EMGs 60 & 81s

[Iron maiden]

New to the boards but, a year ago i bought some invaders and pearly gates and was extremly happy and now i thought i would try some actives so i was looking at metal livewires but, reading the threads everyone seems to think they're to much and just a one trick pony, so i decided to get EMG 60s in the neck and 81s in the bridge and have a couple questions

1. How will the wood of my guitar effect the sound of the pickups (i play a LP goth w/floyd and its mahongonay, amp marshall 30w)

2. What do i need to install for them to work? I know they come with input jack, knobs and batter jack.


Thanks

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: EMGs 60 & 81s

The wood will affect the tone much the same way as it will with passive pickups. Alot of people say that EMG's make all guitars sound alike but this is flat out untrue. I will agree EMG's do have a very strong character to them. Some people consider the 81 a one trick pony also. Its definately not a mild pickup and most amps have a hard time getting a clean tone when being hit with that much signal. I love the 81's under gain but the cleans I think are so so. Lately I've been messing with an 89 in the bridge and its cool more versatile than the 81's even if your not splitting it into single coil mode. The 85 sounds similar to the 89 but not exact. Everything you need to run them if you buy them new will come with them. But I would whole heartedly reccomend doing the 18 volt mod.

 

[Imp]

Re: EMGs 60 & 81s

+1, after doing the 18v i can see why people disliked the original 9v run EMGs hehe

81/60 is the combo used by slipknot and james hetfeild (unsure about this) i think.. im just thinking of other EMG combos you might like the sounds of..

81/81 kirk hammet
85/85 bjorn (inflames) <---probably my favourite of the lot
81/85 zakk wylde

a hell of a lot of metal bands use EMG 81s, usually paired with either another 81 or an 85..

my (personal, and therefore disregardable) advice - check out some inflames songs - pinball map, the hive, im sure more suggestions will come in on this

tom

 

[Loserchief]

Re: EMGs 60 & 81s

18v mod is quite something to try(probably will do it anytime soon).
i have made quite good experiences with the combo on my B.C Rich:
81/89/60
the 81 is perfect for leads/the 89 is good for brighter rythm sounds and splitable to singlecoil mode / the 60 is pure rythm power
this set is pretty versetaille and can do anything