Description
The EMG Fat 55 Retro Active set is built for players chasing that vintage PAF magic without the vintage hum problem. EMG started with the same open-coil bobbin construction and Alnico magnets that made 50s and 60s humbuckers legendary, then quietly slipped in a modern external preamp to sort out the noise. The result is a pickup that feels and reacts like a classic passive PAF, but runs at low impedance so buzz and interference basically disappear.
Tonally, the Fat 55 leans into thick, rounded lows and a top end that stays articulate rather than harsh — it’ll sit comfortably under a laid-back blues rhythm tone and still open up cleanly when you push into an overdriven lead. Because the preamp cleans up output noise while leaving the pickup’s natural voicing untouched, you get passive character with a level of clarity and control that’s normally reserved for fully active pickups.
This set installs completely solderless, so no iron or wiring know-how required. It’s configured with a short shaft (Strat-style, 10mm) and standard string spacing, finished in black to keep things classic-looking under the hood.
Included in the box — EMG’s Solderless Install System:
- 2x 25k volume pots
- 2x 25k tone pots
- 1x battery bus
- 1x stereo output jack
- 1x two-pickup in/out bus
- 2x pairs of mounting screws and springs
- 2x pickup cables
- 4x connect cables
- 1x output cable
- 1x battery cable
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