Can you explain a little more about how the 24v mod improves the stock 81? I do like EMG's for thrash/metal but sometimes the notes feel, for lack of a better word, squished. Sounding thin and decaying too quickly.
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EMG Pickups In Poplar Body Guitar
- Thread starter Charvel1975
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Can you explain a little more about how the 24v mod improves the stock 81? I do like EMG's for thrash/metal but sometimes the notes feel, for lack of a better word, squished. Sounding thin and decaying too quickly.
Filipe Soares
Well-Known Member
The emg pre amp running in 9v lacks headroom and the pickup sounds really compressed. running it with 2 A23 Batteries (24v) provides a lot of headroom and the pickup sounds fresh. like if you cleaned your ears. It is a cheap mod that really improves the sound without the augmented need of space if you run 2x9v batteries.
The emg pre amp running in 9v lacks headroom and the pickup sounds really compressed. running it with 2 A23 Batteries (24v) provides a lot of headroom and the pickup sounds fresh. like if you cleaned your ears. It is a cheap mod that really improves the sound without the augmented need of space if you run 2x9v batteries.
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Interesting. Do you still get the uber-tight thrashy character of the stock EMG 81?
Filipe Soares
Well-Known Member
yep, it is all there... it is like imagine that perfect girl, now imagine her with blue eyes. the same shit, but refined.
Charvel1975
Active Member
Just took pics but it's saying file size is too large. I'll have to adjust size of pics then attach to this thread.
Whizzercone
Well-Known Member
Active pickups sound the same in a Les Paul as they sound in a cardboard box. You have some other issue.
Charvel1975
Active Member
I'm going to all passive pickups on my Charvel model 5fx and have to save up money 
The Seymour Duncan trem spaced 59/Custom in the bridge and a Cool Rails for the neck has peaked my interest. I've had suggestions for other passive pickups as well. Just wondering if the potentiometer holes for volume and tone will need reamed to fit new pots and what high quality toneful pots, wiring, caps, treble bleed mod, Output jack to go with?
The Seymour Duncan trem spaced 59/Custom in the bridge and a Cool Rails for the neck has peaked my interest. I've had suggestions for other passive pickups as well. Just wondering if the potentiometer holes for volume and tone will need reamed to fit new pots and what high quality toneful pots, wiring, caps, treble bleed mod, Output jack to go with?
Charvel1975
Active Member
I might be replacing all the gold saddles on the 1990's Gold Original Floyd Rose tremolo that's been on it
Charvel1975
Active Member
Yea I've been researching the EMG-89R for the bridge position
Charvel1975
Active Member
Charvel Model 5FX features a neckthrough construction with a maple neck and poplar body.
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Filipe Soares
Well-Known Member
I have a tele with 89 and 89R and it is one of the most versatile instruments I ever played.Yea I've been researching the EMG-89R for the bridge position
Matthews Guitars
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Speaking as a guitar builder, I can say with confidence that wood choice does affect tone but the effect is slight. With EMGs it's almost zero. That the guitar body is made of poplar doesn't really make a bit of difference. Poplar, alder, walnut, ash, mahogany, maple, basswood...any of them, it'd hardly make a difference you'd hear through the amp.
Gain loss compared to what else?
If the bridge pickup is the stock J95, I can see why it could lack "clarity or definition" but not how it would lack of "any punch" and be "extremely bright"... This model is supposed to have a high DCR (17.4k) and high inductance (7.3H). IOW it's meant to be a high gain model, with a rather hot and dark voicing...
The Floyd Rose style trem probably thins out its tone... but shouldn't lead such a hi-gain HB to sound "extremely bright" IME/AFAIK.
How do you plug this guitar to your pedals and/or amp? Through a wireless system? A cable? Of which lenght?
Also: have you measured the DCR of the bridge PU through the output jack?
And does its tone control works normally?...
There are technical reasons behind these questions but I don't want to pollute your topic with long explanations before to know if it's justified or not...
EDIT - Zoomed on the pics in post 30 and seen the guitar has an EMG bridge PU now... but I still wonder what was going on with the J95. ;-)
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Charvel1975
Active Member
The EMG pickups & gold Original Floyd Rose that are in it now are what was in it when I got the guitar as a Christmas gift from my parents years ago.
Aaaahhh... OK, sorry for my off topic answer, then .
EMG's like your bridge pickup have typically a special frequency response, with a "bass-cut" / hi-pass filtering, a bowed midrange then a smooth roll-off in high frequencies.... They have nothing of the "resonant peak" exhibited by ANY passive pickup.
Pic of electrically induced response from two EMG humbuckers compared to passive pickups:
The same kind of pics can be found on other websites. EMG's actually EQ the signal like this.
A pair of passive pickups should therefore sound different in there, albeit it would make the tone dependant of pots resistance and cable length (because of cable capacitance).
Anyway... One year ago, you were writing:
Here is my experience with these models, FWIW.
-59/Custom: I've put one in an Explorer. But for a Fender scale guitar with FR, I opted for the plain Custom because it has more inductance. Which makes it beefy enough to compensate the thinner low freq due to the trem (like a Jackson J95 would do). It has also an interesting single coilish sound in parallel.
-Cool Rails: I've one in a Fender scale instrument with hard tail bridge. I've mounted a BRIDGE model in NECK position because series/parallel options give me the same kind of difference than between a P90 and a Strat single coil. Very versatile and useful on stage IME.
Regarding your Charvel, if it was for me, maybe I'd try to find some old Jackson pickups (J50BC, J200) + a JE1000 preamp: that's what Charvel mounted in Japanese CH models. It's half way between passive and active electronics, really good sounding IME and versatile, thx to the mid boost (to mount on a push-pull tone pot with a 47k resistor between its wires if one doesn't want to drill a hole for a dedicated 3rd pot). With this circuit, I've no problem since the 80's to play the bands mentioned in your post 8 above. Mileages may vary.
FWIW : long boring testimonial from an old fart a Sunday morning.
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