PAF --> EMG 81: what block and settings?

[State of Epicicity]

Not disagreeing with your experience, I just find this interesting.

Reply #6 in his thread was actually entirely about the compression in the pickups and 9v vs 24v operation tests.

Oh cool, I hadn't read that far. I guess maybe what he's saying is right, but it does sound compressed to me, not like it's just the weird curve. And I'm not sure about his conclusion about higher output pickups being compressed themselves; isn't it just that the higher output causes the amp to compress more?

 

[IronSean]

Oh cool, I hadn't read that far. I guess maybe what he's saying is right, but it does sound compressed to me, not like it's just the weird curve. And I'm not sure about his conclusion about higher output pickups being compressed themselves; isn't it just that the higher output causes the amp to compress more?

I think higher output pickups do slow the transient which reduces it's amplitude, followed by a higher amplitude sustained note, which could be considered compression within the physical response of the pickup.

My (potentially incorrect) rationalization is that with fewer windings and a weaker magnetic field the eletrical signal can excite quickly into output, but doesn't collect as much output while everything is vibrating. With more winds and a stronger field it takes longer for the signal to start flowing, but captures more of the signal when vibration has stabilized. And/or it's a capacitence/inductance within the pickup thing.

 

[sumitagarwal]

So... how much more output does an EMG 81 really have compared to a PAF? Do we have a sense of that in dB?

 

[Space Helicopter]

I get ‘close enough’ with a big wide mid boost centred around maybe 700 hz or so, low and high cut. Maybe some compression if you want. Passives always felt like they have a lot more highs and lows than EMG’s to me, the 81 in particular sounds very mid-focused to me, with clipped off bass and treble. Works great in some applications. Love the 81 with my Fryette GPDI but prefer passives with most other amps.

So... how much more output does an EMG 81 really have compared to a PAF? Do we have a sense of that in dB?

A PAF might well be able to have higher peak output than an EMG 81 since it isn’t limited by a preamp and can’t clip like the EMG can. It will depend a lot on how hard you hit the strings and how far they are from the strings. A medium strum at medium pickup height will probably see the EMG as higher output, whereas a hard slam on the strings and pickups up close may show the PAF with higher peak output.

I would check by comparing guitars and matching outputs with a clean boost in the axe FX but I don’t have any guitars with PAF’s currently. Most of my passive pickups are high output (and mostly higher output than the 81).

 

[Smittefar]

I am guessing/thinking out loud now, but I am thinking that the best way to emulate the preamp in an EMG pickup is to experiment with one of the cleaner drive blocks (tape drive, fet preamp and SDD preamp come to mind), and then set slew rate quite low. The low slew rate should remove all the transient peaks from the sound, but the added gain should increase the overall loudness.