I put the EMG 81/85 set in MY LP Custom, and it's not what I expected - Please Help

[PEMAMETAL]

I put an EMG81/85 set in my Custom and initially had that noise as well as the harsh, trebly tone wash. I deduced that the culprit was the bias of my Marshall's tubes because I plugged into a friend's amp and didn't have the problem. It wasn't noticeable when I used passive pickups, but the active EMGs really exposed it. Marshall's recommended bias for my JCM2000 tubes is 90mV, and when I checked mine it was at 97mV which was way too hot, hence the harshness. I was able to get a thick Zakk tone dialing the bias down to 88mV.

Oh man, I was expecting you to say something here. I've seen You contributing in some threads, and You're a Zakk fan too. I've seen some pictures of your guitar in some threads, and without the cosmetics changes, your guitar is the same as mine. By the Way, She looks beautiful!!! So ****ing awesome.

Now You said something that might help. I think my amp is very bright, and as You said this noise wasn't so noticeable with passive pickups. I think I will try to remove the bright cap, or lowering the bias. This might help

 

[PEMAMETAL]

Did you use the included tone control(s) when you wired the EMGs....if so - are the tone controls on "10" ??

Yes I bought the zakk kit. I took the guitar into a luthier that did the job of installing the pickups to me. But yes, he used the tone controls that came in the kit. I usually use the tone control on 10, but sometimes on 8 or 7.

 

[Pushead]

I deduced that the culprit was the bias of my Marshall's tubes because I plugged into a friend's amp and didn't have the problem.

Interesting, I never would have considered this. I don't have any practical Marshall experience, so I can't help here, but I'd be interested in hearing if that has any effect on the problem.

And if we're showing off pictures of Les Paul Customs with EMGs...

 

[SGMM]

Killer LPCs Pushead!!

Yes I bought the zakk kit. I took the guitar into a luthier that did the job of installing the pickups to me. But yes, he used the tone controls that came in the kit. I usually use the tone control on 10, but sometimes on 8 or 7.

Do the tone potentiometers have the center "detent" ??....if so they're not like passive tone controls....the "detent" in the middle of the pots travel is "10" on a standard passive potentiometer....turning the pot above that "detent" adds more highs....not sure if the ZW kit has these potentiometers but worth checking out!!

 

[smorgdonkey]

It sounds to me like you have a real bird in your setup. Not a modeled bird but a real tube-driven bird...or is that a winged FX unit?

Step one: check for starling in your signal chain.

 

[PEMAMETAL]

Killer LPCs Pushead!!





Do the tone potentiometers have the center "detent" ??....if so they're not like passive tone controls....the "detent" in the middle of the pots travel is "10" on a standard passive potentiometer....turning the pot above that "detent" adds more highs....not sure if the ZW kit has these potentiometers but worth checking out!!

no Thay don't have the center detent. Its a regular pot. 25k pot if I remember

 

[zslane]

...Zakk's rig is very simple, there's nothing more than a Les Paul with EMG=> Jimi Hendrix wah, Dunlop Rotovibe, boss sd-1, boss ce-5 => 2 marshalls jcm 2203 with 6550. Monster Cables or Wireless.

Really? He doesn't use his own signature wah?

 

[Shardik1965]

I picked this up by looking for links to EMG's as I'm thinking about buying some but your bird note prob just sounds like wolf notes to me. If so, drop the height of the pick up slightly and see if that helps. Remember it could be the 85 causing the wolf note so best to drop that a bit too.