Some guitars sound muddy with emgs

[Willyjacksonjs22-7]

I read forums of people having a muddy tone after installing emg pickups on their schecter or purchasing a schecter like the hellraiser with emgs. People suggested allot of things but most of the ops didn’t answer. Some forums are really old and I will like to know if anyone solved this problem. Yes I’m still haven’t change the stock active pickups on my schecter. Really muddy and unexplainable sound that makes any amp sound bad. The 57 is what I’m aiming for.

There’s a video that Gleen posted about the hype about pickups so I don’t get it because these stock pickups change your tone by 100 percent.

 

[Noodler]

I've found that anytime I get a muddy/dark sound from my EMG's that it's because they aren't close enough to the strings. I set all my guitars with EMG's so that the pickups are as close to the strings as possible without touching and it's always kept them crisp and clear.

 

[Willyjacksonjs22-7]

I've found that anytime I get a muddy/dark sound from my EMG's that it's because they aren't close enough to the strings. I set all my guitars with EMG's so that the pickups are as close to the strings as possible without touching and it's always kept them crisp and clear.

Yes some people tried that and it didn’t work. Must be a wood thing ( myth?) or they didn’t wire the pickups correctly. I’ll have to try a 57 and a high output passive and see which one I keep.

 

[RevDrucifer]

With EMG's it's safe to say a muddy tone is the result of the way the amp is dialed in/picking technique more than the pickups or guitar are to blame. Should be zero issues getting a tight sound with an EMG. I've got a 707 in my RG7620 and I'll have an 81/85 in an Edwards LP Custom by this evening, but I've had them in other guitars before, there's a reason why they're a hugely popular pickup for metal. If Metallica could get a tight tone from an EMG in the 80's, there's absolutely zero reason someone can't get it today with what's available for amps/VSTs/modelers.

707 in A Standard


3 types in E-standard

 

[zjb7777]

I just dropped in a set of 81-7 and 707 in my 7 string a few days. Using my settings I had for my last set of pickups (DiMarzio Titan and Liquifire), they were muddy as hell.

That said, it took about 20 minutes of tweaking my plugins to get it to sound really good. I reduced the gain on my amp plugin from around 1 o'clock to between 11 o'clock, boosted the mids a little bit, boosted the treble slightly, and in my EQ before the amp, set a high pass filter around 90hz and about half a decibel boost around 750hz. After all this, I have extremely noticable increases in clarity.

 

[Kosthrash]

EMG 18 volt mod

I've got a Jackson DKMGT with the usual EMG 81/85 combo. I've heard of a modification you can do to EMG pickups that has to do with some wiring trickery and another 9V battery to make the pickups run at 18 volts. Apparently this makes them sound a lot better. I really like the tightness of EMG's...

www.sevenstring.org

 

[Willyjacksonjs22-7]

I just dropped in a set of 81-7 and 707 in my 7 string a few days. Using my settings I had for my last set of pickups (DiMarzio Titan and Liquifire), they were muddy as hell.

That said, it took about 20 minutes of tweaking my plugins to get it to sound really good. I reduced the gain on my amp plugin from around 1 o'clock to between 11 o'clock, boosted the mids a little bit, boosted the treble slightly, and in my EQ before the amp, set a high pass filter around 90hz and about half a decibel boost around 750hz. After all this, I have extremely noticable increases in clarity.

I’ll try that with the current actives I have. Maybe that’s the problem. Do you miss the passives? Or the actives are doing better?

 

[NoodleFace]

Glenn is full of shit as usual

 

[Shask]

My Hellraiser with the EMG 81TW is more muddy than guitars I had in the past with a normal 81. However, I am sure a big part of that is having a Mahogany guitar with a Mahogany neck and Rosewood fretboard. It is just a darker guitar in general. I can dial around it, but it does take different settings than my other guitars.

 

[Willyjacksonjs22-7]

My Hellraiser with the EMG 81TW is more muddy than guitars I had in the past with a normal 81. However, I am sure a big part of that is having a Mahogany guitar with a Mahogany neck and Rosewood fretboard. It is just a darker guitar in general. I can dial around it, but it does take different settings than my other guitars.

