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EMG DC vs CS vs TW

beadgc23

beadgc23

Jul 12, 2003
219
42
Melbourne Australia
#1
Does anyone have experience with these 3 types of pickup, or owns similar basses with DC's in one and CS's in the other? EMG say...

EMG-TW = "Inside the EMG-40TW pickup are both single and dual-coil pickups, each with its own output. The single-coil mode is a new version of our EMG-J pickup built in the CS (ceramic and steel). The dual-coil mode is our popular CS dual-coil consisting of two coils opposite one another creating a pickup similar to model 40CS"
EMG-J = "uses a single coil design which has a less powerful low end but a more prominent midrange"
EMG-CS = "uses parallel placed coils like the DC but are loaded with steel. The CS's are much warmer as a result of higher inductance, have a smoother attack and a flatter high end. They are the most "Traditional" sounding of the group"
EMG-DC = "employs parallel placed coils (ceramic loaded) to produce a deep low end, and yet maintain clarity. All of the DC Models are beefy, brilliant, and have more than enough output"

I swapped out a 40DC for a 40 TW and was surprised by the results - I'd be interested in a second opinion.
 
#2
beadgc23 said:
Does anyone have experience with these 3 types of pickup, or owns similar basses with DC's in one and CS's in the other? EMG say...

EMG-TW = "Inside the EMG-40TW pickup are both single and dual-coil pickups, each with its own output. The single-coil mode is a new version of our EMG-J pickup built in the CS (ceramic and steel). The dual-coil mode is our popular CS dual-coil consisting of two coils opposite one another creating a pickup similar to model 40CS"
EMG-J = "uses a single coil design which has a less powerful low end but a more prominent midrange"
EMG-CS = "uses parallel placed coils like the DC but are loaded with steel. The CS's are much warmer as a result of higher inductance, have a smoother attack and a flatter high end. They are the most "Traditional" sounding of the group"
EMG-DC = "employs parallel placed coils (ceramic loaded) to produce a deep low end, and yet maintain clarity. All of the DC Models are beefy, brilliant, and have more than enough output"

I swapped out a 40DC for a 40 TW and was surprised by the results - I'd be interested in a second opinion.
Click to expand...

I have all of the pickups you mention...

In my fretted bass, I have a DC at the neck, and a CS at the bridge...was DC/DC, but the bridge pickup was too bright, the CS is nice and warm, perfect...

...on my fretless, I have a J/TW set up...I can go J/J with the TW in single mode, or J/CS with the TW in dual mode...nice to have the options.

...was it a good surprise, or a bad surprise? Did you swap a bridge or neck pickup?
 
#4
On my old Acacia bass I changed the pickups from DC to TW. The change in sound was subtle - it sounded great both before and after. But, the TW was more "nice" sounding, it didn't have quite as much high end it seemed.
And it's nice to have both the J and CS sounds at the flick of a switch.

Oh, and if you aren't getting even output levels when changing between J and CS in your TW pickup, here's a simple mod that'll help you out:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#6
tuBass said:
the TW sounds very interesting... I've heard some people describe the J side as thin, and others say the J has a lot of growl...

great information
Click to expand...

While the output may seem less, I wouldn't call it thin...the J mode has lots of growl, all right...
 
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#7
Here's the reply I (eventually - sorry!) sent to tuBass - I'm posting it here in case it's of interest to anyone. Plus, thanks for the gain mod - I'll give it a go when I get around to shielding the control cavity.

"I went from a 40DC to a 40TW on my Bolin NS. The swapout required some resoldering as the TW has an 8-way plug as opposed to the standard 4 way on the DC's & CS's.

The TW has 2 modes - CS twin coil humbucker and stacked Jazz with CS coils, the only way of getting this with an EMG pickup as far as I know. These modes are switched with the included volume pot, and soldering is a bit fiddly.

Twin coil mode sounds very "retro" - big, fat. middly and very loud. Highs seem a little recessed. If you roll out the mids then it sounds more like the old DC but less "chilly". Jazz mode sounds much more "traditional EMG", but with good bass extension. Highs are clean and clear, and it does a great Jazz bridge pickup imitation. The output volume in Jazz mode is about 2/3rds that of the twin coil mode - I'm a bit surprised at this as there's a built-in preamp and they could have balanced the two. However if you like a gain boost onboard then this works perfectly.

I was happy once I'd got used to the "p-bass" sound. The original DC sounded very much like the piezos on the Bolin and I was looking for a bit more variety.

Caveat: The Bolin cavity was unshielded , once I'd installed the EMG supplied switching pot I began to pick up some noise, probably because of the unshielded wiring around the switch. Plus the TW doesn't come with any knobs, but given the horrible plastic knobs that usually come with EMG electronics this may not be a bad thing!"

So - well worth checking out.

p.s. - the Bolin NS is a one-pickup bass with piezos. The EMG is in the MM sweet spot. The bronze EMG logo looks super-stylish on a black bass...
 
#8
Incidentally, I now have two basses with mag pickups and piezos, both with seperate tone controls for the piezo. The killer sound is obtained by getting the basic tone with the mags and then rolling in the piezo with the highs cut. This provides a "grunt", LF/low mid punch, like I've never had before and now couldn't live without. AFAIK only Bolins and Turner Electrolines have this combo, unless you go boutique.
 
#10
Is a 13 year old necrothread resurrection good enough for you?

I have a set of TWs and I was wondering how to balance the output difference between single coil and humbucker mode, in a clean way. The linked .pdf above is of course missing now.
 
#14
Get a 25K trimpot. Green wire from the pickup goes to the center lug, the left lug to ground, and the right lug to the switch terminal where the green wire used to go.

This will allow you to turn the volume of the dual coil down to match the single coil mode. Once you've got them balanced you can just tuck the trimpot into the control cavity.

This is basically what EMG did with the TWX models - They attenuated the dual coil output to match the single coil output. I've had both in the same bass for comparison. The TWX dual coil mode is the same volume as the TW single coil mode. The TW dual coil mode is louder that the TWX dual coil mode.
 
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#16
BruceWane said:
Get a 25K trimpot. Green wire from the pickup goes to the center lug, the left lug to ground, and the right lug to the switch terminal where the green wire used to go.

This will allow you to turn the volume of the dual coil down to match the single coil mode. Once you've got them balanced you can just tuck the trimpot into the control cavity.

This is basically what EMG did with the TWX models - They attenuated the dual coil output to match the single coil output. I've had both in the same bass for comparison. The TWX dual coil mode is the same volume as the TW single coil mode. The TW dual coil mode is louder that the TWX dual coil mode.
Click to expand...

Awesome response brother, mega thanks. Never heard the TWX but I dig the TWs insanely. I 'll wire them up for a slight boost in dual coil mode. I may also use a Bartolini TC-3 I have somewhere around here, to boost the whole thing to a hotter level.
 

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