Post all your questions and answers about EMGs here.

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How much would emg 81 cost...or how bout just good ones.and where can i purchase them

I'm really not sure about the price but they are about $100 new at guitar center.

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i got one for 80 at guitar center no tax and shit. that guy ruled. just ask them to hook you up.

Yeah, its good to make friends with employees at music stores. Thats how I get free strings and discounts.

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did you guys install them urselfs..or did you go somewhere where they can do it.

install yourself... hell their quick connect.,, and the pots and shit are alreayd wired for you. It idiot proof

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bls do you have emgs...?

Yeh, I have the 81/85 setup on one of my guitars

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You probably got the zac wild set obviously since your name is BLS, i think that set is prewired but i ordered the 81 and 60 seperate for around 80 bucks a peice from guitarparts depot and it was a bitch installing them, it was my first time doing pickups and in my explorer (used to be huge james hetfield fan) it has a very small area to work with so it took me 6 hours on and off with little breaks and shit here and there, yes you may mock me, but hell i dont fuckin saulder so rot in hell, and i do like the quickconnect so you can get another emg or somthing and switch them back and forth depending on how you feel or somthing. I do recomend the ZW set for people with LP's though it comes with the long pot and everything, allthough i just got a new Les Paul custom (epiphone, im to poor for Gibson) i was gonna pop the zw in but i figured i wanna get good passive tones from it so i got a duncan invader and a duncan 59 vintage, its pretty badass. EMG's are the shit though nice output and the 60 sounds the best for a clean neck tone, very warm and full. Gettin an 81 on my new ran custom im savin up for. RAN Rules all

I have and 81/85 NOT the ZW set... i refuse to pay extra just because of his name. And while you were buying the pickups from guitarpartsdepot, you coulda bought prewired pots http://guitarpartsdepot.com/Merchan...tegory_Code=PCS

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Xscuse me but hasn't the Zakk Wylde box actually got exactly the same price than separate -81 and -85? guess it kinda depends where you buy it....

what was it... you get some poster crap and a guitar pick, stickers, postcards. whatever. i hope that the pickups don't have some bizarre zakk wylde autographs all over them, or EMG-ZW or something

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yea thats what saw too, exact same price. and it even comes with long pots for a les paul

I can get 81's and 85's for $45 last time i checked the zakk wylde set wasent $90

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bull shit, where, from your hook up at the guitar store?

Yep, this local store called Full Staff, their a complete ripoff but i know the manager so he gives me good deals

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This is gonna soud retarded as hell, but what are EMG pickups exactly? I know what they look like and a lot of bands I like use them, but are they like humbuckers or something else or what? What is so special about them?

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I leave this one to BLS.

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go to there website, emginc.com, they make single coil and humbuckers, there just good cause some of them are active which means they use a battery which sits in your guitar, and the battery acts as a litte preamp so its cuts out feedback a lot and has really high output, there just really nice pickups.

Passive EMG's are just pure shit, nuff said.

Active EMG's such as the 81, 60, 85 run off a 9v battery. This battery powers an eternal preamp, which gives an EMG its tone. Instead of relying on tonewoods and such for a good tone. EMG's have very little feedback, and help tighten up the low end, this is why their the prime choice of many metal acts. EMG's are a good choice if you wish to upgrade a crappy guitar because it will make a HUGE difference, but putting an EMG in a high quality instrument built of the finest woods is just stupid, and that high quality instrument with EMG's will sound very similar so the shit guitar with EMG's.

Meh, thats the best description i can give, long story short... a good Passive Pickup in a good guitar will kick and EMG's ass anyday.

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Meh im not saying that passive emgs are good, but they arnt exactly pure shit, alexi laiho uses the hz's in his guitars, i dunno why he does but all i know is it sounds pretty damn good.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but i've got this idea that EMG-HZ is pure shit except for H4? (the one laiho uses)
keep in mind that he doesn't have any tone knob whatsoever in his guitar, just one h4 and master volume. or maybe his nice tone is because of his tech21 amps?

anyway, i haven't tried any other HZ than the H4, so dunno 'bout them.

but still i'd take 81/85 setup over H4 anyday, naturally.

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the h4's arent to bad for passive emg's... but mainly the 81,85,and 60 are the emg active humbuckers of choice.
i plan on gettin a guitar with active pickups soon, 1972 tele thinline with a duncan livewire metal in the bridge and an emg 60 in the neck...it will be sick as hell.
i like active pickups, but i don't see why alot of people give them a bad rep. just because the don't rely on the woods of the guitar as much as passives. but hell, ever compared a squire strat with a 81 to a waaayy nice guitar like a prs, gibson, or hammer with an 81 in the bridge? they don't sound to similar all of a sudden.
a zw emg in a cheap epi lp wont sound like zack's real guitar just because they have the same pickups.

