EMG SPC "presence" midrange boost... is it useable with passive pickups?

[AprioriMark]

I use the funk out of this on my strat with active EMGs, and I'm thinking about slapping it in a build I'm working on with some tasty pickups (hopefully from TT).  Does anyone know how this will work with non-actives?

-Mark

 

[wolf]

yes, take a look here http://www.guitar.com.au/pickups/emg/EMGFAQ.html#EQPass

 

[AprioriMark]

I should be more clear... by "is it possible" I mean, "does it sound pewpy with passive pickups?"  Thanks for the link though; reading through the FAQ is fun hehe.

-Mark

 

[RU36]

I have only used it with EMGs but you CAN use it with passive pick ups but it will need a battery to run.

My experience is this:
It was a very subtle difference to the tone.
Not like a gain boost or mid punch but more like a slight EQ tweak about as dramatic as a regular tone knob only adding a mid hump and cutting barley any lows and highs.

I used it in a few guitars to try it out and uninstalled it from all of them. It is now sitting in my parts drawer for the last year. :sad:

What I ended up doing to make a KILLER mid/treble booster was this.
I took an EMG pa-2 gain boost (the same one that comes with the kerry king set), a simple resistor, capacitor, some shrink tubing and a mini toggle switch (all available at radio shack for under $10) and i built my own mid boost switch.
I can send you a diagram if you like
Its simple and sounds awesome.

It rolls of the low muddy sound of the pick up and boosts the highs and upper mids so when you use your neck pick up it turns into to a soloing machine.
Every note is right up front and free from the muddy bottom end tone. also it gives you an output boost and more sustain.

 

[RU36]

Here is a sketch of how to wire it

 

[AprioriMark]

My experience is this:
It was a very subtle difference to the tone.
Not like a gain boost or mid punch but more like a slight EQ tweak about as dramatic as a regular tone knob only adding a mid hump and cutting barley any lows and highs.

I used it in a few guitars to try it out and uninstalled it from all of them. It is now sitting in my parts drawer for the last year. :sad:

Odd, I don't even turn the one on my Strat all the way up half the time.  What style of music were you using it for?  I use it with light to moderately overdriven tube amps.  I'm curious if yours might be defective or if compression is an issue for harder rock and metal tones.

-Mark

 

[wolf]

I find this control more effective with clean tone. Imagine Gilmour tone in Shine on you crazy diamond on delicate sound of thunder.

 

[Watershed]

Here is a sketch of how to wire it

Awesome!

Thanks, I actually have one of those (PA2) laying around.
It didn't work out too well as a boost for passive pickups.
It works, but the guy who I did it for plays with huge amounts of gain and it was just too noisy.

 

[RU36]

My experience is this:
It was a very subtle difference to the tone.
Not like a gain boost or mid punch but more like a slight EQ tweak about as dramatic as a regular tone knob only adding a mid hump and cutting barley any lows and highs.

I used it in a few guitars to try it out and uninstalled it from all of them. It is now sitting in my parts drawer for the last year. :sad:

Odd, I don't even turn the one on my Strat all the way up half the time.  What style of music were you using it for?  I use it with light to moderately overdriven tube amps.  I'm curious if yours might be defective or if compression is an issue for harder rock and metal tones.

-Mark

It was more obvious on the clean tone and the fact that I was using humbuckers probably made a difference too.
It was just not that dramatic for my set up

 

[RU36]

Here is a sketch of how to wire it

Awesome!

Thanks, I actually have one of those (PA2) laying around.
It didn't work out too well as a boost for passive pickups.
It works, but the guy who I did it for plays with huge amounts of gain and it was just too noisy.

Ya if you already have alot of Gain the PA2 doesn't do much but add more fuzz