Emg 81 hum

[Olderama]

Hi all

Trying my amp today and I had a blast on my emg Ltd and the 81 in the bridge crackles/buzzes when I touch the pickup or the post screws not the surround screws and quiet when don’t touch it
The 85 doesn’t in the neck
Any suggestions?

[mr_sooty]

Hot and ground wired the wrong way around possibly. Sounds like your grounded parts are live.

[Olderama]

Hot and ground wired the wrong way around possibly. Sounds like your grounded parts are live.

Cool
If they are i take it they would still work as this is the first time I've noticed it on a ungated amp and it played ok

[Olderama]

I'll swap the 85 over at some point and see if that does the same to eliminate any pickup issue
Then I'll probably give it to someone to fix lol

[mr_sooty]

Yeah it still works if it's the wrong way around. I have a phase switch on my Chibson that does exactly this on purpose, because the pickups in it are vintage style so there's only 2 conductors, meaning the only way to flip phase is to have the pickup covers and screws hot, which means they buzz if you touch them but sound fine as long as you don't.

[willow13]

I would say the 81 has a bad solder joint given EMGs don't need grounding (they have internal grounding so should not be connected to the bridge metal) .. check the pots black wires