Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

I appreciate the heads up! I didn't even consider the ground wire issue.
I should rephrase in that I'm exploring / learning to swap out pickups, pots, caps, etc. I'm not new to soldering and working with electronics, just haven't ever worked on any guitars as of yet. All the wiring that I've seen seems pretty simple to me. I'm sure I'll go through a couple different pickup configurations to find that sweet spot for me, but that's one of the reasons for doing this plus the fact that I enjoy working with electronics.
 
Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

no the custom will be what your looking for, it has a ceramic magnet rather than a alnico 5, the ceramic is brighter, tighter and slightly more output... more aimed towards metal, the custom is quite versatile from what i hear...
 
Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

Yea thats a good idea, the 85s are nice in the bridge, more warm and full sounding!
 
Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

Ok well thats settled than, Honestly if you have the money and want the bragging rights, get the bareknuckle miracle man set... generally if you like emgs the miracles mans are like thicker emgs, the neck is quite sweet sounding from what ive heard... If you want duncans i would go for the black winter set, they are quite hot and compressed but less hot and more open than emgs, and the neck pickup is extremely versatile sounding!
 
Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

Chazzy said:
the black winter set, they are quite hot and compressed but less hot and more open than emgs, and the neck pickup is extremely versatile sounding!
Click to expand...

Wait what? What amp did you run the black winters through that they seemed compressed?
 
Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

Gibson 1964 said:
Pulling a stud is no big deal if you do it the easy way. In fact, it is one of the easiest procedures on a guitar.
Click to expand...

Usually. Sometimes the finish can get chipped. Not to mention having the correct drill bit to run the wire. Definitely not something to mess up on. :D
 
Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

sudzinsky said:
Hey all,

I'm looking for some ideas on a new project guitar I'm working on. I got an Epiphone Matt Heafy 6string for cheap and really like the way it plays. I've replaced all the hardware on it and it sounds great, I like the sound of EMG's but I'd like to have more range and versatility.
What kind of passive pickups would come closest to the sound of EMG 81/85's?

I was thinking of either a JB or Custom in the bridge or 59 / Jazz for the neck but I'm new to the game in terms of changing electronics so I'm looking for some advice. What do you guys think?
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The EMG HZ4 (81) and HZ4A (85) are passive versions of the pickups you mentioned. A lot of people hate the HZ series but I find them very similar to the active versions with a slightly warmer sound and smoother transients. Plus, unlike the regular EMG 81 and 85 active versions, you can wire the HZs to split.

I think that would be your closest bet in terms of tone but with more versatility.

Performing the 18 volt mod on your current EMGs will get you the X series sound. They are identical to the regular EMGs in 18 volts. For those of us who prefer an 81 in the bridge but want a bit more body, the 81 in 18 volts is helpful.
 
Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

IMHO EMG 85 sucks in the bridge, loud, trebly and just horrible. EMG81/60 tho, is one of the sweetest pups I have played with. The only drawback is that they are noisy and hum easily. I guess blackouts (non-metal) might be a perfect alternative.
 
Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

greekdude said:
IMHO EMG 85 sucks in the bridge, loud, trebly and just horrible. EMG81/60 tho, is one of the sweetest pups I have played with. The only drawback is that they are noisy and hum easily.
Click to expand...

I disagree with all of this.
 
Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

dominus said:
I disagree with all of this.
Click to expand...

Sentences 1 and 2 are just my personal opinion. Ok lots of people like EMG 85 in the bridge. I didn't. And yes 81/60 work fine for me! (sans the noise of course) and so they do for so many known guitarists, so I guess not much of a shock here, right? Sentence 3 is generally accepted, in fact, SD uses this in their marketing for blackouts :
description
The "other" USA-made active humbuckers use unbalanced inputs in a differential preamp. The problem is, an unbalanced differential preamp is not very effective at cancelling hum. Our engineers figured out how to capture the tone that players want in an active design, but using balanced inputs. The result is 12dB to 14dB less noise, plus more lows, more highs, and more output. Simply put, Blackouts have more tone than other active pickups.
Click to expand...
and also lots of people complain about EMG81 being noisy, here is a serious article describing this : http://www.electrosmash.com/emg81 :
In EMG81 circuit is deliberately imbalanced for tone modeling purposes...
The numbers show that the EMG design will not reject the hum as good as the classic balanced design.
Click to expand...
 
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Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

Speaking of actives, where is Dino's new active pickups for 6-string?

*tap tap* calling Seymour! Hello? Retribution for the masses, pwetty pweeease. :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

I've never had an issue with noise or hum from any active pickups including EMGs. Sounds like a crappy install possibly.
 
Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

I have had noise from actives, but in locations with very dodgy wiring. It was an apartment complex of 8 units that if someone was using the washer and someone else used a drill or blender at the same time breakers might kick, the lights would go dim and flicker in the evenings and often times amps would act as if there was a variac on the line. They got noisy there, but to be honest, there was not much about that place that could have made the electrical worse. In an environment such as that. (Oh yeah, one of my neighbors was using illegal homemade hydroponics as well) They were quite noisy. Noisier than passives for sure. Something in that electrical nightmare seemed to be messing with them. I coudn't begin to tell you what as there are too many things that were electrically messed up about the place, that just what was messing with them could have been hard to tell.
 
Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

Chazzy said:
um an 85 trebly? and hum and noisy? I dont think so...
Click to expand...

Trebly as hell in the bridge with 100K pots. I swapped it out as fast as I could, so no opinion on the hum/noise. My comment about noise was clearly directed at 81/60.
 
Re: Passive alternatives to EMG 81/85's ?

greekdude said:
Trebly as hell in the bridge with 100K pots. I swapped it out as fast as I could, so no opinion on the hum/noise. My comment about noise was clearly directed at 81/60.
Click to expand...

They use 25K pots, but I've run them directly to the jack and still didn't find them too bright.
 
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