Which EMGs for cleans?

[Rogueleader]

So I've discovered after a recent pickup swap that I really like EMGs for my high gain rhythm and lead sounds. So I'm pretty much planning on outfitting all my guitars with them at this point. What are good models for cleans (both humbucker and singlecoil?) in your experience?

 

[Rogueleader]

I have a 60 in the neck of my eclipse, great pickup.

I'm super intrested in the 60, any comparisons to the 89? Those are the two I'm most interested in.

As far as single coils the SAs seem like shoe ins.

 

[guitarguru777]

60's or SA's totally kill it.

 

[JeffTD]

I love the S and SA, hate the 85/89 in the neck, and am not suuuper fond of the 60 under gain, so the 81 or 81TW is always my choice.

 

[narcossintese]

It depends of your guitar.

 

[Rogueleader]

I love the S and SA, hate the 85/89 in the neck, and am not suuuper fond of the 60 under gain, so the 81 or 81TW is always my choice.

81 for cleans? Seems like most people hate that?

Also, which pickup is the S (or SA) in a humbucker housing?

 

[Rogueleader]

I love the S and SA, hate the 85/89 in the neck, and am not suuuper fond of the 60 under gain, so the 81 or 81TW is always my choice.

Double Post

 

[Rogueleader]

It depends of your guitar.

I have quite a few I'm looking to outfit, and since EMG has fewer pickup options than most other pickups companys I figured I'm just better off asking in general.

 

[JeffTD]

81 for cleans? Seems like most people hate that?

Also, which pickup is the S (or SA) in a humbucker housing?

Yeah tbh it's not bad - especially DI'd and compressed a lot, for layers over distortion and whatnot. The 81TW is better than the 81 in this aspect, but the 81 still isn't terrible. It's at least not super super hot like the 85/89!

H should be the S, HA should be the SA. 81TW has something very very similar to an S in it, and the 89 has something very similar to an SA in it.

I'd go for the 81TW, just so you'd get the humbucker cleans from the 81 and the nice, bell-like cleans from the S.

 

[Mago]

Don't like the 81 in the neck personally, never tried the 60 or the 81tw in there though.
I like the 85/89 in the neck

 

[narcossintese]

I have quite a few I'm looking to outfit, and since EMG has fewer pickup options than most other pickups companys I figured I'm just better off asking in general.

It´s because the type of the wood makes a world of difference on what pickup you should choose. For example, I have a basswood guitar with 85 on the bridge and 81 on the neck. When I first bought them, I placed them like Zakk Wyldde (81 on the bridge and 85 on the neck, but he uses mahogany guitars). The 81 became piercing and thin and the 85 was so muddy that it was useless for anything but very slow single notes fingering. I swaped them and the problem was solved.

I could say that an 85 on a basswood guitar sounds much more like an 81 on a mahogany guitar than a 81 would. The brightness of the guitar wood should dictate what pickup you should choose.

 

[greyskull]

none of them.
Hate the EMG 'clean' sound. Some love it.. but it ain't to my taste.
sucks balls.

 

[Mattayus]

Here's a clip of my 60-7 in my 7 string (clean first, then some lead)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4128689/60-7.mp3

It's got that jangly single coil vibe to it. With any EMG's though always roll the volume on your guitar back a tiiiiny bit, just to stop it peaking/distorting. It gets a little hairy if you don't.

 

[Rex Rocker]

I've only tried the 85, 81, and 60 in the neck.

For cleans, my favorite is the 60 because it's bright and very defined. It's got kind of a more vintage-y feel than the 81. It can get almost single-coil-y in some situations, which I think is favorable if you dig bright, bell-like cleans. It's still got the power and punch of a humbucker.

I don't dislike it for leads, personally, but I must say I dig the 81 for leads better. Not that the 60 is bad, tho. It's just that the single-coil-y part can be a two-edged thing if you're not into that.

The 81 isn't particularly good for cleans, but I didn't quite hate it either. At least it's bright and tight too, like the 60. I find it to be a bit to dry and just overall meh-sounding compared to the 60 for cleans.

I dislike the 85 in the neck for both cleans and leads myself. I find it's too dark and smooth for me, especially when you put it in an already dark and smooth position.

 

[Josh Burgess]

none of them.
Hate the EMG 'clean' sound. Some love it.. but it ain't to my taste.
sucks balls.

More often than not, but definitely not always. I love the EMG single coil sound you hear from people like Cynic, David Gilmour, etc.

For my tastes, the best clean sound you can get with EMGs would be by using single coils. I don't really dig the 60/60-7 sound... It doesn't sound like a single coil to me... just like a brighter humbucker with a kind of weird 80s voicing I don't particularly like too much.

The 85/707 in the neck can be okay for cleans, but not great... too hot, not bright enough. I sometimes use the middle position (on a guitar with 707s in bridge and neck) to get a brighter sound and just keep the volume knob halfway down to tame the output. It's not ideal, but it's workable...

