Push/pull pot suggestion for EVH?

[m4a3]

Hi. My EVH's volume pot is dying, and I figured I'd replace it with one capable of enabling a coil tap. I'm sure others have done this, and if anyone knows of one, what's a good choice of push/pull pot to get the job done?

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Norrin Radd]

Hi. My EVH's volume pot is dying, and I figured I'd replace it with one capable of enabling a coil tap. I'm sure others have done this, and if anyone knows of one, what's a good choice of push/pull pot to get the job done?

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

I used this one in my Axis and my JP, have worked great now for the last 4 years or so:

DiMarzio EP1201PP, 500k push/pull Potentiometer.

Good Luck!

 

[gproud5150]

Hi. My EVH's volume pot is dying, and I figured I'd replace it with one capable of enabling a coil tap. I'm sure others have done this, and if anyone knows of one, what's a good choice of push/pull pot to get the job done?

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

If memory serves, you can't tap the coils on the EVH pickups. I once thought of adding a push/pull volume/volume for each pickup and was told that it would be extremely difficult because the pickups aren't split. I think...

 

[Norrin Radd]

If memory serves, you can't tap the coils on the EVH pickups. I once thought of adding a push/pull volume/volume for each pickup and was told that it would be extremely difficult because the pickups aren't split. I think...

That's a good point to consider. Maybe someone on the forum can enlighten us to whether or not that is true. OR you could look at your pickups and see if there are four wires inside their cable, if so, I believe you are set for splitting the coils.

 

[jongitarz]

EVH's have 2 wires. The newer Axis has 4 so it can be used on the Super Sport with tone control and 5 way switch

 

[Mick]

The Pickups can be changed to 4 conductor but I highly recommend it to be done by a pro!!!
Otherwise your in big trouble.
I won´t do it to my EVH.

 

[GWDavis28]

EVH's have 2 wires. The newer Axis has 4 so it can be used on the Super Sport with tone control and 5 way switch

Jon, will they work on Axis Sports as well???

What does a coil tap do?? I've seen people ask this question, but I'm not sure of what it is and what it's used for?

Thanx, Glenn |B)

 

[J-Nick]

Jon, will they work on Axis Sports as well???

I would assume so since the Sport also has the 5 way switch and tone control.

 

[GWDavis28]

I would assume so since the Sport also has the 5 way switch and tone control.

That's what I thought as well, but it never hurts to ask.

Thanx, Glenn |B)

 

[m4a3]

The Pickups can be changed to 4 conductor but I highly recommend it to be done by a pro!!!
Otherwise your in big trouble.
I won´t do it to my EVH.

Crap. This guitar would be damn near ideal for me if I could just get closer to that single-coil neck pickup sound on occasion.

I doubt there are any spare EVH neck humbuckers around to have converted to 4-conductor; are the newer Axis pups that much different than the EVH's?

I wouldn't mind swapping out my original neck humbucker to avoid hacking it up, so long as the replacement is close in sound.

For those in the know, how similar are the EVH/Axis pups?

 

[Mick]

Crap. This guitar would be damn near ideal for me if I could just get closer to that single-coil neck pickup sound on occasion.

I doubt there are any spare EVH neck humbuckers around to have converted to 4-conductor; are the newer Axis pups that much different than the EVH's?

I wouldn't mind swapping out my original neck humbucker to avoid hacking it up, so long as the replacement is close in sound.

For those in the know, how similar are the EVH/Axis pups?

The Pups should be the same + coil tap,but I doubt that you will get it as spare parts at EB.

So check out the FAQ at DiMarzios HP and the will tell you that the Tone Zone (bridge) and the Air Norton (neck) are the closest you can get.
Remember they made the EVH Pups you have and they should know!

I recently fitted those in a guitar of a customer (different brand though) but the fell was the same as on my EVH but the sound differed dues to the different guitar.

Good luck.

 

[Norrin Radd]

The Pups should be the same + coil tap,but I doubt that you will get it as spare parts at EB.

So check out the FAQ at DiMarzios HP and the will tell you that the Tone Zone (bridge) and the Air Norton (neck) are the closest you can get.
Remember they made the EVH Pups you have and they should know!

I recently fitted those in a guitar of a customer (different brand though) but the fell was the same as on my EVH but the sound differed dues to the different guitar.

Good luck.

So, do you think if you installed those into an EVH, the sound would be just about spot on? Anyone tried this? Any comment from anyone at EBMM? Sure would be a nice option for people if accurate.

 

[beej]

What does a coil tap do?? I've seen people ask this question, but I'm not sure of what it is and what it's used for?

What we're really talking about here is a coil split- the ability to use each of the coils in a humbucker separately, as if they were true single coils sitting next to each other. (Though we say "tapping", that term is more applicable when you add in a wire that wasn't there before, like on a single coil pickup where you want to "tap" into the coil at some point.)

