I did mean recording ofcourse, for as playing live it's considered good luck to get any good tone anyway 
Didn't know that about the X's, thanks for the warning.
Didn't know that about the X's, thanks for the warning.
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Swapping a Spector TonePump
- Thread starter Gasman
- Start date
Energija said:
You can hear it, but what it does is more dynamic rather than tone related. Similiar to a sonic maximizer I would say, but it cleans things up also, you can hear the "edges " of the notes better. Check Lima guys clips on sound cloud. There are 9v vs 18v vs haz clips. In a band situation I can hear what I'm playing more clearly and it also drives my preamp differently.
The haz TP compare clip has all 3 flat I believe. No post eq. The clip after that has all 3 eq'd to sound close to the same .
For about $5 and 15 min its a worth wile and reversible mod imo.
News to me. I ran X series EMGs in a Guild Pilot at 18V for a couple of years with excellent results and no problems.
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Over the weekend, I swapped out the 9V Tone Pump in my Spector Euro 5LX for an EMG BQC System running at 18V. I had been hesitant for a while after the EMG gear arrived for fear that I'd lose some sort of Tone Pump magic. Well, a couple of evenings later (with only one puncture wound and no solder burns--pretty uneventful for me), everything was in. The 40DC pickups are still in place, so I had to solder the leads onto the BQC board. The jack is a long bore model so that had to be soldered as well, and I made up the 18V harness using the one supplied and one cannibalized from an old pedal. It was all I could do to get everything into the available space in some sort of orderly fashion--and to get both batteries in. Still, it was done.
How did it turn out? Well, it's spectacularly better. Great tonal range--so much better than the Tone Pump where I ran the treble near-off most of the time and modestly tweaked the bass (I play blues/jazz mostly). Flipped the treble dip-switches to both-on to get a lower frequency cut-off for the treble control and it's extremely usable. Having the mid-range frequency variable is *very* useful and all controls have a wide boost-cut range. The unique punch and character of the instrument is still there in spades. The output is a bit less hot than with the Tone Pump but that's actually an improvement in my view. And, of course, the active blend is much more practical than the two volume controls. Great headroom. To my ears at least there's no magic to the Tone Pump and the BQC System is a real improvement...as are the shiny new gold knobs!
How did it turn out? Well, it's spectacularly better. Great tonal range--so much better than the Tone Pump where I ran the treble near-off most of the time and modestly tweaked the bass (I play blues/jazz mostly). Flipped the treble dip-switches to both-on to get a lower frequency cut-off for the treble control and it's extremely usable. Having the mid-range frequency variable is *very* useful and all controls have a wide boost-cut range. The unique punch and character of the instrument is still there in spades. The output is a bit less hot than with the Tone Pump but that's actually an improvement in my view. And, of course, the active blend is much more practical than the two volume controls. Great headroom. To my ears at least there's no magic to the Tone Pump and the BQC System is a real improvement...as are the shiny new gold knobs!
Cool! Sounds like that's a better pre for your styles. The pump (and haz) really do their thing at full bore or close to it. The Emg pre is pretty good and will give ya to play with.
Sorry to bump an oldy, but just wanted to confirm as I came across this thread and contracted EMG. Running X series at 18v has no additional benefit but will have no adverse effect.
Hello,,
It's just not necessary to do, the X-series pickups already have the increased headroom that comes from the 18vt mod.
Hope this helps,
Derek B.
EMG
I ended up going with a trimpot tone pump at 9V. Needless to say, VERY satisfied.
