EMG P

EMG P pickup

It is an active pickup that uses a 9 volt battery.

It is split coil.

Super easy installation: What is cool about the EMG products is that whole harness comes pre-wired and all you have to do is click in the connectors to the pickups and the solder two wires. The most difficult part for me was to figure out where and how to place the battery. I could have easily routed out the cavity if I had a routing tool.

I installed this pickup into a Fender MIM Precision Bass. I was hoping to improve the stock sound of the P Bass and it worked.

The lows became lower and and the highs clearer with more air and definition in them. The EMG tone knob also had more impact on the tone than the stock fender tone knob had.

The output level defintely improved.

The lows became lower and clearer
The mid range mudiness was gone with these pickups
The highs became clearer with more air and definition in them.
Overall all tones were improved with more clarity and fullness.

The EMG tone knob also has more impact on the tone than the stock fender tone knob had. All the way up I could go to peircing clarity or if rolled all the way down I get very close to the rolled off highs of a Jamerson sound.

I would definelty replace this pickup if something happened to it.

- Single coil or humbucking? Active or passive? If active, 9-, 18-, or 20-volt system?

Active, obvious. At 9 volt wiring

I replace the stock pickup of my '03 Squier Special Precision, alder body and rosewood fingerboard. It was a BIG difference, more gain, sustain... opposite to the stock pickups lol

MORE output, no point of comparison with stock pickups. I use an ampeg with my band and line 6 toneport for practice at home... very quiet, 0 hum, better and more control in tone. I play rock and metal, and now my bass suits perfect for my music

i'll only use EMG for bass, period.

Single split-coil 9v active. Simple to connect and use, as should be the way with everything regarding a P-Bass

I installed it into a 78 Fender P. Great, solid, reliable body and neck, replacing the old, corroded pickup. I had to rout a cavity under the pickguard, but the rest of the wiring was simple

I'll be honest, this particular pickup was not what i expected. I had heard so many people swear by EMG... but the results I got were sorely disappointing. I ran it through a compressor, limiter, sonic max, and into a hartke 3500 and a hartke 410 cab. The overall tone was considerably darker than I had wanted. WHat I needed is a brighter, Flea/Dirnt type sound and this didn't deliver. The biggest problem, however, made the bass almost unusable. The E string had almost double the output of the other strings. I tried to compensate for this by lowering that side of the pickup... AS FAR AS IT COULD GO!. It made it better but it was still considerably louder than the rest of the strings. Keep in mind that these were new DR's, so it wasnt the strings' problem. The bass hasn't been gigged or recorded with since, since i havent gotten around to getting a new pickup. Given how so many swear by EMG, I wonder if perhaps I did get a bad pickup.

If i still had the receipt, it return it and perhaps try EMG one more time... IF the tone from the rest of the strings werent so dark. All in all, two thumbs down.

Active
This is actually a review of the EMG P5 pickup, which is virtually the same pickup as EMG P but for a 5-stringed bass instead.

Installed on a Washburn XB 105, that I bought as second hand. Even though it was a cheap bass, I rather liked the touch of it. The original electronics and P style pickup were cheap and dull, so I decided to give EMG a go and see what it can do, as there was nothing to lose.

Woah! I was expecting the bass to sound decent but this pickup actually transformed the bass into something I can be proud of. The sound is very articulated and punchy and the signature P-bass rumble is highly present. Even the low B string sounds full and edgy without the unnecessary boom. Harmonics play clearly across the strings. The balance is the only thing one could complain about: the the D and A strings have higher output than the rest of the strings and the G string has noticeably lower output than any of the other strings. However, by stuffing enaugh supportive foam underneath the pickups allowed me to raise the G string end of the pickup and lower the middle parts, resulting in a nice and even output. The feeling that the G string is quiet might be due to my personal preference of the J-bass bark on the higher strings, but the pickup more than pays this flaw back with the lower string clarity and rumble.

I'm fully satisfied with this purchase and would buy it again without a second thought, it's not too expensive and offers an excellent, beefy sound for the money. The installation was relatively easy, if replacing a pickup in a Fender style instrument all you'd need is three very simple solderings. As my bass had a side-routed jack I also had to extend one of the wires with around an inch of extra wire or so. Although the balance from string to string is slightly uneven, this can be easily overcome with proper setup. As the bottom line I'd say that the pickup delivers what it offers for affordable price.

Pickup features: Active
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Standard Precision Bass (Made in Mexico)
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Rock, Blues, Funk, Everything else
Reason for pickup change: Previous pickups lacked punch, depth, and high-end response. Needed to cut through the mix more.

Perceived output level: Substantially louder than passive pickups, but not overwhelmingly loud.
Tone: Very clear, very balanced. Gets the classic P-bass sound but with more balls.
Sonic evaluation: This bass was originally a Standard MIM P that eventually had everything except for the original body replaced - neck, tuners, bridge, pickguard, knobs, pickups, and pots. I tried several pickups before settling on the EMG. I run the bass through a Pod for recording, and through an SVT for live sound.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I think the P-bass works for just about every style of music out there.

Comments: The EMG was the finishing touch on my bass. The tone with actives is clear and dynamic while still sounding like a P-bass. You either love active pickups or hate them. I'd buy these again in a second.

