Active EMG's

[Rhmsc8]

Hello all,

I have never used active electronics, unless you count the booster in my model 5 and DKMG or is it DXMG... whatever. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

I am just curious if there is that much of a difference?

Am I condemning myself to spending a "G" to upgrade all my guitars after I check out the active EMG's?

Color me curious, [img]/images/graemlins/baby.gif[/img]
Ron

[SteveFireland]

Re: Active EMG\'s

I wouldn't say there's that huge a difference in sound from a good hot passive pup, but from a safety point of view (active pups aren't to the strings) they make a lot of sense. And once you've get them in one guitar, it'd be a pain to have to switch from the lo to hi input on your amp when swapping guitars on stage... so you do end up changing them all.
I've been down that road... [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Plus you can run longer cables with less signal degradation too. Very useful. And they happen to sound great, obviously... [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Cheers,
Steve.

[guitar geek]

Re: Active EMG\'s

I use active and passive guitars mixed and the only differnence is on the clean channel. the EMGs have way more volume than my passive guitar on the clean channel. on the drive channels that translates in more gain.

and the difference... I think it is quite large, the response on my playing is totally different, cleaner I'd say. passives are dirtier, completely different attack, soundwise that is. upgrade? I don't know... it is not an upgrade, it is different, not better

harrald

[etaeniura]

Re: Active EMG\'s

If you are like me, and leave your guitar plugged in, you will spend a small fortune on batteries!

[Neeradj]

Re: Active EMG\'s

I'm kind of a tone junky. Have had EMG 81 pick ups for over a year I believe. Yes, there are advantages but I didn't really think they were that much of an advantage. At least there were more disadvantages IMO

The EMGs sound sterile and flat, you have less tonal variety and control IMO. EMGs are very powerful pick ups, so powerful I immediately noticed the difference when I put in a Bill Lawrence L500XL and passive electronics. Also a very high output pick up, I had a more melodic sound and enough output, the amps were suddenly more responsive when I messed with the EQ. There was indeed a volume difference, but that really did not bother me

If it's an output thing, I can tell you most high gain amps can compensate for it and the're a large variety of high output pick ups on the market

[Newc]

Re: Active EMG\'s

EMGs are tonally flat - consider them modeling pickups. You dial in the tone you want with the amp's EQ, whereas with passive pickups, you have to use the EQ to compensate for the pickup's 'voice' - bluesy, middy, growly, etc etc. EMGs have that ability to some extent - i.e. the 81 is a high-gain model, whereas the 85 is not as high, but both are still tonally flat - which some call "balanced" - neither one accentuates the highs, mids, or lows like passives do.

[toejam]

Re: Active EMG\'s

[ QUOTE ]
the 81 is a high-gain model, whereas the 85 is not as high, but both are still tonally flat - which some call "balanced" - neither one accentuates the highs, mids, or lows like passives do.

[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, the 85 has more power than the 81. And the 85 also has an alnico magnet and is more focused in the high midrange. The 81 has a ceramic magnet and is tonally brighter with more treble than the 85.

[Rhmsc8]

Re: Active EMG\'s

It sounds as though there really isn't any reason to go active... I always heard people rave they want to get "active pups". I can see the modeling aspect being a positive. Is there any real benefit. Why do people want active pups?

BTW - Thank you for all the info.

[toejam]

Re: Active EMG\'s

At the moment, I've got EMGs in three of my six guitars... chrome 25th anniversary 81 set in my Hamer, 85b/60n in my Jackson, 85b/81n in my Les Paul. I love the sound of them. To me, the 85 in the bridge rules with either an 81 or 60 in the neck. Plus, tone won't suffer if using longer cables or lots of effects. To me they've never sounded sterile, and body wood does definitely still have an affect on tone, just the pickups are more consistent since they have an internal eq that's preset.

[GodOfRhythm]

Re: Active EMG\'s

You have to be for it I guess. Personally I got into EMG's after trying out an ESP model loaded with two 81's in a local guitarshop. I don't think they sound sterile either. But I'll always keep a few passive pupped guitars in my arsenal. And that has nothing to do with the fact that EMG's sound bad, but simply because the more variety the more different tones and effecs you'll have. IMHO No collection is complete without at least 1 EMG outfitted guitar.