possibly stupid EMG 18v question

[jdr94]

Ok so we all know you can do the 18v mod using the pickups to get more headroom, but would doing the 18v mod using passive pickups and the PA-2 give you more headroom in the boost? In other words will I be able to crank the gain higher on the PA-2 before distorting?

[jacksonaxes]

?:think:

[jdr94]

does that mean good question or why such a dumb question lol

[straycat]

Try it and see what happens.

[jdr94]

yeah i guess ill have to. was hopin someone had tried it, but i'll try it sometime this week

[VitaminG]

I thought the PA-2 was pure boost? If it doesn't impart any gain of its own, then upping it to 18volts would potentially increase the boost, I would have thought. 20db not enough?

Found this discussion at CMZ. Friend of the JCF, Vince Sansevere said it did add headroom

http://theclevelandmetalzone.yuku.com/topic/203/EMG-PA2-Preamp-Booster

[jdr94]

it def starts adding some gain/overdrive after halfway so i was thinking it may make it clean all the way to 20db w the 18v.

edit- also i believe the amount of boost is limited to the transistor used, but i know little about all the components which is why i ask, but ill do a comparison and youtube it if i dont get lazy lol

[Axewielder]

I'm a little suspicious about these "headroom" claims. The level at which breakup starts to occur is really determined by your pedals and/or overdriven tube amp. You can take your uber-distortion humbucker with dimed volume pot and dimed EMG Afterburner, and the signal coming out of your guitar's output jack still has ZERO distortion at that point in the signal chain.

[jdr94]

I dont know if it actually increases headroom either, but I do know that on a clean setting if I crank the PA2 past halfway it starts to break up a lil so maybe it overdrives the amp(solid state is what Im on at the moment) and its just the nature of the beast. I'll still try it, but you're right break up should occur in the amp

[xenophobe]

I'm a little suspicious about these "headroom" claims. The level at which breakup starts to occur is really determined by your pedals and/or overdriven tube amp. You can take your uber-distortion humbucker with dimed volume pot and dimed EMG Afterburner, and the signal coming out of your guitar's output jack still has ZERO distortion at that point in the signal chain.

EMG pickups at 9v clip sooner than they do at 18v. That's why EMG came out with the X series. They're barely distinguishable from the originals, but the comparison is valid.

[jdr94]

I thought the PA-2 was pure boost? If it doesn't impart any gain of its own, then upping it to 18volts would potentially increase the boost, I would have thought. 20db not enough?

Found this discussion at CMZ. Friend of the JCF, Vince Sansevere said it did add headroom
http://theclevelandmetalzone.yuku.co...Preamp-Booster

i missed the bottom of ur post earlier. very interesting.

[mr426]

Ok, here is a dumb question. Why would you want to increase headroom on a boost? How much more gain do you need? Things start to get muddy after a certain point.

[jdr94]

i was just hoping to use more than 40% of the boost without losing definition. also im not using it as a boost, im using it as an always on.