EMG feedback issues?

[Skrapmetal]

I really love the tone of my new Het Set, but I can't control the feedback. It seems microphonic to me... I can completely mute the strings, run my ISP Decimator, and it will still feedback even at medium volumes. And it's not the normal high pitch squeal, it's more of a midrange feedback.

I googled and found some stuff about some bad EMG's that did go microphonic, but I just wanted to pick the brains here to see if there's something I should check before I go about sending them back to EMG.

Edit: Both pickups seem to do it, but the bridge does it much worse. The feedback tone is different between the two pickups, too.

 

[nwright]

what pickups were in the guitar before? How close to your amp are you? Where are you running your gain? What amp is it? Where do you have the master set? Is this happening as other instruments are playing?

I would doubt the pickups are microphonic.

If I have a decent amount of gain at a decent volume level, my EMG's will exhibit the same feedback. It changes if I move around. At band practice the extraneous noise in the room (rumbling bass, drums, screamed vocals) will bleed a bit into the pickups...Just enough that if I'm loud enough and the gate isn't catching, they feedback then, too.

 

[Skrapmetal]

The guitar had Duncan Designed blackouts originally, but I rewired it with the solderless kit that comes with the EMGs.

It does it at varying distances from the amp, everywhere from a foot away to 15+ feet away and while facing the amp or facing away.

It is high gain music, but not absurdly overloaded gain. Two different amps, two different rooms; Mesa Dual Rectifier with OD808 boosting, gain at around 10:30 on the amp, volume pretty low (not really loud enough to hang with drums unless he's playing gentle). The other amp is a Blackstar HT40, no boost, gain at about 11:00 in higher gain voice, similar volume level.

Identical settings give zero feedback with any of my other guitars. It's bad enough that if I'm playing staccato riffs it fills in the muted spaces with feedback and sounds terrible. If I grab the pickup with my fingers while it is doing it, it will sometimes stop it.

I doubt it is a problem, but this is the first time I've ever used metal pickup rings. Worth mentioning I guess.

 

[Anonymous]

my duncan AHB3 does this too....though i find my next answer almost hateable, try backing it off from the strings a tad? i say i dont like that answer because actives sound better closer to the strings.

 

[theaudioengine]

try backing it off from the strings a tad? i say i dont like that answer because actives sound better closer to the strings.

why is that? i'm not into active pickups but i find this interesting, as with my passive pickups i adjust the heights based on how much my magnet is choking out the string. just curious, because i would think with a dc voltage, that distance would also be equally as important as with a passive. no?

 

[Skrapmetal]

I can't imagine backing the pickups down will do much since it doesn't seem to be related to the strings at all, but I'm willing to try anything. I'll give that a shot later today.

try backing it off from the strings a tad? i say i dont like that answer because actives sound better closer to the strings.

why is that? i'm not into active pickups but i find this interesting, as with my passive pickups i adjust the heights based on how much my magnet is choking out the string. just curious, because i would think with a dc voltage, that distance would also be equally as important as with a passive. no?

The magnets in EMGs have a very light magnetic pull, so they don't hinder the strings when they are very close like passives can. EMG recommends putting them as close as you can get them to the strings without them touching when you fret your highest fret.

 

[primerib]

I'll get feedback from my EMGs in a high gain setting during a stacatto/rest. to compensate, I back off my volume a little for those parts to eliminate the FB

 

[thegame]

I doubt it is a problem, but this is the first time I've ever used metal pickup rings. Worth mentioning I guess.

I've never had a guitar with metal pickup rings myself but have read many accounts over the years of them causing problems like yours, whether using passive or active pups. Of course not every guitar with metal rings will feedback, but since more than a few have found that to be the case, you should replace those first.

Personally I've found EMGs to be some of the best feedback resistant pups I've ever tried.

 

[XSSIVE]

Is there a ground wire hooked up from the trem claw (if it has a trem) or bridge (if it doesn't have a trem) grounding the strings? If so there shouldn't be one and that could be part of the problem. EMGs don't get grounded like passive pickups. They can actually cause shocks in certain situations if they are grounded.

See note #4 here....

http://www.emgpickups.com/content/wirin ... -0106D.pdf

I've seen and heard of many import guitars like Agile's and Schecters coming with ground wires on active pickups which needed to be removed.

 

[Anonymous]

i have plastic rings. i've tried everything, putting foam behind them, making sure my grounds are connected, etc.

like was mentioned, the only thing i really get good results from is knocking the volume back a hair, but then i lose the full sound i like.

mine sounds best with volume up full, pickup as close to the string as i can get it, and the gain where i like it...but it squeals too.

actives and passives are completely different when it comes to heights...
theres an art in setting passives where you want for differnent tonal fine tuning.

im not sure that's the way with actives....you back them off, they just get weaker across the spectrum...it's hard to explain.

 

[baron55]

Sound pretty normal.

This is why, you have tons of gain!

Typical passive guitar pickups put out about .3 to .7 volts max AC voltage.

Actives (EMG) put out 3.0 to 4.0 volts AC voltage, almost a 500% increase in gain! Although the passive pickup in the EMG is fairly weak, the preamp it uses makes it more sensitive than a passive.

Then on top of that you are running through a boost then into a high gain amp which again exaggerates this phenomena.

Then into a high gain amp.

So what you are experiencing is pretty normal, because you have a lot of gain.

When you crank the volume up on the amp, it gets worse because the pickups are picking up positive feedback.

When EMG and Duncan advertise low noise actives, they are talking about the preamps not adding any noise or hiss. The noise and hiss and feedback you experience, is do to the gain settings and the fact the pickups are very sensitive.

Jut like a mic with the gain turned to high, squeal and feedback.

I don't like the tone of EMG's close to the strings, they sound better and more open backed away.

 

[Skrapmetal]

I just got done putting a little foam in; some underneath, some on the springs over the mounting screws... made a HUGE difference.

The feedback is still there if I'm up close, but it doesn't follow me around the room anymore, and I can put the volume and gain back up to where I like it without it getting out of control.

I'm gonna try to find some better foam and do a better job of it, this is definitely the problem for me. I think the pickup cavities are just too airy for these pickups without help.

 

[D-Rock]

I get the same thing with my 81 when I get to med-high volumes. But today I tried using a regular, basic cheap cable instead of my ultra clear, higher end cable and that helped some.
I found that the 81 is so clear, powerful and bright on it's own that using a cheaper cable doesn't negatively affect my tone like it does with passives.
I think the higher dollar cable lets through so much signal and high end freqs so clearly that it may be overkill with the active pups and allows for feedback to occur easier.