Hi fellow GMCers,
Today I was in a metal mood so I have put my stratocaster away and I have playd a bit with my previous lover, my ESP LTD-F200 (wich has been replaced by the 400 and the 350). At first I was really impress to noticed that I hadn't played with that guitar for so long. It was so easy to play on that neck it felt really great especially for bending and vibrato (don't know why).
Then I tried to do a Zakk Wylde kind of harmonics on the low e-string 3rd frets, almost nothing came out.. I repeted it several times and it seems like something was killing my harmonics . Then I rememberer that I use to have trouble with sustaining my harmonics with that guitar. I swap it for the stratocaster and ohhhhhhhhhhh..... Mr. Wylde would have been jealous of that pinch harmonics ... The tone was perfect....
I have the feeling that the EMG-HZ inside that guitar are killing my harmonics... Also by comparing the two tone I had the impression that my ESP was really to bassy even tho I played quite a bit with the EQ. The tone of my stratocaster (with a Dimarzio chopper in the bridge) own my ESP big time, even for those heavy distortion sound.
Since they are already EMG in my guitar I had thought about switching them for real active pickups like 81/85 or 81/60. Any thought about this. The owner of the local music store had offered me to put a Wylde sets of 81/85 for 300 $ canadian a few years ago. I'm thinking about putting some money aside to swap thos pups... Is it worth it ???
Thanks for your precious help as always
The EMG HZ aren't the best pickups in the world but they can certainly deliver a good metal tone - Just look at Children Of Bodom! They play the EMG HZ and they have screamoing pinch harmonics and tremolo squeals.
The problem with the sustain and outcome of your harmonics is not the fault of the EMG hz pickups - they are capable of that at least as good as the DiMarzio Chopper! The problem must be something else, however I cannot say what it is without playing your ESP ltd...
It could be the setup of your guitar, faulty wiring, cheap woods (it's a low end guitar after all), amp settings - the list goes on.
Switching to active pickups won't make much sense because they are almost as expensive as your whole guitar! You cannot really improve what isn't there (cheap woods, crafting, etc...). Also the EMG active ones have similiar PH-cababilities to the HZ ones and as I said the humbucker is not the problem in your case!
Maybe my guitar as not as good in quality as what I taught at the beginning. I payed that guitar like 950$ canadian a few years ago. I always taught that the problem had to do with the pickup but if I am wrong then this is too bad. I don't think that the problem of the pinch has to do with the settings of my amp because it worked well with my strat, I had plenty of gain, mid and trebble.
I will do other tests now as I hope this guitar is not totally cheap.
Thanks for you help Zakk I knew you would answer this thread.
Just listen to the man himself playing his Epipone signature with EMG HZ pickups, he starts doing harmonics at arround 5 minutes into the video...
Zakk is exactly right here. Given the situation, I'd say take a look at the AFTERBURNER and PA2 boost kit from EMG. Adds 20db of gain and works with passive and active pickups.
http://www.emginc.com/products/index/135/142/4
http://www.emginc.com/products/category/142/4
It's a fairly cheap way to give your sound a lot more punch and you won't have to replace your pickups. I've got the boost toggle as part of my KERRY KING 81/85 EMG set and it RAAAWWWWKKKKSSS.
Todd
I got my answer here ..... Those pups aren't that bad.... I got those kinds of harmonics with my strat but not with the ESP...
Yeah, it's like my cheap guitar that has bad pickups. They buzz. I want to replace the pickups. Yes, I know ZakkWylde here says it's crazy. But I'm still considering it. If I go for another guitar, then I'm rendering my cheap guitar useless. I just want it to sound pretty decent so I can play it better. Then I'll also replace the ones in my ibanez rg so I can get a better tone. Probably will put Dimarzos in it. But EMGs 81/85 in the cheap ibanez gio.
By the way, what is the difference between LTD and ESP? I notice some guitars have different names but they seem to be the same guitar. ???
They don't use modified pickups Lian! Ok nowadays Alexi has a signature version of the HZ but that doesn't sound much diffrent from the original. Until he got the signature he recoded FIVE children of bodom records with the standard HZ humbucker.
You got the Hz-h4 set in your Esp - that is the original standard Set of EMG hz pickups. The other models were just added recently.
Thanks ... I didn't even know the model that was in it.
The good news is, you can always ad an EMG AFTERBURNER circuit later and get some more life out of the EMGhz you already have. It will add noise as it's adding 20 DB of gain, but it's much cheaper than adding new pickups and lets you get a LOT more gain our of your existing EMG Hz.
Todd
Can you use the emg boost switch n the after burner w/ any pickups or does it have to be w/ emgs ???
bump..
No I don't think they work with othere pickups - the booster is battery powered after all!
Also I don't think the preamp boost or afterburner are really neccessary. All they do is increase the input volume which, in front of the amp, results in more gain and not in more volume. The same effect can be achieved with an overdrive pedal with the level turned up and the gain knob turned down (this results in less noise than with the emg boosts too!)
Thanks Zakk!
Zakk is right again, you can do the same thing with a distortion pedal. However, you can also use the After Burner and a Distortion pedal. The AfterBurner and PA2 swtich will work with Active or Passive pickkups and works best with EMG products. So if you have EMG Hz pickups, the AFterBurner or PA2 switch is a great way to make the pickups sound much more like their ACTIVE counterparts and it's pretty cheap.
I've got an 81/85 set with the PA2 Boost switch and it really ramps things up. Here is a link to info on the EMG site.
http://www.emginc.com/products/category/142/4
Todd
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