Alternate Emg81/85 Wiring.

[Bytrix]

So I finally got hold of a cheap EMG 81 and 85 (just the pickups, I can buy the other bits myself). Now I want to get decent pots to go with them (recommendations please), what value pots should I use with these pickups, would a mix be good (different pot values for different controls).

Basically I'm looking for alternative ways of using the EMG 81/85 rather than just wiring them up like the ZW kit. I would like to wire them up for 18v but I'll need to route a battery compartment out of my guitar (and it's not one I built, Ibanez DTX120 Destroyer (VERY small cavity)).

So any of you with experience of EMGs please give your input and help me come up with something nice

[crafty]

25k ohm pots are the max you want to use. Any more and you'll get no control, just dropout, any less and you won't get any power.

Try some of the EMG circuits like the EXG and the SPC. They'll make a bigger difference in your sound than any regular tone or volume control.

[lovekraft]

Basically I'm looking for alternative ways of using the EMG 81/85 rather than just wiring them up like the ZW kit.

There are no viable alternatives, other than running a higher voltage by adding batteries. Like crafty said, if you want more tone options, you'll have to add active circuits like the SPC, et al. If you've gotta have pickups you can "mod", use passives.

[Bytrix]

OK thanks, was just wondering if there were any other options. They're gonna be alot better than the stock pickups I'm using right now anyway

[daveq]

I know you probably don't want to spend a lot of money but I really love the EMG-VMC for use with those pickups. I don't bother with a tone pot, I just replace it with the VMC and let it do it's thing. They are pretty expensive though - around $70.00. I was working on my own version of it a while ago but never finished it.

Oh - yes it does work great with guitars. I know EMG markets it for use with a bass but there's no reason not to use it on a guitar.

If you want a more flexible EMG, you could look into an 89. They aren't quite as flexible as a passive but you can split with the 89.

[Bytrix]

Does anyone know what value capacitors I'm supposed to use with these two pickups and 25k pots?

[ansil]

25k ohm pots are the max you want to use. Any more and you'll get no control, just dropout, any less and you won't get any power.

Try some of the EMG circuits like the EXG and the SPC. They'll make a bigger difference in your sound than any regular tone or volume control.

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actually thats not quite true man. you can use up to 1M pots and it won't dropout as you state. i did this on quite a few ones. it does however as LK pointed out in our talks that it raises the IMP on it and will make it hotter, to sum up the jist of it. and you can actually get very useable tones at one time according to a guitar school article with Hetfields tech he said that james pickups were not installed like the factory wanted them. i dont' rem that but thats what got me into it. as far as your tone caps chek out.

http://www.muzique.com/schem/filter.htm

that should help ya

a .1uf with a 25k pot will give you aroll off down to around 63hz

a basic rule of thumb. is double the cap will and halve the freq. get it.. so keep the 25k the same and double the cap to a .2uf and you will get a 31hz roll off aprox