the truth about emgs

[mastershake]

I WANT THE TRUTH! (and dont tell me i cant handle the truth because i can) I know people who go ape over the name emg, and i know people who hate anything thats not passive.

GOOD THINGS IVE HEARD ABOUT EMGS-Wonderful harmonic response, good sustain, high output, no noise.

BAD THINGS IVE HEARD ABOUT EMGS-Horrible tone, no dynamics, no clean tone, really muddy, batteries dont last long.

Ive played dimarzio pickups for awhile now i have owned an EVO, X2N, MOJOE, PAF JOE and i love them. the thing is i recently picked up a jackson v and i want to make it a metal beast. i hear all the hype about EMGS and how all the metal legends played them like Glen Tippton, KK Dowing, Hammet, Hetfield, and a hole bunch more. i just want to know if they live up to the hype...most things nowadays dont.

[neilli]

It's pretty much all subjective so depends on your tastes - I'm not a DiMarzio fan, but I like both Duncans and EMGs. There are certain myths about EMGs though:

Do the batteries die quickly? My main guitar is a h/s/h GMW with EMGs wired in 9volt which I've had for 7 1/2 years and I've changed the battery once, about a year ago. And it's seen a lot of use. Now obviously, battery life will depend on how much the guitar is used and if you remember to unplug it or not, but given normal / sensible use, the batteries will last plenty long enough for it not to be an issue.

Do EMGs sound the same in every guitar? I have 7 guitars here with me with EMGs and they all sound different. I will conceed that the differences would probably be more noticeable with passive pickups, but to say that all guitars with EMGs sound the same just ain't true.

[mastershake]

ok thanks

[jdr94]

like neilli said it depends on your tastes. in the late 80's early 90's i loved emgs. in those years i played alot of thrash(vio-lence, nuclear assault, etc.) and it worked great with what i was goin for. now in 2008 i've been into alot of different stuff like Silent Civilian, Lamb of God, The Absence, The Haunted. Now i use dimarzio/duncans (x2n, dimebucker), but i still have a few guitars with EMG81's so i would say although EMGs are great if i only had one guitar it probably would have an x2n. again this is just my preference.

[mastershake]

oh, i love the x2n, i wish i could get a good clean tone tho. i have it in an rg and i play it the most. and its my worst guitar!

[KBRR]

i agree with both replies , its mostly subect to taste and musical style . I have been a long time EMG user , and although recently i have started to try some duncans i find myself going back to the EMG's , i should note i play mostly metal , new and old school. About battery life, i have never had a problem with batteries dying on me they last years and i play everyday. EMG's do sound different in every guitar , but i will say that they aren't as wood sensitive as passives, meaning passives will respond more drastically in different woods. I will say that in a clean setting passives win , i find passives are more articulate and cleaner than the EMG's , thats not to say EMG's dont sound good but IMO passives just sound better in a clean setting. I love EMG's

[jsuttjackson]

If you want to make your V a metal beast EMG's will definatly do it,although there's others that will do it as well too.Like the others have said it's a matter of opinion.I've tried all kinds of Duncans,Bill Lawrence,Gibson,Dimarzio.I've put them all in different guitars and just didn't think they sounded as good as EMG's.All my guitars have EMG's and they don't all sound the same.As far as battery life,use a good battery(I use Duracell)and remember to unplug it and the battery will last a long time.

[toejam]

Now i use duncans (x2n, dimebucker)

When did Duncan make an X2N? That's made by DiMarzio.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

Facts:

-Passive pickups naturally compress when muliple strings are struck at one time. this makes single notes sound louder than chords.
-EMG's maintain the same appearant volume between single notes and chords.

comment: this can make mixing rhythm and leads difficult if one guitarist has EMG's and the other has passives, in a two guitar band where both play leads.

-EMG's battery will last way longer if you always unplug your guitar when you're not playing.
-Passives you can leave plugged in all the time.

comment: duh!

