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Low B Volume is low on one pickup only. (New EMGs)

Asomodai

Asomodai

Jan 21, 2006
771
70
41
London UK
#1
Hey guys.

I have a bass with an EMG MMTW Musicman humbucker in the bridge and a EMG P5 pickup in the neck. The EMG P5 sounds less powerful and has less low end when playing the low B string then the MMTW in the bridge. It's powered by an EMG BTC pre-amp and a 27Volt battery pack.

The EMG P5 has been routed in with plenty of room til the edge of the pickup.

What could be my problem? Could it be a phase issue? Pre-amp issue? Maybe the magnet is a bit weak on that side? What could it be?

Cheers!

Rob.
 
#4
refbassist said:
start with adjusting the pickup height and see how it goes from there!
Click to expand...

Already done.

BarkerBass said:
bridge pickups always produce a clearer and stronger low B sound on my basses but the volume of the string doesn't have to change. the neck pickup will just sound a little bigger thicker but less defined while the bridge is more punchy and articulate
Click to expand...

Yes I understand this, the P pup does sound less defined, but there is such a big drop in volume using the Low B on the P pickup that it cant just be EQ related.

There is just no balls or volume on the LOW B using P.
 
#5
EMG Ps are wired in parallel, so they tend to lack bottom and midrange. They are nice and clear, but you can't get a thick tone out of them.

Having said that, I used EMG-40P5s for years and didn't find the low B to sound weak.

Do you have the right half under the B/E/A strings? That's the half with the 2 pin connector. The half with the 5 pin connector goes under the D/G strings.
 
#6
SGD Lutherie said:
EMG Ps are wired in parallel, so they tend to lack bottom and midrange. They are nice and clear, but you can't get a thick tone out of them.

Having said that, I used EMG-40P5s for years and didn't find the low B to sound weak.

Do you have the right half under the B/E/A strings? That's the half with the 2 pin connector. The half with the 5 pin connector goes under the D/G strings.
Click to expand...

Yeah, its not a EQ issue as I explained, its a huge drop in volume compared to the MMTW, The E string E note is heaps more powerful then the B string E note.

The P pup is in the right way around.
 
#7
Adding my 2c in for future thread-searcher reference, I have an instrument with the same pickup combo and the low B sounds like poo coming out of the P5 as opposed to the humbucker. In fact, nearly all of the strings sound like poo coming out of the P5.

Will swap in the future.
 
#8
SGD Lutherie said:
EMG Ps are wired in parallel, so they tend to lack bottom and midrange. They are nice and clear, but you can't get a thick tone out of them.
Click to expand...
You can't? News to me. Been using EMG PJ's for over 20 years. Even on a 5 it sounds pretty thick to me. Clean and clear, yes, but heavy as well. Got no idea what could be wrong, though the weird and unlikely idea that he has the top and bottom coils reversed has crossed my mind ;)
 
#10
JimmyM said:
You can't? News to me. Been using EMG PJ's for over 20 years. Even on a 5 it sounds pretty thick to me. Clean and clear, yes, but heavy as well. Got no idea what could be wrong, though the weird and unlikely idea that he has the top and bottom coils reversed has crossed my mind ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah and I have been using them since the mid 80s and got them directly from EMG when I was working at American Showster. Do we get a medal? The older EMGs were wound hotter than the newer ones too. (and they are not low impedance coils).

The EMG P is one of my favorite EMG pickups, but it has reduced midrange and is not as fat sounding as a real P, or any number of other pickups. Try the Duncan active P pickups, like the old ones that had the little DIP switches on them and hear the difference.

Take a passive P and wire it in parallel. What does it sound like? Now under wind a P to 8K instead of 11K and wire it in parallel. That's what you are hearing with the EMGs. It's a good tone, and obviously Lee Sklar has used them on many hit records. I was looking for something a little warmer.

I found them to be lacking in lower mids and a little thinner than I would like. This was for the EMG-40P5 which I used along with the 40J in all my SGD basses. The J is also a nice sounding pickup, but the the bridge pickup needs more low end. I solved the issue by designing my own pickups which sound the way I want them to. ;)
 
#12
JimmyM said:
Send me a blank P pickup and a pickup winder and I'll try it ;)

Well what can I tell you? They work for me.
Click to expand...

Jimmy, you do the same thing with Ampeg. People have opinions. I just shared mine. You act like yours is the only answer and that everyone should agree with you.

I also gave a technical explanation why EMG Ps sound like they do. It was not EMGs intention to sound like a real P pickup. What point would there have been in that?

You and I use different tones from a bass. The tone I wanted was not in the EMGs, but it's not a bad tone and I never said it was.

This is why there's many different pickups on the market, and different styles of music.
 
#14
JimmyM said:
David, I'm not the one who said you can't get a thick tone out of them, so don't act like I've got a corner on being opinionated.
Click to expand...

JimmyM said:
You can't? News to me. Been using EMG PJ's for over 20 years. Even on a 5 it sounds pretty thick to me. Clean and clear, yes, but heavy as well. Got no idea what could be wrong, though the weird and unlikely idea that he has the top and bottom coils reversed has crossed my mind ;)
Click to expand...

By the way, there are no top and bottom coils, it makes no difference as they are both the same on the 4 string pickup. (I'm assuming you mean the two halves).

Another thing I forgot to mention is the EMG P uses ceramic magnets.

But let's hear your thick EMG P tone. And by thick I don't mean a lot of low of low end and no high end. :D
 
#16
JimmyM said:
What about the 5-string version? Doesn't it have a longer magnet for picking up 3 strings
Click to expand...

I sure hope so. Apparently it's not long enough for some basses. That wouldn't make the two sides sound different though. You want all five strings to sounding the same, not two sounding one way and three sounding another way.

Anyway, I think this is pretty cool sounding:

Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...

Sounds very cool, and has that scoop in the mids I'm talking about. Now use round wounds and no mute and see what you get. ;) It will be a lot more highs than lower mids. I used to be able to get a good Rick tone from them.

Once again, one of my favorite EMG pickups, but I always felt it was lacking something in the lower mids.
 
#17
Don't have a mute, and I thought I had posted you a recording of a bass with rounds, but I guess I didn't. Oh well...

Well I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you, David. I don't have a problem making them work. True, they're not identical to a standard vintage P pickup, but that's OK. If I need a certain frequency range emphasized, I can just use the preamp or my amp to dial it in.
 

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