emg 18 volt mod questions

[tc8849]

okay so is this a must do?? does it really help the pickup that much?? or is it all BS.. if anyone has this and could let me know what all the talk is LMK

 

[Big Rich]

at one point i had all my guitars with the 18 volt mod, it gives more of a liquid sound to the pickup and sorta gives the illusion that the pickup isn't as compressed as it is.

i ended up switching back because it definitely takes away some of the gain of the pickup which i didn't like much. its a very easy mod that you could do yourself

try it you might like it

 

[snowdog]

I saved this diagram from the last time this was brought up, haven't tried it yet. You can get those 9v connectors at Radio Shack.

 

[tc8849]

I saved this diagram from the last time this was brought up, haven't tried it yet. You can get those 9v connectors at Radio Shack.

that is awesome and simple thanks bro will try it here shortly and ill let everyone know what I think..

 

[madrigal77]

I did it a while back and hated it. It killed everything I like about EMG's IMO. All that awesome tightness was gone. If you don't want that EMG tightness, you're better off just going with passives.

 

[D-Rock]

Never tried it, and have no desire to.

 

[glassjaw7]

Here you go:

I've compared the 9v/18v 81 and I could tell only a tiny difference in feel. I liked it a bit more. Seemed more powerful and open.

 

[baron55]

The 18 volt mod increases the headroom of the preamp in the EMG pickups. With he regular 9 volts, the signal from the preamp is slightly clipped causing quite a bit of compression. Some may like this, some hate it. It is a matter of taste. I prefer the 18volt mod since the amp gets me all the tightness I need.

The "X" series from EMG use the same exact preamp, they instead use a voltage divider to drop the guitar signal to the preamp to increase the headroom, this also leads to less output which the "X" series have.

The EMG preamps can handle 27 volts max input. But the 18 volt mod is plenty.

 

[Tone Monster]

I did it a while back and hated it. It killed everything I like about EMG's IMO. All that awesome tightness was gone. If you don't want that EMG tightness, you're better off just going with passives.

I hate to disagree but I had the exact opposite experience. I thought they got tighter and took out a slight bit of mid range honk. Never looked back....cheap mod and easy and WELL WORTH IT.

 

[stefvorcide]

Back in the days, I did like the 18 volts frequency response and feel better, sounded less compressed !! Like big rich said, it sounds more liquify (at least to me! ) Somebody should record a few clips to compare both...a few chords distored, chugging and leads...

But when I switched to passive it was for better

 

[racerevlon]

Clean=more headroom

Dirty=more openness and slightly more gain, but less compressed.

Stick with passives.

 

[baron55]

Back in the days, I did like the 18 volts frequency response and feel better, sounded less compressed !! Like big rich said, it sounds more liquify (at least to me! ) Somebody should record a few clips to compare both...a few chords distored, chugging and leads...

But when I switched to passive it was for better

I too prefer passives for the most part

 

[lettmusic]

I love the 18v mod. Definitely made EMG more liquidy, more open and less compress, as others have mentioned. I like how the EMG feel is still there, there's still tightness and punch, but the tone is better IMO.

 

[madrigal77]

I did it a while back and hated it. It killed everything I like about EMG's IMO. All that awesome tightness was gone. If you don't want that EMG tightness, you're better off just going with passives.

I hate to disagree but I had the exact opposite experience. I thought they got tighter and took out a slight bit of mid range honk. Never looked back....cheap mod and easy and WELL WORTH IT.

The midrange honk is what I love about them . Also, I didn't find them tighter at all. They were much more open and less compressed. That tight compression is what I like about them. If you like them with the 18v, more power to you, but I think a nice set of passives does that kind of tone better.

 

[Reiep]

I did it a while back and hated it. It killed everything I like about EMG's IMO. All that awesome tightness was gone. If you don't want that EMG tightness, you're better off just going with passives.

I hate to disagree but I had the exact opposite experience. I thought they got tighter and took out a slight bit of mid range honk. Never looked back....cheap mod and easy and WELL WORTH IT.

Did you do this mod on the JH-Set too ?