-EMG's have a built in preamp that has an EQ curve that chops off the extremely low frequencies making the low end that you hear appear to be louder. this preamp also makes the output less dynamic.
-Passives have no preamp and thier eq curve is souly dependant on their materials and construction. and their dynamics are directly dependant on your pick attack.

comment: this can make EMG's sound thin in a mix especially if you scoop the mids out too far. this can also make passives sound muddy because they actually have more low end than EMG's. pick attack makes a much bigger difference with passives than EMG's. i played EMG's exclusively for 14 years and when i finnaly got a guitar with passives i noticed how much sloppier i really was with my pick attack.

-some say EMG's make every guitar sound the same. this is not true. but they do make each guitar sound more similar than passives because of their preamp with set eq curve. the guitar's wood types still do make a big difference in sound.

other than that eveything else is pretty self explanitory... or just plain hype.

[CharvelRocker]

The thing I found funny about the EMGs sound the same rumor is that if you put the same Duncan JB in every guitar, it will make them sound somewhat similar as well because it is the same pickup. Really, put a little bit of thought into it, and it's something that is technically true of every pickup.

[mastershake]

cool

[Newc]

EMGs don't make all guitars sound alike, they make all guitars sound like they have the same pickup. Big difference.

Some folks like a JB in maple, but not alder, and vice-versa. This disproves the notion that all guitars with a JB will sound like they have a JB.

With EMGs, you're getting more of the pickup preamp's tone than the guitar's tone.

[metalchurch79]

EMGs don't make all guitars sound alike, they make all guitars sound like they have the same pickup. Big difference.

Some folks like a JB in maple, but not alder, and vice-versa. This disproves the notion that all guitars with a JB will sound like they have a JB.

With EMGs, you're getting more of the pickup preamp's tone than the guitar's tone.

Agreed, I have 3 King V's, all bolt ons, all have EMG-'81's, same body wood, strings, tuning, everything pretty much equal.
They all sound different, and I mean that in a good way, and I'm glad they do because I didn't want them to sound the same, I only wanted to take advantage of the 'EMG sound'.

In my experience I can say that passives all have their own voice also. It's not neccesarily the guitars sounding the same, but the magnets and the natural tone of the pickup that makes the sound, or creates the tone.

I've heard people say this stuff before about actives and passives, and you know what, a good percentage probably have never owned EMG's or DiMarzio's or what have you. They are like Monday morning quarterbacks or something along those lines.

[NextInLine]

Well the thing is just like any other pickup, when you have EMGs you need to work on your guitar tone to make it sound good enough. But with EMGs it can take a lot of time...

There are 4 active pups by EMG that are popular 60,81,85 & 89. The 60 and 89 are not really popular but the 81 and 85 are. And they are tonally different. And these 2 offer a wide range of tones IMO that's one of the reasons EMGs are so popular. If there were only the 81 or 85 they wouldn't be this succesful imo.

You need to try the 81 & 85 both to decide which one's characteristic you love more and then stick to it for a time. Some people think guitars sound weird with EMGs (dead tone or too compressed) Imo you need to give it a time to get used to it and work on your guitar tone. When your ears get used to it you can really decide for yourself if they work for you or not..

[Cuthbert]

Ok, I 've the EMGs on my RR1, seymour duncans alnico II pro and custom custom in my les paul, dimarzio virtual vintage in my strat, and bill lawrence L500 in my Rich Bich.

About the EMGs, they are substantially consistent with any guitar you use, while passive PUs seems to interact more with the whole instrument, while a guitar loaded with EMGs sounds...like a EMG powered guitar. This is my impression.

EMGs have many advantages, low noise, they are reliable in any situation, expecially on stage etc...but they give you just ONE sound, you love it, or you hate it, that's their philosophy. Personally I toyed for a certain period with the idea of putting a Steve Luthaker set in my soloist but then, I decided to keep the original jackson electronics.