EMG's Anyone else get this problem?

hulkey

I have a strat and i put a set of active emgs into it a while back

I have been getting this sort of shuffling or popping noise coming from my amp

It would tend to happen every so often when I move about with the guitar strapped onto me

At first I thought it was the cables, so I swapped them out, then I thought it was the amp itself swapped that.

And so it turns out that it's the guitar, and to make doubly sure, i tried a different guitar with the amp & cabling, defo the guitar

The pickups in question are from the EMG Steve Lukather set, there is an EMG-85 and 2 EMG-SLV's in there

The problem seems to happen on every pickup too

seanaor

I had that problem with active pickups on my bass, constant ticking every 2 seconds. Tried everything, blamed dodgy wiring in the bass. Then one day i was told to turn off the electric fence... (The power supply was plugged in in the shed next to the house) ...and hey presto, clicking gone. The active pickups pick up on all those kind of interferences that passive ones dont. So, long story short, it could be anything like that...

GerryHayes

While it could be a dry or weak solder joint that's being stressed slightly as you move the guitar, the first place I'd look is the jack socket output - this might be something as simple as the plug not making adequate contact with the tip. Try wiggling the jack plug a little to see if you can simulate the noise (or stop it) and that might give you a clue.

hulkey

Cheers, for the input

I dont think its interferrence as it has only started a little while ago, and I have since moved house, so if there were some sort of wiring interferrence like an electric fence, that surely wouldn't be common in the two houses, and also, there is (seemingly) no pattern to it, ticking or whathave you

I don't think its the jack as (sorry forgot to mention) that i ruled out movement as an issue.

I do think it will involve opening it up again, so while im in there i may as well resolder the jack joints

Whatever the issue is, it is common to the three pickups, so the jack, volume & tone controls, switch and battery all deserve a look I'd say

GerryHayes

Sorry - you mentioned something about movement in the original post and I homed in on that. When you're in there, keep an eye out for any wires or even stray conductor strands that might be intermittently shorting somewhere they shouldn't. Give everything a poke to see if anything's loose too.

A good solder joint should be nice and shiny rather than grey and lumpy. Ground joints on pot bodys can require a powerful soldering iron to get hot enough for a clean joint. (Sorry if I'm preaching to the choir and telling you stuff you already know about soldering)

hulkey

Nope, sound advice (buddum tish)

And sure if anyone else has the same problem, ends up here after a bit of a google and hasn't a clue about soldering, they do now

I think what I'll do is take out the whole scratch plate assembly with all the guts attached, and prod components and wires, I might stumble on something before i go resoldering all the joints

Thanks again

Dord

Check if the bridge ground is still connected. It shouldn't be with active EMG's.

KeithTS

It may sound stupid but have you checked your batteries?
Active pickups start to splutter, pop and distort if the battery is low and it could be as simple as that.

hulkey

Im thinking that it must likely is the batteries (Havn't had the chance to check yet)

If they start to splutter and pop as you say, this would make sense, because it only started to happen recently, its becoming more frequent, its common to all pickups, seems random enough (in that nothing that i do causes it, i.e. movement, flicking switches, adjusting pots etc.)

You see, I would have assumed that if the bettery is on its way out that the output would just gradually fade away, none of this popping business

Ok so first thing to do is change the battery

hulkey

Job

Changed battery, no more noise

And it sounds far better too, its amazing how much the sound degraded without me noticing

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

ive the same problem! I have active emgs on my strat too. changed my amp recently, my last amp had a built in noise gate which i used on my OD channel. new amp has no effects. sometimes i get a crackling noise, not that loud though.

universe777

Ticking? remove your watch (if it has hands).
Buzzing? turn off your computer monitor if you are in front of a computer.
EMG's are more sensitive than most pickups..
I would love one of these, should buy one really. You don't have to open your guitar to check the voltage of the battery, just plug it into the guitar..
With EMG's you should notice the sound will get muffled, less highs when the battery is dying.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Special_tools_for:_Electronics/Batt-O-Meter.html