Pickup features: active
Impedence or other specs: emginc.com

Model of guitar or bass: '75 p bass
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: sock
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Victor. glen worf, Lee Sklarr (kinda uses earlier version)
You musical style(s): country, roots.jazz,
Reason for pickup change: wanted more thump

Perceived output level: hot even for active,
Tone: like sex on your wedding night
Sonic evaluation: 75 p bass alder body, rosewood neck, aguilar 359 (SVT all tube clone) and Aguilar 1-12 cabnets

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: country, roots.

Comments: Holy crap, I never knew a pickup was that important. I've got a Modulus Q5 with Bartolini's-it'll sit in the closet until I change pickups. I put the EMG into my P bass 4 hours ago. At first I thought it's Ok. then I thought about what I heard, it's like sex on your wedding night. I can't imagine a better sound.

Pickup features: Active, Humbucking
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Washburn XB 100
Position: middle
Pickup being replaced: Passive Washburn P Pickup
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Punk Rock
Reason for pickup change: Original washburn pickup sounded dull, not enough power, and also the pole pieces annoyed me when the strings hit off them, the emg doesn't

Perceived output level: way more than my orignal pickup, it blew me away. it had an extra sort of presence that my other pickup didn't have.
Tone: Deep when you want it deep, and bright and punchy with lots of treble when you want that to, the tone contol is very responsive. the treble side is good for slapin'!!!
Sonic evaluation: Washburn XB 100, Ashdown After Eight(15 watt, 8" Speaker)

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Punk Rock also now i can play Metal cos' the sound jsut cuts through the heavy guitars, oh and i like playing round' with a bit of slapping and also some synth bass. This pickup can handle it all.

Comments: If i lost the pickup to some accident i would buy more, maybe two. one as a spare in case the other gets lost. i've been playing bass for 2 years but also guitar before that 6 years stopped when i started playing bass but plan to start again some time soon. Its a great little pickup, although where i live, in Ireland, its almost impossible for me to get control knobs for the pots so i've done with out them up until now, should get some in soon, they're ordered. This bass now has everything i want for the next few years. it has a great sound and i plan to keep it with this pickup in it for ever. it was my first bass, it sounds great and thats it. I thought about getting a Seymore Duncan Bassline but my brother has two EMG 81's in his guitar (b.c. rich ironbird) so they sounded great and i got the EMG instead.

Pickup features: active
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: SD Curlee
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Dimarzio
Other pickups on guitar: p bass in both neck and bridge position
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): All of the above
Reason for pickup change: I wasn't happy with the depth of sound so I gutted my bass and installed emg pickups and guts. It made a huge difference.

Perceived output level: Needed a wider variety of tone
Tone: wired at 18 volts . Ican get any amp to soound good.
Sonic evaluation: I use a wide variety of amps from small trace elliot 1-15 practice to hartke 5000, ashdown rpm1 with a mackie 1400i, alembic fb2, boss gl100, and a really wide variety of cabinets- bag end 1-15 sunn 2-15, crate 2-10+1-18, avatar 2-10, and avatar 2-12. With the emg preamp and pickup combination I can get very close to any sound I want with any amp. This bass is the one I take when I am not using my standard rig.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I didn't cut into the bass so I replaced the pick up combination that was there. I can not give a real technical evaluation here.

Comments: Extremely happy with the results. I have been playing 37 years and also own a GL 1000 and an Ibanez VWB1. The GL is what I use as my standard bass. As I have said the EMGs did exactly what I wanted them to do and would reccommend them to anybody make sure you use them with the emg preamp. I wasn't using this bass much and now I use it all the time.

Pickup features: active humbucker
Impedence or other specs: about 10k

Model of guitar or bass: Yamaha RBX250 Fretless
Position: middle
Pickup being replaced: stock
Other pickups on guitar: -
Artists using this pickup: ?
You musical style(s): Prog Metal, Acoustic
Reason for pickup change: I wanted an active high output p.u. for my fretless.

Perceived output level: Pretty high, my practice combo cannot take it at full volume (on guitar).
Tone: Strong bass and treble, midtones are missing at some frequencies.
Sonic evaluation: Warwick Sonic2 + custom 4x10 box.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I use it in a fretless. With a little mid boost on the amp you can get nice fretless tone.

Comments: Very good buy, for low price. Previously I used it in a fretted P-bass and was good there too. You can built it in your base very easy, almost plug-n-play. Can be upgraded simple as well with other EMGs.

Pickup features: Active
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: mid 80s BC Rich NJ Ironbird
Position: middle
Pickup being replaced: DiMarzio
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Heavy Metal
Reason for pickup change: wanted cleaner, quieter, louder pickup

Perceived output level: 10 times more than passive pickups
Tone: fat and punchy
Sonic evaluation: hartke 3500 head and 410 BXL cab

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: play heavy metal...and this pickup is perfect for it...but it has such good tonal qualities, it would be suitable for any type of music with a little tweaking of the tone pot!

Comments: i would definately buy it again if it ws destroyed. i have been playing for 14+ years. I own a Schecter Stiletto Elite 5 string with EMG HZ pickups with active preamp setup, hartke amplification, both head/cab and combo setups, Samson Airline wireless, Korg DTR2 tuner, morley volume pedal, BC Rich ironbird mentioned earlier