Anyone Keep Going Back To EMG?

[InfernalVortex]

The 2 and 4 positions of a Strat are great for cleans, and even some unique dirt sounds ala early King's X or Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Yeah but it’s paired with two humbuckers. Would be cool to pair with EMG TWs but I don’t think that guitar has room for them with the extra height.
But maybe that doesn’t matter, not really my normal kind of music. Either way I’ll play around with it for sure.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Yeah but it’s paired with two humbuckers. Would be cool to pair with EMG TWs but I don’t think that guitar has room for them with the extra height.
But maybe that doesn’t matter, not really my normal kind of music. Either way I’ll play around with it for sure.

Pairing the single with 2 humbuckers still works IMO. While there is a volume difference, it can still power throigh. And I imagine the SA being louder and more compressed than your standard single coils makes it blend better with the humbuckers.

 

[slavboi_delight]

I got my ESP M2 today and it's absolutely bonkers.
It came stock with the Seymour Duncan sh2 and sh4.
Now that I'm pretty used to actives the sh4 especially feels super spongy. I tried eqing pretty much the whole day. Could be that i'm too stupid, or they are just not too pleasant to my ears. Kinda thinking about slamming a pair of 81x/81twx in there. But isn't that profanity? It's a 2008 standard series m2 and nothing got changed ever. Plus i never tried the x'es. Somebody an idea?

 

[Hoss632]

I got my ESP M2 today and it's absolutely bonkers.
It came stock with the Seymour Duncan sh2 and sh4.
Now that I'm pretty used to actives the sh4 especially feels super spongy. I tried eqing pretty much the whole day. Could be that i'm too stupid, or they are just not too pleasant to my ears. Kinda thinking about slamming a pair of 81x/81twx in there. But isn't that profanity? It's a 2008 standard series m2 and nothing got changed ever. Plus i never tried the x'es. Somebody an idea?

Compared to an 81 those will seem "spongy". Are you using a boost at all? That'll tighten up the low end pretty good.

 

[InfernalVortex]

For years I only had two main guitars, one with an 81 and one with a JB, and the JB just drove me up the wall with how squishy it was and how hard you had to hammer on it for heavy riffing. It always sounded good but I hated playing that guitar because of it. I do think the lead tone was amazing, though. I just got spoiled by EMG thing and there wasnt any turning back.

 

[slavboi_delight]

Compared to an 81 those will seem "spongy". Are you using a boost at all? That'll tighten up the low end pretty good.

Yap tried that.
It actually starts to get thin as soon as you slam it through an od or boost it with an eq
It seems to have an absolute tired low end response

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I got my ESP M2 today and it's absolutely bonkers.
It came stock with the Seymour Duncan sh2 and sh4.
Now that I'm pretty used to actives the sh4 especially feels super spongy. I tried eqing pretty much the whole day. Could be that i'm too stupid, or they are just not too pleasant to my ears. Kinda thinking about slamming a pair of 81x/81twx in there. But isn't that profanity? It's a 2008 standard series m2 and nothing got changed ever. Plus i never tried the x'es. Somebody an idea?

Fuck it, throw whatever you want in there. Just prepare to gut all the electronics out and make room for a battery.

Also the 81-TW does sound slightly different than an 81, so I imagine an 81XTW will sound SIGNIFICANTLY different than an 81. It's not as tight, has a smoother midrange, and a more present, slightly snappier high end.

 

[Apex1rg7x]

Finally got the Daemonums in... I gotta say... I dig it. I am always disappointed by pickups that arent the 81. I am definitely not replacing all my 81's with a Jim Root set, but this sounds killer. When my mahogany RG520 neck gets back from getting refretted I'm going to put these in that guitar (which is where I intended it to go), but in my basswood RG, it sounds mean as hell.

Describing these things is always tough, but as far as I can tell it has a lot of that instant pick attack feel of the 81, but it's a little more crunchy/natural sounding. The 81 has that biting clank to it... I LOVE that. It's my favorite part of the 81. The JR seems to keep the feel of the pick attack, but you trade just a little clank for a little more grind and texture. The 85 is thicker and has more bass, but it's too smooth and doesnt really sound as aggressive as I would like except for the compression. I like the 85 in the bridge, but it doesnt do the things that I want it to do there, but I do like in the neck.

I think I was hoping for something that was a little more versatile, but would still have the chug and attack of the 81. I had a JB in that RG520 for many years and I loved it for lead work, and I thought it sounded fine for that, but it was lacking for the rhythm work and it never had that EMG feel that I wanted... the JR set nails that for me. I'll make an attempt to record it and then I'll record the 81 on the same guitar in a few weeks when I get everything rotated around the way it will be in the end.

Note I didn't bother installing the neck pickup... gonna wait for my RG520 to get back before I install that one. Just to save me a little extra hassle of dealing with those damn mounting springs. I may end up drilling out the bushings and installing it in my RG3120... Im really digging them.

I installed the Daemonums in my JR Strat last week and this exactly my experience with them as well. At first I couldn't hear the difference but the more I played, it started to become clear. The Daemonum feels a little more natural to my ears and less "active" if that makes sense. These and the 57/66 are definitely my favorite EMG's to date.

