EVH Wolfgang pickups

Chris O

Chris O

Well-known member
Are they "all the same" - i.e. - are the ones in the imports the same that you get in the USA's?

I'm a bit underwhelmed with the bridge. A bit too clean, and they just seem a bit weak. If the pickups are all the same across the lines, I'm curious what I'm missing and why they get such great accolades. That said, I haven't had a lot of basswood guitars, and not sure how much that comes into play. I know some will scoff, but the JB is where my ears find their tonal "home". The Full Shred too if I'm looking for something a bit lower output and mid-strong.
 
What guitar are you talking about? My USA Stealth has less output than my Stripe Series. The new Standards do not have Wolfgang pickups. Special does. But I think it's built where they make the guitars and I don't trust quality control of pickups made in different places. Specials are made in Mexico. So it's a Mexican built Wolfgang pickup. Probably why my made in Mexico Stripe Series is way hotter than my USA Stealth. That or the tone knob and neck pickup are killing the output. Which is also possible.
 
What he^ said....my MIJ Stealth Special has the same pickups as the USAs....I really like them, enough that I thought about throwing some into my LPC...went another way as they're a little dark and I didn't think they'd sit well in a big heavy mahogany guitar.

I usually use pickups that are hotter...I have a Painkiller in my LPC, a Lundgren M8 in my 8 string and a Warpig in my baritone. It took me a minute to get used to the EVHs, but they're actually pretty fantastic pickups....really warm and clear, the bridge can be used for pretty much anything....it'll do sludge, metal, hard rock and even has some decent clean tones in there. For all his faults, dude knows how to spec a guitar. These pickups sit really well in this guitar, and seem to be tuned nicely to basswood.

I think they are a little underpowered compared to what I usually use, but once I got used to them I really started to like them. If you dig the guitars and they do have the generic pickups in them, try the EVHs in there; they work really well in basswood, although it's never going to sound like a JB in there.

Sloppy as hell clip for a drumjam last month using the Stealth with EVHs...didn't mix anything, just ripped it and threw it up cause I was walking out the door:

https://soundcloud.com/steinmetzify/killzonejunegab
 
I took them out of my Wolfgang soon after purchasing it. Personally I just didn't get along with them. Compared to my other guitars with the Duncan JB it just couldn't keep up. I did however like the articulation of them but they just aren't high output pickups.

On a side note changing the pickups in the wolfgang is a chore because the new ones don't fit the cavity in the body and some grinding is required...lol
 
I have a couple MIC Special HT's - the ones with the fine-tuning tailpiece and locking nut.

"Warm and clear, but under-powered" - that's exactly what I hear. The neck is okay, although I don't know that a JB will "balance" well with it. Not too crazy about digging up the cavity either. I'll probably just leave them alone, as I can get by with them. I was just wondering if anyone else was hearing what I am, and it sounds like I'm not alone. Also good to hear that they're the same pickups as the rest of the herd. I've had three Special HT's -- and they were all the same, so at least they're consistent.
 
Yeah, I just built a few patches in my AxeII to use it with; they have a little more gain than my usual patches do just because of it, but I really dig em.
 
Chris O":iji5yz3l said:
I have a couple MIC Special HT's - the ones with the fine-tuning tailpiece and locking nut.

"Warm and clear, but under-powered" - that's exactly what I hear. The neck is okay, although I don't know that a JB will "balance" well with it. Not too crazy about digging up the cavity either. I'll probably just leave them alone, as I can get by with them. I was just wondering if anyone else was hearing what I am, and it sounds like I'm not alone. Also good to hear that they're the same pickups as the rest of the herd. I've had three Special HT's -- and they were all the same, so at least they're consistent.
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You don't have to "dig out the body cavity" to install new pickups in there. I put Seymour Duncan pickups in mine and just had to grind a little of the metal on the edges off with a dremel tool to make them fit. The EVH pickups are more rounded but it really only took a minute or two.

The neck pickup sounds absolutely awful with the JB bridge! These do NOT pair well at all..... just a FYI

And your right in describing them as "warm and clear but under-powered" thats exactly how I hear them
 
The pickups in the EVH wolfgang standard and the EVH striped guitars have IMPORT wolfgang pu's and are NOT the same as the USA version. They sound different(better or worse is your choice? ;)
They are pretty easy to ID, they have black bobbins and the slug poles are flush with the baseplate whereas the USA made pu's have slightly raised slug poles. the baseplate they look like this,
they have the RoHS sticker.
WolfgangPickups_Stickers1.JPG


There are a few trying to pass these off as the more expensive USA made ones on Ebay and other forums.
They are not as good overall and not worth what the USA made pu's are priced for.
 
Underpowered? That's not how I'd describe the pickups in my MIM stealth special. In fact, the reason I bought the guitar was because they crushed pretty nicely when I demoed the guitar thru the 5150 iii 50 watt and 1x12 cab at sam ash. Are they flame throwers? No. They're not as hot as the Doug Aldrich I have in my skulls n snakes, but they're not weak by any means. Hot as a jb? Probably not, but I find them more articulate, percussive, and warm compared to that, which I had for a long time in my lynch and hated more often than not. Also, the bridge pup in my stealth is very similar to the one in my buddy's peavey wolfgang. Anyway, opinions will vary, but I like them because they're not, say, Duncan distortion hot, but there's plenty of personality , sustain, and crunch to be had. And you can raise the height a bit, even though they're direct mount. Ymmv. Everyone's ears are different, and you'll either dig the voicing and output or you won't.
 
I just meant underpowered compared to what I normally use, which are a lot hotter. They're great pickups, I never said they weren't. I actually really like them a lot.
 
Steinmetzify":3pvs5utb said:
I just meant underpowered compared to what I normally use, which are a lot hotter. They're great pickups, I never said they weren't. I actually really like them a lot.
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I can dig what you're saying. Listened to your clip you'd posted above. Angry as fuck. That's the cool thing about the pups: you can run fuck loads of gain, and they stay articulate and tight
 
shreder75":2dkxplh0 said:
That's the cool thing about the pups: you can run fuck loads of gain, and they stay articulate and tight
Click to expand...

I have the MIC version of the Stealth, and this is exactly what I think about the pickups. I love them! Vlad's Recto profiles with a metric TON of gain and still they stay articulate and tight all the way.
 
Michi":1n58suvd said:
shreder75":1n58suvd said:
That's the cool thing about the pups: you can run fuck loads of gain, and they stay articulate and tight
Click to expand...

I have the MIC version of the Stealth, and this is exactly what I think about the pickups. I love them! Vlad's Recto profiles with a metric TON of gain and still they stay articulate and tight all the way.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I run the red channel gain on my evh 50 watt at about 10:30 or 11:00 and it's great for that percussive lynch /nuno like lead I dig, as well as metal rythm. You can hear every note, and the pups don't kill your ears. The stealth is about all I'm playing these days. The lynch is getting jealous :D
 
Don't know if this is possible, but i very rarely use a humbucker at the neck, i prefer single coils. Looking at wolfgang pickup pic above is it possible to desolder and wire it as a single coil without having a coil tap switch etc.

Cheers in advance
 
I'm not sure about the M series EVH pups, but I bought a bridge for my '87 crackle Series 10... yeah I said it, cheap ass '87 black n red crackle series 10, along with pots, tuners, just to see if it was any good. That guitar rocks. The pups said the are made in the US. hand crafted in Corona California (on the box). I have a Jackson dinky pro with zebra JB tb4 bridge pup. M model, and they are poop. Same pickup (not zebra) in Japanese model, dinky pro, and they kill. So I guess it does matter.
 
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