EMG Pickups

I play a Gibson Les Paul, and I've installed EMG 81/85 pickups on it. I just love the sound.. Dont want to start a passive vs acive debate here, but i find the EMGs much quieter, and they give a rather equal output - no muddy mids like the LP's original pickeps.

Im looking to buy the EMG James Hatfield signature set. Have any of you tried them?

Izzy

I don't have EMG p/u experience but I hear the actives are great for metal.

Hi Neal, thanks for answering. Although a lot of metal players swear by EMGs, they do sound good for other styles as well.

The advantage of an active pickup is that of noise reduction and a flatter frequency respose. This is very desirable if you use a lot of electronics in your audio chain, especially if you are using high gain. Active pickups have an internal preamplifer which gives the a signal a nice clean boost, across the whole frequency spectrum.

I play blues, rock, and country. I use a Digitec RP500 as my main pedal, and I must say that the EMGs perform very well for all those styles.

Pickups in general have tonal quality, sometimes this is by design and sometimes by accident (such as Gibson 59PAFs). This can be a good thing, if you are looking for a certain kind of sound. So in the end, its all about what your needs are, and what kind of sound you are after.

Izzy

in general, emg pickups are and were made for distorted outputs. active pickup circuits generally have a higher output and a naturally compressed overall tonal quality and that's why they seem quieter, because they are. this is the major distinction between passive and active picup systems. some people would say that the tonal quality of an active pickup system is more dominant than most passive pickup systems and sometimes will deplete the tone of a pedal board and an amp, imposing it's own tone throughout. this is why a lot of players of non-distorted genres of music(blues, country, pop, rock, alternative) tend to use passive pickups. they maintain a higher amount of dynamics throughout and allow the tonal qualities of pedals and amps to color the sound a little better...

but i agree completely, when it comes to tone the only opinion that matters is your own.

i have not heard the newest set of hetfield emgs, but the way that ive understood them... they have a little bit more grit and a bit more gain in the bottom and mid ranges.

The only experience I've with active pickups is with the EMG brand, so I cant speak for others. I think when it comes to imposing tone, passive pickups are the ones that are dominent Perhaps because activce pickups offer a flatter frequency response, since they depend on electronics for their output strenght as opposed to magnet size and amound of windings.

I just installed the EMG James Hertfield set on my LP, to replace the 81/85 set. To be honest, they are a completely different beast. Its like the best of both worlds, and they sound great on clean and distorted effects.

Speaking of effects, I had to tweak the settings on my Digitec RP500 because the Het set had a higher output than the 81/85 combo.

I perform in a virtual world called Second Life, and below is a link to a video of a tune I recorded during a show. I used some overdrive and some delay.. Next will , i will post a video which demostrates the clean side of those awesome pickups.