evh_slash
New member
I'd just like to post some points regarding a lot of peoples unfair criticisms of the EMG 81 pickup in the bridge, and compare my experiences with it.
Firstly, it is a bit of a specialist pickup for dirty rhythm tones. But BOY does it specialise! It provides a very defined, cutting percussive tone which surpisingly makes a scooped heavy rhythm tone stand out in the mix. Great for recording especially.
Secondly, WHAT AMPS HAVE YOU USED IT WITH? A lot of idiots plug they're guitar into their thin-sounding bright marshall amps, or they're Line 6 POD, or their Peavey's and complain the pickup is too thin and sterile. How many of you have tried the EMG 81 through a 1986 Mesa Boogie Mark 2c+ setup with some lexicon plate reverb ? Or through a Mark III - IV ? The EMG 81's are best utilised with the mesa mark series amps (which are known for their aggressive crunch rhythm tones, particularly the 2C+)
I went to my friends studio who has a Mesa mark iic+, iii & iv and we made high quality recordings of my Dimarzio Super distortion bridge pickup to his guitar with EMG 81 for rhythms and leads. Ok, fair enough the leads (still on the same medium gain crunch rhythm amp settings) were slightly better with the super distortion thanks to the "Dimarzio low mid hump" providing some more smoothness to the tone, HOWEVER, the rhythm tones (riffs, chords, chugging) of the 81 through the Mark iv were the best thing I'd ever heard in my life.
Listening back to my recordings of 'Pull me under' over the drum track, played back through FLAT RESPONSE £4000 Genelec monitors was such an eye-opener. The EMG had THE sound. Tonnes more tight-yet-still-thumping bass, cut, presence, gain than the super distortion and the sound hit me in the chest. Each chugged Low E made me pull an evil face and the walls vibrated. I could FEEL the power, it made me smile uncontrollably, and then go back to the evil face again for the chugs. The EMG clips played back made the whole room resonate and I could feel each thump in my chest. It was like nothing I've ever felt before. I was pulling "guitar player faces" as soon as the EMG clip started, and the Dimarzio clips always left me flat faced (except the solo parts). Even with my eyes shut, not knowing which clip was about to be played, the EMG clip kept blowing me away.
The Super distortion sounded so FLAT and dull compared to it. A heap of muddy mids and no percussive cut and no bass Thump/chunk (Even with the Mesa Graphic EQ set at V shape). Yes the amp was cranked and the monitors were turned up loud but why the did the super distortion recording leave my face looking so bored ?
I think its important for people to realise that all gear reacts differently with eachother, and to say the EMG 81 is the worst pickup ever and harsh/thin sounding is such a stupid ignorant comment, because a few doors down from you there is somebody who who's getting the most out of their 81 getting a killer professional Rhythm tone, whilst shaking the whole street.
Yeah I appreciate the 81 may not be for everybodies styles (why buy it in the first place if you play light gain 70's rock, or blues ??!?!), and if your rig consists of a boss DS-1 into a marshall valvestate clean channel then fine, look elsewhere... but if you have a good tube amp and are into metal, record a lot of rock/metal and want that crisp "studio quality" professional sounding rhythm tone, than the emg 81 is IMPOSSIBLE to beat. It is THE sound. No arguments. I think a lot of people with ****ty rigs or amps need to stop bashing pickups or expecting pickup changes to make all the differences. Why not save up for a proper amp ? Rather than keep paying $90 for new pickups every 3 weeks complaining that one is too stiff, or too compressed, or too bright. The pickups should be the last finishing touch based around your amp/rig/speakers. For example I have a stereo Boogie setup, a rack of Fx units in a stereo rig, I always had sweet sparkly chorus clean tones, nice thick lead sound with fat stereo delay, but the rhythms were never 100% there. Not tight, aggressive and fat enough. So the EMG 81 was the missing ingredient for me.
By all means once the EMG's have been installed in my guitar I will make some more recordings and share them here to back up my claims... But I really urge any of you who have a mesa Mark, or know somebody with a mesa mark, go try and EMG 81 through it and play the enter sandman riff, or Still of the night (whitesnake) or any dream theatre riff. (I know some of those guys didn't use EMG's but their passive P/U's have the studio magic and have been double tracked so don't believe for a second that your tone zone can sound as crisp and tight as petrucci's tones did on Images and Words. The 81 will get you THAT sound straight away.
