EMG 81's and 85's

Re: EMG 81's and 85's

The color thing is right, but there are exceptions. The Zakk Wylde set, which is a 81/85 combo both have silver logos.
 
Re: EMG 81's and 85's

Hmmm... well that may be the case then.

The guitar I was looking at has two silver logos, but the website says one is an 85. The guy in the store told me one they were both 81's (not good), I know they guy is probably wrong, but I'm still confused.
mh400.jpg
 
Re: EMG 81's and 85's

Can you not just figure it out by tone? If it sounds like a good pickup, then who cares if it is the EMG 83.6 beta?
 
Re: EMG 81's and 85's

the 85 will be a lot thicker and fuller than an 81.

Tonally, I find the 81 and DD to be similar, while the 85 is like a Custom, to my ears at least. Take that for what it's worth.
 
Re: EMG 81's and 85's

there's a nice pup trade thing going with EMGs in particular man - if you get an 81 in the neck, chances are someone will swap you an 85 for it - the two are quite commonly swapped..

tom
 
Re: EMG 81's and 85's

closest to an 85, i'd say.. not by any means identical, but closest of the EMGs ;)
 
Re: EMG 81's and 85's

Hehe... indeed.

I'd need to hear both in order to tell which one it is. I just emaild ESP to see if this axe had the 81 set at some stage
 
Re: EMG 81's and 85's

Alright, that is an old picture of the guitar. It now comes equipped with an 85 and an 81, so the way to tell with the guitar you're considering purchasing (assuming it's in stock) is to look at the pickups. The 85 ALWAYS has a gold logo, and the 81 ALWAYS has a silver logo, even in the ZW set contrary to what Stringmachine says. I've had a ZW set personally and they were gold and silver logoed.
 
Re: EMG 81's and 85's

I have an EMG85 in one of my guitars, and it sounds awesome for ultra-heavy stuff...but it has the most compressed, artificial, digital, silly, pathetic sound i've ever heard when doing clean\crunch stuff. ;)
 
Re: EMG 81's and 85's

SwedeNuck said:
The 85 ALWAYS has a gold logo, and the 81 ALWAYS has a silver logo, even in the ZW set contrary to what Stringmachine says. I've had a ZW set personally and they were gold and silver logoed.

Maybe you are right.
ZWset.jpg

The one at the bottom might be gold.
 
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Re: EMG 81's and 85's

Stringmachine said:
The color thing is right, but there are exceptions. The Zakk Wylde set, which is a 81/85 combo both have silver logos.
I've used a couple ZW sets and mine were the correct colors, silver and gold. I don't think they put a different logo on 1/2 the 85's for the ZW set. And even EMG's promo pic for the ZW set shows silver and gold.

On that note, some of the Ltd models that come with 81/85 or 81/60 previously came with 81/81 so while the current models and catolog might say 81/85, it's very possible the guitar on the wall is NOS from last year and might have the older spec'd 81/81 in it. I'd go by the logo color myself, that's why they are there. This is the most likely scenario.
 
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