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.
I'm always looking for interesting USA Hamers for sale.
At the moment I'm looking for:
* Hamer SS2 & T62
* Music Man Luke 1
Please drop me a message.
Comments
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.
At the moment I'm looking for:
* Hamer SS2 & T62
* Music Man Luke 1
Please drop me a message.
there has to be some old boys playing EMGs for rootsy you blues, or jazz... Pickups are pickups.
At the moment I'm looking for:
* Hamer SS2 & T62
* Music Man Luke 1
Please drop me a message.
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.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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
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
At the moment I'm looking for:
* Hamer SS2 & T62
* Music Man Luke 1
Please drop me a message.
At the moment I'm looking for:
* Hamer SS2 & T62
* Music Man Luke 1
Please drop me a message.
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.