Pickups

[migreeni]

Which are your favourite and why? Active and passive. I've got the EMG's 81/85 on my Hellraiser and it rips monkey asses apart!

What do you think of X2N and Dimebucker? I let my Dime go when I sold my old guitar...

 

[JBroll]

I'm enjoying the 6-string D Activator Bridge right now, haven't tried the 7 set but I like the 6. Very articulate and clear, not harsh or artificial-sounding. My 7 has the JB/59 set and I can't complain about that one either.

I'd like to try the Blackouts when the standard-sized 7-string pickups come out.

Jeff

 

[Kazrog]

EMG 85 in the bridge. EMG 89 in the neck.

On 7 strings, nothing beats 707s.

Tried the Seymour Blackouts recently, they're OK but I still prefer EMG.

 

[greyskull]

i like seymour JB's
tried hot rails n my tele, but they've got waaaaay too much output and are pretty muddy

 

[djairouks]

I have handmade from kent armstrong
which are unbeatable by any active
pickups I had EMG's 81 before and those
where just adding so much bass to the sound
that in fact it just wasn't as precise as it
is with passive pickups without changing
my amp settings or anything but the
pickups I noticed a big improvement in
sound if you want those pickups you should
ask me they are made for a luthier buddy
in switzerland only he can sell them

 

[Metaltastic]

Ack...urgh....PUNCTUATION...grunt

That being said, however, I've heard a lot of complaints about 81's, but adding too much bass is definitely a new one

 

[djairouks]

sorry for punctuation !

It's my experience many people think the sound of the 81's is fatter
and more angry but for me very good passive pickups give you added
clarity and focus of the notes.
When I recorded once with my 81's, the sound was heavy but we had
to cut a lot on the lows or the bass was just of no use and it took
some work to achieve a great palm muting very focused.

With the passive I prefer to add brutality with some gear or work than
to have to limit frequencies responces and the gate is also easier to
work with if you want to see here's a link to my luthiers page check
about his work specially the 8 strings he's doing best guitars and pickups
I ever had to try http://www.myspace.com/hufschmidguitars

I hope my punctuation is better ^^

 

[Jackal_Strain]

Uhm... no. It's just as bad as before. But I understood what you meant to say, even though I disagreee with you.

 

[beyond dead]

dimarzio tone zones are great pickups for seven strings. i would have to say jb59`s are always a good bet aswell.

 

[Jaymz]

I cant stand my 7 string SD's

 

[JeffTD]

Was using Blackouts for a while - honeymoon period ran out. 85/81 for me, grabbing an 81/60 set for my other axe ASAP, for variety.

 

[AmirH]

Seymour Jazz bridge and Jazz neck in main gat, 81/85 in the other so I can have that emg sound on tap. The jazz's are some of the clearest most versatile pickups I've ever used though- love em.

I've dug the jb and the fullshred before as well but both have issues I can't jive with long term. Jb is too loose in the lows, fullshred is too nasal in the highs. I liked a dimarzio paf pro I had in the neck of a cheapo schecter for a bit. Sold the gat but kept the pickup for later.

 

[Ericlingus]

how does the emg 89 sound? From what I gather it can be coil tapped? That's exactly the kind of active pickup i'm looking for a neck pickup.

 

[guitarguru1969]

The 89 isn't a true coil tap but it can be used to simulate a single coil sound. I have a guitar that I built in "91 that I used the 89 for a bridge and two SA single coil pickups in the middle and neck position. The 89 does a pretty good job at replicating a single coil with the pot pulled up, but for single coil if I have to use them I preffer a regular EMG SA. The problem I ran into is balancing the volume difference with the single coils as opposed to using the humbucker, but that goes true for any guitar with this combination, (H.S.S.). I would be real currious to hear how this pickup would work for a neck pickup? If you follow through on that let us know please. I bet that if you use this in the neck it would sound pretty sweet with a EMG bridge pickup on as well. Come to think of it I just might pull the pickup off the guitar it's on and try it in the neck position of one of my other guitars to see what it's like. Thanks for the project i'll be doing this weekend Ericlingus!

 

[doc_backmask]

I would be real currious to hear how this pickup would work for a neck pickup? If you follow through on that let us know please. I bet that if you use this in the neck it would sound pretty sweet with a EMG bridge pickup on as well.

See Kazrog's post above. He has the 85b/89n combo. Sounds damn awesome, too. The rhythm gits on our album were tracked with the 85, but some of the solos were tracked with the 89 (of course, only talking about the 6-string songs).

Go here to hear a sample. You'll have to click forward one song on the player to "Thought Experiment".

Cheers.

 

[Racerdeth]

In both my main guitars I use an evo bridge and air norton neck, I like them loads, but I'm starting to get the hankering for one of my other guitars to get the EMG treatment as that sound I didn't originally like I'm starting to get the taste for after listening to loads of you guys' and many modern metal artists' recordings having wicked sounds coming from them that use said pickups.

 

[guitarguru1969]

Thank you Doc! That track sounds great. I was wondering what type of body wood that guitar with the EMG 85-89 combo has. I realy like the tone of the 85 in the bridge position. I fell in love with that tone by experimenting with an old Kramer Baretta with a solid maple body and ended up with the 85 in the bridge and loved the combo of maple and 85. I first tried a Seymour Duncan EVH custom shop and it was too mid balanced. Then I tried a EMG 81 and it was too bitey on the treble end and had no bottom to it. Then I tried the 85 and it was just right. Sounds like the three little bears huh? Long story short I now use Soloist bodies with two EMG 85's in them and am thinking my next body will have an 85 bridge and an 89 in the neck. Thanks again for the heads up!

 

[JBroll]

dimarzio tone zones are great pickups for seven strings. i would have to say jb59`s are always a good bet aswell.

I'm going to go ahead and completely disagree - unless you've a guitar made of maple, ebony, or stainless steel, it's going to just be woof and mud. DS7s, though, are an entirely different story - especially if you feel like putting an Alnico 5 in place of the ceramic magnet.

Jeff

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah, I absolutely loathed the tone zone I had in my neck-thru Ibanez tuned to C-standard, and now I have an 85, so I'm happy