The Emg 18 Volt Mod |
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The Emg 18 Volt Mod |
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Jan 2 2009, 06:55 PM |
Since I read about this mod for EMG pickups here in the forum I have been very curious, after all I have been using EMG pickups since almost 20 years now, and today I finally had the chance to test this mod with my main guitar, a Gibson Les Paul Custom, equiped with two EMG 81 pickups. If you have never heard about this mod, here is the story: EMG pickups are active pickups, normally they are powered with a 9 volt battery, this is how I used my pickups ever since I installed the first one. Those pickups are sold with one battery clip, and the manual also only talks about this one battery, but the specifications say that the pickups can be used with 9-27 volts. So obviously one fine day somebody had the idea to run his EMG's with 18 volts and he was blown away by the result, the net is full of reviews that say the sound opens up, is not as compressed anymore, you get more high end, more low end, more overall sound... So much for the theory.
Today I put together a little adapter that can connect two 9 volt batteries to my guitar and like this I ran the EMG's with 18 volts (all reviews say that adding a third battery, blowing the voltage up to 27 volt, doesn't really do much to the sound anymore, so I only focused on the 18 volt version). I recorded two little takes with the normal 9 volt setting, and then recorded the same stuff again with 18 volts, so you can see (or hear) about the difference yourself. About my impression... well, it changes the sound, yes. The clean sound really opens up a bit and is not as compressed, for the heavy sound I can't really see this effect happening. It also adds more high end, I didn't really hear more low end though, the overall volume doesn't really change either. I have to say that I didn't really like the 18 volt version, I definitely prefer the "original" with 9 volt, in my opinion it sounds warmer, the 18 volt make the sound more sterile for my taste. But as I said, there are the 4 recorded files so you can get an idea yourself, of course the only thing that changed for the recordings is the voltage, the sound settings in my guitar rig were the same. Let me know what you think about the 18 volt version, I will go back to 9 volt now
Attached File(s)
EMG_Clean_9_Volt.mp3 ( 891.67K )
Number of downloads: 8789
EMG_Clean_18_Volt.mp3 ( 891.67K ) Number of downloads: 7696 EMG_Heavy_9_Volt.mp3 ( 891.67K ) Number of downloads: 8530 EMG_Heavy_18_Volt.mp3 ( 891.67K ) Number of downloads: 8201 -------------------- Guitars: various Gibson Les Pauls / Gibson J 45
Amps: Mesa Boogie Tripple Rectifier / Triaxis / 2:90 Poweramp / Rectocabs Effects: Rocktron Intellifex / Rocktron Xpression Homepage: www.marcussiepen.com www.blind-guardian.com Check out my video lessons! |
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Jan 2 2009, 08:03 PM |
I agree with the heavy clip, it really doesn't make a difference. Thought the heavy clip does sound a little like "Children of the Grave" by Sabbath.
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Jan 2 2009, 09:27 PM |
Very hard to hear the difference but I prefer the 18V for both clean and distorted after concidering the 9V sounded more defined while the 18V sounded more phat. I also thought the hanging chords (starting at 13 sec into the heavy clip) had a tad more sustain.
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Jan 2 2009, 11:20 PM |
Like the others I didn't really notice that much of a difference. But it's definately a cool concept.
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Jan 3 2009, 12:58 AM |
Thanks for this great review Marcus. It does sound a bit different, but there isn't a really big difference. I think with some EQing those differences can be almost eliminated.
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Jan 3 2009, 05:20 PM |
The 81 is the only pickup i ever play through... I never switch to the 85
I love the way the 81 sounds in the bridge |
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Jan 3 2009, 05:24 PM |
I agree, the sound difference is not huge, but it definitely is there. I have to say though that it is easier to hear the difference here on my Pro Tools setup, the conversion into mp3 might take away a bit of the difference. I just took a screenshot from my Pro Tools session, in the clean files you can see that the 18 Volt version is not as compressed as the original 9 volts one. Anyway, I will definitely stick to 9 volts, this is the sound that I love since almost 20 years and I am perfectly happy with it, no need to change for me
@ Lian: the 81 rocks big time, there is no better pickup for high gain sounds in my opinion, at least I don't know any other pickup that gives you this punch and clearity no matter how much you blow up your amp
Attached image(s)
-------------------- Guitars: various Gibson Les Pauls / Gibson J 45
Amps: Mesa Boogie Tripple Rectifier / Triaxis / 2:90 Poweramp / Rectocabs Effects: Rocktron Intellifex / Rocktron Xpression Homepage: www.marcussiepen.com www.blind-guardian.com Check out my video lessons! |
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Jan 3 2009, 05:35 PM |
Awesome review Marcus! That LP custom sounds great anyway, but it was nice to learn more about this subject
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Jan 4 2009, 12:03 PM |
Yes, I had the Jeff Beck model from Seymour Duncan in one of my Les Pauls, but I have to say that I didn' really like it. It is for sure a good pickup, but it just didn't deliver "my" sound, so it lasted only a couple of weeks. But as I said, it is definitely not a bad pickup, it is nothing like an EMG 81 though, you can't compare both pickups at all.
-------------------- Guitars: various Gibson Les Pauls / Gibson J 45
Amps: Mesa Boogie Tripple Rectifier / Triaxis / 2:90 Poweramp / Rectocabs Effects: Rocktron Intellifex / Rocktron Xpression Homepage: www.marcussiepen.com www.blind-guardian.com Check out my video lessons! |
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