Low Guitar Output - Need Advice

[Nicad27]

Hi guys, long story short, I have a guitar with Blackouts that was giving me problems so I bought some from a different brand hoping that, as a guy with zero soldering experience, I would be able to replace all of the electronics with their solderless system to get the guitar working again. Set came in and I replaced everything, but the pickups were giving very low output. Their support had me send everything to them and they confirmed everything was functioning correctly and sent it back to me pretty much completely wired. I dropped everything in and had the same problem I did before, low output. In a moment of desperation I took the guitar to Guitar Center and had them wire it up without the quick connect system. It worked for a while and now I am getting the same low output thing as before. I tried recording all of my guitars into my interface and they were hitting between -4 and -6 dB, but this guitar shows up as a flat line and hits about -15 dB with the same levels on my interface. I figure the guitar is cursed at this point. I figured I'd go looking for some advice before I gut the electronics and by all new pots, toggle, and jack and try to teach myself how to solder, so I can put the Blackouts back in. It kills me having a guitar I haven't really been able to play for so long. It's been a $700 dust collector for quite a while.

[Lewguitar]

Check your battery or the input jack.

Only other advice I can offer is to bite the bullet and have a tech who really knows what they're doing get everything right.

Sounds like you're in over your head.

Good luck!

[Mr. 80's]

It worked for a while and now I am getting the same low output thing as before.

This makes me think it's a battery issue. Do you leave the guitar plugged in the majority of the time? If so it will drain the battery quickly so you need to unplug it all the time after playing to keep battery strong and prolong life. Also, active pups need to be ran much closer to the strings than passives since they have a weaker magnetic field to pickup string vibration and they rely on a preamp to amplify the signal. So if they are set to far away from the strings they can sound weak as well. I don't think the guitar is cursed.

[Masta' C]

Battery was my first thought as well. Make sure it's a newer one and decent quality. Don't leave the cable plugged in to a guitar with active pickups or it will drain the battery.

Also, does your interface have a hi-z/low-z switch?

What issue were you having with the Blackouts that made you change them?

[Top-L]

Hi guys, long story short, I have a guitar with Blackouts that was giving me problems so I bought some from a different brand hoping that, as a guy with zero soldering experience, I would be able to replace all of the electronics with their solderless system to get the guitar working again. Set came in and I replaced everything, but the pickups were giving very low output. Their support had me send everything to them and they confirmed everything was functioning correctly and sent it back to me pretty much completely wired. I dropped everything in and had the same problem I did before, low output. In a moment of desperation I took the guitar to Guitar Center and had them wire it up without the quick connect system. It worked for a while and now I am getting the same low output thing as before. I tried recording all of my guitars into my interface and they were hitting between -4 and -6 dB, but this guitar shows up as a flat line and hits about -15 dB with the same levels on my interface. I figure the guitar is cursed at this point. I figured I'd go looking for some advice before I gut the electronics and by all new pots, toggle, and jack and try to teach myself how to solder, so I can put the Blackouts back in. It kills me having a guitar I haven't really been able to play for so long. It's been a $700 dust collector for quite a while.

I just received a new guitar with EMGs.

ON a couple occasions, I didn't plug the jack in fully and the output was low/faint. On mine, really have to push it in. Unknown if there is anything different or incompatible aabout ENG and blackout jacks.

My guess is there is a problem with the input jack or cable not fully inserted.

[Nicad27]

This makes me think it's a battery issue. Do you leave the guitar plugged in the majority of the time? If so it will drain the battery quickly so you need to unplug it all the time after playing to keep battery strong and prolong life. Also, active pups need to be ran much closer to the strings than passives since they have a weaker magnetic field to pickup string vibration and they rely on a preamp to amplify the signal. So if they are set to far away from the strings they can sound weak as well. I don't think the guitar is cursed.

I thought it might be the battery too. I have 2 other guitars with active pickups, so not new to them. Took a new battery out of the package, measured it with my battery checker, but same problem.

[Nicad27]

Battery was my first thought as well. Make sure it's a newer one and decent quality. Don't leave the cable plugged in to a guitar with active pickups or it will drain the battery.

Also, does your interface have a hi-z/low-z switch?

What issue were you having with the Blackouts that made you change them?

I was having a problem with the toggle switch and didn’t want to have to take my guitar to Guitar Center, as they were the only repair service in town. The emg quick connect seemed simple enough, so I figured I’d try it out. I’d like to learn how to solder so I might as well use this as my chance. Bought a little digital clock kit for $10 to practice on.

[Masta' C]

Just to clarify, you replaced the toggle switch when you swapped to the EMG's with the quick-connect arrangement?

I will say that soldering is a valuable skill for a guitarist to have. You can buy a starter kit for less than $20 on Amazon that will let you learn the basics.

I would definitely make sure your cable is seating all the way. Might help to do a visual inspection and try another cable. Active pickups use a stereo jack, which has 2 "ears" the cable has to push through. Sometimes the taller one can get bent or may come a bit stiff from the factory, making it "feel" like the cable is fully inserted when it isn't, so you end up with a poor connection.

Outside of that, I think we'd need to see some pictures of the wiring to double-check everything

P.S.- dumb question, but your volume knob is up, right? ;P

[Nicad27]

Lol. Yeah. Volume knob up. I think since I can’t play the guitar anyway, I might as well use this as an opportunity to learn how to solder. I like a good learning opportunity. Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything obvious.

[nexion218]

I'd check anything and everything downstream from and including the output jack.

[GuitarDoc]

I just received a new guitar with EMGs.

ON a couple occasions, I didn't plug the jack in fully and the output was low/faint. On mine, really have to push it in. Unknown if there is anything different or incompatible aabout ENG and blackout jacks.

My guess is there is a problem with the input jack or cable not fully inserted.

Since there is no input jack in a guitar, I doubt that could possibly be a problem.

It's true you plug a cable into a guitar, but it is only to receive the output signal through the output jack.

[Top-L]

[Lewguitar]

Since there is no input jack in a guitar, I doubt that could possibly be a problem.

It's true you plug a cable into a guitar, but it is only to receive the output signal through the output jack.

Click on the link: https://www.musiciansfriend.com/acce...k%20%7C%20%243

[nexion218]

Since there is no input jack in a guitar, I doubt that could possibly be a problem.

It's true you plug a cable into a guitar, but it is only to receive the output signal through the output jack.

Mentioning a guitar input jack is like projecting the Batman sign onto the clouds: GuitarDoc will show up and take care of business...

[Nicad27]

I bought a multimeter today. The bridge pickups in 4 of my guitars measure about 17 Kohms at the end of a cable plugged in to the guitars. The one I’m having problems with measured 0.13 Kohms. I guess it’s time to work backwards.