You know yer addicted with the first thing that pops in yer head when you look at a bass and you mentally ask yerself, "How much trouble would it be to put EMGs in there..."
I have 5 EMG equipped Basses (6 if count my old Kramer ZX70 with EMG designed Selects, indeed a ZX70 was my first decent bass and started me on the EMG path many moons ago...)
EMG just gets me to where I want to be tone wise.
I can't find the actual quote ATM but JimmyM over at the TB forums said something to the effect of, "EMGs have a certain quality that no other pickups have..." or something like that.
I totally agree with that sentiment. EMG pickups do have that "je ne sais quoi."
Oh hell, let me just get this out of the way right now...
EMGs JUST FRIGGIN' ROCK!!! OK?!?!?! (there... I feel better now!)
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Things to love about EMG Pickups: They are
FREAKING LOUD when you need them to be
LOUD! "11" built right in everything EMG makes! Output man, output!
They
STFU when you need them to
STFU. Seriously, EMGs are Vewy Vewy Qwuite (ehehehe) when not being played. I've run across the occasional EMG hater who want to claim that they are noisy. To this I must say B***S***! (I'll repeat for the hearing impaired) B***S***! If you have real deal EMG Pickups/controls and controls and they are noisy then they are wired incorrectly, something is defective/damaged or the battery is low. Or in other words: Something is Wrong!
A moment The Movement of
C L A R I T Y ! EMG have clarity even when you're playin' in the mud, gettin' all down and dirty! And when you need be clean and pristine, oh yeah baby, EMG will take you there in style!
EASY INSTALLATION! So easy, a caveman can do it! For real man, EMG could teach Apple and Microsoft a thing or four about plug and play! Putting EMGs in is 5 minute job on a prepped P bass, 10 minutes on Jazz, 15-20 minutes if you're "gettin' all jiggy with it" by adding an EMG EQ and/or some other EMG do-hicky what-not thing-a-ma-gig . And you don't even need a soldering gun!
Everything is included, always. Let say that you're a P bass man. Just buy an EMG P pick up and it will every bit of wiring you'll need, a volume control, a tone control, battery clip, output jack and most importantly, CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS and, should you need it, helpful support! And they can be with in different ways depending on YOUR needs, not someone else's.
And hey!
The Controls actually work, you know, LIKE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO! You know what I'm talking about. Those cheapie controls on lesser equipped basses. The ones that have volume knobs that instead of smoothly going from "10" down to zero, it goes more like: 10, 9, ......ZERO! And the tone knob? More like "Tone Stealer" knob... It can't Boost, it can only cut and sometimes poorly at that. Oh yeah and um, those two pickup setups on passive basses? Well they may suffer from phase cancellation. This is when two pickups interfere with each other’s freq responses, and it ends up thin or hollow sounding. On the other hand, even the most basic EMG controls (ie volume/volume/tone) have circuitry to prevent these types of issues.
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Things to hate about EMG Pickups: The included EMG knobs are as butt ugly as homemade sin ...
Never forget to unplug your bass when you're done playing.
Seriously. That's it. That's all that I can personally think of.
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OK, I admit it. I'm a Control Freq! I will state one thing right now, for me personally, the pickups must go with an 3 band EQ system, I simply don't like the limitation of just tone knobs, and I don't like 2 band EQs either. They are not flexible enough for my tastes. For me, the real tone shaping happens in the middle. Throw sweep-able mids in there like EMG 3 band EQs do and it gets even better! Generally I leave the Bass cranked, the High end I leave flat or cut (*newer strings) and the mids, I twiddle to the flavor of the moment.
Need a bottom end that can crush granite? Crank the Lows, sweep the mid freq control to lower ranges and then boost the mods to pulverizing taste!
The dance floor called in an extra order of Funk asap? Crank the Lows and Highs, sweep the mid freq control to a low mid freq and cut to the funk!
Need to punch some punk right in the face? Slightly boost the Lows and the highs. Sweep the mid freq control to mid high range and crank on the Mids like a bad habit!
Time to put that cocky lead guitar player in his place? Summon your inner Cliff Burton by cranking the mid sweep control to the high range, cranking the Mids and Highs as you melt faces in the front row
And you never even had to walk over and molest yer amp!
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The Traditional EMG We're talking the Ceramic Magnet EMGs and their Ceramic Steel Cousins.
They was my first foray in the truly "active" EMG pickups. I picked a couple of Schector Basses (a 4 and a 5, the nice neck thru models) that originally came with EMG HZ humbuckers and EMG
designed 2 band EQs.
I thought the HZs sound pretty good but I really wasn't digging the 2 band EQ very much on either bass. So hey, let's upgrade! On both passes, I installed EMG Ceramic Steel humbuckers in the neck position and Standard EMG DCs at the bridge also with EMG BQC 3 Band EQ Systems, running at 18v. It was on then B****es! The CS at the neck has nice warm rounded sound and DCs supply punch and clarity. And of course the 3 band EQ shapes everything to my will. These basses got played pretty much exclusively at the time. That is until competition showed up.
Generation X Ok, back in my old metal band days, many moons ago, cash was very tight so no EMGs for me. But I did have my Peavey Unity Series Dyna Bass. It was the bass the spoiled me to 3 band EQ which came from the factory. It sounds pretty good back in the day but now fast forward all these years and it was being left in the dust of the newer EMG armed basses. I still love that old bass and I wasn't gonna let it go down like that! Time for the Steve Austin treatment. We have the technology. It was time for a new Generation. EMG X Series Pickups have improved preamps with increased headroom (so 18v is less of a need unless you play really hard a lot.) I went with standard PJX set and that old Peavey went from "meh" to " HOLY F***ING S**T!!!
Two fer One! Hell Yeah! Oh yeah, by now I was gettin' pretty liquored up EMG at this point. But hell, WHY STOP NOW? The next product I procured was a matched set of EMG TWX Pickups for 5 String. The TW Pickups Series include volume controls that are push/pull that allow coil tapping. You can switch from humbucker to single coil or vice versa and with two of them, I can mix and match!
The "A" Team Ok, now I know some folks are like, yeah right EMG Fanboi, I tried EMGS a few years ago and hated them. The common reason people usually say against EMGs are things like:
*They sound compressed.
*They don't sound natural enough.
Well this sound like a job for the EMG "A" Team! I now have a bass with EMG "PAX" at the neck and the EMG "JAX" at the bridge. I do believe that the A Series certainly kicks the crap out those arguments!
EMG "A" Pickups are made with Alnico magnets which allows the pickups to just sing!
I purchased the EMG PAX first and after I installed it and played, I thought to myself, Holy crap, this is best damned sounding P pickup I've ever heard! And now that I have the EMG JAX and well, DITTO! A simply amazing sounding J pickup!
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So yeah, I'm high on EMG and I don't need no doctor! I just need my amp! ---------------------------------------------
Oh and while I'm here, in case anyone ever needs it (I photo-chopped it me-self!): 
This was for one of my basses and it works perfectly. hip63
