Trebly Emg's

JohnS · June 24th, 2008, 08:18 PM

Hi. I have a set of EMG T's in an ash body Tele. It's just too bright. I find I have the tone pot halfway down most of the time and my wife complains it hurts her ears. Anyone tried a different tone cap or adding a resistor or something without resorting to an expensive SPC? Any and all ideas welcome.

nicktele5150 · June 24th, 2008, 08:29 PM

have you tried a bit of light distortion? emgs site says you cant change the caps

rockycreeker · June 24th, 2008, 08:31 PM

Quote:

a set of EMG T's

Is your set the Alnico or Ceramic? The Ceramic is brighter.

teletin · June 25th, 2008, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicktele5150

emgs site says you cant change the caps

Yes you can. I have done it with good results. You won't destroy the pups or harm them in any way.

JohnS · June 25th, 2008, 07:32 AM

These are the alnico ones. What did you change the cap to?

Thanks.

teletin · June 25th, 2008, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnS

What did you change the cap to?

I experimented with a dual tonecontrol, meaning on one side of the pot there's a normal 0.047uF cap and on the other end there's a 0.0047 one. I was trying to get the cocked-wah sound with that. It worked quite nice and the wiring is in fact still in that guitar.

e-merlin · June 25th, 2008, 10:32 AM

Have you tried lowering them? EMGs will respond like other pickups to height changes.

robt57 · June 25th, 2008, 10:45 AM

Weber Beam Blocker might be worth a try. Cheap, easy, reversible, and probably in the opposite direction you'd have thought the suggestions might go. ;)

nikopapp · June 25th, 2008, 03:19 PM

I would try the 18V mod, it will give you more headroom and less compression and might take the edge off.
And it just takes an extra battery clip, $3 at Radio shack.

robt57 · June 25th, 2008, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikopapp

I would try the 18V mod, it will give you more headroom and less compression and might take the edge off.
And it just takes an extra battery clip, $3 at Radio shack.

Could you elaborate on this please ?? Thanks

cdhopkin · June 25th, 2008, 05:39 PM

The 18v mod is achieved by running two PP3's in series with each other - here's a diagram I found whilst Googling

You connect the positive wire from one clip to the earth of the other the same as if you were linking coils in series in a humbucker.

I'm doubtful if it would reduce the high end, personally I would try what EMG recommend in their Nine Basic Diagrams pdf which is to add another .1uF cap in parallel with the one already in use, giving you a .2uF cap instead (as adding capacitors in parallel means you add the values together).

robt57 · June 25th, 2008, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdhopkin

The 18v mod is achieved by running two PP3's in series with each other - here's a diagram I found whilst Googling

You connect the positive wire from one clip to the earth of the other the same as if you were linking coils in series in a humbucker.

I'm doubtful if it would reduce the high end, personally I would try what EMG recommend in their Nine Basic Diagrams pdf which is to add another .1uF cap in parallel with the one already in use, giving you a .2uF cap instead (as adding capacitors in parallel means you add the values together).

What is the effect on the PUP and tone I wonder. I'd not have thought you could do this without frying something...

cdhopkin · June 25th, 2008, 06:12 PM

EMGs are designed to take up 27v...some metal players (Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest comes to mind) runs his at 18v so no danger of frying them.

robt57 · June 25th, 2008, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdhopkin

EMGs are designed to take up 27v...some metal players (Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest comes to mind) runs his at 18v so no danger of frying them.

I got a T set coming, so you got me really curious.

I wonder if you could put a pot with a second battery and dial in more juice like an effect....

maestrovert · June 25th, 2008, 09:07 PM

i'd play with height and angle adjustments 1st before swapping or adding caps and/or other wiring...

JohnS · June 26th, 2008, 07:31 AM

I'll try that as well as the cap doubling, Maestrovert. I can't have the wife unhappy with my Tele!

newtwanger · June 26th, 2008, 04:01 PM

My experience is that on my Ash tele the EMG bridge was too bright and "peavey-y" even with the 18V mod (Make sure you have room for 2 batteries first!!).

