Guitar Gear Forum

Pretty much all in the title.. Ive seen this 24 v mod for EMGs for awhile and I admit I thought I do like what 18v mod does, how big a change would 24 or 27 do? SO I just put 3 9v in series with one 9 volt only being about 6.5 volts.. I didn't think it'd change much, but id argue it sounds more different going from 18 to 27 than 9 to 18.. I honestly play very physically and I always could hear when I squashed the preamp out of headroom.. Even with 18v.. But the 27 totally changes that.. No more "active" feel to me. It feels more like any other pickup with just that active tone.. Which I've grown more and more to like especially when playing live..

I also used the Sennheiser421 with the Heil; pr30.. At first I felt it was an odd mix cause they both add more in the 4-5khz range than I typically like.. But the more I played around with em, it just sounds different. ITs got a gritty but sharp clarity, while keeping a lot of balls... Its got a different grit to it. Pretty unique sounding and these days I want more different than trying to capture whats already been done..
More Slayer, cause I have so many of these drum tracks I found over the last year to practice to and figure might as well use em..

Overall the tone is a sum of its parts but id say its the mic setup that sets it apart most, but the 27ish v EMG is staying for sure!

So first I have Jesus Saves. Easily one of my faves to play live.. I havent cut the solos yet, but I get the first and last one of these in my band and they are so fun.. This is the red channel of the EVH 5153 el34 100 https://app.box.com/s/tn3s7ntogdzwznche7mhqk7iz6j4j6ng

Then another top 3 song play live, Necrophobic. I used the EVH el34 100 blue Channel boosted with the Wampler Moxie. Same EMG and mic setup. I cut the solos in this one..
https://app.box.com/s/g53iwlmy691i04jkb64vpuqtkfuje3om

It sounds great man. How do you do the 27v mod? I know it's 3 batteries, but are they in parallel, meaning connect all 3 blacks and and all reds? Or is it series?

To be fair, I like the way stock EMGs sound, precisely because of the headroom compression they have. I think it's a cool sound and it's a bonafide classic tone by now.

But this does sound a lot more open and passive-like, which is cool.

It's funny that the best way to make these pickups sound like passive pickups is to make them more active with additional voltage

I wonder if you could use a cheapo Amazon boost converter here?

https://amzn.eu/d/dkykkb8

I remember trying this years ago and thought 9v to 18v was a much larger difference than 18v to 27v. However, that was years ago.

How the hell do you fit 3 batteries in your guitar? lol

GuitarBilly wrote:It sounds great man. How do you do the 27v mod? I know it's 3 batteries, but are they in parallel, meaning connect all 3 blacks and and all reds? Or is it series?

To be fair, I like the way stock EMGs sound, precisely because of the headroom compression they have. I think it's a cool sound and it's a bonafide classic tone by now.

But this does sound a lot more open and passive-like, which is cool.

It's funny that the best way to make these pickups sound like passive pickups is to make them more active with additional voltage

You put them all in series. Black to Red to Black to Red, etc...

I used to have a harness I made years ago where I could plug 2 batteries into 1 battery clip. This is making me want to see if I still have that thing.

think i prefer the boosted blue a little more. what is the wampler moxie similar to?? not familiar with that thing

Shask wrote:I remember trying this years ago and thought 9v to 18v was a much larger difference than 18v to 27v. However, that was years ago.

How the hell do you fit 3 batteries in your guitar? lol

Back in the HCAF days, I think someone used a capacitor or something.

GuitarBilly wrote:It sounds great man. How do you do the 27v mod? I know it's 3 batteries, but are they in parallel, meaning connect all 3 blacks and and all reds? Or is it series?

To be fair, I like the way stock EMGs sound, precisely because of the headroom compression they have. I think it's a cool sound and it's a bonafide classic tone by now.

But this does sound a lot more open and passive-like, which is cool.

It's funny that the best way to make these pickups sound like passive pickups is to make them more active with additional voltage

I like this method since it avoids cutting the original harness. I’ve gone back and forth over the years, currently with 9v because I want to drive the preamp (I’m on bass, so I have the pups and preamp onboard).