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
 
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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