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EMG Club!

#1,161
roffe said:
I like EMGs, and I have them in 4 basses, with both active and passive electronics, and I don't find them sterile at all. They're punchy, they have good clarity and output and are noise free.
I'm not the biggest fan of EMGs in guitars, I tend to prefer passive pickups in guitars, but they're completely fine. I've played EMG-equipped guitars on recordings and they turned out great.
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One of my best friends is a guitarist and guitar teacher. Somehow he’s had the good fortune of being given a late 80’s Steinberger GM guitar, which has EMGs.

Talk about lucky! But guess what? He can’t stand EMGs. The last time I asked him about the guitar, he said he hasn’t yet decided which brand and model of passive pickups that he plans to put into it.

BTW, he’s a huge Allan Holdsworth fan. To rib him about EMGs, I’ve been bringing up how great Allan sounded playing EMGs when we saw him live in the late 80’s.
 
#1,162
Arthur U. Poon said:
One of my best friends is a guitarist and guitar teacher. Somehow he's had the good fortune of being given a late 80's Steinberger GM guitar, which has EMGs.

Talk about lucky! But guess what? He can't stand EMGs. The last time I asked him about the guitar, he said he hasn't yet decided which brand and model of passive pickups that he plans to put into it.

BTW, he's a huge Allan Holdsworth fan. To rib him about EMGs, I've been bringing up how great Allan sounded playing EMGs when we saw him live in the late 80's.
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Tell him to plug the GM in and give it an honest week's worth of playing before swapping anything out.

Also tell him to listen with his ears, not his eyes.
 
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#1,163
Arthur U. Poon said:
I've been thinking about EMG bass pickups over the past few days. Not withstanding the EMGs that are in my Spectors, I'm most familiar with the Original Recipe P, the Original Recipe J set and the Original Recipe PJ set. I've had all of these pickups in Fender basses and Fender-style basses since the mid 80's.

I played tons of live gigs with those basses loaded with EMGs and I recorded quite a bit with them too.

But I've heard the: "EMGs sound too Hi-Fi", or "EMGs sound sterile" B.S., mainly from guitarists, but I have heard some bass players say the same thing.

I personally don't hear it, especially in the recording realm, where the Engineer knows how to properly EQ. I've heard playbacks where my basses sounded incredibly warm and tube-like, through mostly solid state recording equipment, and sometimes 100% solid state recording equipment.

Has anyone else noticed the same thing?

And even though my EMG loaded Spectors do have the ability to sound very bright and aggressive, they all have onboard EQs or onboard preamps that allow incredible tonal versatility.

I've played my NS4CRFM and my Euro 6LT, both which have EMG BTS eq systems, on many Modern Country and Top 40 Pop/Rock gigs. And I felt they sounded very good.

Also, question for those folks who also play guitar: Do you like active EMG guitar pickups?

I can only think of 3 or 4 guitarists who like EMGs. They're very, very happy with them, even though they also play guitars with passive pickups.

But the majority of guitarists that I regularly play with very much dislike active EMG pickups.

I've listened to many sound comparisons on YouTube, where the EMG 81 or the 85 is compared to comparable DiMarzio or Seymour Duncan passive pickups. I certainly hear a difference, mainly in a slight bit of added clarity from the EMGs, but I still personally think the EMGs sound great.

What's the beef? I've heard my guitarist friends complain about EMGs feeling or sounding compressed, which I do hear at times, but I personally don't hear that as a bad thing.

Please feel free to discuss, because I'm trying to figure this out.

Thanks, all!
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I've always thought the "EMGs sound too compressed" thing is kind of a weird complaint. You're likely to have a compressor in your setup and you will almost definitely have additional compression at the board anyway. Do emgs have a small amount of built in compression? Maybe, but it's not like they're squashing the crap out of your signal. If someone doesn't like the tone that's fine, but it's probably not because it's "too compressed"
 
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#1,164
SuperTheBass said:
I've always thought the "EMGs sound too compressed" thing is kind of a weird complaint. You're likely to have a compressor in your setup and you will almost definitely have additional compression at the board anyway. Do emgs have a small amount of built in compression? Maybe, but it's not like they're squashing the crap out of your signal. If someone doesn't like the tone that's fine, but it's probably not because it's "too compressed"
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That's not quite what people mean... Compression is controllable - you set parameters that dictate how the volume gets ridden (rode?) to smooth out peaks.

