EMG Het Set pickup height

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frehley12
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Frehley12

Frehley12

Well-known member
I picked up a Ltd Snakebyte. I'm struggling with the pickups through a Mark IV. These pickups are so strong. The neck is phenomenal but it clips the clean channel. The bridge is loose in the low end. I have adjusted the heights up and down. I just cannot get them to sound great with this amp.

My other guitars are all passives. Custom 5, Duncan Distortion, and Slash Alnicos.

Many, many years ago I had an Gibson Explorer with an 81 bridge and 85 neck. That guitar ripped. Seems the 81 is tighter than the JH?

Maybe I just don't like EMGs 25 years later?
 
I have Sd blackouts and there very sensitive to pickup height. I found when playing through a real amp I can raise the pickups to act like an overdrive but when recording I lower the pickups so they won’t clip. I would assume emg’s are the same.
 
I have Het set in one of my guitars and don’t like the bridge at all. The neck is pretty good though. I would pluck them out of there and put in some Fishmans or go passive.
 
I didn't like the Het set I tried. I use 81/85 or 85/60.

I have a guitar with blackouts and they aren't bad. I recon I prefer them to the hetset. Still like the EMG's better overall though. They are limited to what they do but IMO they do it great.
 
The Hets are actually wound hotter than the usual suspect EMG's (81, 85, 60) before the preamp, so by the time the signal hits the pickups' preamps (which is the same as the standard series, not the X series), it makes it clip a whole lot more.

I've had the Hets, and while I did like them, I think the whole "yeah, they feel more like a passive" is pretty BS. It's not hard to notice the pickups are actually more compressed than the standard 81/60 combo because they clip a whole lot more within their preamps. They may have a less focused (I guess you could call it more passive-like) EQ curve, but they've still got the characteristic low and high end rolloff EMG's are known for.

FWIW, try 18V-modding them. That gives them more headroom/less clipping. They will still remain very hot pickups, though, so if you don't like that, don't expect that to change.
 
I think I will return the Snakebyte and revisit my younger days of a Gibson Explorer with the 81/85 or 81/60.

Edit: The first run of Snakebytes originally had the 81/60. That's an option too.
 
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