Do you think passives can help the guitar? Or it will be the same?

 

[nickgray]

muddy tone

Could be due to fat strings. Fat low strings = tons of bass. Like others have mentioned, pickups could be too low as well, they tend to roll down the highs a tad when they're too low, and also the output is lower, which also translates into less highs being saturated by the amp (come to think of it, it could be that the height only really affects the output, the high roll off is a corollary).

Worth mentioning, low end mud is extremely easy to dial out with a pre-eq or a boost pedal (or a multiband compressor if we're being fancy), so I wouldn't worry about it too much. There's no crazy tweaking required, it really is very very easy to dial out.

 

[Brocephus]

Do you think passives can help the guitar? Or it will be the same?

With passives you can always change the value of the pots to make the sound darker or brighter. One of my guitars I just wired the pickups to a switch and then straight to the output and it cleared up those muddy $10 humbuckers like a charm

 

[budda]

My Hellraiser with the EMG 81TW is more muddy than guitars I had in the past with a normal 81. However, I am sure a big part of that is having a Mahogany guitar with a Mahogany neck and Rosewood fretboard. It is just a darker guitar in general. I can dial around it, but it does take different settings than my other guitars.

Try the reg 81 then? If thats brighter then you know its the TW model.

Also, dead strings = darker tone. Sometimes much darker.

Clean the frets, clean the fretboard, set the action and try again.

 

[Shask]

Try the reg 81 then? If thats brighter then you know its the TW model.

Also, dead strings = darker tone. Sometimes much darker.

Clean the frets, clean the fretboard, set the action and try again.

I have considered it. Many people online say the 81TW is bassier and smoother than the regular 81. I even have an extra 81/85 laying around, but the TW versions use a different connector and I dont feel like rewiring it.

Action is good. I fret leveled it last year.

 

[Shask]

Do you think passives can help the guitar? Or it will be the same?

Depends. Different pickups could help, either active pickups, or switching it to passive. You can also use an EQ pedal, or an OD pedal, or other similar things to help dial it in. Lots of ways you could work with it.

 

[budda]

I have considered it. Many people online say the 81TW is bassier and smoother than the regular 81. I even have an extra 81/85 laying around, but the TW versions use a different connector and I dont feel like rewiring it.

Action is good. I fret leveled it last year.

Setup remark was for the OP sorry

Check Narads restomod thread - the TW has a thing going on apparently.

 

[Emperoff]

Muddy EMG = User error

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I have considered it. Many people online say the 81TW is bassier and smoother than the regular 81. I even have an extra 81/85 laying around, but the TW versions use a different connector and I dont feel like rewiring it.

Action is good. I fret leveled it last year.

I'm probably one of those guys but yeah, felt the 81TW had more low end to it compared to the 81.

Also FWIW if a guitar is naturally muddy, sometimes an EMG won't fix it. I've had that happen several times. Sometimes you get a guitar where it's just a dead, muddy plank.

 

[Willyjacksonjs22-7]

I'm probably one of those guys but yeah, felt the 81TW had more low end to it compared to the 81.

Also FWIW if a guitar is naturally muddy, sometimes an EMG won't fix it. I've had that happen several times. Sometimes you get a guitar where it's just a dead, muddy plank.

I wonder what it is? Hopefully mine breaths once I put some Seymour Duncan. Not going with actives anymore. I like how Seymour Duncan pickups sounded isolated. I posted on the pickup group asking advice but no answer.

 

[Shask]

I'm probably one of those guys but yeah, felt the 81TW had more low end to it compared to the 81.

Also FWIW if a guitar is naturally muddy, sometimes an EMG won't fix it. I've had that happen several times. Sometimes you get a guitar where it's just a dead, muddy plank.

I dont even mind more low end, as I like pickups like the Duncan Custom, Duncan Invader, Dimarzio Tone Zone, etc... but, the 81TW just seems smoother in a less agressive way than the normal 81.