How 'Bout Them EMG SAs?

['59]

I've been looking at getting a set of pickups for a Strat style guitar I bought a little while ago. The stock chinese pickups are utter trash and I'm getting them replaced. I've got a few questions about them.

1.) How do y'all like them tonally? The reviews I've heard are pretty good and I know the middle pickup can really work in some guitars - my uncle has it in the middle of an HSH.

2.) Do they have standard dimensions? This is for a top route SSS, so there's no room for them if they are taller or too big for the route that comes with it.

3.) What pot should I use? The guitar has a single volume pot, so I want to know if the pickups are too bright for a single 25K pot.

[Chistopher]

Re: How 'Bout Them EMG SAs?

1- I like them tonally. They have a great presence and solid lows, which if you've done your homework, you know is not a traditional Strat tone. So if you are looking for a vintage 50's Strat tone, these are not for you. But if you are willing to accept the fact that your guitar will sound more modern than a normal Stratocaster they are in fact really nice. But you must be careful about how close or far you set them to the strings, they are very sensitive to string height. I'd recommend a tad bit lower than what EMG does.

2-You should have no issues here.

3-You should have no issues here either. Worse case scenario depending on your setup, you might have to put a tiny resistor in series with the output. But these p'ups are far from ice-picky.

I have a set of EMG SA I actually have for sale or trade on the trading post right now. They have a EMG SPC and EXG, which you won't be able to use on your single pot guitar, but are still nonetheless useless. I can hook you up if you want them.

['59]

Re: How 'Bout Them EMG SAs?

Thanks, to be honest I didn't think I'd get an answer that fast about active EMG's on a somewhat technologically conservative SD forum. I do have small question about how bright the high end is, all the written reviews I've come across have conflicting statements about how many treebles the SA's have. Some people say they are too dark, some say they are "flat" or "sterile", where as yet even more people say they are too bright. What do you think about this? Does it just boil down to what you put them in or what amp you run them through? And one last question, I notice they don't have individual pickups for each position, as in they are interchangeable across neck, middle, and bridge. How does this play into tone and isn't it a bit more "vintage" than a company like EMG is want to do?

[Chistopher]

Re: How 'Bout Them EMG SAs?

The high end, as with most pickups, is dependent on the amp more than anything, so that has something to do with the mixed reviews. But a lot of it has to do with how sensitive the pickups are to string distance. When I first got my set I adjusted them to the distances recommended by EMG. I instantly thought that they were a hot, muddy mess that had no chance of being redeemed. But then I set them about 1mm lower just to see how it worked out, and it became really bright.

Each position is wound the same, but you can adjust each positon to taste. If you want a bright neck and a muddy bridge, that is entirely possible. It's not "vintage", as you say, but it works.

Since you don't have any tone controls, this is a nice set of active single that can be set so that you don't need a specific setting on the tone control to make it managable. But you do miss out on the EXG and SPC.

Now that I think about it, if you're jet set on getting active single coils, this is pretty much it. I don't know of any other popular active single coils. You might be able to experiment with traditional single coils and a buffer if you want to. I've always wanted to try SSL-1s (THE vintage Strat pickup) through a Blackout Preamp.

Good luck on your search!

['59]

Re: How 'Bout Them EMG SAs?

Thank you again, does anyone else have any opinions on this set? It's always good to have a second, third, and maybe even fourth opinion.

[Flake]

Re: How 'Bout Them EMG SAs?

my friends got an SA in the neck and 85 in the bridge, don’t like the 85 as much as an 81 but the SA felt a lot smoother than normal single coil neck pickups, it is bright, but it doesn’t sound as fragile. I don’t actually think that blues rock would be what this pickup is best at, I would use it for shred ala Yngwie/Jason Becker


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[jonsick]

Re: How 'Bout Them EMG SAs?

I really like the SAs but my problem always came down to what to put in the bridge. Both the 81 and 85 are quite hot whereas the SA is quite low output. My constant problem was that they could just never balance.

While the tone is great, you may find a rather noticeable difference in output when flipping from bridge to neck. Otherwise it's a great sounding pickup.

I've recently uninstalled them which is a shame as I seriously love the EMG 81 for almost everything.

I'm half way through installing passives. I'm going for a DiMarzio Fred in the bridge and a Satch Track (when it arrives) in the neck. I'm waiting on a few electronics so can't compare them just yet,

[jeremy]

Re: How 'Bout Them EMG SAs?

i like the blackout singles as far as active pups. they dont sound like a vintage strat (the livewire II classics do that well though) but they sound like a beefy strat single coil and i like the fact that two output levels are available at the flick of a switch if you so choose to wire it that way. the emg sa are fine pups but are a modern sound and have a nice compression to them. they are all the same as was mentioned which is "vintage correct" meaning thats the way the old strats were, all three pups were basically the same. some people like this, some dont since the bridge can be thin/wimpy compared to the neck. i used emg sa in the neck and middle for a while then swapped to the sv which i liked a little better. i havent used a trio of emgs in any of my own guitars, but am happy with the blackout set i have now. i still have my emg sv,sv,81 setup but it isnt in a guitar at the moment

['59]

Re: How 'Bout Them EMG SAs?

How do the SVs compare to the SAs? I know what I like about the SAs but don't know how to put words to it.

[jeremy]

Re: How 'Bout Them EMG SAs?

the sv's have a more percussive attack and sound more like strat pups too me. very quiet noise floor, seemed less noisy than the sa, 81 or 85

[Chistopher]

Re: How 'Bout Them EMG SAs?

Interesting, I've never had issues with noise on any three of those pickups.

[jeremy]

Re: How 'Bout Them EMG SAs?

they are all relatively noiseless but with the sv and 81 in the same guitar, it seemed the sv was even more quiet