EMG's into a Bassman - nice!

[appar111]

I was helping a friend tweak our most recent build; a relic strat using a Charvel flamed 2-piece maple neck, a heavy, cheap no-name sunburst body and a set of SA-SA-85 EMG pickups.

I plugged straight into my 59 Bassman RI and was astounded at the great sounds I was getting. I have been looking at the idea of swapping out the speakers in my amp because I had been unsatisfied/restless, and this completely made me rethink things.

The clean sounds were SO good out of this setup-- full, chimey, super-clean but not sterile. Even the EMG85 in the bridge sounded killer played clean-- perfect for funk riffs and the like. And oddly enough, I really, really dug the sound of the middle SA pickup by itself. The in-between positions also sounded very stratty.

I added a dirt pedal to the mix and was floored even more. I've tried EMG's before in a couple guitars, but with this setup, I think I'm fast becoming an EMG convert.

I got a used EMG-RT for the bridge position of my esquire, and snagged a used EMG85 for cheap for the bridge of my single bridge humbucker equipped tele. I'm going to try to scout out a used set of SA's for my strat too.

Seems like this shot-in-the-arm came at just the right time. Not only do I not want to swap the speakers in my amp, I'm more psyched about picking up the guitar and playing it, instead of tweaking all the time!

[lupowitz]

I plan to do the more or less same setup on my Hohner G3T steinberger copy. Move my 85 from another steiny into the hohner's bridge, get an SA into the middle, but would opt for an EMG FT alnico tele neck pickup into the neck. It would give me a mother of all mongrels guitars having a steiny with a tele a strat and a humbucking pickup.
Glad you like your combo.
I also toy the idea of making an esquire with the RT, but would like to try coupling it with SPC mid controller in place of the tone knob. How do you use yours? Tone and volume no switcht? Or any tricks?

[StuH]

I have a similar setup with 2x SA and an 89 in the bridge.

These are definitely nice sounding pickups. I was a convert the minute I heard them too.

[appar111]

Originally Posted by lupowitz

I plan to do the more or less same setup on my Hohner G3T steinberger copy. Move my 85 from another steiny into the hohner's bridge, get an SA into the middle, but would opt for an EMG FT alnico tele neck pickup into the neck. It would give me a mother of all mongrels guitars having a steiny with a tele a strat and a humbucking pickup.
Glad you like your combo.
I also toy the idea of making an esquire with the RT, but would like to try coupling it with SPC mid controller in place of the tone knob. How do you use yours? Tone and volume no switcht? Or any tricks?

I just have my esquire set up with the RT, volume and tone knob, no 3-way switch. Sounds fantastic clean or dirty, and the tone knob is more subtle than what I'm used to with passive pickups, but probably more useful now for taking off treble edge when needed.

My other tele I set up with the ceramic EMG's (EMG-RTC & EMG-FTC), and I'm really digging those too. Not near as much difference between the ceramic and alnico as you might think, but alot of that's probably because they're in guitars with diff body woods, neck thicknesses, saddles, etc.

I've found some great deals on dirt pedals in the past week, but haven't pulled the trigger because my rig sounds so good clean, and my Boss DS-1 sounds even better with EMG's going into it. Hard to justify spending $ when I'm happy with my clean AND dirty sounds...

[lupowitz]

Originally Posted by appar111

I just have my esquire set up with the RT, volume and tone knob, no 3-way switch. Sounds fantastic clean or dirty, and the tone knob is more subtle than what I'm used to with passive pickups, but probably more useful now for taking off treble edge when needed.

Cool, thanks for the info.