EMG After Burner

Active 20 dB variable gain boost. Turns your entire output to low impedance, and is mounted on a push pull pot where down is off, up is on, and you dial in however much gain you please from there on out.

I installed this on a custom guitar that I built for myself. It's a maple solid-body with two hot humbuckers wired to push pull coil-splitting pots, so combined with the AB the thing is hella versatile.

This thing is incredible. When wired up properly, it is stone silent, and adds incredibly clean, no-color-added-to-your-sound gain. It's really remarkable, you can't get pure, clean, unadulterated gain like this from any pedal I've ever played, yet you can get it by the truckload from this little circuit....

You can use it as an additional volume knob from a very clean setting, or dial in something close to break up, and then use this knob to push you sound well beyond that point into overdrive/distortion territory. As for using it in a lead channel, it will add TONS of heavy gain to your sound, and light up any mild amp you might have into an inferno of high gain mayhem. You can pre-set this bugger to provide a screamin' solo boost when you pull it out, or just drive an amp HARD he whole time to get a tone that's just as thick and rich as can be.

I play everything from praise and worship music to modern metal, and I have found that using this as a boost into your moderatly overdriven distortion channel provides an even tighter tone for low end metal riff-age than an amps original gain circuit can! It's madness!


I build guitars for fun, from scratch, and I will never ever build another without bringing one of these along for the ride. The versatility these add is mind boggling.

I will continue to buy these for the guitars I make for myself and the guitars I make for my customers. They are the best on-board preamp trinket I have ever come across by far.

Up to 20db gain boost.

I have this installed on a Schecter Damien 7 with Active 81-7 and 707 pickups. I wanted it to be a monster gain machine which it now is. Even got a custom carved silver knob for it with a celtic cross as to contrast from the black crome volume and tone knobs.

Easy installation since I already had the active EMGs in my guitar. All I had to do was drill the hole and then make the connections between the pickups and the output and to the battery. As far as I can tell it adds no color to my tone. For clean tones I can get a big boost in volume which then overdrives my amp from the font end to the speaker. With an overdriven amp I can get a ton of sustain and compressed distortion...that type of liquid, saturated gain that lots of metal guys love for shredding(though I wouldn't recommend that much gain for rythym playing because it can get really muddy). If you activate the AB after hitting a big, climactic note and slowly dial up the gain as it decays you can get a crazy amount of sustain. Careful though because the feedback can be out of control too. I really think this is a very handy device to have on-board my guitar for many applications but i'm only giving it a 7 on sound because it really doesn't actually add anything to your tone itself.

Aside from my Damien 7 with the afterburner, I also have another guitar with the EMG PA2 installed, which is essentially an afterburner with a switch instead of a push-pull pot and the trim pot attached to the PCB inside the control cavity. To compare the two, I'd say they have their up sides and down sides. The PA2 is a bit more convenient to turn of and on in live settings since you're just flicking a switch. The afterburner is a bit akward to grab and pull while making sure you're dialed in to the right boost level. On the other hand, the afterburner is much easier to adjust once it is on, while the PA2's boost level can only be tweeked by going into the control cavity and working the trim pot with a small philip's head screwdriver. Either way though, they both work well with active or passive pickups and are a great option over gain pedals if you don't like to be restricted to standing in one place on stage.
One important thing though: make sure before you install the afterburner that you have room in your guitar's control cavity for both the unit itself as well as the battery. And be sure you don't mind having to drill a hole in your instrument (although in some cases you won't have to...like if your replacing a tone pot on a Les Paul or a Strat).

afterburner

jackson kelly, 81 emg bridge, vol, afterburner. installed on output. the reason why i chose this is because i like emg and i needed something 4 a boost.i like to play in situations where i can walk in and plug into whatever and be assured i will have some type of gain at hand.i use 2 use just the vol but now prefer having AB onboard .

output is good, smaller speakers with amp distortion can become overpowered .awesome with valves, loves valves .sounds bloody good clean , playing my gat clean without it on is a anticlimax 4 me now,kinda like having another channel in your amp ,good 4 feedback control or uncontrol. i play all sorts of guitar music and wouldnt b caught without one

im waiting 4 my pa2 to do a comparison i think 4 me flicking will b easier on the fly than push pulling although having ajustment on guitar is a definite plus.i was pretty happy with this purchase beats buying a boost pedal 4 twice as much.

Pickup features:
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Ibanez RG 1527
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar: Lundgren Model M (bridge) Duncan Jazz 7 (neck)
Artists using this pickup: ?
You musical style(s): Technical grinding metalcore/evil jazz and instrumental rock
Reason for pickup change: I wanted the great tone of passive pickups with clarity of actives.

Perceived output level: It'll boost a pickup's output up to +20 dB. That's a good amount of boost to play with.
Tone: Pretty much completely transparent. Seems to enhance upper mid frequencies, but maybe that's something else in my rig.
Sonic evaluation: I use a basswood RG 1527 with the above-mentioned pickups through a Mesa Dual Recto, and I usually use a Boss Metal Zone. With distortion, the Afterburner will increase gain and saturation, but when you use it with an overdrive or distortion pedal as well, things really get crazy. If you decide to use a pedal with it, you'll have to be careful not to over-saturate the signal and produce a lot of noise. That said, it really doesn't contribute much noise by itself unless you crank it all the way up (even then it's not too bad), but if there's something noisy in your chain, it'll make it that much worse. Basically, it just takes the tone you have, and gives you more gain and/or volume.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play a lot of the heavier styles of music (death, grind, etc.). It's good for these because of the large amount of boost it offers, plus it'll keep your signal from losing too much clarity through stompboxes, cables, and all of that, a real concern when you're dealing with a super high gain tone.

