EMG 35TW Pickup Review

Wow, I really like these pickups. I'm able to get a wide palette of sounds from the combination of the single / dual coil selections.

In my installation, the position of the bridge position straddles the location between the jazz bridge position and the placement of the musicman pickup position. The single coil side of the pickup is placed closest to the bridge since this would approximate the traditional placement of the jazz pickup.

Conversely, the neck pickup placement is between the placement of a precision bass and the location of the jazz bass neck placement. The single coil side is closest to the neck to approximate the placement of the jazz pickup.

The single coil selection is actually a stacked setup which looks similar to EMG's custom replacement for the Telecaster bass. Theoretically, using the neck pickup alone in single coil would sound similar to the Telecaster sound, where dual coil (humbucking) gives a precision sound.

The bridge pickup in single mode with the neck in dual gives a P/J configuration.

I've never really played a musicman but the dual coil pickup is the one EMG lists for a replacement for one. So the bridge position in dual coil alone would sound similar to the musicman. This position does have a really good sound with slapping. The neck pickup in single coil added to it has a neat sound.

These pickups are quiet. Both pickups in single coil have a very clear and clean jazz bass tone. The humbuckers are deep with a lot of punch.

The downside is the difference in volume between single and dual coils. There is a modification that can be done to equilibrate the differences, but I don't want to lessen the punch of the humbuckers permanently.

I rarely use any on board equalization. I have a EMG BTC control installed for tone control. The system is powered by 18 volts which is suppose to increase headroom. Product support is excellent.

It's Fixed

Well I finally figured out what was wrong with the electronics. I took it apart again today and tested each pickup and corresponding potentiometer. Each one would work alone but not together. I had replaced the one I thought was bad, so I replaced the other one. I seems it was the one that was bad. It would work by itself but it would cause problems with the other one.

Many thanks to EMG and especially Rick Hunt; great products and excellent support.

Anyway, it sounds even better now. The volume is definitely different between the single ad dual coils. I'm considering this modification.

http://home.no.net/hhh78/emg-mod.pdf

UPDATE

Received an email from Rick Hunt at EMG. He;s offered to have me send everything to him to check out. I think it is probably a grounding problem or the actual pickup cable. I'm off Wednesday and I think see if I can get the faulty pickup to work by itself, directly to the jack. If not, I'll take everything apart and see if Rick can figure it out.

Played the bass today and it sounds great. I'm sure the problem is a simple fix, just a matter to find it.

The Electrical Problems Continue

Here's the finished project. It plays nice but I still have problems with the electronics.

EMG responded quickly and had me a part in the mail. Received it Friday and put it in that night. The problems continue. I decided to just put it together and leave it alone till I can discuss it with EMG. I've taking it apart and checked things out and put it back together so many times and the results are the same. I think the next step is to wire it with a master volume and blend pot. My American Deluxe Jazz bass is wired this way. You have to wonder why Fender left it's standard wiring for the active electronics in this bass.

I'll have to put in two mini switches to switch between single and dual coil pickups.

Anyway, I did one last troubleshooting session and documented it in another blog. I wanted to substantiate my process for EMG and it was way too much information to send in a email. The address / link as follows:

http://installing-emg35tw.blogspot.com/

EMG

EMG responded today. Hopefully I'll have an answer soon.

Electrical Demons

The last two days I've spent chasing electrical demons. So far, only one of my projects has been with any electrical issues.

The fretless is complete and the piezo pickup is gone. It never did work correctly and then it stopped altogether. I found a loose wire and when I resoldered it where it belongs; the batteries started to get real hot. Not good. So I disconnected it from the circuit for good.

I got the control pot I needed for my red bass yesterday. Wired it up without a hitch. This bass, my first build from spare parts has been the easiest. I finished wiring this one in the midst of the nightmare of the strat bass.

I first put everything together Thursday evening. Tried it out, nothing. I spent eight hours with it on Friday. I first check circuits with a volt meter. Individual circuits were complete but I did not have continuation throughout the whole circuit.

I took everything apart. I started from the jack and resoldered every connection. I wired in one pickup at a time. The first was fine, the second one did not work initially. I first swapped pickups to be sure there wasn't a problem with a pickup.

After resoldering it again and other voodoo, I got it to work; intermittently and poorly. When it would work, the other pickup would have to be turned on. I've wired this I've deduced that I have a bad control pot.

I'm going to contact EMG and see how they will handle it. Being that these components were new in the box and this is my third project all using their products, I think they should send me the new control for free, otherwise they sell it for $8.

Paint!

Today was the day. Yesterday didn't work out due to some conflicts, but all came together for today. We had fun hanging out in between coats, playing bass and Mario Cart.

Now just have to wait for the paint to dry.