EMG's love them or hate them

[wyldefan]

Hey everyone. My GMW is just about done and I was going to have Duncans put in but I really want to try EMG's as well. I have always been a Duncan man so I need some feedback on EMG's. This guitar has one humbucker and one single coil. So give me the scoop...

[piranhaguy2002a]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

I like both, so it really depends on what type of music you're playing and what your tastes are. In my opinion, I think Duncans have more warmth to there sound, where as EMGs have more punch.

[toejam]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

EMGs rule!! I've got three guitars with them. Two Jackson Dinky models, one has the 81 bridge and 85 neck combo, the other's got the 85 for the bridge and a 60 in the neck (my favorite combo). My Hamer has two 81s, and they're pretty cool, also.

[kremit]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

I am installing a set of ZW's in one of my king v's right now ! I asked the same question from the same circumstances a month ago, took the advice and couldn't be happier. The 81/85 suit my style and sound more than the JB's and Jazz's could.

[RacerX]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

Love 'em!

[wyldefan]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

Wow sound like I should try them. I use a Duncan Distortion in the bridge in my other guitars and it has a growl that I just love with lots of warmth.

[Newc]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

I've got one guitar out of 20+ with EMG's, and I don't plan on adding EMGs to anything else. My favorite pickups are the Distortion (bridge) and the Custom (neck or bridge). The JB is good as a neck pickup, but I will not recommend it for the bridge. I had one, and was underwhelmed by it.
The one guitar that has EMGs has an 81/SA/SA arrangement and they're great for that one guitar, but I just don't like 'em enough to have more than one guitar with EMGs.
To me they have a kind of "plastic" sound - like those electric-acoustic nylon jobbies that just can't sound as good as a miked acoustic - there's this Compressor-ish "click" to each note (even heavily distorted notes) that doesn't seem right. Even cleans sound slightly delayed through the SAs.
Maybe they're more sensitive to compression, but I certainly don't detect anything like that with passives.

Newc

[toejam]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

Newc, didn't you have an 89 in your Warrior and Les Paul and say you liked it? [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

[Newc]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

I had an 85 in the Warrior Pro and it was ok. Kinda dark output for me. Probably woulda been better on a 25 1/2" scale, or an 81 woulda done better on the naturally darker 24 3/4" scale.

Chuckracer had the LP with EMGs - nothing but passives in my LP [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Newc

[skidd]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

HATE EM!

[Swillmaster]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

I've been less than thrilled with the EMGs that came in some of the guitars I bought. I'm partial to the Dimarzio Super Distortion or BL XL500.
But... I did pick up a '87 Jackson Strat that the previous owner put an EMG 85 in. Spent some time with it last night and have to say that I liked what I heard (other than my playing [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] ).

[Wayniac]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

I have both EMG's and Duncans.... the Distortion is great, as are the EMG's...
If you like a high gain single coil for fast legato runs, I prefer the sound of the Hotrails over the sound of the single coil EMG...
If you just want a clean sound from the single coil, the EMG's are nice (can be VERY "stratty" sounding), but so are cool rails... Either way, I don't think you can go worng....

[Venomboy]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

EMG EMG EMG!!! I have them in 4 guitars and I love them.

[Rhoadsfan67]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

Newsflash... they RULE!

[Chuckracer]

Re: EMG\'s love them or hate them

Jeez...the EMG supporters certainly are a vocal bunch...
That Les Paul sounded great with EMGs, but that's the only guitar I've ever owned that did.
By and large, I hate them.