Duncans VS EMGs shootout!

NickL

NickL

I'm not here.
Jan 31, 2007
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Illinois
Ok, I figured some of you guys would like this so I went ahead and did it. While in the quest for perfection out of my new standard series Eclipse I tested both an EMG 81/60 configuration and a Duncan JB/Jazz configuration. I also used my old ltd viper with the same Duncans in it to show the massive difference in sound quality. Unfortunately soundclick has a shitty sounding mp3 player and I refuse to pay to host WAV files but the bulk of the results is here.

For The clean tones I just took a direct signal from the neck pickups with the tone rolled down to about 6. I also added a bit of reverb in the box.

For all dirty tones I used the 5150 red channel with the gain at 4, mids at 3, treble at 5, bass at 6, resonance at 7, and presence at 9.


Here we go. Forgive the total shit playing.

ESP Eclipse Duncan JB Dirty
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6930560

ESP Eclipse Duncan Jazz Clean
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6930559

ESP Eclipse EMG 81 Dirty
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6930555

ESP Eclipse EMG 60 Clean
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6930551

LTD Viper Duncan JB Dirty
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6930547

LTD Viper Duncan Jazz Clean
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6930532

I'll refrain from posting my personal opinion as I encourage everyone to think for themselves. What do you guys think?

Edit: Added faux stereo versions of the dirty tones

duncans stereo
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6930608

EMGs stereo
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6930609
 
On first impressions, it sounds like the 81 obliterates the JB for high-gain. Having listened a few more times, it's almost a given that the 81 is more articulate and tighter in the lows, along with a more biting presence range, and of course extra saturation, but the JB has a certain lower midrange growl, that with some extra gain, could hold its own. I think the JB sounds more 'Opeth' out of the two.

The 60 sounds cleaner and more articulate than the Jazz on the clean stuff (suppose more headroom would do that), but the Jazz has a certain midrange shift/fullness with extra texture (I believe they call it harmonic distortion), which is exactly akin to my experiences with EMGs vs SD Jazz in the past. The Jazz would benefit from having the tone knob a bit higher I think... too much roll-off.

Thanks for the shootout! Always good to hear one's own experiences illuminated once again.
 
Putting a tubescreamer after the JB and boosting the gain a bit helps a lot nd tightens the lows up but I was going for a more natural sort of thing here so theres no screamer on anything.
 
To be honest I reckon if you dialled in the amp a little differently then the JB would be able to get pretty similar to the 60, though I know you want to keep the settings the same for comparisons sake. At the moment it sounds like the amps been dialled in specifically for the 60, hence the jb coming across as less clear, and as said the JB could benefit from a tubescreamer.

I'll agree with Moonlapse that the Jazz could do with the tone going up a bit as its a fairly dark pickup, one of my favourites for cleans though.

Cheers for the clips :)
 
I've been using EMG's now for a looooooooooong time. First pair I got was in 88 into a Les Paul. I still have the guitar and the pickups are still in it. They were the ones with the wires hardwired into the pickup, no clip on multi pin thingy.
I have a bunch of guitars with 81/85 sets in them.
About 3 years ago I bought a Washburn X50 pro (no not the one wth the stupid lookin X in the middle of it :Puke:). Its got an SD custom in the bridge and a classic JB in the neck. Since I've had it I play that guitar the most. I love the sound of the SD's. They are much more organic and defined than the EMG's IMO. They clean up nicely even with lots of gain going on. For cleans they piss all over the EMG's.
I've got a pair of LP Custom replicas (a Burny and a Tokai) loaded with EMG's, I'm seriously thinking of putting SD's in instead.
 
Metaltastic said:
...? Might wanna reconsider your word choice dude, I find it hard to believe passives could be more defined than EMG's, the standard-setter for definition and precision (for better or worse)
Click to expand...

Nope, not really. I been using EMG pickups for 20 years. I find the SD pickups less muddy, single note riffs are more alive and the notes are clearer. Full chords sound much better, you can hear all the notes. Leads sound better, more dynamics and less compressed, and frankly I've always hated EMG's for clean. I've tried the coil tapping 89, it was shite.
I disagree that they are the standard setter for deffinition and clarity. They are great pickups, one of the best metal pickups ever.
Tim who makes the Bare Knuckle pickups had some lessons here a few weeks ago, he rbought some guitars loaded with some of his pickups. They pissed on the EMG's for tone.
He's gonna make me a couple of sets up, can't wait to get them in.
Come to think of it, not one of my favourite guitarists uses EMG's, bar one.
 
I don't even need to listen to the samples, I know exactly what the different pickups sound like.

The SD's cannot do what the EMG's do and the EMG's cannot do what the SD's do. It's all down to personal tone preference.
I know I'm going against convention around here, but I'd take the SD's over the EMG's any day of the week. The midrange has the right kind of character, and the low end is fat where I want it to be. I just think passive pickups sound more interesting, richer or something like that which is just hard to define.

EMG's are great for some stuff but can't get close to the sounds that I want.
 
006 said:
:hypno::erk::goggly::zombie:

This whole ordeal brings me to wish for yet another example where a blind test would really be fun to watch.

~006
Click to expand...

Well, I've got four sets of 81/85 EMG's that I'm going to blindly remove from the guitars they are in, and blindly replace them with either SD's or Bare Knuckles. But come on, give me a chance, I've only been using them for 20 years, done hundreds of gigs with them, spent thousands of hours playing, practicing, recording and teaching with them, so what would I know :heh:
 
siegfried said:
Like what? I´m totally unexperienced in pickups, thanks...
Click to expand...

Like maximum gain metal.
They're tight and clear, and can be really smooth sounding. Turn it way up and the EMG's stay pretty clear and still have a pronounced attack, the low end stays really focused. If that's about all you need to know - you might love the EMG's.

With a nice passive like an SD Custom or something like that, I think they have a sweeter sounding midrange (which I think is way more apparent with a singing lead guitar sound rather than a crunching rhythm) and while the low end may be mushier, there is more of it there, at least in the right spot for my ears. You have to dial the amp in differently to take proper advantage of either pickup, that is a given.
 
I just listened to the clips, and I could go either way with the clean sound, but I prefer the JB dirty sound by a mile, it sounds so much fuller to me.
It also doesn't have that hyper-compressed palm mute sound (which I think is what alot of guys here are actually after), so if you're on the fence just contrast the two clips and see which tone you prefer and what you think it would be good for.
 
Metalhead28 said:
I just listened to the clips, and I could go either way with the clean sound, but I prefer the JB dirty sound by a mile, it sounds so much fuller to me.
It also doesn't have that hyper-compressed palm mute sound (which I think is what alot of guys here are actually after), so if you're on the fence just contrast the two clips and see which tone you prefer and what you think it would be good for.
Click to expand...
That's exactly what I was trying to accomplish by doing this, help out people on the fence because Duncan passives and EMGs seem to be the most popular metal pups right now by a mile.
 
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