Clean Amps and EMG's

dkenin

dkenin

Inspired
Hey guys,

Has anybody successfully managed to play pristine (no break up) on a clean patch with a guitar with EMGs? No matter how hard I try to lower gain on amps and roll back the volume enough on my guitar, I still get break up for doing funky rhythm work or reggae on my guitar. I have other guitars with passives that would work better, but I like the EMGs with high gain settings on other patches I have.

Being in a cover band, I need to cover a lot of ground, but I don't want to keep switching guitars. Any suggestions? I tried the Jazz Chorus with the gain on .1 and the mixer volume increased drastically, but as I slam a chord I still get break up. I tried the compressor still getting break up

I will beat some of you to the punch... Yes I know that some guitars aren't meant for specific types of music, but I'd like to TRY and break the mold here and find a workable solution where I can cover a lot of genres with a guitar I really like to play.

Thanks in advance,

Dave
 
Reduce input trim (if necessary, go way below 0.5) but leave gain on a "normal" settings (.1 is way too low). Also, check the distance of your pickups to the strings. Even if EMGs have almost no magnetic pull, they sound awful if they start clipping.
 
Make sure your battery is new.

Back off the amp block input trim.

Lower the pups in small increments.

In that order.
 
thanks guys... input trim? Is that synonymous with drive? Basically the first parameter you can tweak when you start editing the amps?

I think you are right about the pickups being close to the strings. I love shredding and for that it works great, but I might need to make some compromises for clean tone. The battery is definitely new.

Thanks for your input guys!
 
No the input trim is a different setting than input drive.

For zero breakup tones, I almost always have the input trim down from default.

There are a few exceptions. Like the Shiva Clean. But most of the models don't 100% cleanup with my guitars without backing off the input trim.
 
Input trim is input trim. It is called like that and can be found on the ADV-page if you're using the front panel.
 
dkenin said:
thanks guys... input trim? Is that synonymous with drive? Basically the first parameter you can tweak when you start editing the amps?
Click to expand...

Input Trim set the input sensitivity - input trim value of 0.5 is equal to the low input on most classic amp designs

cheers
Paco
 
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okay so it' sin the advanced menu? I will try that out, I bet that will fix it, thanks so much guys. I know it's not obvious :), but I'm new to the AXE FX II
 
I was able to get them clean in *most* of the Firmware updates up to 11b... V11 seems to have gone back to breaking up the nut on the cleans again.... But the dirty amps sound Sooooo good, I'll FIND a way to make the cleans clean... ;-)
 
dkenin said:
okay so it' sin the advanced menu? I will try that out, I bet that will fix it, thanks so much guys. I know it's not obvious :), but I'm new to the AXE FX II
Click to expand...

No problem! You're welcome, and we all help each other! :)

If you use AxeEdit 3.0 its on the normal amp control page - on the AxeFx it's in the advanced parameter page - one of the first parameters on top! I'm currently in my workshop finishing some work on a powerball, but when I'm home I'll guide you if you haven't found it yet....

Cheers
Paco
 
Thank so much Paco! I just downloaded Axe Edit 3.0, it looks like many of the knobs are more apparent on that interface than on the unit itself. Thanks again everyone!
 
What EMG model do you own?
I can get really good cleans with my EMG SA in middle position (Single Coil)... Also with my EMG 89 "splitted" or my 85 both in neck position. Never tried to get a pristine clean on my bridge (EMG 81)
Have you tried the 18v MOD? It opens the sound... It's like having an EMG X.

Regarding the Axe, follow the advices posted above --> Play with the Input Trim parameter.
Also the amp matters a lot. Try the Jazz 120 (based on Roland JC-120)
 
Hey bro, did you try changing the battery? If it's a weak or bad battery, the output of the EMG's can be distorted. Had this before with my Luke... On cheap batteries this slowly increases so you only realize it gradually.
 
@christopherzberlin
dkenin said:
The battery is definitely new.
Click to expand...
;)

Though I'm not using any EMG pickups anymore (81/60-combo), I never had any problems to get pristine cleans. I used HiPower Normal, USA Clean 1/2, Shiver Cln and some others - lowering the input trim helped a lot. As I already mentioned, I hated the sound of the clipping preamp of the EMG, that's why I spent some time tweaking the distance of the pickups to the strings.
 
It's something changed in FW11, it wasn't there in 11b. I use EMG 81's in all my guitars in the bridge and was using the deluxe reverb amp. All my clean patches are now overdriven and I have not got to fixing it yet, but the problem is not the pickup, its height, its battery, my cable, etc as I've been using the same preset with that amp and settings for the last 4 months since 10.00 was released and prior to 11.00 it was acoustically clean.
 
No amount of lowering the gain will remove it, it's compression from the built-in preamps. Try the 18V mod, should solve it straight away.

They actually aren't that high output.

It may not have been so bad before, but I like EMG's and that has always been the main reason I don't use them.
 
Fun111 said:
No amount of lowering the gain will remove it, it's compression from the built-in preamps. Try the 18V mod, should solve it straight away.

They actually aren't that high output.

It may not have been so bad before, but I like EMG's and that has always been the main reason I don't use them.
Click to expand...

This is not true. I have several rigs, and I have pristine cleans with my EMG's. I also had pristine cleans on the AxeFX until FW11.

I've also been an EMG user and endorser for over 20 years. The built in preamp is not the problem.
 
I disagree, regardless of how long you've used them, the built in preamp can be a problem to some people, I have transfer functions I've taken somewhere... It's why they feel the way they do anyway.

I'm not saying you can't get pristine cleans, don't get me wrong, and backing the pickup off from the strings a bit will reduce the subtle compressive effects of the in-built preamp very quickly but it is a very real effect. It's not something other people will hear, but something somebody playing it would 'feel' - but with their ears (obviously a guitar doesn't literally play any differently just because it has different pickups). Some people such as yourself don't see it as a negative and in the case of my 8, nor do I.

If that's not the effect the OP's talking about then that's fine, it's just very often what people are referring to if they happen not to like EMG's or their cleans. 18V is a quick mod and would at the very least rule that out. :)
 
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