Evo 7 vs EMG

[Vince]

The S has far less wood in the body than your rg. I'm sure that mass is definately more of a factor than body wood when comparing high output pickups, hence your comment about the neckthru.

My S isn't neck-thru, the ESP is, and the S is significantly heavier than the RG in weight, by at least a pound or two, even with less wood on it. It's the type of wood (mass & density) moreso than the size (girth) of the body that really makes the difference.

 

[dpm]

mass, density, porosity and resin content

 

[Metal Ken]

pornosity

 

[dpm]

damn right

 

[Vince]

 

[The Dark Wolf]

My S isn't neck-thru, the ESP is, and the S is significantly heavier than the RG in weight, by at least a pound or two, even with less wood on it. It's the type of wood (mass & density) moreso than the size (girth) of the body that really makes the difference.

Hey Vince... way to ignore my question, fucker!

What about the quiet factor? The EVO7, being passive, is susceptible to hiss/line noise like every other passive pickup, whereas the 707, being active and low-impedance, should be noticeably quieter (I know a gate changes everything from the listener's perspective.)

What did you find? (Did you test the two without a gate to see?)

 

[sepsis311]

so maybee mass is more of a variable than weight, but what you said definately proves that either is more of an effective variable than body wood. I may have been a little too comfortable saying that all high output pickups are uneffected by body wood, but i personally noticed this is my situation with the two guitars i mentioned earlier. and i know you agreed with my comment on the 707's having less of an effect from body. guess we cleared it all up.

 

[Vince]

Hey Vince... way to ignore my question, fucker!

Sorry, dude To answer your question, I run a HUSH noise reducer onboard my Chameleon, and we didn't check for any noise issues or variances between the two pickups, so I'm sorry to say my answer is "I don't know."

With the gate off, my preamp is noisy as hell, with the gate on, it's stunningly quiet.

so maybee mass is more of a variable than weight, but what you said definately proves that either is more of an effective variable than body wood.

Mass & density are directly related to body wood. Basswood / Alder guitars won't sound as good as Mahogany / Maple guitars. Some basses are made entirely from walnut or bubinga too (Warwick) and sound amazingly deep and warm because of the wood. Body wood is extremely important IMO, and I don't feel it can be overlooked at all. See the following comment by dpm...

mass, density, porosity and resin content

He's a luthier. Hard to argue with that

 

[dpm]

let's say you have 2 theoretical guitar bodies made from 2 different woods but weighing exactly the same, and all other variables being identical. There could well be subtle tonal differences between the two because of how the vibrations travel through, and get absorbed by, the wood's structure. How noticeable the differences will be I'm not sure. They will certainly sound similar.

 

[The Dark Wolf]

Sorry, dude To answer your question, I run a HUSH noise reducer onboard my Chameleon, and we didn't check for any noise issues or variances between the two pickups, so I'm sorry to say my answer is "I don't know."

With the gate off, my preamp is noisy as hell, with the gate on, it's stunningly quiet.

Ah, ok. Well, thanks anyway!

(I'm a fiend for gates. I use a gate on my GNX constantly, and like yours, it's totally quiet. But actives can give you quietness to the Nth degree, and I was curious as to real world experience wth it.)

 

[Flesh-EatingMonkey]

What about the quiet factor? The EVO7, being passive, is susceptible to hiss/line noise like every other passive pickup, whereas the 707, being active and low-impedance, should be noticeably quieter (I know a gate changes everything from the listener's perspective.)

What did you find? (Did you test the two without a gate to see?)

Just curious. For me, a MAJOR selling point to active pickups is the quietness of the signal, thanks to the buffered output and low magnetic field.

I A/B'd the pickups through my rig with the noise gate off. Both the Evo7 and the EMG 707's are noisy as hell without the gate. Only with the high gain patches though. I think the amount gain is proportionate to the noise produced. High output p/u's probably add to the noise. The guitar I have with low output p/u's (Epiphone Sheraton) has much less noise w/o the gate than the others on the same patches.

 

[The Dark Wolf]

I A/B'd the pickups through my rig with the noise gate off. Both the Evo7 and the EMG 707's are noisy as hell without the gate. Only with the high gain patches though. I think the amount gain is proportionate to the noise produced. High output p/u's probably add to the noise. The guitar I have with low output p/u's (Epiphone Sheraton) has much less noise w/o the gate than the others on the same patches.