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Yea i would take the active over that setup anyday too, he uses a lee jackson preamp too, lee jackson designed some of crates top of the line amps.

lol yea you just get emg's or duncans or else i think its gonna look really gay, but the 60 is a good neck pickup i have it along with with 81 on my explorer. In my "Cheap Epi LP Custom" i put in a duncan invader bridge and vintage 59 in the neck. Its pretty bad ass.

i have a 81-60 set that i order coming soon....do you think i should put the 60 on the bridge..i heard it gives it a crazy sound?

Put the 60 at the neck. The 60 was made for the neck position, so I'm sure it would sound fucked up at the bridge.

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hahaha no way, first the 81 is made for high output treble in the bridge, im sure it sounds like shit in the neck (compared to the 60 or 85) and the 60 is a neck pickup, you can test it out in the bridge since there is quick connect, but whatever, the 60 sounds really nice and warm in the neck (clean) and the 81 shreds in the neck major high output (dirty). James hetfield style setup ownz.

meh. correct me if im wrong but arent KH-EMGs suppose to have the best tone? Just something I heard from a local source

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kh-emg's?? thats just a set like the emg-zw, kirk hammet emg's, zakk wylde emg's, there both just sets. The EMG-KH' come with two 81's, or you can get the other set with 81 in the bridge and two EMG S's in the middle and neck. i dont know how you can get the best 'tone" from a set, ussually you judge it on the pickup. But like i was saying the 81's are the best emg's for the bridge hands down and i would never think of putting one in the neck like one of the kh sets.

I always thought it was a waste to put another 81 in the neck, imo. I have heard that some folks like to put an 85 in the bridge and 81 in then neck, kinda a reverse ZW setup. I have never tried this but I heard it gives it more balls.

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wierd

That kind of makes sence though.

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i have an EMG-HZ H4 in my ibanez right now. that pick up isnt that bad. it's very clean and punchy, and not muddy at all.
it's actually a pretty good pick up. harmonics are good and i dont get feedback unless i want it. i still am going to get two 85's and an SA for the guitar though.

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I used to have that, but I had problems with muddiness for my rhythm sounds. Though I do have my amp setup to kinda compensate for me not playing with a bassplayer, so i've got a maybe unneccessarily heavy bottom end to my sound. I've switched them around now, and it sounds better. Clear rhythm, and a little less screechyness on high pitched leads.

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i like the livewire metal for bridge pos. over the emg81 or 85.
but the 60 is my favorite active neck pu.
i love the tele thinlines... but this pu setup in one sounds fantastic.

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sweet, i guess whatever floats your boat

How are those Live Wires??

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like EMG's, pretty ballsy but not as sterile as EMG 81's.. I had the idea they had more gain too, but I'm not sure, only played a guitar with livewire's once, played in on the new mesa stilleto so I really can't judge their tone much since that amp was new for me too.

Was the LiveWire as quiet as an EMG?

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the livewire is pretty hot, and a very tight active pu... alot more life like than the 81 imo. it's pretty quite too.

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I've got a few emg wiring questions. I'm looking to put a emg 81 and 85 in my 10 year old Ibanez RG470 that has passive pickups now. The guitar has neck and bridge humbuckers and a single coil in the middle. I'm planning to disconnect the the single coil but leave it in so there isn't a gaping hole, but would I need a different switch than the 5 way one on there if I had just the 2 pickups?

The guitar also has 1 volume and 2 tone controls, but I haven't been able to find a emg wiring diagram for that for an 81 and 85 setup. I checked guitarelectronics.com like BLS recommended in this thread but no luck. Every diagram I found was either for 1 vol and 1 tone, 2 vols and 2 tones, or 2 vols and 1 tone.

Lastly, did all you guys just cram the battery in wherever you could fit it or did you make a special spot for it?

I'd really like to do this installation myself to learn how rather than take it somewhere so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I can help you greatly. Doing this yourself is very easy. First you must know a few basics about soldering, I will asume you know a little about it but I will recap fast. Bigger the blob is NOT better the job, so only use small amounts for each connection. Don't hold the hot soldering iron to your electronic for a longer than a few seconds while soldering a connection and remove the iron and soldering wire in one motion once a little has melted onto the connection. Use only electronics solder with flux core resin. Practice solding alittle before doing the real job.

