Help with EMGs.

[Dave in LB]

I've been an EMG player since the mid 80s and recently purchased a set of 40DCXs and the B30EQ system. Had them installed and I'm getting a clipping sound when I hit the strings with force finger plucking. I've tried replacing the battery, cutting the volume on my L-pad (just in case), reduced the gain side of the amp and increased compression. All with little to no effect. If I play less hard everything sounds and plays fine but as soon as there is attack on the strings I get that farty clipping sound we all love mainly on the lower strings and the lower end of the neck. Does not seem to happen when slapping with my thumb or "popping" the strings. Any Ideas would be appreciated for trouble shooting. If it matters these were installed on a LTD B205SMF 5 string fretless.

 

[TerribleTim68]

Have you asked EMG? I’ve had great success communicating directly with them, they are very responsive to their customers. Shoot them an email.

 

[FunkHead]

I've been an EMG player since the mid 80s and recently purchased a set of 40DCXs and the B30EQ system. Had them installed and I'm getting a clipping sound when I hit the strings with force finger plucking. I've tried replacing the battery, cutting the volume on my L-pad (just in case), reduced the gain side of the amp and increased compression. All with little to no effect. If I play less hard everything sounds and plays fine but as soon as there is attack on the strings I get that farty clipping sound we all love mainly on the lower strings and the lower end of the neck. Does not seem to happen when slapping with my thumb or "popping" the strings. Any Ideas would be appreciated for trouble shooting. If it matters these were installed on a LTD B205SMF 5 string fretless.

It sounds like you may have the Pickup(s) too high. Although Slapping usually reveals that before finger style.

 

[mistermikev]

surprised there's no trim resistor on that eq... sounds like you are just pushing too much gain into the amp. do any of your other basses have actives + active-eq? as stated I would think emg has the answer but could always take a 25k trim pot and put it inline to the output to dial it back a hair. just a thought.

 

[Jisch]

You could try bypassing the B30EQ, that way you'd know if the pickups are distorting or it's pushing the EQ too hard. Dropping the pickups will reduce the output as mentioned above.

 

[RyanOh]

You may to try 18V (2 batteries) too. EMG's like to be close to the strings...I made this mistake in the past.

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Dual-Coil Bass Pickups like the EMG-CS and DC Series should be supplied with 18-Volts. The amount of output from slapping the lower strings will benefit with more headroom. As above, if you use any EMG EQ products, like the BT, or BQ controls and use a generous amount of boost then the signal will be cleanest with 18-Volts. Powering your instrument with more than 9-Volts will not make it louder. You may notice some difference in the distortion quality of your guitar, or a different result from your bass amp. We encourage you to experiment.

 

[Dave in LB]

Thanks guys. At this juncture all my basses are active pickups with the possible exception of my acoustice/electric. I tried pushing the pick ups away from the strings with no joy. and it's definitely a "too much gain" situation(never thought I'd say that ). I think the next step may be the second battery for an 18V set up. Just need to figure out where its going to go.

 

[Dave in LB]

Just a quick shout out to all of who had trouble shooting ideas. It helped and tonight we added the second battery and the clipping went away. Turns out the X pickups in this case want that extra head room from the 18V. Looks like my battery bill just went up.

 

[iiipopes]

And, of course, make sure you have the correct polarity to the circuits, both the battery and the occasional plug which is installed upside down from component to component.