ChaosInc. Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 Hi guys Well, i searched and read, and searched some more and read, but i didnt really find what i was lookin for. I bought an 85 and an 81 on ebay, they wont be here for a couple of weeks i would imagin. Anyway all im getting is the pickups. What else am i gonna need to be replacing on my guitar to get these things working properly? i know i need the 25k pot or volume but do i need one for the tone as well? Im a such a noob right now and please forgive me if i missed one of the other posts that might have the info that im lookin for. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 Well, it depends. Older EMG pickups have wires coming out of them just like regular pickups, which means you'll need however many 25k pots you want to use for volume and tone controls, a 9v batter clip, and a stereo output jack, as well as possibly needing some 22 gauge stranded core wire in two colors to run ground and other stuff. The newer EMG pickups use the quickconnect system, so you'll need those components. You can purchase them on ebay pretty cheaply. You may or may not still need the pots depending on what you buy from ebay. Also, be sure that they are the long or short shaft pots, depending on what you need. You need the longer shaft pots for guitars like Les Pauls, while the shorter shaft pots work for everything else. A lot of people buy the EMG ZW sets, which come with both sets of pots pre-wired, and then sell off the set they don't use. So be sure to find out before you buy so you get the right thing. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChaosInc. Posted December 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 (edited) Back again, lol. The 85 has arrived. i thought the 81 was a done deal but that didnt happen, and the money tree is just about bare, lol. got a couple of questions again. The local music shops dont have the pre wired EMG volume and tone pots in stock and it will take like 2 weeks to get em(truely sad) so ive opted for a different idea. What i was thinking, after looking at the wireing diagrams, was to have 2 independant volume pots and removing the tone pot alltogether. The questions that i have are, Will there be a problem with the stero output jack and the passive pickup? and As long as the passive pickup is grounded the normal way and the active is grounded the way it says in the diagram and they are independant from each other are they both going to work properly with no noise? if im confusing people or sounding like an idiot i apologize. Edited December 14, 2005 by ChaosInc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 Mixing passives and actives is a complicated matter. It can be done, but to just wire them both together into the same circuit is not a good idea. You need 25k pots with actives, but they don't work well with passive pickups. If you've got them, use them and just disconnect the passive pickup entirely and use the active. GBT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChaosInc. Posted December 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2005 Thanks a mil GBT, i took your advice and didnt bother with hooking the passive pup up. But i ran into another problem, i wired everything the way that emg lays it out i just took the tone pot out of the mix,(cause i dont have a 25k tone pot) i get nothing but a loud hum, so i messed around with the wires and man it got me confused as to what the heck is going on, the positive from the battery and the negative from the pot hooked together is the only way i can get any actual sound from the strings, sounds really good except for the hum when i stop playing. I figured this wasnt a good idea to keep it set up this way so i pulled it all apart again and started over, thinking i messed up the wiring. afterh hours of messing around with the freakin solderin gun and wires im about to give up, but now the volume pot isnt controling the volume at all its stuck at one sound level. Is it possible that my whole problem is the volume pot, did i fry it? im gonna get a new one today and see if that makes any difference. But if anyone has any ideas as to what the heck im doing wrong please let me know. Thanks a mil Thanks again GBT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLADE RH4 Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Have you seen this: EMG wiring (pdf) Sorry if you've already seen this.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChaosInc. Posted December 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 yup thats the diagram that i followed already, i didnt get a chance to make it to the music shop before it closed yesterday, so i didnt get a new pot. I did pull it all apart again last night though and rewired it with different wire, and im still having the same problem. Im about to give up, lol, but its killen me not being able to play it through my amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted December 19, 2005 Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 Do you have pictures? Is your output jack a stereo jack? GBT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChaosInc. Posted December 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 Yup ist a stereo jack, i gave up on it for a while but im pickin up a new pot tonight, i got 2 jacks in the package, im gonna try the other one with the new pot and see what happens, if i still have problems i can post or email some pics(if i can find some batteries for the camera, lol) Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted December 19, 2005 Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 OK. I can also post a picture of one of my EMG setups if you want, though I can't do it until I get home around 8:00 PM CST. GBT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChaosInc. Posted December 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 Ok i got home yesterday and put the new pot in, this time the tone pot was working like a balance controle, all the way up and down would cut out the sound, so i got frustrated and just started touching wires all over the place, lol. and the result is that now the volume and the pickup are working but im still getting a little bit of noise, and when i touch the volume i get alot of noise, im gonna plug in the iron again and try something that i was thinkin about and if it works ill be back with the good news . Thanks a mil GBT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted December 21, 2005 Report Share Posted December 21, 2005 OK, here's a picture of my control cavity on one of my S-470's. Ibanez S470 control cavity The two red wires from the pickups are soldered to the red wire from the battery clip and then covered with shrink tubing. The black lead from the battery clip leads to the terminal on the Ibanez jack (conveniently equipped for such use). Pickup output wires (white) have the shielding (which is ground) grounded to the volume pot, with the inner white wires running to the selector switch. The selector switch output is then wired to the input of the volume pot, and the output wired to the jack. Tone pot is grounded to the volume pot and there's a capcitor running from tone middle lug to volume first lug (not sure from the pic) Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted December 28, 2005 Report Share Posted December 28, 2005 OK, on the loud hum issue, I had the same thing happen to me last night when I wired up an 81 and 85 in my new S470DXQM. The wiring as all correct except for the quick connects to the pikcups. In my haste, I hooked the pikcups up with the connectors upside down, and that caused a really bad hum. Might that be what happened to you? GBT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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