EMG SA and SPC query

[Great Ape]

Question: has the EMG SA design changed in the last decade or so, or does the SPC damp the highs, even when off? The reason I ask is that my teacher has a late-'80's Fender American Standard Strat in alder, which was fitted w/EMG's at the point of sale. I have a recent USACG swamp-ash parts strat (quite bright acoustically, nice tone) which has EMG SA's as well. It also has the SPC instead of a 2nd tone. His guitar sounds complex and alive, whereas mine sounds just...flat. Obviously, technique has something to do with it, but I notice the difference when I play his guitar. Anyone else experienced this?

[Paul in Colorado]

When was the last time you changed your battery?

[Great Ape]

Pretty recently. No discernable change. [/i]

[Paul in Colorado]

I have a Strat with EMG SA's and the SPC. There's been times when it sounds fantastic and other times it sounds lifeless. I used to use it with a rack system that had a seperate preamp, effects and power amp. The EMG's sounded best through the rack. Maybe the active pickups drove the signal better through all of the circuits. They seem to drive my combo amps harder then I like. Does it matter what amp you're playing through? You also might experiment with pickup height.

[Great Ape]

My Roland Jazz Chorus doesn't like it. I run it through a Traynor ycv40 usually. Tried it through a new Fender Pro Reverb recently - that helped. However my Reverend Slingshot (at half the price) eats it for breakfast, tonally.

[BB]

I had a set of SA's in my strat around 85 or so and noticed the same thing. At first, I loved them...then grew to dislike them. I alway's kept a fresh battery, but the tone seemed to change from day to day. I finally did some horse trading with a friend who wanted them for one of his studio guitars. They still reside in his strat and he's been very happy with them over the years.