EMG 81 vs Seymour Duncan JB

jhrv

Member
Mar 27, 2007
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What do you think?. I have a JB and i'm happy with it, but now i'm curious about the EMG.
 
I had my Charvel equipped with EMG 81/85s for decades and really liked the defined and tight sound for extreme metal. Now I got a bit older and missed some tone, feel and low mid punch for that not-so-scooped metal sound. I bought a JB/59 pair and I am totally happy with them. I'll never go back to my EMGs, which BTW sucked big time in the neck position (both 89 and 85s, OK the 89 was OK in coil-split mode) because they are muddy, undefined and boomy as hell.
 
I recently went from a Schecter Hellraiser to Schecter Classic (81 to JB) and from my experience and taste the JB is much better. I prefer the tone and feel hugely, for me the 81 only took away from the sound. This is most likely to be my playing though.
 
I prefer the JB because it has a high output, but is not nearly as one-dimensional as the EMG. I play a lot of non-metal stuff and I find that the JB is more toneful and can cover more musical ground than the EMGs.