Is it me or do ALL EMG pickups suck?

Bob Zaod

Bob Zaod

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I remember having the 81/85 combination in a Jackson I had years ago and hated the way it sounded. Fast forward years later and I have a C-1 Elite Schecter with EMG 57/66 set and they suck too just in a different way. All of them to me are sterile sounding/feeling.
 
I thought that way for a long time but am realizing now it had more to do with what I was playing them through at the time. A Digitech 2101 isn’t the best platform for getting an idea of how pickups sound. :rofl (Yes, I know there are plenty of great sounds you can get from them, but they aren’t exactly the benchmark of tone creation devices in comparison to what we have today)

I LOVE the Gilmour set and the pinch harmonics coming out of my apartment indicate someone very happy with an 81/85 set! And my Spector slaps like a pimp hand because dem EMG‘s.

That said, I can definitely see how some don’t dig ‘em. I love the clarity in them, which I’m sure others hear as them being sterile. The song I’m doing for this week’s challenge; I was trying to play it with the JB in the bridge of my Edwards and was killing myself because it was just too muddy on the low end, I put those EMG’s in at on Saturday and immediately was able to hear the 16th’s on the low E string, tight and clear at a higher tempo. That in itself is enough for me to love ‘em, I spend a lot of time riding that low E/D/C string!
 
They just feel so stiff to me and sound sterile. Maybe I am just spoiled by really good passives..
 
Bob Zaod said:
They just feel so stiff to me and sound sterile. Maybe I am just spoiled by really good passives..
Click to expand...

The sterile part I can understand but definitely not the stiff part. I can nail pinch harmonics from across the room with these things and I’m getting a bit more sustain from my Edwards with them than I was the JB/59, might just be from the higher output or certain frequencies being pushed harder.
 
I love the 85 as a bridge pickup

Only other ones I've had were the 81 and the SA and neither of those really do it for me
 
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Bob Zaod said:
No way my other one with the SD Invaders is my baby. It is a phenomenal guitar and sounds crazy good.
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I won't lie. I would love to have one of hte Nic Johnson(sp?) strats. And maybe an MGK pink tele sig :bag
 
You just don't like EMG's, nothing to be overly concerned with. I've had 81/85, 57/66 and Het Sets and loved them all. The stiffness you mention, is what feels to me like zero-latency immediateness(tm). They are also very very very picky about height. 81/85 wanted to be really comfy cozy up close to the strings, the 57/66 and Hets need their distance - very similar to most passives. But hell, you like what you like!
 
Bob Zaod said:
They just feel so stiff to me and sound sterile. Maybe I am just spoiled by really good passives..
Click to expand...

If you say "clinical" and "precise" then maybe folks will think that is a good thing---even if it is
just other ways of saying "stiff" and "sterile."



:rofl

Oh, and if it has a battery in it then belongs in your girlfriend's/wive's bednight stand, and not in your guitar. :crazy

(This is meant in fun and mostly in jest. Not meant to ridicule anyone.
My pronouns are passive and good volume roll off.)
 
Bob Zaod said:
I remember having the 81/85 combination in a Jackson I had years ago and hated the way it sounded. Fast forward years later and I have a C-1 Elite Schecter with EMG 57/66 set and they suck too just in a different way. All of them to me are sterile sounding/feeling.
Click to expand...
I'm with you... I've NEVER gotten a tone from EMGs I like. Now, I've heard tons of tones from others using EMGs that I liked, but for me, they make me just want to put the guitar down and find something else to do...
 
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