EMGs have a very wide band of sound - very full-range. They don't have the same peaks and valleys in their frequency response as passive pickups tend to have.
It's more about headroom and how the little preamp chip inside EMG pickups handles overloads with that wide range of sound. Some people claim they can feel the somewhat more taut dynamic range running at 9v... but those people tend to be flat-EQers and people who insist nothing sounds good unless there's at least two batteries powering their active basses. Sometimes it's just a winky-size thing. If only people would reach for their tone controls and EQ controls and experiment.

I know a few people who's minds were blown when they figured out they could dial back their treble and get a virtually noise-less sound yet still retain some sparkle... I mean, really...
 
#1,165
Howdy everyone. Only had one bass with EMGs and loved it. But, it was only around for about a year out of a few decades playing. Will be back in the club.

Anyone run their EMG bass with a Jule Simone or other similar tube preamps/amps? If so, what do you think of the fit? I'll be using my own ears to gauge it on my setup, but thought I'd ask for the purpose of conversation. Back when I last had EMGs I was using a Tecamp Puma, so pretty clean.
 
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#1,166
LakeEffect said:
Howdy everyone. Only had one bass with EMGs and loved it. But, it was only around for a bout a year out of a few decades playing. Will be back in the club.

Anyone run their EMG bass with a Jule Simone or other similar tube preamps/amps? If so, what do you think of the fit? I'll be using my own ears to gauge it on my setup, but thought I'd ask for the purpose of conversation. Back when I last had EMGs I was using a Tecamp Puma, so pretty clean.
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I used a DB680 aguilar
Currently sitting in a rack case right now

I also use a Gk mb fusion 500
I love the Gk fusion compared to the solid state as it adds a bit of warmth but mostly
Depth
The db680 is also great
Some people note it as a hi fi sounding amp and while it is on the end of tube amps
Not as hi fi as the gk
It’s more neutral to me imo
But still imparts a warmth/ blanket over emgs that isn’t suffocating the upper clarity
 
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#1,167
Agreed… when my dad bought my steinberger synapse when I was 17 I didn’t sound like a P to me (had an Emg 40P)

Then I built my warmoth with pj and all thought it had Emg flavour sounded p like

So I ended up putting a DC40 in the steinberger
I recently played it for a reggae show.. it was a bit aggressive for me and I’ve played a stingray classic 5 for reggae before

So I actually went back to the 40P a few months ago and it fits it way better and I can get get good tone now compared to back than
ctmullins said:
Tell him to plug the GM in and give it an honest week's worth of playing before swapping anything out.

Also tell him to listen with his ears, not his eyes
Click to expand...
 
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#1,173
The new Bart sized Emg “E” series has been released

Looking into this for my brian bromberg
As a wide aperture pickup it “looks” “like the magnet is J like ?

I wonder if it’ll have a jazz like tone. Hard to hear from this clip but
 

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#1,174
PeaveyPlayer said:
The new Bart sized Emg “E” series has been released

Looking into this for my brian bromberg
As a wide aperture pickup it “looks” “like the magnet is J like ?

I wonder if it’ll have a jazz like tone. Hard to hear from this clip but
Click to expand...

I’m predicting/hoping it will have more of a Peavey Super Ferrite tone, with that characteristic EMG clarity. Hopefully not anemic like a normal J pickup!
 
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#1,176
ctmullins said:
I’m predicting/hoping it will have more of a Peavey Super Ferrite tone, with that characteristic EMG clarity. Hopefully not anemic like a normal J pickup!
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The Super Ferrite tonality really should be an offering of more pickup companies. It's just that good!
Thank you @Matt Kustom at 916 pickups for carrying the torch!
Super Ferrite Bass Pickups – Nine One Six Pickups
No disrespect to EMG, as I love them and continue to use them. They are my favorite active pickup company.
However, 916 is doing really cool stuff in the vein of my favorite passive pickups.
 
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