guitrr
04-15-2004, 07:00 PM
Well, I said to hell with what everyone thinks, I'm going to try it anyway, so I had a set of EMG's installed in my McRosie. Bill Fels, his son Cory, and Doug Montgomery, all of the Guitar Factory in Orlando, have been my techs for over 15 years now, and are total EMG freaks, so they were only too happy to do the installation. I elected to go with a 85/60 set, and forget about the coil tapping. My guitar so far has been through the stock McCarty pu's and a set Rio Grandes, which I thought were a slight improvement over stock.
The jury is still out, as the pickups have only been in for about two weeks, and this is a preliminary report, as I've only performed twice with it, and been to a few jams and rehersals. I play through a Dr Z Maz 18 Junior, with the following effects chain: Rotovibe, Fulltone Fulldrive, Boss Phaser, Liquid Audio H2O chorus/delay, CryBaby wah, Xotic Robotalk, and Fulltone Fat Boost. I also recently got my Keeley modified Boss Blues Driver back from Robert Keeley, and have started to incorporate that into my signal chain, but that's another thread.
The EMG's have definitely changed the nature of the guitar dramatically. As I said, I'm still getting used to them, and am experimenting with tweaking my amp, effects, and playing; so the jury is still out for me personally. Having said that, everyone else who's heard the guitar has positively raved about it. I must admit I'm a little surprised at the reaction, which has been quite emphatic. The guitarists, other musicians, and non-musicians alike have all offered wonderful compliments on the tone and power of my guitar. It really seems to impress people.
To my ear, the EMG's have changed the guitar in these respects:
1) Definitely more of a modern, contemporary sound, and not very "vintage" in nature. If this were my only guitar, I might have a problem with that, but it's not, so that's a moot point. However it is one of my 2 or 3 main guitars, so I am concerned that it will remain usefully versatile tonewise. It pushes the amp much harder, which of course causes it to overdrive very easily. The resulting sound is very, very creamy, but something more like that of a modern amp (Fuchs, Mesa/Boogie, Bogner, etc.) vs a more vintage sound (Plexi, AC 30, JTM45). The Dr Z was overdriven pretty readily by the former passive pu's, so now it's a distortion freak's dream! It gets a Santana tone that would make Carlos proud, and the bass string pinch harmonics would make Billy Gibbons beam!
On that note, with the EMG's I could probably benefit from a little more headroom than is available with an 18 watt tube amp. We'll see how it sounds through my 60 watt Fender HR Deville.
2) The EMG's are very touch sensitve, both to how hard I strike the strings, and to extraneous touches, intended or otherwise. Much like Joe Barden pu's, these things transmit exactly what you play through the amp. What you do is what you hear. It certainly forces one to be more cognizant of how you are playing.
3) The transition from clean to dirty is not as linear as with the passives. I.E. to some extent the overdriven quality is on or off. The volume knob at 10 is full bore distortion, 8 is highly crunchy, 6 is clean, unless you are really digging in with a heavy pick attack. That's my initial impression anyway.
4) I have lost some of the natural "woody" resonance of the rosewood neck, but it's fairly subtle, not nearly as dramatic as everyone here cautioned me about.
5) The pickups are stone silent when you want them to be - no hiss, crackle, or pop. That's to be expected; it's what EMG's are known for, and is definitely one of their greatest strengths.
6) I like the tone of the 85, I LOVE the tone of the 60. I may try changing the 85 out for another 60, or a 60A. The 60 is both clearer and warmer than the 85, which really surprised me, given that the 60 is a ceramic magnet. I guess it shows that there are no absolutes when it comes to pickups.
So far I like 'em. They're very different, but I am digging it, and so is everyone else, apparently. I wouldn't say the EMG's would be a good bet for a vintage purist, but a player who likes a very thick saturated tone will probably dig 'em.
You can see picks of the guitar at my Webshots page via the link below.
Kane
The jury is still out, as the pickups have only been in for about two weeks, and this is a preliminary report, as I've only performed twice with it, and been to a few jams and rehersals. I play through a Dr Z Maz 18 Junior, with the following effects chain: Rotovibe, Fulltone Fulldrive, Boss Phaser, Liquid Audio H2O chorus/delay, CryBaby wah, Xotic Robotalk, and Fulltone Fat Boost. I also recently got my Keeley modified Boss Blues Driver back from Robert Keeley, and have started to incorporate that into my signal chain, but that's another thread.
The EMG's have definitely changed the nature of the guitar dramatically. As I said, I'm still getting used to them, and am experimenting with tweaking my amp, effects, and playing; so the jury is still out for me personally. Having said that, everyone else who's heard the guitar has positively raved about it. I must admit I'm a little surprised at the reaction, which has been quite emphatic. The guitarists, other musicians, and non-musicians alike have all offered wonderful compliments on the tone and power of my guitar. It really seems to impress people.
To my ear, the EMG's have changed the guitar in these respects:
1) Definitely more of a modern, contemporary sound, and not very "vintage" in nature. If this were my only guitar, I might have a problem with that, but it's not, so that's a moot point. However it is one of my 2 or 3 main guitars, so I am concerned that it will remain usefully versatile tonewise. It pushes the amp much harder, which of course causes it to overdrive very easily. The resulting sound is very, very creamy, but something more like that of a modern amp (Fuchs, Mesa/Boogie, Bogner, etc.) vs a more vintage sound (Plexi, AC 30, JTM45). The Dr Z was overdriven pretty readily by the former passive pu's, so now it's a distortion freak's dream! It gets a Santana tone that would make Carlos proud, and the bass string pinch harmonics would make Billy Gibbons beam!
On that note, with the EMG's I could probably benefit from a little more headroom than is available with an 18 watt tube amp. We'll see how it sounds through my 60 watt Fender HR Deville.
2) The EMG's are very touch sensitve, both to how hard I strike the strings, and to extraneous touches, intended or otherwise. Much like Joe Barden pu's, these things transmit exactly what you play through the amp. What you do is what you hear. It certainly forces one to be more cognizant of how you are playing.
3) The transition from clean to dirty is not as linear as with the passives. I.E. to some extent the overdriven quality is on or off. The volume knob at 10 is full bore distortion, 8 is highly crunchy, 6 is clean, unless you are really digging in with a heavy pick attack. That's my initial impression anyway.
4) I have lost some of the natural "woody" resonance of the rosewood neck, but it's fairly subtle, not nearly as dramatic as everyone here cautioned me about.
5) The pickups are stone silent when you want them to be - no hiss, crackle, or pop. That's to be expected; it's what EMG's are known for, and is definitely one of their greatest strengths.
6) I like the tone of the 85, I LOVE the tone of the 60. I may try changing the 85 out for another 60, or a 60A. The 60 is both clearer and warmer than the 85, which really surprised me, given that the 60 is a ceramic magnet. I guess it shows that there are no absolutes when it comes to pickups.
So far I like 'em. They're very different, but I am digging it, and so is everyone else, apparently. I wouldn't say the EMG's would be a good bet for a vintage purist, but a player who likes a very thick saturated tone will probably dig 'em.
You can see picks of the guitar at my Webshots page via the link below.
Kane