I used to be of the opinion that EMGs were dead lifeless evil things JUST because I listened to a load of ignorant forum people who just bashed all day but had no clue. I used to say things like " I can get just a good rhythm tone from my JB/Super distortion/etc. etc." Well the truth is No. I couldn't. At least not when it came to rhythms, and until you try the real thing, you won't realise how far away you were all along. I was a little upset at first to admit that the EMG kicked the living crap outta my super distortion, but now I'm glad as its helped me ditch the "EMG prejudice" I'd always held.
I'm selling the Dimarzio's (including the super distortion) from that guitar, and switching to the EMG's, 81 for the bridge, and the H (single coil but in a HB case to fit the neck HB route!! If I didn't have a mesa 2c+ preamp and 2:90 simul power amp myself I probably wouldn't bother, NOT because the 81 is not good without it, but because I wouldn't be making the most out of it and that would be unfair on the pickup ! My other guitar has dimarzio pickups with an optional active buffer (like a bright switch for sparkly cleans) & midboost so I will now have all possible tones covered when it comes to recording: A dead silent super crunchy guitar solely for all rhythm guitar tracking (with silent EMG single coils in the neck and middle), and an 80's shredstick to take care of all lead playing and killer shiny 80's buffered clean stuff. We need to also all realise that no pickup does it all, hence having a few guitars that specialise at certain things is the only way to get a GREAT rhythm, GREAT cleans, GREAT leads rather than have a few guitars that each do a little bit of everything but not especially.
Perhaps things are different for me, I do a lot of recording and love getting "THE" studio tones of a lot of my favourite bands. I can live with having a guitar for Rhythms only, and one for Leads only. If you play live then you will have to make some sort of compromise (81 with a warm OD pedal or a midboost like the Suhr Koko or EMG SPC circuit, Or try rolling the ****ing tone knob down a little?!). But give this pickup some credit where its due, and if you haven't properly tested it on IT'S terms, don't bother posting negatively about it.
Firstly, it is a bit of a specialist pickup for dirty rhythm tones. But BOY does it specialise! It provides a very defined, cutting percussive tone which surpisingly makes a scooped heavy rhythm tone stand out in the mix. Great for recording especially.
Secondly, WHAT AMPS HAVE YOU USED IT WITH? A lot of idiots plug they're guitar into their thin-sounding bright marshall amps, or they're Line 6 POD, or their Peavey's and complain the pickup is too thin and sterile. How many of you have tried the EMG 81 through a 1986 Mesa Boogie Mark 2c+ setup with some lexicon plate reverb ? Or through a Mark III - IV ? The EMG 81's are best utilised with the mesa mark series amps (which are known for their aggressive crunch rhythm tones, particularly the 2C+)
I went to my friends studio who has a Mesa mark iic+, iii & iv and we made high quality recordings of my Dimarzio Super distortion bridge pickup to his guitar with EMG 81 for rhythms and leads. Ok, fair enough the leads (still on the same medium gain crunch rhythm amp settings) were slightly better with the super distortion thanks to the "Dimarzio low mid hump" providing some more smoothness to the tone, HOWEVER, the rhythm tones (riffs, chords, chugging) of the 81 through the Mark iv were the best thing I'd ever heard in my life.
Listening back to my recordings of 'Pull me under' over the drum track, played back through FLAT RESPONSE £4000 Genelec monitors was such an eye-opener. The EMG had THE sound. Tonnes more tight-yet-still-thumping bass, cut, presence, gain than the super distortion and the sound hit me in the chest. Each chugged Low E made me pull an evil face and the walls vibrated. I could FEEL the power, it made me smile uncontrollably, and then go back to the evil face again for the chugs. The EMG clips played back made the whole room resonate and I could feel each thump in my chest. It was like nothing I've ever felt before. I was pulling "guitar player faces" as soon as the EMG clip started, and the Dimarzio clips always left me flat faced (except the solo parts). Even with my eyes shut, not knowing which clip was about to be played, the EMG clip kept blowing me away.