Problem with coil splitting is that the resulting sound is going to be noisy- there's no humbucking pickup or silent circuit to do away with the noise. So a good alternative to coil splitting is to switch the two coils to act in parallel instead of in series, like humbuckers are usually wired (can do one pickup with a push/pull pot and both with a toggle switch).

The resulting sound of a HB wired in parallel is very close to the sound of the split coil (in terms of output and frequency range), but because you're using both coils the sound will be noise free. So it's a good alternative to coil splitting.

 

[tommyindelaware]

The Pickups can be changed to 4 conductor but I highly recommend it to be done by a pro!!!
Otherwise your in big trouble.
I won´t do it to my EVH.

if a pickup only has 2 conductors........it can't be changed to 4 conductors w/o unwinding it , then rewinding it. ( not something youd wanna do to an e.v.h. pickup. )
you may wanna replace the original pickups w. 4 conductor ones , and save the original ones......that way you can always go back to the original configuration.

 

[beej]

if a pickup only has 2 conductors........it can't be changed to 4 conductors w/o unwinding it , then rewinding it. ( not something youd wanna do to an e.v.h. pickup. )
you may wanna replace the original pickups w. 4 conductor ones , and save the original ones......that way you can always go back to the original configuration.

+1! I wouldn't want to mess with those babies. Hold on to 'em!

There is one other decent option to get a single coil sound out of a humbucker. Bill Lawrence makes a gadget called a "Q-Filter" that's basically an inductor that you wire up to a pickup with a resistor and capacitor. Costs about $20 - way cheaper than a new set of pickups.

With it wired up, the effect is like having a dummy pickup wired up to your humbucker - the overall resistance and inductance is reduced, and you get a single coil sound out of it. You can wire it up to a pot so it's variable, or just wire it to a switch, push-pull pot, etc. so the effect is like splitting the coils.

Personally, I've got a few of these things (one in my Morse) and they work like a charm.

 

[m4a3]

+1! I wouldn't want to mess with those babies. Hold on to 'em!

There is one other decent option to get a single coil sound out of a humbucker. Bill Lawrence makes a gadget called a "Q-Filter" that's basically an inductor that you wire up to a pickup with a resistor and capacitor. Costs about $20 - way cheaper than a new set of pickups.

With it wired up, the effect is like having a dummy pickup wired up to your humbucker - the overall resistance and inductance is reduced, and you get a single coil sound out of it. You can wire it up to a pot so it's variable, or just wire it to a switch, push-pull pot, etc. so the effect is like splitting the coils.

Personally, I've got a few of these things (one in my Morse) and they work like a charm.

Interesting. I suppose it would be a lot to ask for an A/B sound sample , but anyway $20 is a cheaper than ~$70 for a new Air Nortion. Cheap enough to test w/o too much worry.

Thanks. I'll look into that q-filter.

 

[dzeitlin]

What we're really talking about here is a coil split- the ability to use each of the coils in a humbucker separately, as if they were true single coils sitting next to each other. (Though we say "tapping", that term is more applicable when you add in a wire that wasn't there before, like on a single coil pickup where you want to "tap" into the coil at some point.)

Problem with coil splitting is that the resulting sound is going to be noisy- there's no humbucking pickup or silent circuit to do away with the noise. So a good alternative to coil splitting is to switch the two coils to act in parallel instead of in series, like humbuckers are usually wired (can do one pickup with a push/pull pot and both with a toggle switch).

The resulting sound of a HB wired in parallel is very close to the sound of the split coil (in terms of output and frequency range), but because you're using both coils the sound will be noise free. So it's a good alternative to coil splitting.

True, but the tone is more like the in-between positions on a strat.

 

[Mick]

if a pickup only has 2 conductors........it can't be changed to 4 conductors w/o unwinding it , then rewinding it. ( not something youd wanna do to an e.v.h. pickup. )
you may wanna replace the original pickups w. 4 conductor ones , and save the original ones......that way you can always go back to the original configuration.

You could do it, but it a lot of careful work. You have to break up the connection between the coils and put additional solderlugs to the baseplate, but as I said I wouldn´t do it and always go for exchange pups.

 

[beej]

True, but the tone is more like the in-between positions on a strat.

I wouldn't say so- the coils are too close together to get any real quack. I'd still say it's closer to a single coil sound than the in-between sound. Then again, a split coil HB doesn't sound like a real single coil either!

 

[mcvinyl]

Colin had his EVH coil tapped some time ago. Definately a job for a pro as they had to add in the extra wiring.

Sounds fantastic though (or is that just Colin's playing?)

My Axis is done too but it was easy thanks to the 4 conductor wiring.

Doesn't sound so fantastic (that is due to my playing!)

Simon