Anyone Keep Going Back To EMG?

[AwakenTheSkies]

In my limited experience from playing my & my friends' guitars and doing some pickup changes. EMGs are always a safe bet for recording metal rhythm guitars with modelers like I do. They sound the brightest and have this cool growling sound in the sustain. EMGs 81+85 or 81+60 with new strings are a super safe bet for a good metal tone.
For cleans I like other pickups better. I've done ambient tones with them too usually with both pickups on and rolling the volume down like 50% on the neck pickup. 85 on the neck and 81 in the bridge.

 

[lewis]

Curious if this is that Subzero jazzmaster looking baritone that you got. if it is I'm curious on the quality of the guitar. As for which EMG set, if you are using this thing tuned way down I honestly would say why not the 81/85? That set does really well in low tunings and if anything I think they sound better when used from Drop B on down. Otherwise from the 2 sets you said the 57/66 would be the choice over the super 77's mainly because the 57/66 set has a lot more clarity which would work for tunings I'd imagine you would be going for with a 30 inch baritone

It is indeed the subzero.

Honestly build quality on mine is great for the price. There is some tiny imperfections on my neck binding high up where the pocket is but other than that I've not spotted any other issues whatsoever.

It needs a setup out the box as there was some buzzing in places. I'm using Drop Eb open so the stock strings don't really work. The lowest isn't thick enough and the others are too thick/tight to play comfy.

Yeah I have a white, dual 81 set floating around spare atm. I might just throw them in.

I do agree. The 81 tuned low like this slays. My two favourite tones for low tuned is Timfy during hacktivists first EP which was 81 in an 8 string and Heart of a Cowards album severance which was also an 81-7

I've never tried the 57/66 set or the super 77 so I will need to grab a set at some point but for now the 81 seems worth it.

The stock tuners and pickups I don't like on the subzero but you always expect to swap hardware on a budget guitar so that's no big deal.

 

[Hoss632]

It is indeed the subzero.

Honestly build quality on mine is great for the price. There is some tiny imperfections on my neck binding high up where the pocket is but other than that I've not spotted any other issues whatsoever.

It needs a setup out the box as there was some buzzing in places. I'm using Drop Eb open so the stock strings don't really work. The lowest isn't thick enough and the others are too thick/tight to play comfy.

Yeah I have a white, dual 81 set floating around spare atm. I might just throw them in.

I do agree. The 81 tuned low like this slays. My two favourite tones for low tuned is Timfy during hacktivists first EP which was 81 in an 8 string and Heart of a Cowards album severance which was also an 81-7

I've never tried the 57/66 set or the super 77 so I will need to grab a set at some point but for now the 81 seems worth it.

The stock tuners and pickups I don't like on the subzero but you always expect to swap hardware on a budget guitar so that's no big deal.

Cool good to know.

 

[MoonJelly]

I'm thinking of putting the ABQ boosts from the ALX set back in my Ltds, then picking some passive EMGs. Not sure what pickups, though. May try a Marty set in one and the DMF Lars Set in another.

Ymmv but I found those two sets to be total opposites (might be exactly why you want both I guess). The MF is a looser, hot vintage type, in line with what you might expect from an EVH. Easy to saturate an amp and blast mid and treble band. Next to my active EMGs it has more snappiness/bite in the treble, consistent with what a hot passive pickup would do in most use cases. Mostly it makes me want to set up a 'brown sound' and annoy my wife and dog

The DMF is super clean and focused, and harder to drive than any other HZ pickup I've tried. I found that super surprising but it lined up with some of the YouTube demos I watched. Ultimately I have my clean lower-output pickups I like better and I ended up selling that set.

The Rev set I put in most recently is my favorite as it lands in the middle of the two above. The volume control seems to get more of a dynamic sweep from about 3.5-10, and it's all good sounds when you get into the wiring electrickery. I feel like it brings out a little more dynamics in my own playing when I'm just messing around.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Ymmv but I found those two sets to be total opposites (might be exactly why you want both I guess). The MF is a looser, hot vintage type, in line with what you might expect from an EVH. Easy to saturate an amp and blast mid and treble band. Next to my active EMGs it has more snappiness/bite in the treble, consistent with what a hot passive pickup would do in most use cases. Mostly it makes me want to set up a 'brown sound' and annoy my wife and dog

The DMF is super clean and focused, and harder to drive than any other HZ pickup I've tried. I found that super surprising but it lined up with some of the YouTube demos I watched. Ultimately I have my clean lower-output pickups I like better and I ended up selling that set.

The Rev set I put in most recently is my favorite as it lands in the middle of the two above. The volume control seems to get more of a dynamic sweep from about 3.5-10, and it's all good sounds when you get into the wiring electrickery. I feel like it brings out a little more dynamics in my own playing when I'm just messing around.

