Actives with passive feel
Ah, finally I found someone who has tried the Daemonum. You say that it sounds very similar to the 81. What are the differences? Does it sound darker or brighter? And how tight is the low end compared to the 81. Does it have a noticeably lower output? Any other things you like or dislike about the JR Set?
Oh, I actually have a 66 in the neck position. I installed it because of the individual pole pieces. The very narrow magnetic field of the 60 and 85 caused some string buzz on my guitar, because it pulled the outer strings towards the middle of the fretboard, against its radius. I have never read about anyone else having the same problem so initially I thought I was crazy, and everyone says EMGs magnetic field is very weak, but the problem was reproducible and went away as soon as I installed the 66 with individual pole pieces, which pull the strings straight and not slanted against the radius.
Well, keep in mind, I haven’t gone A and B with the JR and the 81. This is more me trying to explain a difference between two pickups based on my own experience over time.
The difference is somewhat small, between the 81 and the JR bridge. You can easily tell, and feel, that they are related. Output feels the same though. I like the 81-ish output. The Het Set for instance, how I wish that wouldn’t be as blistering hot as is it is sometimes... The JR (and the 81) feels way more managable. The main «thing» IMO between the 81 and the JR is the pick attack. It’s not as prominent on the JR. 81 has this «chuck» or something, a very prominent thing. If you ever played a 81 I think you know what I mean. You can easily hear that initial «pick hits string» when anyone plays the 81. Once you hear it, you can never unhear. It’s not the same on the JR. Don’t get me wrong, the JR *does* have a sharp pickattack. It just not that initial 81 «chick». Or «chuck». Or «tschk». It’s way more passive feeling in that regard. And the JR is way more dynamic. Not just pick attack, but also pick strength. And volume-wise. The JR on 9V feels like and 81 on 18V. I think... (My 81 has the 24V mod. I probably should have mentioned that first! Whoops... [emoji56])
And, this is all going to be
very subjective, but the JR doesn’t seem as narrow as the 81. Perhaps it’s the dual slug design vs rails, I dunno. But the JR got a little more low end, and a little more open yet stiff (?!) high end. Does that makes sense? The 81 is grainy, and doesn’t extend the same way. It’s not presence either. Just, treble. But the JR isn’t a bright pickup either. It’s hard to explain. The mids feels the same. Instant recognizable classic active pickups mids in all it’s glory. [emoji1]
I really like the JR. And I really like the EMG 81. It does it’s thing, and one can’t knock it. It’s *the* sound, more or less. Just as the JB is *that* sound. Or DiMarzio Super Distortion is *that* sound. The JR is *to me* a modern, «fixes all the issues with the 81» type of pickup. The output is in a sweet spot, there is no preamp clipping as far as I can tell (just like with any other retroactive pickup), and it sounds like you expect and it looks friggin’ good while it does it. That is probably worth mentioning: I have the zebra version. I love zebra pickups. And it’s the right kind of zebra, no weird reverse anything. [emoji6]
The JR neck: You can tell it’s not a sweet, syrupy classic neck lead pickup. But if you like nice, shimmering, reverb-drenched, athmospheric, delay bonanza clean sound you will LOVE this neck pickup. I do. It’s made for those moments, and it does it like a champ! It’s more like a jazz neck than the 59, or perhaps the Mark Holcomb Alpha neck pickup (?), to put it in Duncan context.
I now have a guitar with the het set, a guitar with 81-7, one with the Super 77 and one with the JR Set. The one with Super 77 really competes with my guitar with the JB and my LP with CS WLH. Easily. And the het set is different enough to be something else, but given a choice between the JR bridge and 81? I’ll probably pick JR. But that is for bridge pickups. Neck pickups is a different story, but that is because I like fat and round neck pickup solos too. [emoji1]
Hope that helps. I’m not terrible good at these «review» things...
