new painkiller sounds bad

[staringatthesun]

I had a guitar tech install my new 7 string PK where an emg 81-7 used to be and it has way less output, sounds no where near as full and is flubby in comparison.  Does this mean it was not wired correctly or is it really way less output than an 81 or 707??  How do I know if its hooked up correctly?  Any help would be awesome!!!

[4Eyes]

did your guitar tech changed also pots in your guitar?

[darkbluemurder]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Any passive pickup wired to 25k pots (which are the usual choice for active pickups) will sound very dull. With a powerful passive humbucker I would choose 500kA pots.

Cheers Stephan

[Madsakre]

Yes the Painkiller has less output than the EMG-81. It does not have its own preamp, since its a passive pickup.

Change the pots like the others say. I run with a 550k pot. The painkiller is my fav pickup.

[Roobubba]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Any passive pickup wired to 25k pots (which are the usual choice for active pickups) will sound very dull. With a powerful passive humbucker I would choose 500kA pots.

Cheers Stephan

I'd like to see a pot rated for 500kA! :D

[Madsakre]

that would be the most dangerous thing since mutant Man/crocodiles

[darkbluemurder]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Any passive pickup wired to 25k pots (which are the usual choice for active pickups) will sound very dull. With a powerful passive humbucker I would choose 500kA pots.

Cheers Stephan

I'd like to see a pot rated for 500kA! :D

The "A" in 500kA just denominates that it is a logarithmic or short "log" pot, as opposed to a 500kB, which would be a linear pot.

Cheers Stephan

[Madsakre]

I read it as 500.000 Ampere xD

[FELINEGUITARS]

Also check if the pickup is close enough to the strings  - the Ibanez 7 string I worked on last week was suffering with weak sound and the pickup was 3-4mm away from the strings.

Once adjusted closer it developed much more output

Remember that pickups sensitivity works on an inverse square rule - so double the distance results in a quarter of the output

[staringatthesun]

I almost guarantee that's what it is.  I even asked the tech the same thing.  So now do I get the 500 or 550?  What are the differences in sound?  U guys r awesome thanks for the good advice!

[staringatthesun]

Also, I am the one that installed the emg and I don't remember putting in new pots.  What I do remember is installing a green capacitor between the vol and tone pot.  It is still soldered in place.  Sorry to sound stupid but I bought this thing and installed the emg a long time ago.  Could the green capacitor be messin it up?  Should I just unsolder it?

[Kiichi]

It is true there are many awesome people on here. I have never been so active in a forum before and felt so good in one. This forum truely stands out for everything music related.

I donīt know about the cap and if green is some kind of colour code for a value, but donīt think that is your main problem.
If the 550 pots you are reffering to are the BKP ones, get them, I have only heard good things about them. They are higher quality than the 500 ones.
As I said I donīt know much about caps, but if you are ordering BKP pots you may also concider getting the Jensen Caps BKP offers. Again, I have only heard good things about them (sides the size xD).

[staringatthesun]

The cap installed is a 104k that came with the emg, I don't know much about these things.  Should I change the cap? what should I change it too?   Thanks again everyone

[staringatthesun]

So when I got home I took the pots out and sure enough they were 25k.  I rummaged through some stuff and found the stock 500k pots and broke out the soldering iron.........     (drum roll)........     FIXED!!  If you guys aren't already, then you should be guitar techs.  Great forum here can't wait to contribute!  Thanks you all!!!     Only thing is, now the guitar sounds almost too twangy on the low A.  Maybe I just need to get used to something besides a 707 and tweak my axe fx a lot differently.  Maybe it's because the PK is in a cheap ass Basswood Ibanez 7321 and the 707 is in a higher end mahagony schecter???  I don't know but I plan on tweaking the cr@p out of everything now that it is working right thanks too you guys!!

[darkbluemurder]

The cap installed is a 104k that came with the emg, I don't know much about these things.  Should I change the cap? what should I change it too?   Thanks again everyone

104k means 10 0000 pico farad (pf) which equals 10 nano farad (nf) or 0.01 micro farad (uf). If you like how the tone control works then there is no need to change it. If you think it does not enough through the rotation or does not get dark enough with the control all the way down, try a bigger value (e.g. 0.022 uf which is the standard value for humbuckers or 0.047uf). If you think it takes away too many highs, try a lower value (e.g. 0.0047uf or 4.7nf). The "right" value is the one that gives you the sound you want.

Cheers Stephan