EMG81's vs Duncan SH4 / SH14 / Dimarzio for dialing in these guitar tones...

[harukanoayu]

Hey, I'm fairly new to crafting guitar tones. I've been listening to many youtube videos comparing pikups. I know EMG81 is like full on metal, so I'm wondering for these types of tones which pickup would suite me better? A seymourduncan SH4 Sh14 or an active pickup like EMG?


I want to get tones like these (are these emgs ) ?
https://youtu.be/YOKn3YXvuE0?t=41
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i73GVDCpeA4

and also this solo tones like these
https://youtu.be/d77vF07xqrE?t=46


Sorry if this was a dumb question, I'm new to guitar stuff, I'm using bias desktop, through an interface, with my ibanez guitar. with ibz pickups. I can't seem to dial in the sound I want exactly.

Any opinions? Does pickup even matter in this instance?

 

[harukanoayu]

bump

Hey guys, I recently took up guitar again and am still wondering about this. I wanna make tones like the videos I posted, I love the heavy rhythme distorted tones and the solo tones

I still have an Alder body / Rosewood fingerboard guitar. What kind of pickup would be a good match for dialing in these tones? Any other advice on making them would really be apperciated!

 

[Cynical]

Pickups don't matter nearly as much in software/digital tone solutions as they do through tube or solid state amps IME. You'd do better to dial in your plugins (or change plugins if necessary -- Bias's stuff doesn't have the best reputation) than to change pickups.

 

[Spaghetti Bolo]

I think the signal chain is more important than the pickup here, any decent passive should work. When it comes to dialing in hi-gain tones its all about the pre and post eq.

 

[nexion218]

When tonechasing and going for "XY's tone on this and this album", many people forget that the audio engineer's work is also part of the signal chain, so to speak. What I mean is that even if you get the exact same pickups, amps, strings, picks, microphones, settings, what have you, you still might no be able to match what you hear on the record, because the recorded signal might be significantly altered during mixing.

That being said, I've no answer for your question, sorry.. . Have you tried checking out what gear the original recording artist uses? That might get you closer... But an EMG81 would NOT be my first choice, that is for sure.

 

[dave74]

nexion218 is exactly right. The recording techniques will have every bit as much impact on an album-tone as the gear used by the musician.
Nowadays it's often about software and cab-sims and such but in the older days it was all about mic placements, mic preamps, setting shelving parameters, and blending different positions.