EMG PJ pickups working fine without batteries...

"Moosh" being a technical term for.......? Jay?

Heh! THINK ikwym.

Dave.
Moosh adj. Mush, mud, ooze, the consistency of fresh poop and soft serve ice cream, the substance left over when a building falls on a person.
 
There was a Gibson guitar that had low impedance pups (EMGs?) and a lift transformer.
The original Les Paul Recording Guitar. I'm pretty sure the pickups were actually made at Gibson.

I think all of the EMG actives use the same concept but with a differential amp in place of the transformer. They're all Low Z coils. Some have the active part in the pickup itself, and some do that on a separate board.
 
Im 99% sure these are the EMG PJ Set.... whatever that means. Nothing else looks the same and the wiring pics online are identical to what I see with one red wire(battery) and then a thin white (signal tip) and the shielding wire ground.

The ground goes to the guitar jack and the white/tip wire to the only volume pot, then the pot wire to the guitar cable tip connector jack.

There isnt any pot with a pcb or anything that I can see in the pictures, but that could have been lost long ago ..someone had been inside it previously.To be honest none of the pots look like the ones in the EMG site.

Input impedance on the Fender Bassman 400 is 1Meg passive and active.
passive sensitivty is 19mv the active is 40mv
nominal level passive 145mv and active 300mv

PICKUPS
SPECIFICATIONS
EMG-P
Resonant Frequency: 4.5 kHz
RMS Output Voltage: 1.0
Peak Output Voltage: 1.40
Output Noise: -90 dBV
Output Impedance: 10 kOhms
Current @ 9V: 80 microamps
Battery Life: 3,000 hours
Maximum Supply: 27V DC

EMG-LJ
Resonant Frequency: 4.8 kHz
RMS Output Voltage: 0.8
Peak Output Voltage: 1.10
Output Noise: -91 dBV
Output Impedance: 10 kOhms
Current @ 9V: 80 microamps
Battery Life: 3,000 hours
Maximum Supply: 27V DC
 
Moosh is bad.

Feminine undergarments being thrown on stage from the audience is better, in theory.


3,000 hours battery life sounds more like normal. I'm not sure if the pot value could have an effect on battery life, but it will affect tone. Vaules are usually stamped on the can unless someone soldered over it. You can always check it with a multimeter. I found a thread on Talkbass where people were saying the pot value isn't really critical. EMG supplies 25k, some people like 100k better, 250k will work. I just know that with passive guitar pups, a 500k pot can make single coils sound anemic.

On a more subjective note, a buddy of mine has a P-bass he put an EMG in years ago. Works fine, but I never thought it was all that special. Another friend bought a 5 string P-bass and put a Nordstrand (passive) in it. Huge booty for days on end. Totally different animal.
 
the pots usually full open volume so its not in the path, should be 0 ohms, i was thinking of just putting in a on/off switch.

so the 3000hrs is with the guitar cable unplugged because it almost looks like the circuit is open then? the guitar jack is the "Stereo/3 prong" jack which is odd. I wonder about this? 3000 hrs, I might run a test this weekend just for the hell of it.

Im still confused, if I install a battery and get the active pups working, then I have to press the button/pad on the amp and turn the volume way down to like 2 on the preamp. So I guess the active makes the pickups more sensitive? to like touches and softer playing adn maybe slight more top end? so it seems.

but then worry about the battery going dead in the middle of a gig....lol
 
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The 3000 hours is with it plugged in. However, since there are two pickups, you will likely get 1500 hours out of the battery.

Like I said, when I had emgs, I would replace the battery 2-3 times a year. That's when I was playing all the time.

The active circuitry is a preamp, so it makes it louder. It brings the weak ass signal from their weak wss pickups up to around where normal pickups would be. (Or beyond)
 
so basically they have weak pickups, then add all this crap with a battery to get the level up to where a passive pickup is....lol
 
Yes. But they are weak on purpose. The stronger the pickup, the less high end and clarity you get. So they make a very clear pickup with all the high end and make up for the lack of power with a preamp.

It makes more sense with guitar pickups. The added high end gets through the amps preamp without being distorted too much, which gives you better pick attack before the rest of the note gets distorted.

If they didn't add the preamp, the pickups wouldn't put out enough signal to distort an amp.

If the pickups were wound for more power, they wouldn't have the high end, just like all the other passive pickups out there.

That is their differentiator.
 
makes great sense.
not as funny as the other explanation but more sense.


<add ending> as this one fades into oblivion universe.. I ordered some Passive Preciusion type pickups and wired them in.
the active set was probably fine and had been working, but due to past bad experiences of live gigs and the bass battery going out and wiring confusion.....it was gutted.

the passives installed and the critical distance to the stings found for much better gain / loudness.
I think they were American Precision pups? It doesnt matter....

so the volume knob had to be turned up some on the input to mid-center, and its all there in tone.

active pups w/ new battery- preamp 2
passive pups- 5
active pups without battery - 8-9 (10 being max)
 
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