18 volts? Should I?

[MesaENGR412]

Hello all, I was just wondering what the difference is in running EMG active pickups with 9 volts vs. 18 volts of circuitry. Should i have mind modded to pump out the extra voltage? I've heard a buddy of mine's after he did the installation of another battery himself and it seemed to be pretty sick, but i only got to spend about five minutes with the guitar, and it was being played through a Randall SS combo...not a bad amp, but still not a Mesa Thanks for the input.

-AJH

 

[JamesD]

hmm that is interesting. I never really thought about that! If you do it, let me know what kind of difference you get!

 

[MesallicA]

I did it, i could not tell a difference. I even recorded a clip before and after i solderd it up (with the same settings ofcourse) and i could not tell you which recording had the mod and which didnt.

but its a really easy mod to do so its not a big deal, if you can fit 2 batteries try it out yourself and see if you can tell.

 

[ResearchTriangle]

There IS a difference. I personally thought it sounded great...unfortunately it wouldn't fit under my pickguard so I had to go back to 9 volts

 

[MesaENGR412]

Here's what my buddy sent me, he works at a Place called Don's Music City and they are the biggest distributor of EMG pickups on with east coast, with at least 1 if not more of every pickup EMG offers in stock:

Dear EMG can I use multiple batteries?

Yes. If you've got room for multiple batteries in your guitar, you can use two batteries wired in series to power your onboard circuitry at 18 volts. The output level will not appreciably increase, but you'll have increased headroom and crisper transients. This is especially useful for percussive/slap bass styles where you can generate enormous instantaneous power levels across the entire frequency spectrum.

You can also wire two batteries in parallel to provide a regular 9 volt supply but with much longer lifespan between battery changes.

Although most of our products are rated for 27 volts, we recommend a maximum of 18 volts. The additional benefits of 27 vs. 18 volts are negligible.

--I thought this to be interesting, now, I guess i'd want to go series in order to get more clarity. I'll see what goes. Interesting thoughts though, especially putting them in parallel and extending battery life....

-AJH

 

[Elpelotero]

as a guy that plays active basses as well, i would not do this. Notice how it says you achieve higher headroom. For a bassist, this means you get to pump more loud clean signals without the amp clipping/distorting. Bass is all about pumping a loud, clean signal at the highest volume possible. Guitar on the other hand IS NOT! if you have emg's in your guitar, you bought em to shred and get some nasty distortions. If you increase the headroom, this only means you have to pump the volumes that much louder in order to get the same distorted signal. Emg on guitar is all about distortion. you WANT less headroom so you get more breakup sooner. I dont know anyone buying emgs to play clean jazz at loud volumes....

 

[ResearchTriangle]

Emg on guitar is all about distortion. you WANT less headroom so you get more breakup sooner.

that's subjective now ain't it? :wink:

 

[confused]

I have installed 18 volt serial mod in my ESP Viper

It I find it's a bit more open and a tad brighter and a bit more crisp
but to me the biggest difference is the fact that it sounds alot better for lower gain stuff.

 

[Guitarzan]

Dude, just go get a Seymour Duncan Live Wire Metal. 18V is standard on these and you'll be much happier.

 

[screamingdaisy]

as a guy that plays active basses as well, i would not do this. Notice how it says you achieve higher headroom. For a bassist, this means you get to pump more loud clean signals without the amp clipping/distorting. Bass is all about pumping a loud, clean signal at the highest volume possible. Guitar on the other hand IS NOT! if you have emg's in your guitar, you bought em to shred and get some nasty distortions. If you increase the headroom, this only means you have to pump the volumes that much louder in order to get the same distorted signal. Emg on guitar is all about distortion. you WANT less headroom so you get more breakup sooner. I dont know anyone buying emgs to play clean jazz at loud volumes....

The pickups don't give you distortion, the amp does. Pumping out a louder signal means you'll hit the amp harder, and thus get more distortion, not less.


Anyway....I've been using 18v for a few years now. It works really well, but it's only a subtle change. When playing clean using 9v they'll sound a little more squashed as they'll max out their headroom and compress. At 18v there's a bit more headroom, so you can hear more dynamics in your playing as you can pick louder before you max out. That said, though high gain you won't notice a difference as the little bit of extra dynamics will be eaten up by the preamp compression.

 

[Commander Coo1]

i did the 27 volt mod to mine, i liked how it sounded, it improved the cleans more than the distortion though.

 

[ylo]

I have EMGs and sometimes use 18 volts.

The added headroom is in the pickup. If you hit the strings REALLY REALLY HARD while using one 9 volt battery, the opamps in the pickups clip. If you have really low string action with 9s, you probably cannot get enough string output to notice this.

With 18 volts, you get more clean headroom in the pickups. I have found that my amplifier has no trouble handling this. In clean settings, I get more clean headroom out of the speakers (i.e., the amp can handle the extra attack without clipping). In overdriven modes (Nomad CH2, CH3), I get just a little more gain and distortion in the attack of the notes, but after that everything sounds the same. In either case the difference is very subtle, and does not come into play unless you are a manic string masher.

 

[MesaENGR412]

i did the 27 volt mod to mine, i liked how it sounded, it improved the cleans more than the distortion though.

Can you post a pic of the front of that guitar? Ibanez RG model? Did you put a hardtail on it???

-AJH

 

[Commander Coo1]

It's a 1989 ESP Horizon with a Kahler 2300 bridge, and EMG-81/s pickups.
i got it off of ebay and swapped the pickups and got rid of the licensed floyd for the kahler.

 

[MesaENGR412]

Wow, I was way off, that is a beautiful guitar, and can't go wrong with the Kahler!! Rock on man, great find!!!

-AJH