New EMGs, not much tone control

[Captain Bassman]

Thanks in advance for the help.

I recently installed EMG pickups (35P & PJ), in a standard PJ configuration. All wiring as indicated and included with the pickups. Wired with 18V.

Problem is, the tone knob makes very little difference in the sound. There is a miniscule rolloff in treble, but not much. EMG tech support says that is the way active systems work.
I say it'd be nice be able to make changes from the bass, rather than the amp.

My question is, is this normal? If so what can be done to make it more responsive? EMG sells an active tone control, (the BTC control) but it's another $80. I'd hate to spend that without knowing if it will help.

Would an entirely different preamp do the trick? If so which one would match well with my pickups?

Thanks, again. Any observations are most appreciated.

Kirk

 

[Gopher Bob]

I don't understand. I have the stacked low/high control on my EMGs and it works great. I love the tone of the EMGs I wouldn't want to change it.

Maybe the EMG tone is not for you?

 

[Captain Bassman]

No I like the basic tone of the pickups, it really does sound great, it's just the passive tone pot that doesn't seem to have any effect.

My setup is vol/tone/vol. I don't have the stacked control.

 

[Chrisk-K]

I once installed an EMG J set on a Warwick Corvette and its tone adjustability was sort of minimal.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

Maybe the capacitor EMG uses on the tone control is just not to your liking? You could just try switching out the cap with something of a different value.

If you really want tonal variety, you might consider an onboard preamp.

 

[Captain Bassman]

Yeah I'm thinking the Aguilar OBP1 may be the way to go.

 

[Gopher Bob]

Do it and post samples of results said results!

 

[Metal Mitch]

Problem is, the tone knob makes very little difference in the sound. There is a miniscule rolloff in treble, but not much.

Your tone cap has a broken connection.

I just installed a passive volume and tone on a EMG PJ set last week. The tone knob works just like any other passive tone control.

 

[Thornton Davis]

Yeah I'm thinking the Aguilar OBP1 may be the way to go.

I recently installed a Aguilar OBP-2TK in my Schecter along with a new pair of EMG 40P5's. Result is killer! The OBP-2 replaced the factory installed EMG BTS which lacked tone IMO.

TD

 

[Captain Bassman]

Maybe, but if so, I got two from two different packages with the same defect.