Thanks for all help, now it's decided...

[ztevie]

I wanna thank everyone here for advice regarding my purckase of new pups.
I've decided to go for the EMG's 81/89.
81 for brutal distortion and 89 for the split combination of 85 vs SA.

What tipped me over to EMG was the fact they're supposed to be real quiet(for recording purposes) and that the Duncan Design HB-103's was not at all what I wanted. They're supposed to be copies of DD...
Plus I want to try out actives, or else I'll always wonder what could have been...
If they don't work out I'll have to lose some money and sell them, and then start the decision procedure all over again...

I promise to put some soundclips up when I get my system running.
By the way, do you guys think it's possible to sell the HB-103's?

[ArtieToo]

Re: Thanks for all help, now it's decided...

Cool. I heard some EMG's for the first time a week or so ago. In the right hands, they sound good. Don't forget though, SD makes a nice set of actives too.

You shouldn't have any problem selling your Duncan Designed's, as long as you don't ask too much. Just list them in the Trading Post section.

Let us know how those active's sound.

[ztevie]

Re: Thanks for all help, now it's decided...

Yeah, I know about LiveWire and the rest, but you don't hear about them a lot? EMG's on the other hand are... But I guess it could be because of the Metallica hype regarding EMG's?

I'll try them and we'll see, from reviews it seems like you either love them or hate them...

[metaled]

Re: Thanks for all help, now it's decided...

I had a set of EMG`s before,they are really good for distortion sounds but not real good for cleans! If all your gonna do is high gain stuff you`ll be fine but thats about it.Thats what i like about Seymour Duncans,you get both awesome distortion and cleans at the same time.And Duncan designed pickups are a far cry from real Seymour Duncan`s. Just like EMG HZ`s are a far cry from active EMG`s!!! But good luck to ya!!!

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Thanks for all help, now it's decided...

EMG pickups have a less than stellar clean, but the Livewires have a less than usable clean tone. The LW-Heavy Metal is a cool bridge pickup if you want heavy, but everytime I've played one, the EMG 81 sounded better and better

Bottom line: Duncan rules passive; EMG rules active.

[ztevie]

Re: Thanks for all help, now it's decided...

Bottom line: Duncan rules passive; EMG rules active.

That's my conclusion too, after reading loads of reviews...

I do hope that the 89's ability to switch between singlecoil and humbucker will give me a at least decent clean sound. The combination 81/89 should provide some different tones anyway. I can't wait to get them and really hope they're up to expectations. Maybe I should practice on my soldering-skills 'til then, there's been a while since I did that...

[metaled]

Re: Thanks for all help, now it's decided...

Seymour Duncan offers great distortion and high output pickups with better cleans then active EMG`s. If your after decent cleans as well you should try Duncans! EMG`s will give you the distortion but Duncan will give you both! Good luck,hope it all works out for ya!

[vinterland]

Re: Thanks for all help, now it's decided...

You won't be dissapointed in EMG's. You'll notice a clarity and articulation difference right away. I was a passive only player for a long time and I still like passives but they can't do what EMG's can do and vice versa, so I use both.