The 81/81-7 in the neck seems like it'd have too much output like the 85/707, except more cold and crunchy sounding due to it being ceramic... I don't really think I'd like that, but I can't say for sure. The 81TW probably sounds great in the neck in single coil mode though.

I say 89 or 707TW in the neck position... use humbucker mode for leads and single coil mode for cleans. Not sure how much Sneap digs playing with clean tones, but he is quoted on the EMG website saying the 81TW bridge/89 neck combination is his favorite because of versatility (both humbucker and single coil options in each position).

I'd have to agree. I'm digging the 81-7 bridge/707TW neck combination right now.... which is as close as you can get on a 7 string, because there is no 81-7TW at the moment... My guitar only has a single volume knob (no tone knob) though, so I can only have a push-pull pot for one pickup anyways.

I believe James Murphy also uses the 89 in the neck, although he uses the 85 in bridge instead of the 81.

 

[RiF]

I like my 89 in single coil mode on the neck. 85 or 89 in humbucker mode didn't work well, too muddy and undefined. Don't expect a lot of character, though.
A problem (or feature, it depends) is that the output drops significantly when I switch to single coil mode. But this can be good for cleans, because the EMGs would overdrive the clean channels of my amps if it didn't.

 

[Mago]

More often than not, but definitely not always. I love the EMG single coil sound you hear from people like Cynic, David Gilmour, etc.

For my tastes, the best clean sound you can get with EMGs would be by using single coils. I don't really dig the 60/60-7 sound... It doesn't sound like a single coil to me... just like a brighter humbucker with a kind of weird 80s voicing I don't particularly like too much.

The 85/707 in the neck can be okay for cleans, but not great... too hot, not bright enough. I sometimes use the middle position (on a guitar with 707s in bridge and neck) to get a brighter sound and just keep the volume knob halfway down to tame the output. It's not ideal, but it's workable...

The 81/81-7 in the neck seems like it'd have too much output like the 85/707, except more cold and crunchy sounding due to it being ceramic... I don't really think I'd like that, but I can't say for sure. The 81TW probably sounds great in the neck in single coil mode though.

I say 89 or 707TW in the neck position... use humbucker mode for leads and single coil mode for cleans. Not sure how much Sneap digs playing with clean tones, but he is quoted on the EMG website saying the 81TW bridge/89 neck combination is his favorite because of versatility (both humbucker and single coil options in each position).

I'd have to agree. I'm digging the 81-7 bridge/707TW neck combination right now.... which is as close as you can get on a 7 string, because there is no 81-7TW at the moment... My guitar only has a single volume knob (no tone knob) though, so I can only have a push-pull pot for one pickup anyways.

I believe James Murphy also uses the 89 in the neck, although he uses the 85 in bridge instead of the 81.

talking about versatility: I have 81-tw bridge / 89 neck in my epiphone les paul custom, with seperate tone, volume and split function for each pickup.
still I ended up using the 89 in split mode most of the time, but the possibilties are endless, considering that I can blend the pickups in volume seperatetly

 

[mburton21]

I enjoy using either an 85 or blackout in the bridge, and an 81 or Blackout in the neck. Sick tones.

That is for live however, when recording I find an 81 to be my personal favourite in the bridge, no contest. I thought it sounded thin at first, but it really helped clear up a lot of mud issues I was having and left tons of room for the bass to breathe in comparison to using an 85 or a Blackout in it's place.

Live though, definitely 85 or blackout in the bridge, 81/blackout in the neck... IMO

 

[Rogueleader]

Thanks for all the help everyone! Lots of good info here.

The three guitars I'm outfitting are:

80s Jackson Ontario Soloist 81x bridge (already in),SA middle and neck (I was thinking of gettint one S and one SA so I could see which one I would like better in each position, but I'm pretty confident I'll prefer the SA for both)

Jackson AT Pro 81x bridge,85x bridge

Jackson SLSMG 81x bridge,89 neck (no 89x, is it inadvisable to pair an x series with a non x series?)

80s custom is a poplar body with a maple neck and a rosewood fretboard and the AT and SLSMG are both Mahogany neck/body with ebony fretboards.

Obviously, I can also switch the 89 or the 85 into the bridge whenever I desire. The EMG wiring is awesome like that. As far as I am concerned that is another huge plus for EMGs. And of course I decide to switch (mainly) to EMGs after I spend $140 on a soldering iron for pickup installations

 

[JeffTD]

^^There is an 89X. Not sure if it's shipping yet, but it's on the site!

Note that if you have an 81/89 or an 81tw/85 type setup, where only one pickup is splittable, you can't switch them without re-wiring; the pin layout is completely different, with the splittable pickups having a 7 pin connector, since it's 2 pickups in one.