EMGs.. Sterile?

[DonP]

Re: EMG vs. Demon

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think David Gilmour sounded sterile when I saw Pink Floyd twice in 1988. As a matter of fact, his tone made me cry.

Listen to The Delicate Sound of Thunder album and hear for yourself.

Mike

[/ QUOTE ]

EMG-SA, if my IIRC is working correctly.

[Rupe]

Re: EMG vs. Demon

I have quite a bit of experience with EMG's as a former dealer and installer. I think they are a great pickup for metal and other heavy styles, and they can sound good in other situations as well depending on the rig used. I used to have a Gilmour set in one of my strats and it sounded great...extremely versatile.

That said, I agree for the most part with the people that said they are sterile. Straight into a tube amp they lack the dynamics and response of a passive pickup. If you dime everything, that probably won't matter to you. They are essentially a cold sounding pickup that processes extremely well and excel in that situation. If you use alot of outboard gear, EMG's are definitely worth trying, but if you are looking for a warm tone through a tube amp, passive is the way to go. Anyone who describes an EMG as having warmth doesn't understand the term.

Finally, a great deal of what we hear when we play comes from our hands and not our equipment. My comments are regrding EMG's will be accurate for most people, but for some they may not hold true. Ultimately you should try things out and let your ears make the decision.

[toejam]

Re: EMG vs. Demon

I get a lot of warmth through my THD Univalve with my Les Paul and EMG 85 in the bridge and 81 in the neck, same with my Jackson Dinky HX with 85b/60n.

[der_kopf]

Re: EMG vs. Demon

[ QUOTE ]
if your EMG sounds too "thin" it is most likely not close enough to the strings.


[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, unfortunatly they aint have pole-screws.
So you might forfeit string action.

And yes, the first thing I noticed was the compression, but I'm a soft-picker so this might be an advantage

[MBreinin]

Re: EMG vs. Demon

[ QUOTE ]
yeah, unfortunatly they aint have pole-screws.
So you might forfeit string action.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know your English is better than my German...but this is really funny!! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Mike

[Julz]

I recently replaced the stock Jackson pickups in my 650XL for a set of EMG 89X/SAX/SAX with an 18V circuit and they sound pretty piss weak.

I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the single coils as they have a short profile and I need longer mounting screws to get closer to the strings but I'm still a little disappointed. The VLPF active tone controls are absolutely useless and makes almost no alteration to the sound.

Maybe the more conventional 81 or 85/S/S is better suited to this particular guitar if your looking for an enhancement to the stock Jacksons with mid boost.

[SausageofPower]

I've had plenty of EMG's. If you're looking for more of a versatile "cleans up when volume is rolled off," I'd recommend checking out the newer pickups (the Het Set, the 57/66 set) they offer.

[toejam]

Wow. A guy signs up in 2005, only to make his first post in a thread that's been dead for 9 years!

[Chad]

I recently had a gig where we played a lot of totally clean and light grit sounds. I was using my Schecter with an 85 in the bridge and 81 in the neck. It worked excellent. Very dynamic. Sounded great. With cleans, I had some reverb and light slapback delay. Grit was totally dry. i.e. my sound wasn't overly processed. I'm not a player who rolls back the volume very much. I just vary my pick attack to get quieter and that method worked great.

[jgcable]

I use EMG's live for a few reasons.. they sound great, they are completely silent and they sound great (I know... I said it twice). They don't sound generic or sterile at all to me. I think they are very dynamic sounding and GREAT for live playing.

[Chad]

I agree, John. I think this whole "sterile" issue is mainly internet legend and propagated by bedroom players who haven't played a live gig in their life.

[pianoguyy]

Even if they were sterile...
I have a guitar for country and metal and--- but most of them play everything.
I make effect patches. I can't have 30 tweaked variations of the same patch because each pickup needs its own eq. So no matter what they sound like, they should all sound similar.

They may or may not be sterile (everyone has an opinion), but no matter what they sound like, we then adjust our gear to accommodate. If a guitar/pickup combo is too bassy, then we turn the bass down and maybe boost the treble to even it out. That's what we do.


To repeat what someone else said... they aren't sterile. They're flat.

[xenophobe]

I recently replaced the stock Jackson pickups in my 650XL for a set of EMG 89X/SAX/SAX with an 18V circuit and they sound pretty piss weak.

You don't want to run the EMG X with 18v, IMO. The EMG X series was designed to provide a similar tone at 9v that you get with standard EMGS at 18v. Standard EMGs at 9v compress or clip a little... to give them a little more headroom, you go 18v. The X series has that headroom already built in...

[Newc]

Wow. A guy signs up in 2005, only to make his first post in a thread that's been dead for 9 years!

Now that's lazy

[Julz]

Wow. A guy signs up in 2005, only to make his first post in a thread that's been dead for 9 years!

Liked that move didn't ya?