emg pick up

[Bucket Head]

i recently bought a emgdc 35 pick up and a emg btc bass and treble circuit and wired them in with a volume switch. i dunno if any of you guys have had experience with these pick ups but i didnt really love it that much, altho every video ive heard and every artist that uses them sound sick. so im wondering if maybe its the bass i put it into, which is a ibanez ergodyne edb500, which is made of that luthite stuff and thought that could be the reason, the bass did sound like crap before i changed it anyway. well anyway im just wondering if any of u guys have any advice for me

cheers in advance

[OutToPlayJazz]

I've never liked EMG's, personally. They always sound too "top-endy" and harsh to me & I like a bright sound! For me, the best replacement pickups I've played and heard have been Nordstrands every time. They don't seem to be able to make a bad pickup.

[Doddy]

I like EMG's,but they are very bright sounding pick ups.I agree with Rich about the
Nordstrands,they are great. I also really like Bartolinis.

Since when did the word sick start meaning good? Whenever I feel sick I usually
feel bloody awful.

[Bucket Head]

[quote name='Doddy' post='789046' date='Mar 29 2010, 12:17 AM']I like EMG's,but they are very bright sounding pick ups.I agree with Rich about the
Nordstrands,they are great. I also really like Bartolinis.

Since when did the word sick start meaning good? Whenever I feel sick I usually
feel bloody awful.[/quote]



ha well you know us youngens and our street speak, i dunno i like the way they sound in alot of basses i just cant understand why mine sound not so great

thanks for the replys

[cetera]

Depends what type of music you like..... if it's metal (or similar) then they were probably using their EMG loaded basses through some sort of Sansamp (e.g. Bass Driver) to give that high-mid 'grind' sound...

[bubinga5]

IMHO they dont work well without a good preamp, there own curcuit is way to harsh...but i had them in a jazz with an Aguilar obp2 and they were awesome,

[Bucket Head]

which preamp would you suggest



[quote name='bubinga5' post='789353' date='Mar 29 2010, 01:30 PM']IMHO they dont work well without a good preamp, there own curcuit is way to harsh...but i had them in a jazz with an Aguilar obp2 and they were awesome,[/quote]

[Leftbass]

If you're thinking of moving that BTC on I'm on the lookout for one

[Sarah5string]

I've got EMG-HZ's in my dean and love them Good all round sound and I play in a hard rock/metal band

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

If these are the standard 'classic' type EMGs that run off a 9v battery, try them with 18v- get down to maplins & buy three 9v battery clips, wire then up together so that you can power the pickups off two batteries instead of one and they'll magically come alive.

The EMG I bought in 1986 wasn't all that inspiring originally, so I took it out. After reading that they can be powered from a much higher voltage & even phantom powered from a mixing desk, I dug it out of my bits box & put it back into one of my precisions and it has stayed in since (although there wasn't room for 2 x 9v batteries so I had to hack something together using a bunch of button cells from car 'plipper' batteries stuffed into an AAA holder)

[Doddy]

[quote name='Sarah5string' post='789517' date='Mar 29 2010, 03:45 PM']I've got EMG-HZ's in my dean and love them Good all round sound and I play in a hard rock/metal band[/quote]

The difference is that standard EMG's are active and contain a small preamp inside the
pickup,where as the EMG-HZ are passive,so they are different in sound.