The Super distortion sounded so FLAT and dull compared to it. A heap of muddy mids and no percussive cut and no bass Thump/chunk (Even with the Mesa Graphic EQ set at V shape). Yes the amp was cranked and the monitors were turned up loud but why the did the super distortion recording leave my face looking so bored ?
I think its important for people to realise that all gear reacts differently with eachother, and to say the EMG 81 is the worst pickup ever and harsh/thin sounding is such a stupid ignorant comment, because a few doors down from you there is somebody who who's getting the most out of their 81 getting a killer professional Rhythm tone, whilst shaking the whole street.
Yeah I appreciate the 81 may not be for everybodies styles (why buy it in the first place if you play light gain 70's rock, or blues ??!?!), and if your rig consists of a boss DS-1 into a marshall valvestate clean channel then fine, look elsewhere... but if you have a good tube amp and are into metal, record a lot of rock/metal and want that crisp "studio quality" professional sounding rhythm tone, than the emg 81 is IMPOSSIBLE to beat. It is THE sound. No arguments. I think a lot of people with ****ty rigs or amps need to stop bashing pickups or expecting pickup changes to make all the differences. Why not save up for a proper amp ? Rather than keep paying $90 for new pickups every 3 weeks complaining that one is too stiff, or too compressed, or too bright. The pickups should be the last finishing touch based around your amp/rig/speakers. For example I have a stereo Boogie setup, a rack of Fx units in a stereo rig, I always had sweet sparkly chorus clean tones, nice thick lead sound with fat stereo delay, but the rhythms were never 100% there. Not tight, aggressive and fat enough. So the EMG 81 was the missing ingredient for me.
By all means once the EMG's have been installed in my guitar I will make some more recordings and share them here to back up my claims... But I really urge any of you who have a mesa Mark, or know somebody with a mesa mark, go try and EMG 81 through it and play the enter sandman riff, or Still of the night (whitesnake) or any dream theatre riff. (I know some of those guys didn't use EMG's but their passive P/U's have the studio magic and have been double tracked so don't believe for a second that your tone zone can sound as crisp and tight as petrucci's tones did on Images and Words. The 81 will get you THAT sound straight away.
I used to be of the opinion that EMGs were dead lifeless evil things JUST because I listened to a load of ignorant forum people who just bashed all day but had no clue. I used to say things like " I can get just a good rhythm tone from my JB/Super distortion/etc. etc." Well the truth is No. I couldn't. At least not when it came to rhythms, and until you try the real thing, you won't realise how far away you were all along. I was a little upset at first to admit that the EMG kicked the living crap outta my super distortion, but now I'm glad as its helped me ditch the "EMG prejudice" I'd always held.
I'm selling the Dimarzio's (including the super distortion) from that guitar, and switching to the EMG's, 81 for the bridge, and the H (single coil but in a HB case to fit the neck HB route!! If I didn't have a mesa 2c+ preamp and 2:90 simul power amp myself I probably wouldn't bother, NOT because the 81 is not good without it, but because I wouldn't be making the most out of it and that would be unfair on the pickup ! My other guitar has dimarzio pickups with an optional active buffer (like a bright switch for sparkly cleans) & midboost so I will now have all possible tones covered when it comes to recording: A dead silent super crunchy guitar solely for all rhythm guitar tracking (with silent EMG single coils in the neck and middle), and an 80's shredstick to take care of all lead playing and killer shiny 80's buffered clean stuff. We need to also all realise that no pickup does it all, hence having a few guitars that specialise at certain things is the only way to get a GREAT rhythm, GREAT cleans, GREAT leads rather than have a few guitars that each do a little bit of everything but not especially.
Perhaps things are different for me, I do a lot of recording and love getting "THE" studio tones of a lot of my favourite bands. I can live with having a guitar for Rhythms only, and one for Leads only. If you play live then you will have to make some sort of compromise (81 with a warm OD pedal or a midboost like the Suhr Koko or EMG SPC circuit, Or try rolling the ****ing tone knob down a little?!). But give this pickup some credit where its due, and if you haven't properly tested it on IT'S terms, don't bother posting negatively about it.
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). I can afford $60 to polish a turd. I can't afford a $2000 tube amp, nor do I have the room for it. 
