EMG's Ibanez Versus Gibson - tone difference ?

[Skyweaver]

I've had an interesting conversation with the local guitar shop guy and he believes that emgs will sound the same in any guitar.....

I've got emgs in an Ibanez and now thinking of putting them into a gibson to see what the tone difference - anyone had experience ?

 

[K Odell]

For the most part they do sound the same, bc they dont react with the wood as much, but I have noticed little differences with guitars that have drastic wood differences. Like saying a guitar thats super light and one that is really heavy.

 

[6in6flames6]

I never thought wood made a difference with actives, but a schecter hellraiser and a loomis sound worlds apart

 

[JonWormwood]

Huge difference between my RR24 + 81 and an EC1000 + 81

 

[colonel kurtz]

the wood will still make a difference...possibly not as much as with a passive pickup, but an 81 in a mahogany guitar will sound worlds apart from an 81 in an alder/maple/poplar/whatever guitar

 

[Lazzari]

The wood does make a difference.. very small but they do... actually on my ibanez (Basswood body) i use an emg 85 in the bridge, and its really really good.. but on my friends les paul its really boffy.. i dont know.. its just not as good..

 

[Skyweaver]

thanks for the replies guys.....it seems even for emgs there is a difference

maybe the neck plays a part - the bolt on neck ? but I think there is a difference

I'm going see about a les paul custom with an emg 81 - I noticed that In flames used mainly gibsons and love the tone

 

[Ermz]

There will most certainly be a difference. I think the 81 will complement the mahogany tone of the LP more than most Ibanez guitars, which seem to inherently have a thin and bright sound.

 

[ex-250]

even more than from different woods, theyll sound different because of the different scale lengths. ibanez generally uses 25.5", whereas gibson scale is 24.75"

 

[JeffTD]

While they will sound more similar than a passive would in each axe, there will be a noticeable difference between the two.

 

[worthingtoni]

I would say it's a big difference. I've got EMG's at one Ibanez and the difference between that one and my ESP Eclipse is huge.

But this is of course if you compare a cheaper Ibanez to a Gibson. If you take an expensive Ibanez and compare it to a Gibson studio model, I would say it's the other way around. So it's all about the woods

 

[colonel kurtz]

it's all about the woods

that's what she said...

 

[cobrahead1030]

While they will sound more similar than a passive would in each axe, but there will be a noticeable difference between the two.

this

 

[GuitarHack]

......but an 81 in a mahogany guitar will sound worlds apart from an 81 in an alder/maple/poplar/whatever guitar

that

 

[Kazrog]

 

[NickL]

You guys all said this, but I figured I'd reinforce the fact that tonal differences between guitars can be very obvious... EMG or not. This is not an opinion, it's a fact.

 

[Metaltastic]

Seriously, where's the logic in even suggesting that actives smear the differences compared to the wood, or that passives "react with the wood" more? (no offense, Kyle!) It just makes no sense to me where this notion came about (and it's been covered A LOT), if anything, since actives are more revealing and detailed, logic would suggest to me that they would accentuate the tone of the wood even more...

Plus, on a less theoretical level, having owned 3 guitars with the same EMG's (at one point or another) in the bridge of each, I can DEFINITELY say the differences were not subtle between each one.

 

[K Odell]

in MY experience it has never been as noticeable as with passives unless the differences in the woods were drastic. Just my personaly experiences. I also prefer passives to actives. Also ya gotta think all I play are strat bodied guitars like my Jackson. So yeah just my personal experiences.

 

[Metaltastic]

Well truthfully, I really don't have much experience with passives cuz all I've used recently are EMG's, which I'd say makes me qualified to say that they don't make all guitars sound similar, but admittedly not to say whether passives have more of impact. It just doesn't make sense to me theoretically, though...

 

[LSD-Studio]

damn there are still people who think it doesn't make a difference?
HORSESHIT!

the wood is as important as in any other guitar.

I've got like 12 different high-quality guitars equipped with EMG, they all sound different (even though some of them have the same types of wood, for example alder body and bolt on maple neck)....


when will this misinformation (wood doesn't matter with EMG) stop? it's as stupid as "5150 sounds better than 6505"