The EMG 89

[006]

The way you dudes describe it as being a tighter, more controllable 85 REALLY makes it sound like something I'd adore.

I want to sell the 85 in my Explorer to get an 89 for the bridge I have loved the one in my Strat from the start. Great, great pickup.

 

[Ribbon]

89 or 89R? Which one is tighter?

 

[Josh Burgess]

I would, as there are times when I need exactly that. If I could get that bell-like single coil sound in the bridge, in addition to a good humbucking tone, that would be excellent and more than I hoped for in the first place, really.

Single coils don't sound very bell-like in the bridge to me... just have that mid-rangey harsh bridge sound. nice in the middle or neck though... or if bridge+neck at the same time.

89 or 89R? Which one is tighter?

They are the same pickup. The 89R just has the logo flipped the other way. The R stands for reversed.

 

[Ribbon]

Single coils don't sound very bell-like in the bridge to me... just have that mid-rangey harsh bridge sound. nice in the middle or neck though... or if bridge+neck at the same time.

I said 'bell like' because single coils are inherently 'bell like'. At least, most of them are - the single coil in my Ibanez does a pretty good job of being nothing like a single coil 'should' be. I digress - yeah, they'll sound more like a bell in the neck position, but I'm not looking for a bell-like tone per se, I'm just looking for that 'true' single coil sound. I actually want to run it under distortion - yes, in the bridge - precisely because of that biting harsh growl -- so no intent for emulating bells here, you know?

They are the same pickup. The 89R just has the logo flipped the other way. The R stands for reversed.

Here's a bit of a can I gotta open here - just to make sure I understand this. I always thought the 89 is simply a normal, dual coil humbucker, but with two preamps built in - one for humbucking mode, the other for single coil mode, making it 'two pickups in one'. However I read, from multiple sources, that it's actually literally two pickups - as in, a total of three coils. This is just completely bizarre in my eyes, and I'm assuming it's not true. I mean, I'm right to assume that, am I not?

Anyway, I know what R stands for. In the R model, the coil dedicated for single operation is closer to the neck. If both coils are actually identical, this means there is no difference in humbucking tone between 89 and the 89R. However, if there is a difference between the two coils (Dimarzio likes to call this 'dual resonance'), there will of course be a difference depending on which side the pickup is facing.

That's the question I was supposed to ask - is there an actual difference between the coils? If not, it's just kind of funny to me that there's a different model just because the logo is flipped. Unnecessary confusion over something I'd rather not have on the pickup in the first place as I probably won't be endorsed by EMG any time soon. Heh, this reminds me of one of my friends who decided to be 'ironic' about it, so he slapped one of those big pickup sized EMG stickers on his 707.

 

[Rex Rocker]

I want to sell the 85 in my Explorer to get an 89 for the bridge I have loved the one in my Strat from the start. Great, great pickup.

I'm thinking about replacing the neck pickup in my Ibanez from an 81 to a 60A. I don't dislike the 85 in the bridge AT ALL, but I might as well order an 89 just to give it a try.

89 or 89R? Which one is tighter?

About that...

I don't know if having the single coil position switched would affect the tone as a humbucker, but the humbucker section should be in the same postion for both the 89 and 89R.

This is what the pickups looks like on the inside, according to its installation manual:

 

[Josh Burgess]

I said 'bell like' because single coils are inherently 'bell like'. At least, most of them are - the single coil in my Ibanez does a pretty good job of being nothing like a single coil 'should' be. I digress - yeah, they'll sound more like a bell in the neck position, but I'm not looking for a bell-like tone per se, I'm just looking for that 'true' single coil sound. I actually want to run it under distortion - yes, in the bridge - precisely because of that biting harsh growl -- so no intent for emulating bells here, you know?



Here's a bit of a can I gotta open here - just to make sure I understand this. I always thought the 89 is simply a normal, dual coil humbucker, but with two preamps built in - one for humbucking mode, the other for single coil mode, making it 'two pickups in one'. However I read, from multiple sources, that it's actually literally two pickups - as in, a total of three coils. This is just completely bizarre in my eyes, and I'm assuming it's not true. I mean, I'm right to assume that, am I not?

Anyway, I know what R stands for. In the R model, the coil dedicated for single operation is closer to the neck. If both coils are actually identical, this means there is no difference in humbucking tone between 89 and the 89R. However, if there is a difference between the two coils (Dimarzio likes to call this 'dual resonance'), there will of course be a difference depending on which side the pickup is facing.

That's the question I was supposed to ask - is there an actual difference between the coils? If not, it's just kind of funny to me that there's a different model just because the logo is flipped. Unnecessary confusion over something I'd rather not have on the pickup in the first place as I probably won't be endorsed by EMG any time soon. Heh, this reminds me of one of my friends who decided to be 'ironic' about it, so he slapped one of those big pickup sized EMG stickers on his 707.

I'm not sure, but the 89 and 89R are the same pickup. If you put the 89 in facing the other direction, it'd be the same as the 89R. The only difference is that the EMG logo on the casing would be upside down on the 89.

 

[Ribbon]

I'm thinking about replacing the neck pickup in my Ibanez from an 81 to a 60A. I don't dislike the 85 in the bridge AT ALL, but I might as well order an 89 just to give it a try.


About that...

I don't know if having the single coil position switched would affect the tone as a humbucker, but the humbucker section should be in the same postion for both the 89 and 89R.

This is what the pickups looks like on the inside, according to its installation manual:

Ohhhhh -- so that's how it works. The single coil mode is stacked. That explains all the 'three actual coils' talk.

I'm just going to assume that if there's any 'dual resonance' going on here, it's between the two stacked coils, not the two surface coils. I think EMG would mention it otherwise.

 

[Rex Rocker]

I'm not sure, man... I remember asking the question about the difference in tone from the 89 and 89R in humbucker mode at the EMG forum, and got this reply from the moderator:

So I'm guessing then the tone in humbucker mode will vary slightly from the 89 and 89R like single coil tone does because of the different position the humbucker section would be in?

Yes, the position will certainly impact the tone.

http://forum.emgpickups.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2381

I don't really know if he misunderstood the question and thought I was refering to single coil mode only, tho....

 

[Ribbon]

I'm not sure, man... I remember asking the question about the difference in tone from the 89 and 89R in humbucker mode at the EMG forum, and got this reply from the moderator:





http://forum.emgpickups.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2381

I don't really know if he misunderstood the question and thought I was refering to single coil mode only, tho....

He's speaking about it in such a matter-of-factly manner but not explaining why that would be the case. So yeah, I'm almost entirely sure he misunderstood you, otherwise he'd point out that there's a difference between surface coils.