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.
Low Guitar Output - Need Advice
- Thread starter Nicad27
- Start date
Mr. 80's
New member
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
Well-known member
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?
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 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.
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.
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
Well-known member
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
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
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.
Lewguitar
New member
nexion218
New member
Mentioning a guitar input jack is like projecting the Batman sign onto the clouds: GuitarDoc will show up and take care of business...
nexion218
New member
Something's fishy with those pickups then... Even when I accidentally fried the preamp electronics of a set of EMGs, I could still "see" the full approx 16kOhm of both pickups, they just sounded awfully weak without the electronics doing their job. Also, have you paid attention to the quick connect orientation going into the pickups? There is a small, barely visible arrow on the plug which needs to be aligned with the proper pin on the pickup itself!
PFDarkside
of the Forum
This is my thought as well. If it came back from EMG all wired up and they said it’s good, it’s got to be your power, something at the jack or cable/downstream.
When you sent it in, did you send your battery clip as well? Can you use a multimeter to verify you have power at the appropriate places? (On the power buss/switch battery buss)
Also, I’d pull the jack out of the guitar (but keep it electronically connected) to confirm when you insert the cable it is fully seated, not bridging two of the contacts and not shorting out to and shielding paint.
Thanks for all the replies. I got it fixed. Long story short I think one of the hot wires was touching the battery bus that I tried to use, but was not used and left in by the Guitar Center tech. I removed it and remeasured the pickups and started getting about 17 Kohms. Plugged it in and all was good again. I’m hoping it was that simple.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Similar threads