Ok, cool! Thanks for the reply, monkey. You sir, rock

I wonder about a clean setting? For instance, when I use the piezo on my RG2027, which is buffered (active), there is ZERO noise clean. Nada. But ANY guitar has some little noise on a clean (although I gate everything, so noise isn't an issue with me. This is not a practical problem, just a hypothetical I'm curious about). Most gutarists are accustomed to a bit of noise (although, again, a gate will spoil you ) but I'm intruigued by the (potentially) zero noise introduced by an active system.

 

[dpm]

EMG's seem, to me, susceptible to different noise than passives. The cavity shielding (or absence of) in your guitar can have a big impact on the level of interference that you get.
Some active systems are very noisy, it depends on the quality of circuitry and shielding. EMG's are particularly good because the preamps are internal to the pickup.
The way your amplifier creates it's gain plays a big part too.

 

[The Dark Wolf]

EMG's seem, to me, susceptible to different noise than passives. The cavity shielding (or absence of) in your guitar can have a big impact on the level of interference that you get.
Some active systems are very noisy, it depends on the quality of circuitry and shielding. EMG's are particularly good because the preamps are internal to the pickup.
The way your amplifier creates it's gain plays a big part too.

Thanks for the theory, professor

That's some good information about how acives work. I (myself, personally) know the hows and why's of actives, and EMG's in particular... but having never directly heard or played a EMG 7-string pickup I was more curious about the 707 in a real-world application, compared to a high output passive. You know how it goes. Guitarists are never completely satisfied. But it's all good

 

[metalfiend666]

It was interesting to see this thread, as I’ve just been doing a similar comparison myself between my RG7321 fitted with an Evo7 bridge / Blaze Custom neck combo running through separate volume controls (although the Blaze isn’t working due to a dead pot) and my recently acquired RG7621 fitted with a 707 bridge and an unknown EMG neck (it has a silver logo like the 81-7, but says 707 on the bottom – anyone able to shed light on this?). Both guitars are fixed bridge with basswood bodies.



Overall, there isn’t a lot in it. The 707 has greater note definition, but the sound can be too treble heavy for clean sounds. This can obviously be solved by EQ adjustment. Pinched harmonics ring out clearer and sustain for longer. There’s a lot less background “hiss” noise, but more handling noise when trying to mute strings dead. I guess this is something that my style will adjust to.



The Evo7 has a lot more gain outright. This is its only real downfall. Even on a totally clean setting it always has a feel that it wants to distort. Also the massive amounts of gain hinder note clarity slightly on distorted tones. It isn’t a great problem, but it’s noticeable to me. The Evo7 is still a great pickup and a big improvement on the stock rubbish Ibanez fitted.



If you want a pickup that’s good for everything with very good clarity, get the 707. If you want a pickup with lots of gain, get the Evo7. I have to add that honestly there is little overall difference between the two. They’re both very good pickups.

 

[The Dark Wolf]

It was interesting to see this thread, as I’ve just been doing a similar comparison myself between my RG7321 fitted with an Evo7 bridge / Blaze Custom neck combo

Holy cow. The Blaze Custom in the neck? That's a hell of a lot of output for the neck! (I should know. I use the BC in the bridge of my RG2027, and it's hot.)

Thanks for the info, BTW. That's just what I was looking for. Less "hiss", exactly. Passives always pick up some line noise and there's extraneous noise from the strong magnetic field to boot. I wonder how an active pup would handle a computer monitor? I never use a CRT monitor anymore, myself. I have a laptop, and my CRT monitor typically just sits. But when I used to use it, there was always noise present in my signal path when it was on, if I sat in front of my computer.

And welcome to our forum, metalfiend! All the way from Jolly Olde!

 

[Metal Ken]

I'd be interested in hearing how that sounds in the neck O-o

 

[metalfiend666]

Holy cow. The Blaze Custom in the neck? That's a hell of a lot of output for the neck!

Well, I really wanted an Air Norton7, but Dimarzio wouldn't make me one in green. I wanted the black body/green pickup look of the old UV7BK. The Blaze Custom has the closest sound to the Air Norton 7, with just a little bit more treble. I've don't know how the actual output compares between the two, but I'm sure the Blaze is hotter. The Blaze is a good match for the Evo7 in the bridge, at least for my style of heavy melodic metal. It also produces some surprisingly funky tones when switched to parallel wiring!

 

[Metal Ken]

Hmm.. if i remember right, the BC has about 150 mV more output than the AN7...

Got any soundclips?
(welcome aboard, btw)

 

[metalfiend666]

It does indeed. I've just had a look at the Dimarzio site.

I've not got any soundclips I'm afraid, nor will there be for a while. I've got replace the volume pot to it before it'll work again, and I don't have the time right now. It's a longer job as it's wired to a push/pull pot to give series/parallel. I'll try and find time as soon as I can!