Active pickups and treble-bleed

[idsnowdog]

I recently converted two guitars to Blackouts and EMGs and I found the .1 capacitor that EMG specifies for the tone pot is almost useless with both types of pickups. Since I have some .47 capacitors which SD recommends for the Blackouts coming later in the week I removed the .1 from the tone and tried it as a treble-bleed with the Blackouts. The treble-bleed mod is far more effective with Blackouts than with passive pickups. I didn't like how dark and flubby the volume sounds when you rolled it down but with a treble-bleed, the tone gets cleaner and less distorted as you roll it down. I am amazed that isn't more widely done and this should really be standard! https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/emg-treble-bleed.409359/

 

[idsnowdog]

I tried the .1 capacitor on the EMGs and it works equally well. Although it would be worthwhile to play around with the capacitor value. The .47 capacitor value specified for the tone control on the Blackouts is much more effective than .1 capacitors. A .22 capacitor might be a better choice for the tone control since the .47 is very dark at full blast but I'm not going to bother with it since I don't use it much. SD needs to update its diagrams and choose one value or the other because half say .1 and the other say .47.

 

[ItsaBass]

Interesting. I have always found that active pickups don't lose treble when you turn down the volume knob.

 

[jeremy]

thats my experience too. i only have one active guitar these days but its a trio of blackout singles and i dont notice high end loss the way i do with passives

 

[Erlend_G]

thats my experience too. i only have one active guitar these days but its a trio of blackout singles and i dont notice high end loss the way i do with passives

Maybe the player percieves a lower volume to be darker, as the amp might be darker with less input volume;
and there is overall less treble?

I like the fact that the tone sounds "darker" when I roll down the volume pot. I use this alot; even dial in more gain on the amp, and turn down the guitar- for a more "rounded" tone.

Nice mod though!