Pick-up Swap Help

[MSDguitar]

I have an ESP ec-300 one-piece guitar with 2 EMG humbuckers. theres not enough tone for me or rich sound... i was thinking about a gibson burst bucker pro or maybe a good duncan pickup but i dont know what to pick or if i even can swap them out. my guitar has no battery active or passive pack (whatever that is...) so what would be the best pickup with a great rock sound and amazing tone and clear highs and lows with clarity... please help i hate these EMG's so bad... P.S. i play new rock like story of the year, etc. of that helps. P.P.S. is the swap relativally easy or should i not tinker? thanks

[Grandor]

Re: Pick-up Swap Help

First off, welcome to the forum...

I'd recommend a Seymour duncan Jazz in the neck and a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge.

The swap is relatively easy, Id get a tech to do it if you arent sure.
You'll probably need to change your Pots if there is EMG's in at the moment. They are fairly cheap, about 3 bucks each.
Talk to your local tech.

[MSDguitar]

Re: Pick-up Swap Help

Thanks for the help... what are pots? and what kind of guitar do you play with what kind of pickups, bc you sound like you know a little aBOUT tone

[Grandor]

Re: Pick-up Swap Help

Pots are poteontimeters (spelling).

They are the actual shaft that is turned by your knob.
You would need 300k or 500k pots. Most guys have 500k pots, Gibson les pauls come stock with 300k pots.
Id recommend somewhere between 300-400k for pots on an LP style guitar.

I play a Peavey Wolfgang with stock pickups. Cause they sound too good.
In the past I have had 2 epi les pauls, one with a 59/JB set, the other with a Jazz/JB set. If you want more help, goto the pickup lounge they can help you more with pickup choices there.

- You say that your guitar has no battery, that means that the pickups either arent active, or their not working right. Perhaps your guitar should have a battery in it, thats why the tone is sucking.
I didnt think EMG made passive pickups though.
I know the EC-400 and EC-1000 have actives, the EMG HZ series and I think the 1000 has a 81/85 set (zack wyld type set).

As I said, Take it to a tech, get him to drop some duncans in (as before - goto the pickup lounge for that action), and you'll be as sound as a pound.

[HetfieldRules]

Re: Pick-up Swap Help

the EC-300 comes with EMG HZ's so the puts should still work, but they still have that 4 prong easy plug that all EMG HZ's have, kinda like active EMG's have a 5 prong plug. but if it's your 1st time i would recomend having a local guitar shop do it for you or at least walk you through it.

[Lee Bob]

Re: Pick-up Swap Help

The EMG HZ's are not active pickups. Therefore no battery needed. I would suggest getting a SD Custom or Custom 5 in the bridge and a SD '59 in the neck for a killer hard rock tone. I would switch the pots on that guitar. Most low to mid level guitars don't have the best pots. I would recommend a set of CTS 500k pots, that's what I just recently swapped into my Epi LP and they sound great.
As far as you doing the swap yourself the difficulty is all relative. I did my swap myself (first time) and found it quite easy but that's mostly because I have some elctrical knowledge and I did research on the net about what needed to be done and what tools were required. The wiring scematic that comes with SD pups is also very helpful and very easy to understand.
Hope this helps man.