EMG Set up

Bennyboy-UK

Hello all,

i was was having a go with my only EMG equipped guitar this evening, just unplugged and a noodle. It's a Hamer (surprise) Centaura Deluxe with an EMG 89 in the bridge, and a pair of SAs in the middle and neck. 

I've not messed with it since it was delivered apart for an initial string change after a clean n polish and fingerboard condition and fret polish.

its always sounded really good and pretty polite, which made me wonder about the metal marketing for EMGs

looking at it the pickups are set quite a way down, and lower than I would set passive pickups.

anyone have some good guidance on setting these pickups up, and any gotchas on heights or balance?

cheers!
Ben.

guitarfishbay

As high as you like, the magnet strength isn't much of an issue.

You might reach a height in which the internal preamp will be overloaded with signal on stronger hits, causing clipping to occur.  This can be preferable for some metal players, but if you don't like it it's remedied by either lowering the pickups, or raising the clipping headroom.  You can do this by doing the 18v mod, or removing the tone pot.  I prefer to remove the tone pot, but I do play heavier music, and I do set mine up to clip just a touch on the strongest hits.

Just do it by ear, when I'm setting pickup heights I like to note down the amount of quarter turns I've done on the screw heads, so it's easy to get back to a previous position.

The 89 is not as loud or aggressive sounding as either the 81, or the 85.  It's supposed to sound like an 85, but it sounds more like a cross between an 81 and an 85 to me, with slightly lower output.  It's a really nice pickup actually, and works better with the SA singles than the 85 does just by being a bit closer in output.

EMGs do kind of sound quite polite compared to passives anyway, they don't have that fizzy/crunchy treble thing going on and sound a lot cleaner (when not clipping).  It's a sound you either like or you don't, but I like them a lot and have them in most of my guitars now.

Bennyboy-UK

Nice one, thank you. I love how quiet the things are, and the guitar has an SPC in place of a treble roll off. I'm really impressed at the versatility, although I shouldn't be, they appear to be just great all round pickups.

webrthomson

Actives and EMG in particular seem to get an unfair press with regards to how they sound IMHO - especially when you add in either the SPC or the EXG as a tone circuit. The EXG with the EMG 60 / 60A is amazing for clean.

Bennyboy-UK

I'd have to agree. The guy who runs EMG, and has done some of their installation videos is really ordinary. It must be some kind of marketing thing that makes low impedance active pickups have to equal thrash or LA studio mega effected slick-rock, and it's done ok for them... And probably helped shift a boatload of import schecters (which i actually like).

there has to be some old boys playing EMGs for rootsy you blues, or jazz... Pickups are pickups.

sweepy

I used to run my EMG's at 18v, improved dynamics no end imho and an easy mod to do

ICBM

It doesn't really matter that much, because they aren't as tonally sensitive to distance from the string, and being very low noise you can turn the gain up on your amp/pedals to compensate if you're not getting as much output.

I wouldn't set them too high, if the strings hit the covers when you pick hard it will leave unsightly wear marks. Trivial maybe , but given that you don't *need* to set them too high, I don't see the point of damaging them.

ToneControl

Bennyboy-UK said:

I'd have to agree. The guy who runs EMG, and has done some of their installation videos is really ordinary. It must be some kind of marketing thing that makes low impedance active pickups have to equal thrash or LA studio mega effected slick-rock, and it's done ok for them... And probably helped shift a boatload of import schecters (which i actually like).

there has to be some old boys playing EMGs for rootsy you blues, or jazz... Pickups are pickups.

I use EMGs for bluesy rocky jazzy stuff, those same pickups in fact
also for a sort of classical/fingerstyle acoustic-kind-of playing I sometimes, those SAs do an exceptionally clear acoustic-type tone if you want them to

I have a 30 inch scale Schecter that I use for this, although it looks like a metal guitar

Dave Gilmour used EMGs for about 20 years

ToneControl

If you set them too high the lettering can wear off as well as the strings damaging the surface of the pickup

The 89 is a little loud compared to the SAs of course, that is either ideal or annoying depending on your needs

I would recommend adding  active EQ: either the David Gilmour set (SPC and  EXG, see http://www.emgpickups.com/dg20-davidgilmour.html#video - great for scooping out mids or boosting them), or a bass and treble control

the EMG bass controls have a switch to allow them to use typical guitar frequencies 
I bought this one, works perfectly:
EMG BTS CONTROL 2-BAND EQ 4 POTIS         2-band EQ plus balance and volume controls
I didn't use the balance control

Bennyboy-UK

Thanks everyone for the help and guidance cheers!

professorben

What bodywood is the guitar in question???

Bennyboy-UK

This Centaura is Alder

professorben

Bennyboy-UK said:

This Centaura is Alder

Hmmmmm. 

olafgarten

Has anyone tried the new Retroactives? I am curious as to how they sound. The problem with EMG's for me is that they are too scooped in the mids and that detracts from the tone unless you add loads of gain. I know you can add an Active Boost but that isn't solving the root problem.

ToneControl

olafgarten said:

Has anyone tried the new Retroactives? I am curious as to how they sound. The problem with EMG's for me is that they are too scooped in the mids and that detracts from the tone unless you add loads of gain. I know you can add an Active Boost but that isn't solving the root problem.

there's lots of different models that don't sound the same

guitarfishbay

Try the 57/66 set then, it's like a loud take on the 81/60 with more hairy treble and less bass cut (still sounds EMG-ish but more passive quality)

I've not tried the Retroactives yet. To be honest I'm more interested in trying the Fishman Fluences if I did switch my pickups out again.