Comments: Overall, I consider this product to be a great value, and probably the best 50-some-odd dollars I've ever spent on guitar equipment. It really enhances clarity and purity of tone. This is especially noticeable when your other gear is high-quality, and you're using passive electronics. Also, it's a great product for those players who desire the benfits of active circuitry, but are scared off by fully-active electronics (such as me). Allows low impedance and low noise without being limited to EMG's line of pickups, which are fine, but are all too scooped and too hot for my tastes. I would recommend this product to anyone looking to improve their tone and maybe have a bit of boost on tap if desired.

Pickup features: 20dB Gain boost
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Jackson USA Custom RR-1
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Hard Rock/Metal
Reason for pickup change: Wanted more harmonics, sustain, etc. Didn't know what to expect. Very happy.

Perceived output level: 20db gain boost.
Tone: Totally balanced, completely enhances your EMG's.
Sonic evaluation: I am playing through a Marshall JCM900 with a Morley wah and some boss effects. I play through my amp's distortion and clean channels with this (no pedals...yuk). I have this as a gain boost add-on along with 81 and 60 pickups and a EMG EXP guitar expander. Really helps give me more harmonics, sensitivity, helps break up my clean channel into some VH type light distortion...very cool. Adjusts to your technique. Totally killer for my furious distortion leads, as well as clean SRV/Hendrix heavy blues rock. Beautiful on clean solo melodies with gobs of harmonics.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play hard rock with fast, flashy solos, etc. Great addition to your EMG's on both clean and leads!!!! Buy this ASAP.

Comments: This little add-on really helps me to get the most out of my EMG's. I'm able to push them over the edge and then back up a little. I get a great clean that I can make instantly turn into Van Halen type distortion (think Roth era) and Zakk Wylde crazy harmonic leads (even more-so) that are effortless. But Zakk uses the 81 anyways so....this just pushes it further. Popular misconception note: it doesn't change the tone of your amp into a Boogie, it enhances your own amp's tone with more sensitivity and harmonics. If you want a Boogie sound, buy one! And if you have a Boogie TriAxis and feel that you want more happening with your distortion Zakk Wylde type of furious 80's type of solos (a la Mark IV), this will help make it happen in that rig. Nice.

Pickup features: AJUSTABLE 2Odb BOOST
Impedence or other specs: LOW AND WILL CONVERT HIGH TO LOW

Model of guitar or bass: ESP==LTD-300 VIPER
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar: 2 EMG 81 PICK UPS IN BRIDGE AND NECK
Artists using this pickup: ??
You musical style(s): CLEAN JAZZ, FUTION,, METAL ,,WHAT EVER
Reason for pickup change: THE IS A ONE POT=KNOB EFFECT,, TURN THE KNOB FROM -0- TOO 20 db THEN PULL IT OUT WHEN NEEDED

Perceived output level: I LIKE THIS THING FOR THOUGHS TIMES I AM STUCK WITH AN AMP THAT DOES NOT HAVE LOTS OF OVERDRIVE, IT DELIVERS A CLEAN BOOST
Tone: THIS UNIT JUST BOOSTS THE SIGNAL ,CLEAN, IT WILL MORE THAN DOUBLE YOU VOLUME,
Sonic evaluation: I USE A BOGNER UBERSCHALL AND THIER IS NO NEED FOR IT THIER, BUT I LIKE IT AS SAFETY NET. I HAVE BEEN STUCK WITH A MARSHALL JCM 900 AND I MADE THAT THING SOUND SO MDEN KIND OF LIKE A RECT WITH EL-34s, IT JUST SCREAMED, AND I HAD NO PEDAL, PEOPLE WERE LIKE HOW DID YOU MAKE THAT AMP SOUND SO HEVY BUT STILL RETAIN THE TONE OF THE AMP.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: IT IS LIKE HAVE A HOT MOD FOR ANY AMP, FOR ALL SYLES, DARK CLEANS CAN BECOME HOT BLUES.= CLASSIC ROCK SOUND CAN BECOME REALLY HOT MODEN METAL, OR PLAYING INTO A BOARD IT WILL JUST PLAN BOOST YOU'R VOLUME OVER DOUBLE WITHOUT OVER AS LONG AS THE BOARD'S POT IS NOT TO HOT AND YOU CAN AJUST TO TASTE ON THE FLY

Comments: GREAT LITTLE SECRET, YOU NOT STUCK WITH THE LIMITS OF THE AMP, PERFECT WHEN YOU DO NOT HAVE YOUR OWN AMP WITH YOU, USE THIS BABY ON YOU'R PICKUP THROUGH A MARSHALL PLEXI AND YOU'R IN WITH THE HOT=REALLY HOT VINTAGE HARD ROCK SOUND, ALSO GOES GREAT WITH THE EMG-BALANCE POT, IT TAKES THE PLACE OF A 3 WAY SWITCH