Emg 81/85

[Richard]

I have been around here long enough to hear the emg pups get blasted over and over. And I personaly have never owned any untill now. I just bought a Schecter Hellraiser FR from a forum bro here and I have to say that I absolutly LOVE these pickups. I had every intention to replace these pups with blackouts or DD/Jazz set but I have changed my mind. These pups scream when I want them to and they clean up really nice. And they are super quiet. The lows are thunderous and the highs are really articulate. They are keepers in my book....Richard.

 

[thucydides]

Re: Emg 81/85

At one point about ten yrs ago, I had a Fender Musicmaster, routed for a HB in the bridge, and it came w/an EMG in it, a lower output model than what I'm thinking the 81/85s are. I was playing somewhat high gain punk through a Hiwatt, and it was great!

Edit: In the first version of this post, I said I had not tried it clean, but I did. I had a couple songs in open D, that were somewhat Stones/Faces like (among the punk stuff). It worked quite well.

 

[darnright]

Re: Emg 81/85

I had a set several years ago and thought they were pretty good. i don't currently own any, but I wouldn't throw a set away...
-dave

 

[baritone]

Re: Emg 81/85

Nice to hear that you like your pickups. I like EMGs also, but right now all my pickups are Seymour Duncan.

 

[Toejam]

Re: Emg 81/85

EMGs rock... especially the 85 in the bridge and the 81 in the neck. A 60 is also a great neck pup.

 

[fullfistrock21]

Re: Emg 81/85

emg's are awesome, they are great for rock and metal at least the humbuckers, the singles are awesome for blues, i played the tele active pickups too and they are amazing.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Emg 81/85

I played a C-1 Hellraiser about 2-3 days ago. I first played it acoustically and I LOVED it!!! Then I plugged it in...

Nope, never liked the 81/85 and never will...
To me they're lifeless. Sure they have mids that cut through but even though this was a ridiculously resonant guitar acoustically they had no lows and tiny highs. The 85 had more lows but they were kinda muddy (At least in the neck that it was).

The best tone I got out of them was at the middle pos (both).
I loved that guitar to death but when I considered buying it I thought how much I'd have to shell out in pickups afterwards and kinda passed it up...

 

[brandobean]

Re: Emg 81/85

I like the 81/85 dirty, but NOT clean. So they only do half the job for me. However is is aan amazing half. Plus I don't like batteries.

 

[memphiskat]

Re: Emg 81/85

The important thing is you got a guitar that you love the sound of right away without the nagging feeling that it could be better with different pickups....something I think a lot of us suffer from....possibly unnecessarily......me included

I have a Jackson King V with 81/81s that smokes! I have Jackson Dinky with 81/85s that screams. And I now have a Jackson Soloist with Blackouts that kills (ran out of euphemisms on that one It's all good! ENJOY!

 

[uOpt]

Re: Emg 81/85

I'm looking for an 81.

However, I have an 89, which is a 85 splittable, and I didn't like it. Too dark and too high-fi. Hoping the 81 will have more clarity and string separation.

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: Emg 81/85

I like EMGs as well, they definitely have their uses to me. I've only tried the humbuckers so far, I'd like to test drive a guitar with single coils. Too bad that I've never seen a guitar with them in the local shops.

 

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: Emg 81/85

I'm a total EMG whore. Absolute LOVE the 81 in the bridge of my LP - neck 81 will probably get swapped for the brighter 60.

Currently trying to sell the JB/FS combo in my Schecter to get an 89/89 set in it.

Passives are cool for what they do, but for my style... EMGs just have it down.