New Pickups for Fusion Pro?

[Nimitz]

I'm thinking about getting rid of my EMG's and going with passive pickups for my Fusion Pro.

Over the years it's seemed that the EMG 81 just doesn't have that... hmmm how to explain it... big booming in your face guitar sound. Don't get me wrong the 81 is obviously a great pickup, it's just never seemed to mesh well in my Pro.

I do absolutely love the SA in the neck... silky glass smooth cleans.

I owned a Charvel Fusion Deluxe untouched original for a short time and when I'd fire that up with my old 5150 it sounded and felt like it was going to bring the house down.

I want my Jackson Pro to boom like that... suggestions?

[Number Of The Priest]

Have you tried swapping the EMG-81 for an EMG-85? The EMG-85 has a fat, warm, more natural-sounding alnico 5 sound compared to the rather flat tone of the ceramic EMG-81.

Better yet, try the EMG-89. It's essentially an EMG-85 and EMG-SA in a dual housing since you expressed love for the EMG-SA. You change modes via coil splitting. I once used a push-pull pot to achieve this.

[jacksonaxes]

I think the Fusion deluxe had a J90-C in the bridge, try that.

[DonP]

I love the stock pickups and JE-1500 in my Fusion Pro. That said, I have another with an EMG81 and EMG-S wired for 18 volts and it is nice too.

[Nightbat]

Try the EMG 85 first, with the EMG connections, it'll be an easy swap and you can easily flip the p'up on ebay if it's not to your liking

Going passive will need a rework of pots/wiring and it's possible but not simple to use actives and passives mixed in the same guitar

[Nimitz]

I love the stock pickups and JE-1500 in my Fusion Pro. That said, I have another with an EMG81 and EMG-S wired for 18 volts and it is nice too.

All the stock pickups are long gone.

Going passive will need a rework of pots/wiring and it's possible but not simple to use actives and passives mixed in the same guitar

I've had that mess in the past... I would go full passive.

[Vass]

I have 85/sa/sa in one of my fusion pros. Have a jb in another, and a super distortion in another. The 85 sounds best imo.

[artonsafari]

I think the Fusion deluxe had a J90-C in the bridge, try that.

I love the J90C in my Charvel SDK

[Nimitz]

I love the stock pickups and JE-1500 in my Fusion Pro. That said, I have another with an EMG81 and EMG-S wired for 18 volts and it is nice too.

I've done 18v before, it was cool.

I'm guessing that getting my Fusion Pro back to stock might be a costly adventure.