 

[Hoss632]

Yap tried that.
It actually starts to get thin as soon as you slam it through an od or boost it with an eq
It seems to have an absolute tired low end response

That does kinda suck. But none the less a great opportunity to throw a set of pups you really like in there.

 

[slavboi_delight]

Fuck it, throw whatever you want in there. Just prepare to gut all the electronics out and make room for a battery.

Also the 81-TW does sound slightly different than an 81, so I imagine an 81XTW will sound SIGNIFICANTLY different than an 81. It's not as tight, has a smoother midrange, and a more present, slightly snappier high end.

Since the M2 only has 1 Volume, there would be actually plenty of room for an 18v mod! I'd probably go for an classic 81 in the bridge and and an 81tw or the 89 in the neck. I would prefer some snappiness in the neck for leads and spanky cleans. I only heard good things about the 18v mod and some prefer it to the x series.

 

[InfernalVortex]

I installed the Daemonums in my JR Strat last week and this exactly my experience with them as well. At first I couldn't hear the difference but the more I played, it started to become clear. The Daemonum feels a little more natural to my ears and less "active" if that makes sense. These and the 57/66 are definitely my favorite EMG's to date.

Yeah I think the big thing is they offer a different, more passive yet aggressive sound, but they FEEL like EMGs when I play it. I hesitate to call it a more passive sound... but it's definitely a different flavor.

I feel like if you're addicted to the 81 for rhythm work, but dont want all of your guitars to have the same pickups, this is a great alternative. Time will tell, this may end up being my favorite.

Plus the zebra looks killer.

 

[Zhysick]

Today I did some work on my guitar so that means new tuners and new wiring kit. First time having everything solderless. I have read some people claiming that soldered pickups and pots sound better so old EMGs sound better but maybe my work wasn't very good with the previous harness because I knew I was going to swap it out but now it sounds better. Maybe is because I just wired it "pickup-volume pot-jack", no switch, no "bus", no tone.

This EMG81 on this guitar sounds gnnnnnarly. Everyday when I play it I hit my head against the wall for not doing it before like 20 years ago... I have always wanted to! I mean, is an explorer and as a teenager I was the biggest Hetfield fan... Oc purse I wanted an 81-60 combo on this guitar.

Well... Now I am enjoying it anyway.

So happy with how this guitar sounds right now. This Saturday with the full band... I'll see how it works in the full mix

 

[slavboi_delight]

So i mailed EMG yesterday about the 60tw which esp implements in their new ltd's. And i have conformation that they consider September or October as release date for individual sale.

 

[lewis]

Today I did some work on my guitar so that means new tuners and new wiring kit. First time having everything solderless. I have read some people claiming that soldered pickups and pots sound better so old EMGs sound better but maybe my work wasn't very good with the previous harness because I knew I was going to swap it out but now it sounds better. Maybe is because I just wired it "pickup-volume pot-jack", no switch, no "bus", no tone.

This EMG81 on this guitar sounds gnnnnnarly. Everyday when I play it I hit my head against the wall for not doing it before like 20 years ago... I have always wanted to! I mean, is an explorer and as a teenager I was the biggest Hetfield fan... Oc purse I wanted an 81-60 combo on this guitar.

Well... Now I am enjoying it anyway.

So happy with how this guitar sounds right now. This Saturday with the full band... I'll see how it works in the full mix

I remember one time I had an EMG 81 wired straight to the output. No tone, no volume - just always on!
DAMN that was insane. Super aggressive.

I never use Tone knobs anyway and am use to just using 1 volume and having this extra aggression, but no knobs is a monster with EMGs.

 

[Zhysick]

I remember one time I had an EMG 81 wired straight to the output. No tone, no volume - just always on!
DAMN that was insane. Super aggressive.

I never use Tone knobs anyway and am use to just using 1 volume and having this extra aggression, but no knobs is a monster with EMGs.

Hhmmm... That's something worth trying as I have a volume pedal... And I only use the vol knob to mute the guitar anyway

 

[lewis]

Hhmmm... That's something worth trying as I have a volume pedal... And I only use the vol knob to mute the guitar anyway

Do it!
Works great!

 

[Swarth]

I swapped out an 81 with a 57 today in my Jackson RR1. I must have been sleeping on the 57 because that pup sounds phenomenal.

 

[Zhysick]

I should never ever come again into this thread... Reading about the Jim Root set and the 57 is giving me some serious GAS problems... I am happy with my 81. Please... Stop it!

 

[Hoss632]

So I figured I would give an update. So I recently got a new amp for myself, Boss Katana 100 2x12. I spent some time really working to get a solid high gain tone from it. And I gotta say I'm really pleased with how the guitar sounds now. I had swapped the 85 into the bridge a while back, but I didn't have an amp at the time to play on. Now that I do I am enjoying it. Still not 100% sure if I will keep the 81/85 in there but for now I'm in no rush. They still don't do the best clean tones, but I can use that as a reason to get myself another guitar, likely a PRS since I've always wanted one and they do amazing on cleans and gain tones.

 

[Apex1rg7x]

I should never ever come again into this thread... Reading about the Jim Root set and the 57 is giving me some serious GAS problems... I am happy with my 81. Please... Stop it!

The Daemonum's and 57 are my favorite EMG's by far...just sayin