Adding the SPC allowed me to dial in a thicker sound that also shaves the highs a bit. I would prefer to hide the SPC (don't like the 3 knob look), but it really comes in handy.

cdhopkin · June 27th, 2008, 09:54 AM

Another option would be to place a resistor in parallel with the pot terminals to "turn down" the range of the pot.

bargoedboy · June 27th, 2008, 11:53 AM

i got a set of emg`s in my ash tele , and they were too bright as i had wrong pots in there , so i just stuck a cap permanently on, can`t remember what i used just swapped about with guitar plugged in too find which sounded better. won`t hurt to try , cant damage pickups ok .

June 24th, 2008, 08:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
JohnS Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Age: 59 Posts: 295 10 Photos	Trebly Emg's Hi. I have a set of EMG T's in an ash body Tele. It's just too bright. I find I have the tone pot halfway down most of the time and my wife complains it hurts her ears. Anyone tried a different tone cap or adding a resistor or something without resorting to an expensive SPC? Any and all ideas welcome.

June 24th, 2008, 08:29 PM	#2 (permalink)
nicktele5150 Tele-Meister Join Date: May 2008 Location: georgia Age: 15 Posts: 116	have you tried a bit of light distortion? emgs site says you cant change the caps __________________ nothin beats a good tele

June 25th, 2008, 10:45 AM	#8 (permalink)
robt57 Friend of Leo's Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Lost Yankee in Nashville Age: 51 Posts: 2,823 16 Photos	Weber Beam Blocker might be worth a try. Cheap, easy, reversible, and probably in the opposite direction you'd have thought the suggestions might go. ;) __________________ Leo's Great, Leo's Good, let us thank him for our... Twang!

June 25th, 2008, 09:07 PM	#15 (permalink)
maestrovert Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: West Branch Mi. Posts: 6,002	i'd play with height and angle adjustments 1st before swapping or adding caps and/or other wiring... __________________ Sing the Song Bro' Play on Drummer www.godonthe.net

June 26th, 2008, 04:01 PM	#17 (permalink)
newtwanger Tele-Holic Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Quebec, Canada Posts: 664 5 Photos	My experience is that on my Ash tele the EMG bridge was too bright and "peavey-y" even with the 18V mod (Make sure you have room for 2 batteries first!!). Adding the SPC allowed me to dial in a thicker sound that also shaves the highs a bit. I would prefer to hide the SPC (don't like the 3 knob look), but it really comes in handy. __________________ _________________

June 25th, 2008, 07:32 AM	#5 (permalink)
JohnS Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Age: 59 Posts: 295 10 Photos	These are the alnico ones. What did you change the cap to? Thanks.

June 25th, 2008, 03:19 PM	#9 (permalink)
nikopapp NEW MEMBER! Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Los Angeles, CA Age: 32 Posts: 2	I would try the 18V mod, it will give you more headroom and less compression and might take the edge off. And it just takes an extra battery clip, $3 at Radio shack.

June 25th, 2008, 05:39 PM	#11 (permalink)
cdhopkin Tele-Meister Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Pontypridd, South Wales Age: 30 Posts: 197	The 18v mod is achieved by running two PP3's in series with each other - here's a diagram I found whilst Googling You connect the positive wire from one clip to the earth of the other the same as if you were linking coils in series in a humbucker. I'm doubtful if it would reduce the high end, personally I would try what EMG recommend in their Nine Basic Diagrams pdf which is to add another .1uF cap in parallel with the one already in use, giving you a .2uF cap instead (as adding capacitors in parallel means you add the values together).

June 25th, 2008, 06:12 PM	#13 (permalink)
cdhopkin Tele-Meister Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Pontypridd, South Wales Age: 30 Posts: 197	EMGs are designed to take up 27v...some metal players (Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest comes to mind) runs his at 18v so no danger of frying them.

June 26th, 2008, 07:31 AM	#16 (permalink)
JohnS Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Age: 59 Posts: 295 10 Photos	I'll try that as well as the cap doubling, Maestrovert. I can't have the wife unhappy with my Tele!

June 27th, 2008, 09:54 AM	#18 (permalink)
cdhopkin Tele-Meister Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Pontypridd, South Wales Age: 30 Posts: 197	Another option would be to place a resistor in parallel with the pot terminals to "turn down" the range of the pot.

June 27th, 2008, 11:53 AM	#19 (permalink)
bargoedboy TDPRI Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: sherborne Age: 46 Posts: 71	i got a set of emg`s in my ash tele , and they were too bright as i had wrong pots in there , so i just stuck a cap permanently on, can`t remember what i used just swapped about with guitar plugged in too find which sounded better. won`t hurt to try , cant damage pickups ok .