What value tone cap for EMG pickups?

[Charvel1975]

So I have older non-quick connect EMG's in my Charvel Model 5FX, an 81 humbucker in the bridge and I believe an SA single coil in the slant neck position.

Years ago the guy I had set the Charvel up for Drop B tuning, they put an Orange Drop .047mf cap in it, I'm pretty sure that's the value cap he put in it and at that time, since then last year the guitar was setup again for standard E tuning and the EMG-85 that was in the bridge was swapped out and the 81 put back in and the 80's black original Floyd Rose was swapped out and the gold 90's Original Floyd Rose that was on the guitar when I got it years ago was put back in.

Any of you EMG pickups users, what value tone cap do you have running with your EMG's?

[metalhobo]

yeah that's technically the "wrong" value cap to use. you're supposed to use a larger value since the tone pot's resistance is so much less (25k for emgs vs. 500k for passives).

the value that emg uses by default is 0.1 uF, I believe. this will give you more high-end roll-off (i.e. less high-end) as you turn the tone down vs the 0.047 uF.

but if you like the 0.047 uF then why change it... there's no objectively right answer. if you want less high-end then swap to 0.1 uF.

[Charvel1975]

yeah that's technically the "wrong" value cap to use. you're supposed to use a larger value since the tone pot's resistance is so much less (25k for emgs vs. 500k for passives).

the value that emg uses by default is 0.1 uF, I believe. this will give you more high-end roll-off (i.e. less high-end) as you turn the tone down vs the 0.047 uF.

but if you like the 0.047 uF then why change it... there's no objectively right answer. if you want less high-end then swap to 0.1 uF.

Thank you very much for the information! I'm not familiar with cap values, etc. All I know is my Charvel is all thin sounding, no punch, very brittle and harsh sounding and I had put a new battery in and even raised the 81 closer to the strings and that didn't help. The guitar shop it's at right now told me to buy all new EMG wiring kit with the short shaft Volume and Tone potentiometers, Output jack and 3-way toggle switch but the problem is my EMG's are old Non-Quick connect and everything is sautered in?

I went on EMG's site and the wiring kit they sell has 2 volumes and 2 tone potentiometers and when selecting the short shaft option they're splined shafts not solid and my Charvel's volume and tone knows have the screws on them.

A lot of people have suggested just getting a new EMG-81 cause it comes with the wiring etc. But I've debated if I wanted more versatility being able to go to single coil in the bridge pickup or not?