Emg Pickups

[Ironwalker]

Does anyone feel that Emg's sound blah with their MTS. I have an rm100 with a foglifter. I'm using Rob's Ubersonic and Trilogy. Whenever I use a passive pickup, both modules just crush. but when I use any guitar with emgs it sounds thin. Also sounds like the gain is turned down.

 

[JayDA]

EMGs are a love/hate thing for me, especially the 81. But LESS gain vs passive? Either your battery is dead, or you're just used to really hot passive pickups. Something doesn't sound right there.

I just put a "Het Set" into one of my axes, and so far I'm really digging them, kind of like a cross between passive/active.

 

[Mattfig]

Quite honestly, EMGs are not my thing?I have Motor City Pickups that run around 17k resistance and they are passive and monstrous?Also natural?.Active pickups are just not my thing for guitar?.

Now Bass guitar? Different story?.LOVE actives there...

 

[Ironwalker]

I do use hot passives. I changed batteries cause I thought the same thing. My Jackson RR24 has an 81 with a pa2, but only sounds ok with the pa2 boost on. My Esp Mirage has an 85 and 2 sa singles and it has the Alexi Laiho abq. Sounds good with abq on with Ubersonic, but anemic on Trilogy. they both sound great through my Axe fx ultra.

 

[Jaded Faith]

I have posted several times in the past about a point of diminishing returns when it comes to gain. There is a point where a signal will become so compressed and without dynamics that it will seem dull and lifeless. It's very easy to see on a scope or when looking at a recorded waveform.

I have a hunch that's exactly what you're experiencing. Pushing a high input voltage into a very saturated amp leaves little dynamic room.

 

[Nightdare]

Maybe, but pumping in enough gain to raise the titanic would not make an amp "anemic" or "thin"

Compressed mud? Yes!
La Brea tarpit dynamics? Sure

But no way it could be thinner than cooling lava

and even though passives are lower in output, to get EMGs up to the "Metalzone to 11" type of gain, even passives (especially hot ones) would fart out beyond belief

Unless one of the preamp tubes is bad and getting a low impedance signal keeps it from working as it should

 

[Mattfig]

There is surely a point of too much gain?Especially at the input?.If it weren't that way we'd all be boosting our rigs with 8 pedals?lol?.

But the idea that EMGs sound funny to some makes sense to me as I have tried the 18V mod and several sets and have abandoned them entirely?.I will say that having the extra winding on my passives gives me a wide range of use of my pots- that I couldn't do with EMGs?They just don't fit everyone's idea of tone?.Some dig that snarl a lot?

 

[Dr.G]

Does anyone feel that Emg's sound blah with their MTS. I have an rm100 with a foglifter. I'm using Rob's Ubersonic and Trilogy. Whenever I use a passive pickup, both modules just crush. but when I use any guitar with emgs it sounds thin. Also sounds like the gain is turned down.

Have you experienced the same "thin sound" when using other amps than MTS? I heard that some people use EMG's together with Dual Rectifiers for this reason, as they tend to make the sound "slim" which is a good thing when played with a Recto.

 

[Mattfig]

On the same note, I have a good friend with a Triple Recto that swears by his EMG pups?.Won't use anything else?

 

[Ironwalker]

I actually owned a triple rec and my active guitars sounded great on it. Haven't played them in awhile, maybe I just got use to my passive guitars. Ibanez Sabre with tone zone and Tokai Superstrat with dimarzio super3. Thanks for chiming in guys.

 

[stemlife]

I have the new 81X, 60AX and 85X EMG-X series which sound WAY better than the original EMGs'. The old ones do have a thin/compressed type of sound to my ears, as someone mentioned here. The new X-series sound more like a cross between passive and active pick-up. Best of both worlds. But if I had to do it over again I would switch back to passive...

 

[LunatiBSW]

i agree I think the EMG x's are a huge improvement over the original emg line, in my opinion. Much more headroom, and more natural sounding. I like both actives and passives for different reasons, and play both all the time depending on the mood I am in, and the style of metal/rock Im playing.

I can get either actives/passives to sound phenomenal with all my MTS gear.

 

[The Beast]

I run the EMG 808x's with the 18 volt mod and my sound is totally Killer!!!

If you have standard EMG's do the 18 volt mod it does make a difference.

The instructions on how to do it are on EMG's website.

Cheers

 

[p4vl]

I'd dig actives more if they had PAF/low output humbuckers for the neck position. The neck humbuckers are useless for me.

I thought that Blackouts were far superior to EMG 81's (never tried the X-series EMG's).

 

[audiomidijace]

I used to play EMGs back in the late 80's. Back then I was only playing metal and I wanted all of my guitars to sound the same.
In the early 90's I bought my first Tom Anderson guitar and I started experimenting with all of their pickups in my other guitars. I REALLY bonded with them.
DiMarzio's were very popular at the time and so I tried many of those and pretty much HATED every one of them. I couldn't tell you why. They all just had a character that didn't work for me.
I tried a few Duncans as well, but felt that the Anderson pickups worked best for me. I pretty much stuck with them until 2007. Then I went through almost EVERY Duncan humbucker and many Suhr models. I really HATED the Doug Aldrich pickup! Which was odd, because I really LOVE Doug Aldrich! I tried the new EVH fender pickups too. During all of this what I discovered was that lower output pickups gave me better tone, more dynamics and better sustain. The sound of my fingers was finally coming through!
The next pickups I bonded with were the Gibson Burst Bucker Pros! I tried a bunch of different Gibson pickups, but none of the others did it for me.
Next came Jason Lollar Imperials! AMAZING!!!! So harmonically rich and touch sensitive I couldn't believe it.
Everyone had been going on and on about Bare Knuckle pickups, so I tried a Riff Raff bridge pickup. It was good, but not great.
Then came the Railhammers!! The Hyper Vintage set is just WONDERFUL!!
Just today I received my Motor City Black Belt set!
I can't wait to try them!
On the other side of the pickup world I have a set of Rio Grande pickups in my Tele. Very twangy and vintage sounding and I couldn't be happier with them.
So in the end, I get my gain from my amp and not my pickups.
For an OD boost I have a Keeley modified Boss SD-1.
I keep the gain set very low and pretty much only use it for solos.
*For the record, all of my humbucker guitars use Basswood bodies and maple necks.

 

[audiomidijace]

The MotorCity Black Belts are UNGODLY!!!!! I LOVE THEM!!!!

 

[Mattfig]

The MotorCity Black Belts are UNGODLY!!!!! I LOVE THEM!!!!

Good score...My new favorite brand of pickup....Have not heard any Motor City Pickups that sound anything but great....Wade does some amazing work...

 

[MarcoR]

The MotorCity Black Belts are UNGODLY!!!!! I LOVE THEM!!!!

Good score...My new favorite brand of pickup....Have not heard any Motor City Pickups that sound anything but great....Wade does some amazing work...

I love my Afwaus and I recently put Angle Dusts on my 7 string that are very nice.