I think I now know what EMGs are for. Again.

[JiveTurkey]

Spoiler

Drop B is DEATH. It took me a bit of acclimation to dig them compared to my DActivators. I am keeping my baby, though Brutal AF \m/

I don't like the loop of my MkV though with them. Or it doesn't like the Boss buffer? Engaging the loop is a fairly big tonesuck buzzkill. I don't notice it with the DiMarzios?

I am coming back around to EMGs though. MUCH better with some volume

 

[DrewJD82]

The only time I've been able to enjoy them is when I'm playing into the Plexi with the Hot Mod engaged, that's when I realized why they were so popular in the 80's. The way I dial in high gain amps, I'd have to drop the treble/presence considerably to work just with the EMG's, which is fine in a modeler with a zillion presets but with amps I want some common ground between the different guitars/pickups.

Certainly glad it's working out for ya, though!!! It's funny how dropping down to a lower-than-usual tuning can bring out some fun. I'm in drop C most the time for metal but just going half step down I feel like I can just bang out caveman riffs all day long.

 

[MTB1973]

My Jim Root tele reignited my love for EMGs.

 

[Mikael Dez]

Spoiler

Drop B is DEATH. It took me a bit of acclimation to dig them compared to my DActivators. I am keeping my baby, though Brutal AF \m/

I don't like the loop of my MkV though with them. Or it doesn't like the Boss buffer? Engaging the loop is a fairly big tonesuck buzzkill. I don't notice it with the DiMarzios?

I am coming back around to EMGs though. MUCH better with some volume

Death as in bad death or death as in Death ?

 

[JiveTurkey]

My Jim Root tele reignited my love for EMGs.

I miss my Jim Root tele!

Death as in bad death or death as in Death ?

Death as in metal af

 

[gearJunkie]

I'd have to drop the treble/presence considerably to work just with the EMG's

I love the 89s and the SA in my Steinberger. I've never had an issue dialing in with the EMGs, primarily because the GM7TA has active low and hi cut and boost with concentric controls.

 

[Chocol8]

They are great for being replaced and sent to landfills?

 

[JiveTurkey]

They are great for being replaced and sent to landfills?

At low volumes; I would generally agree with you. Quiet, compressed and lifeless until you get some volume behind them. Cranking them through some high gain (because duh!) did quite a bit to reset my feelings on them. In a band situation; they'll be fine

 

[deathbyguitar]

Drop B is DEATH.

I've always felt like B Minor is the most deathy and bleak sounding key there is.

 

[Chocol8]

they'll be fine

LOL, this is the most truly enthusiastic endorsement of pickups I have read all morning!

 

[JiveTurkey]

LOL, this is the most truly enthusiastic endorsement of pickups I have read all morning!

Excellent way to ignore Satan!

 

[DrewJD82]

I love the 89s and the SA in my Steinberger. I've never had an issue dialing in with the EMGs, primarily because the GM7TA has active low and hi cut and boost with concentric controls.

I love the SA’s in my Gilmour Strat, I’m just no longer able to flip flop between “Do I like these?” and “Oh yeah, now I remember why I like EMG’s……for the next 10 minutes”

 

[JiveTurkey]

Speaking of faint praise; the idea really was to get enough volume going that I could pivot the $300~ replacement pickup set money moved back over to another cabinet funding pile. I'm going to keep playing loud enough to make that dream happen

 

[deathbyguitar]

This thread reminded me of something I've been pondering lately.

Do you think active pickups are still useful in 2025? I've always read that they're good for reducing feedback and of course they sound super extreme and tighten up flubby amps...but that feels kinda unnecessary/redundant in the age of silent stages and digital amps that are super tight as is.

 

[JiveTurkey]

For me; I don't like Fishmans. And I actually don't necessarily like EMGs but am just tricking myself for now The idea I had in my head of "oh I can avoid using a boost" is complete nonsense as I ended up still digging boosting the Mark fam last night I don't think they are useless so much as I think I am still the biggest fan of passive pickups.

 

[Mikael Dez]

For me; I don't like Fishmans. And I actually don't necessarily like EMGs but am just tricking myself for now The idea I had in my head of "oh I can avoid using a boost" is complete nonsense as I ended up still digging boosting the Mark fam last night I don't think they are useless so much as I think I am still the biggest fan of passive pickups.

I pretty much always have a boost on haha

 

[deathbyguitar]

For me; I don't like Fishmans. And I actually don't necessarily like EMGs but am just tricking myself for now The idea I had in my head of "oh I can avoid using a boost" is complete nonsense as I ended up still digging boosting the Mark fam last night I don't think they are useless so much as I think I am still the biggest fan of passive pickups.

I think lower output pickups are where it's at. They can be mega tight but also super brutal if you crank up the amp gain a bit more than with a high output design. If PRS would make an HFS that was like 10% quieter and I'd die happy. The idea behind higher output pickups seems to be from an era where amps weren't super gainy or saturated already but now those kinds of amps are everywhere. Then again EMGs have such a specific sound with that resonant peak and the brutal, cold sounding distortion tone. To each their own.

 

[MTB1973]

I wouldn’t want them in all of my guitars, but there is something so addictive about drop tune chugging with an EMG.

 

[laxu]

Do you think active pickups are still useful in 2025? I've always read that they're good for reducing feedback and of course they sound super extreme and tighten up flubby amps...but that feels kinda unnecessary/redundant in the age of silent stages and digital amps that are super tight as is.

Let's look at the benefits:

• Lower noise. Nice to have, but not that big a difference.
• Low output impedance. Cable length would not matter. Nice to have.
• High output. Pretty unnecessary when we have so many high gain amps, pedals and whatnot. "Not enough gain" is so easy to solve in so many ways.

The main drawback is the battery. It's not that big a deal as long as you remember to unplug your guitar and tends to last long. I can't remember when I last changed the battery on my LP copy with Mastertone active pickups.

Active pickups made a lot more sense back when amps had less gain, or the high gainers were very expensive boutique amps and the options for overdrives were far more limtied.

I feel like they mainly persevere as defacto metal pickups nowadays.

It's been a while since I've played EMGs, but I liked what I got out of the EMG Bone Breakers in the ESP/LTD KH-V when I tried one in a store. I have that model coming in next week so can re-evaluate.

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

The main drawback is the battery.

I love that our bass guitar has a switch and works without battery as well. Sounds OK in passive mode to me. Guess that’s harder to achieve with passives on electrics since there are more differences in the pickups and the bass mainly is ”active” because of the preamp.

I always run my Strandberg in ”passive” mode with or without a boost. Really don’t like the standard voicing of Fluence Moderns in that guitar.