going to stick them in a bass I'm working on. I think the 40P5 is a great sounding pickup, and was happy that my own pickups have a similar tone when used in the neck position. I just wanted a slightly thicker sound, and the P5 is wired in parallel. Series would sound better IMO, but that would break how it's wired to the internal preamp.

I haven't tried a CS yet. It seems that was the answer to the DC being too harsh.

My only real criticism of EMG is that they are making them sound like high impedance pickups, which is fine, since that's the sound people are used to. But I was looking for a more transparent tone without the tone modeling they use. They are great pickups... I'm not bashing them per se, but they aren't exactly hi-fi flat either like Alembics or even some Basslines actives.

I also have some EMG's in a guitar I made.
 
#98
I've got another EMG project in the works. My lined-fretless Warwick Corvette Standard is about to get an overhaul. It's going to be fitted with an EMG active J/J set, EMG BTC system preamp, Graphtech Ghost piezo saddles, and a Fishman Powerchip preamp/buffer. If EMG made piezos, I'd have those in there instead. I'll post some pics when I get it finished (1-2 weeks).
 
#99
Well, I did the 18 volt mod on my ESP and I think that it made a HUGE difference in tonal range and headroom. I have had a few issues with the shop that installed my EMG's. (See thread: 250K Pots With Active EMG's for the story). Anyway, I swapped the pot out myself and I figured that I'd add another battery while I was already poking around in there. Thanks guys for spreading the word.



I'm going to play bass now. :hyper:
 
#100
I play a '91 (I think) Steinberger XM-2A, with the active EMG package designed for Steinberger basses. I'm claiming #12 if no one else has it yet. I love my EMGs, and will be replacing the pickup in my other bass with EMG when I get around to actually gigging with the thing.
 

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