EMG 81/85set 18v mod?

kimmy

New Metal Member
Jan 19, 2011
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0
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Hey guys, i'm a metal kid from South Korea.I'm not sure I can write things here, but there's no info about 18v mod in korea. I bought a guitar, which is from a korean company which used to make LTD guitars. It has a same spec with LTD KH203(Basswood body + Bolted on hard maple neck) and looks almost same but it has EMG 81/85 set on it. It's actually my first guitar.
Anyway I just wanted to ask THE DIFFRENCE BETWEEN 9V&18V EMGS, and HOW TO DO AN 18V MOD. Don't hate me pls! some guys on youtube seems to hate asians...
 
You can do it with no modifications to the guitar - just make the harness, wrap both batteries in some cloth to tightly pack it in the big electronics cavity if there is no room in the battery cavity.

Clipping: Imagine a nice sine wave and how it looks like, now amplify it above 0 db and cut off all peaks and valleys = it is not a sine wave anymore.
This cutting off is called clipping.

An example of EMG pickups @ 9v clipping in the first pic:
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/equipment/293799-my-emg-18v-experiment.html
 
Damn, this is the first time i've read about this 18V mod!
[I've never been a fan of EMG's either way!]
So here's a little question;
Is there a cute SDuncan set that you guys would recomend
as a replacement for EMGs?

:)
 
Damn, this is the first time i've read about this 18V mod!
[I've never been a fan of EMG's either way!]
So here's a little question;
Is there a cute SDuncan set that you guys would recomend
as a replacement for EMGs?

:)

Blackouts! I love them.
 
You can do it with no modifications to the guitar - just make the harness, wrap both batteries in some cloth to tightly pack it in the big electronics cavity if there is no room in the battery cavity.

Clipping: Imagine a nice sine wave and how it looks like, now amplify it above 0 db and cut off all peaks and valleys = it is not a sine wave anymore.
This cutting off is called clipping.

An example of EMG pickups @ 9v clipping in the first pic:
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/equipment/293799-my-emg-18v-experiment.html

I've always loved that idea, but I can't do it on my bass or on my guitar because both have a special cavity for a batery :(. Actually, I can do it on the bass guitar and leave them hanging or make a hole in the pots cavity for the cable to go in, but I can't do it on my Schecter because it doesn't have those round connectors :(
 
both have a special cavity for a batery

Same here.
If i remember correctly:
Before assembling the harness, i stuck one connector to the battery connector and put its wire through the guitars guts (there has to be some room between the battery cavity and the pots cavity to squeeze the wire through more or less easily), so it reached the big cavity and there i soldered the wire to the rest of the harness.
 
Pretty much all the 18v mod does as far as tone goes is reduce the upper-mids and beef up the low-mids, for better or worse (worse IMO)

Old clips:

81 9v
81 18v
85 9v
85 18v

Both were in the bridge position of my mahogany Ibanez Prestige; I always preferred the 85 at 9v, but for awhile I preferred the 81 at 18v; however, that's what I used to record the guitars for my EP, and the increased low-mids/decreased high-mids was a detriment in a full mix IMO; the pitch wasn't as defined, and it was unpleasantly woofy - live and learn!