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Monday, 30 April 2012

EMG Active Preamp for 81/85 pickups Stripboard Veroboard


I recently got a LTD les paul type guitar and it came with the EMG-HZ passive versions of the 81/85 pickups so I searched the internet for a schematic of the preamp circuit and found one, made a verolayout for it and then put it in my guitar and it's pretty cool - here is a song I used the guitar with the preamp in

at

13 comments:

  1. none18 July 2012 at 22:44

    Hey Paul,

    Thanks for the circuit.
    Would you believe I found the same circuit and spent an hour putting together a stripboard design and building it. Now I discover that you had done the work already (and beat me - my layout was 14x8!).

    My immediate reaction is that the gain is maybe too high - I might play with that.
    How have you found the battery life ?

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  2. Paul Stevenson19 July 2012 at 00:07

    I'm sure if you change the value of R7 you can limit the gain somewhat however I found it to sound the same as my already active pickups however I was using the EMG HZ versions with this circuit.
    the battery life is about the same as the old EMG pickups (not too great)
    with the new versions of the EMG pickups they have done a lot to really increase battery life.
    I really need to draw up the schematic for this one, if you're talking about the one I think you are then it's correct however I reverse engineered from a blown pickup because I wanted to be certain plus I had a blown pickup!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous4 October 2012 at 23:03

      hey paul, could you send more info on the emg 81 preamp circuit to my email address?
      it looks like a cool project, thanks sn
      panterica83@yahoo.com

      Delete
  3. Sonicguitars25 February 2013 at 09:12

    For the connection is: coil in 1 hot wire and coil2 in ground wire of an HB for example?

    Thanks
    Paolo

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    1. DrStevenson26 February 2013 at 12:48

      I've added a little diagram to instruct you on how it should be wired

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    2. Sonicguitars27 February 2013 at 05:44

      thanks a lot Paul! Do you know the K value of emg passive coils? 5-6k or lower?

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  4. Sonicguitars27 February 2013 at 10:14

    Is suitable also for bass?
    thanx again!!

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    1. DrStevenson27 February 2013 at 11:33

      it's suitable for anything really however there is another more general preamp for guitars http://www.paulinthelab.com/2012/05/fet-line-buffer-veroboard.html

      here is the EMGHZ data sheet - they are high impedance (that's what the HZ stands for) http://www.emgpickups.com/content/wiringdiagrams/EMGHZ-35-40-45.pdf

      hope this helps

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  5. Sonicguitars27 February 2013 at 14:14

    Very kind Paul. I'm going to build the emg version and make some test with a 7-8k hb
    thanks again

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  6. Anonymous26 April 2013 at 06:24

    Hello Paul!

    Could you tell us what happens, if the humbucker is put in series and gets only into input "coil 1"?
    ..or what happens if the humbucker is coil tapped?

    thanks a lot!

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    Replies
    1. DrStevenson29 April 2013 at 21:35

      there is a diagram on how to connect it - it will not work if it is not connected that way.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous15 August 2013 at 17:55

    hi Paul, in a real humbucker installed in a guitar, which is coil 1 and which is coil 2? Is Coil 1 the upper coil of the real humbucker?, or no matter? Thanks. Mauro (mhmoras@ovi.com)

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  8. Anonymous2 February 2024 at 04:31

    Hey paul! If you run the coils like this tying the starts together then to ground and then use the finishes to feed the preamp aren’t we hearing a parallel humbucker?

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