Pickup Height

[jauernis]

Bridge Pickup Height

On my EMG 81 on my Jackson just for shits and giggles plugged into my amp and did a quick shootout. And the pickup almost touching the strings made my amp sing!! If I lowered the pickup to half it started sounding really dull and sterile. Is that a common experience with you guys as well?? (and with the pod amp farm I really cant tell the difference ....but with an amp :zombie

So I'm guessing with actives the closer to the strings the better?

But how about passive pickups...lower? (I'll try my gibson plus passive tonight.)

 

[006]

Yes. EMG recommends that you put the pickup as close to the strings as possible without interfering with your playing. Passives I understand you have to balance them, so it's a fine-tuning kind of thing.

EMG > Passives (for ease of setup)

 

[DominikJW]

Yes. EMG recommends that you put the pickup as close to the strings as possible without interfering with your playing.

True, it's even written in the manual. IMO generally: Closer to the strings -> stronger output signal -> lower gain set on the amp -> less noises.

 

[MetalJonesy]

i have my pups as close as possible to the strings. i have floyd roses on my guitars so i pull the FR to its extremes and where the strings lie and set them just a bit lower as otherwise the strings would touch the pups when whailing on the trem

 

[Chryst Krispies]

When I palm mute on my guitars, the strings under my hand will hit the pickup giving a really cool chennnnnnt like sound.

 

[slashvanyoung]

That's always been something that bothered me a bit about EMGs, that slightly increasing their distance to the strings results in significant drops in output.

 

[Sickan]

How close are your guys EMG's to the strings?
I have 3 mm between the pickups and the strings, do you think that's to far away?

 

[Jaymz]

What about the relation from bridge to neck pup height? Do you have your bridge higher or both matched?

 

[MetalJonesy]

i just have both mine at about 1-2mm away from the strings when i fully pull the FR back so as the strings never touch the pups, thats about it really!

 

[006]

That's always been something that bothered me a bit about EMGs, that slightly increasing their distance to the strings results in significant drops in output.

Well, gosh, let's all just throw ours away then!

 

[Jaymz]

Gonna have to raise mine up a fair bit. Ive never disliked them how they are now so it can only get better!

 

[GuitarHack]

Keep in mind one thing. You will get it to a point where the preamp in the EMG will clip. I have 3 guitars with EMG's and always adjust the height to as high as possible without clipping. Record a DI with some hard string hits and open chords and look at the waveform. One guitar always sounded weird, particularly on muted chords in relation to another guitar (same wood, shape, etc...). It was the EMG clippping and it made muted stuff buzzy and squidgy rather than crisp and tight. FWIW my Hellraiser was setup just under the clipping height from the shop.

 

[SuperD]

I like the 'chirp' of my lowest string just barely touching the p/u during aggressive palm muting...I have it adjusted (mostly pure luck) so I can 'chirp'...or not.
And I have found that there is a big difference in tone due to height adjustment, but particularly with EMG's (as you have noticed) and single coil passives...be careful not to adjust those too close to the string as the magnet can pull the string out of tune and assorted other weirdness...the single coil concentrates the pull under 1 spot, whereas the twin coils of a standard full size passive humbucker tends to negate (mostly) that effect.

 

[abyssofdreams]

Keep in mind one thing. You will get it to a point where the preamp in the EMG will clip. I have 3 guitars with EMG's and always adjust the height to as high as possible without clipping. Record a DI with some hard string hits and open chords and look at the waveform. One guitar always sounded weird, particularly on muted chords in relation to another guitar (same wood, shape, etc...). It was the EMG clippping and it made muted stuff buzzy and squidgy rather than crisp and tight. FWIW my Hellraiser was setup just under the clipping height from the shop.

HUGE +1

I have my pubs fairly low, not close to the strings, even moreso with my EMG 85 (bridge). A lot cleaner, tight and punchy this way.

 

[Erkan]

How does one play with a guitar that is contantly clipping anyway? Shouldn't it be quite obvious to not set the mick too close to the strings? I mean, even metal guitarists play clean stuff from time to time and it should be pretty noticable during the cleans if it's constantly clipping, right? I have an 81 and it's set at 3,5mm away from the strings atm and I have already noticed clipping. I like playing clean parts to increase the dynamics in the songs so it's not all distortion all the time, and if it's clipping and shit on the cleans... man, fuck that

 

[ParsonsMatt]

Keep in mind one thing. You will get it to a point where the preamp in the EMG will clip. I have 3 guitars with EMG's and always adjust the height to as high as possible without clipping. Record a DI with some hard string hits and open chords and look at the waveform. One guitar always sounded weird, particularly on muted chords in relation to another guitar (same wood, shape, etc...). It was the EMG clippping and it made muted stuff buzzy and squidgy rather than crisp and tight. FWIW my Hellraiser was setup just under the clipping height from the shop.

Thus the benefit of the 18V mod :thu:

 

[John_C]

yup, gotta love that 18v mod. I dont like the character of the highs quite as much, but you just CANNOT have clipping for clean, and it's noticable through distortion as well.
The new 81-X is meant to have higher headroom, i await some some clips of it eagerly!

 

[slashvanyoung]

Well, gosh, let's all just throw ours away then!

It's alright, you can send em to me, I will handle that.