18v vs 9v EMG81, DIs INSIDE

[Brandon E.]

So tonight I finally decided to rip the 9v battery connector out of my moms alarm clock and do the 18v mod. 5 minutes of snipping and soldering and bam, rockin a much better sounding guitar! I know there are countless threads about this but I had never heard DIs of the difference myself until now so I thought I'd share mine. The difference to me sounds like wider more dynamic guitars that breathe, check it out yourselves!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3597430/18vs9.zip

 

[deLuther]

Did you reduce your interface gain when recording 18 V and how much?

 

[reneisgod]

9v sounds better to me, cheers for this clip ive always wanted to try the 18v mod but this has changed my mind

 

[reneisgod]

those DI's sound really crisp, what DI box did you use?

 

[Brandon E.]

I did adjust the interface gain, the 18vs were clipping on the gain I used for 9v. I didn't record how much I lowered it BUT before I bounced these DIs I lowered the track volume of the 9v DIs to get a similar volume. If you track them both as high as possible without peaking you obviously end up with the 9vs being much louder (lower peaks), so I lowered their volume after the fact to be comparable with the 18v (Something like -5db actually, and probably it wasn't enough!). So it's strange. In tracking DIs you end up with a louder signal in the 9vs, but into an amp the 18vs are hotter. I much prefer 18v, I think all that clipping in the 9vs sounds disgusting, and at 18v they seem to have the space and dynamics of a passive pickup. I don't use a DI box, I use my Saffire Pro 40 with the instrument and pad switches on. I used to have a Countryman Type 85 but I did a shootout and could not tell one damn difference so I sold it

 

[MindKEYS]

There is a lot of clipping on the 9V files, you should have turned down the volume also for the 9V...

 

[Brandon E.]

There is a lot of clipping on the 9V files, you should have turned down the volume also for the 9V...

That clipping is from the pickups not the interface. EMGs at 9volts clip like that, thats the whole purpose of the 18v mod, more headroom and no clipping

 

[deLuther]

That clipping is from the pickups not the interface. EMGs at 9volts clip like that, thats the whole purpose of the 18v mod, more headroom and no clipping

Or almost no clipping
If you looks on peaks with 18 V there is also slight clipping.
Threshold is usually increased by a couple of db, not proportional to increased voltage.