I'm trying H4/H3 and H1/H1 for now. I may try one set for now, but I may not.

 

[Seabeast2000]

Does the Het Set or individual pickups have actual model numbers?

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

The DMF is super clean and focused, and harder to drive than any other HZ pickup I've tried. I found that super surprising but it lined up with some of the YouTube demos I watched. Ultimately I have my clean lower-output pickups I like better and I ended up selling that set.

I find that a bit odd though, as I figured they would be really dirty per the name.

Does the Het Set or individual pickups have actual model numbers?

JH-B or N.

 

[MoonJelly]

I find that a bit odd though, as I figured they would be really dirty per the name.


JH-B or N.

Exactly--opposite of what I expected too. Lars Friedrickson described it as a modern, clearer version of the Gibson dirty fingers pickups. It's a fair description I guess it's just not my cup of tea

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Exactly--opposite of what I expected too. Lars Friedrickson described it as a modern, clearer version of the Gibson dirty fingers pickups. It's a fair description I guess it's just not my cup of tea

I've never played a Dirty Fingers. Apparently, someone I knew had a "Dirtier Fingers" type pickup from Gibson that was meant to be pretty cool.

 

[soldierkahn]

I'm trying H4/H3 and H1/H1 for now. I may try one set for now, but I may not.

I was a fan of the HZ-H3 back when i was using the EMG-HZ models exclusively

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

I was a fan of the HZ-H3 back when i was using the EMG-HZ models exclusively

The H4/H3 set sounds great together. Im glad I tried the H1/H1 set again, as it sounds better than I remember. When I tried it before, it was very bright and broke up in an odd way. Whatever the difference is between then and now, I'm not sure, but I like it. H2/H2 is also nice.

That said, I'm tempted to try the H1A/H1A like Prashant Aswani and Kieran Johnston.

 

[mmr007]

Does the Het Set or individual pickups have actual model numbers?

I think you can only buy them as a set if buying new and I don't think they have a model number, just name like all the artist pickups JH, KFK, ZW etc....

 

[mmr007]

Have any of you guys tried the Marty Friedman set? I want to try them and I have a guitar that is a perfect candidate for passive EMGs since there is no place to put a battery without heavy mod

 

[lewis]

Don't forget EMG have a reverb site where they sell B stock pickups for way under retail.
You may be able to get singles there that are usually only available as sets?. Although I can't confirm that.

 

[MoonJelly]

I've never played a Dirty Fingers. Apparently, someone I knew had a "Dirtier Fingers" type pickup from Gibson that was meant to be pretty cool.

Lace Dirty Heshers is exactly that (oddly also a signature pickup for Matt Pike from Sleep and High on Fire). That's a hot, mean one, do recommend if you like high output metal-oriented pups.

Some of the Epiphone Prophecy guitars have the dirty fingers as stock. Also a pretty hot one, similar to a DiMarzio Super Distortion.

Back to the topic, most of my guitars are rocking either EMG or DiMarzio. Between the two brands they cover the gamut of sounds I'm after and are among the best values on the market. I feel like a key thing is that EMG keeps making new products I want to try, and they can be found at a price >$200/set.

 

[disconnector]

I bought an Aristides H/06 with Tosin Fluence pickups. I never liked them - there were three modes but all of them had this weird 3-5K spike that just grated on my ears. Since it would be simple to switch them I dropped in a set of Fluence Classics. They sounded better - but there was still a weird midrange artifact that I just couldn’t get along with.

Finally I bit the bullet and pulled out the perfect Aristides wiring and dropped in a 89 at the bridge and a 60 at the neck. BAM - fantastic tone for days.

I know it’s my ears - but EMGs sound consistently great. Fluence not so much to me.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

I bought a set of H1A humbuckers for my Ltd H500. I think the combo of passives with the ABQ will be able to hang with the active setups in my other guitars.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

I bought a set of H1A humbuckers for my Ltd H500. I think the combo of passives with the ABQ will be able to hang with the active setups in my other guitars.

Raised the H4/H3 a bit, as I found them a bit lacking compared to the other guitars, especially with the ABQ off. That helped a lot.

Got the H1A set in today, and they warmed things up just enough versus the ceramic versions, and sounds killer. I'm thinking of replacing the H4/H3 with Alnico versions, possibly.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Me and Spaced talked about them, but has anyone tried the Marty pickups yet? I heard they're basically a tweaked JB/Jazz set.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Me and Spaced talked about them, but has anyone tried the Marty pickups yet? I heard they're basically a tweaked JB/Jazz set.

I wish they came in a basic black cover set.