EMG SA pickups

[Tipperman]

Hey, so as a few of you have seen, I have a black strat based after David Gilmours black strat. I also have a 91 Fender USA strat with an ash body. The 91 strat has Fender Lace Sensors in it. This is the first time I've use these pickups in one of my own guitars. My question is, while the Lace Sensors are great, I don't want to put the same kind of pickups in my other strat (The lack of hum kinda blew me away after years of hum from my amp. bzzzzzzz) and was thinking about the EMG SA pickups. I know David Gilmour uses them, but I was wondering what your thoughts were. Does the strat have enough room to house a batteyr (Or two for 18 volts maybe?) under the hood without modifying it? I play clean a lot, so I am also curious how actives would do for clean.

Clean setup, if it helps, is an Analogman CompROSSor (ross compressor clone basically) running straight into a fender Blues JR. Thanks for any input guys.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

I have the EMG DG20 setup in a Strat and really like it. The battery will fit just fine.

 

[Tipperman]

So they sound nice with just one battery? I read somewhere 18 volts is supposed to be a good thing for EMGs. I guess that's for their humbuckers? I've stuck with passive pickups for a very long time now, so I don't know much at all about actives.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

The 18 volt mod is not needed. I have many guitars with EMGs and they all have only one battery. The 18 volt mod only adds a little headroom. Doesn't matter if they are single coil or humbuckers. But the SPC and EXG controls on the DG20 really make for a very versatile Strat.

 

[Tipperman]

Thanks man. I appreciate it the input! I'm gonna order a set pretty soon. The EXG/SPC thing seems cool, since I usually play with my tone around 7-10 anyways. (Although, that may explain why my bridge pickup is an icepick tearing my ear apart at high volume  :icon_biggrin

 

[swarfrat]

I love my SA's - nice bell tones. I have an SPC (no EXG) and I've wired it to the bridge pickup only. I intended for it to switch off in the #2 position as well, but the EMG switch won't do that. I'd need a 4 pole switch to do that - still might do it some day - wire up a toggle and a 4 pole 5 way, so the SPC only boosts on #1 and #5 and then only if the toggle is on.

I have a mid 80's Carvin X60C and SA's and the SPC get me enough crunch for my tastes.

 

[DustyCat]

The 18 volt mod is not needed. I have many guitars with EMGs and they all have only one battery. The 18 volt mod only adds a little headroom. Doesn't matter if they are single coil or humbuckers. But the SPC and EXG controls on the DG20 really make for a very versatile Strat.

You can get some cool rhythmic 'popping' tones by leaving your "Fat Boost" SPC on '10' all the time!  :toothy12:

-DC

 

[swarfrat]

I'll also add that putting SA's on was the first time I've ever been able to use a bridge single alone and clean. Its still crisp but the icepick is gone.

 

[televinklad]

I got a set of EMG SA with SPC and EXG in my David Gilmour CAR "clone". The SPC is a really nice feature  :icon_thumright:

If you can accept two springs in the trem, the battery will fit in that compartment

 

[Ace Flibble]

Think it's worth mentioning, the SAVX pickups are the best pickups to go for if you want true Strat single coil tone with absolutely no hum. The 'V'-type EMG singles use separate pole pieces, like a normal Strat pickup, instead of the bar magnets that the S/SAs use. Gives them better string separation, a more classic vibe. The X-series pickups basically have less noise than the standard design and more headroom, similar to running a regular EMG with the 18v mod. The combination of V and X styles in the SAVX gives you a tone much closer to original Strat designs than any other hum-cancelling Strat pickup and a more classic look than most too.

SAs are great pickups for more all-round use but for real Strat character, SAVXs are the way to go.

 

[Tipperman]

Thanks Ace. I hadn't seen those on the site. I think I will go with them to keep the Stratocaster appearance and not look too modern. I like my strats old.

 

[ORCRiST]

The 18 volt mod is not needed. I have many guitars with EMGs and they all have only one battery. The 18 volt mod only adds a little headroom. Doesn't matter if they are single coil or humbuckers. But the SPC and EXG controls on the DG20 really make for a very versatile Strat.

+1

Other than my DM strat, all of my other guitars are EMG-equipped - including the SA. It's a great pickup, in
fact, I have yet to hear an EMG-anything that I didn't love tonally. IF I ever did another strat, I would 100%
for sure put a DG20 in it.

ORC

 

[swarfrat]

You guys got me pondering the EXG now. I didn't think I was missing it.  But if I put a set back on my 12, it'd get one fer sure

 

[Ace Flibble]

The EMG tone controls really are great. If you don't mind the much larger battery drain then stick as many as you can on everything you can. I feel the RPC doesn't get enough love.

 

[Alfang]

I have a W strat with the david gilmour EMG's  I have one battery in the controll route, and the other under the jack plate, the jack plate is flipped upsidedown to make room for the battery.  so it's an 18 volt system, and sounds great, and i didn't have to route any extra holes to get it to work, and the upside down jack doesn't even look that funny

 

[swarfrat]

I have a W strat with the david gilmour EMG's  I have one battery in the controll route, and the other under the jack plate, the jack plate is flipped upsidedown to make room for the battery.  so it's an 18 volt system, and sounds great, and i didn't have to route any extra holes to get it to work, and the upside down jack doesn't even look that funny

I've flipped the jack as well. I'm only running 9v, so it's just an access thing for me.

 

[Corey P.]

I have an SA set as well in a Mexi Strat, and I love them for home recording, incredibly quiet and a great range of tones.  I've used and loved EMGs in both my Warmoth bass builds so far, too, and while the new one isn't done yet I can say that what the SA and J sets have in common is that they're both very harmonically rich and well defined across the entire spectrum.

On the Strat I just use a single 9-volt in the existing cavity - EMG suggests you only need to remove four screws to change it - I'm only on my second month with these pickups, and don't play that much, so I'm nowhere close to changing them yet to tell you how well/poorly that works out yet.

 

[Strat Avenger]

That battery placement wouldn't work for me, as I use 3 springs, and 2 trem-stops.

Besides, batteries belong in flashlights, not guitars.

 

[Corey P.]

They put batteries in humans, so I don't find them too offputting in guitars.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

Putting batteries in humans ruins the tone. And they nearly always do this to nice vintage humans.