Now, you don't have to get a new blade switch but 2/5 of you positions will not work on your current switch unless you bridge some of the connections. I would recomend you replace your current switch with a 3 way blade switch.

You don't have to route a battery cavity in your guitar if you don't want to, because the battery will fit in the control cravity perfect. Just use alittle form padding to seperate the battery from contacting the other electronics.

I will find you the wiring diagram you want, just give me alittle time and I will post it here. 1 vol 2 tone, 3 way blade switch, right? Just because your guitar has that setup doesn't mean you have to use it, you know? One more question, do you have the EMG 25K potentiometers? If you have the ZW box set with all the electronics included this will be very easy.

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Shit, I couldn''t find a diagram with a 1 vol 2 tone, but I don't use the setup either. You should just go with 2 vol 1 tone. I hope this link helps. I got it from the EMG website.

EMG

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Yea i wired up my explorer with 81 and 60 and did it 2 volume and 1 tone, and a three way switch, which IMO is the best, since your rarley going to use both pickups you can control the volume and tone of one, and mehhh its hard to explain why i think its better, but whatever you wanna do.....

One Volume, One Tone, One 3 way toggle switch, and a killswitch. You cant go wrong with that setup

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Thanks for the info.

After getting out the guitar just now to take a look at it I realized I'm a dumbass. It only has 1 vol and 1 tone. I got my guitars mixed up.

Anyways, I haven't bought anything yet. Would the ZW be the best route to go, seeing as how I'm going to need the 25k pots and all that stuff anyways? Will I just need the 3 way switch then and I'll be ready to go?

Thats good news. Now this will be very easy. If you are going to use EMG 81/85 then the ZW box set will have everything you will need. Look around for the best price, because most times I find the ZW box set cheaper than buying the 81 and 85 seperate. Now some poeple think that they should charge more for the ZW set because ZW's name is on the box but that is crap because it is only a reguler 81/85 pickup set in the box and nothing special. A 3 way switch shouldn't cost more than $15 at the very most. And remember practice soldering a little first.

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OH YEAH BABY!!

I just scored two EMG 85's off EBAY and i'm getting an SA tomorrow!!! HELLS YES!! my ibanez is getting hooked up!! woot!!!!

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I hate the 85 in the bridge.

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same 81 owns all

Some people like them in the bridge. But the 85 was made for the neck right?

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It was made for the neck, but the 60 sounds better than the 85 in the neck, the 85 is high output, so the 85 doesnt sound all that good clean.

I think I'll go with the ZW then. Thanks again for the help.

i've had the 85 in the bridge before. it sounds bad ass. perfectly balanced too, for my tastes. it has balanced lows and highs with some middle too. i like it, you may not. it may be because everyone says they like the 81 so you're gonna like it too. i dunno. who knows?

oh, and btw, the 85 sounds good clean.

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bls is just a pussy about emgs ... don't worry about it, if you like your sound with dual 85's then go for it.

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I rather have a shitty ass Stock BC Rich Pickup than an EMG. Atleast the shitty BC Rich Pickup sound original.. in a shitty way

I only have a 81/85 combo in one of my guitars because its made out of like 5 peices of alder and it sounds horrible, so atleast this way i can get that generic EMG sound.

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hellz yeah!

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i just got the SA today. i took it out odf the box and admired it for like half an hour. i cant wait to get the 85's!!



hmmmm... maybe i AM obsessed...

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EMG's tend to make every guitar sound the same way,I don't know... It's good if you have a cheap guitar but if you have a good one,you're better of with a passive pickup.

The EMG's output isn't that hot,by the way.Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio have passives that are just as hot or hotter.

I would say they're good but they're definitly not the best.

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there is no best pickup. ALL PERSONAL PREFERENCE!

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youre RIGHT!

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no he isent cause cause i say so

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shut up your liar faggot and gay.

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now i have one 85 and one SA.. goddammit.. tomorrow.. i should be getting one more 85. then i'm free to mod my guitar! WOOT!!!

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well i got the last 85 today, and i immediately put them in. iafter 6 long hours using shitty assed tools and solder, and realizing that the cavity was soo damned small, i finally got them in, i have not put down my guitar since...

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6 hrs!!!!

Are you missing an arm or something??

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he has to...:P

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it's because the solder i was using sucked it didnt hold on to anything. but me and my bro got new solder and a stronger iron, so it was all good. my guitar sounds sweet now and thats all that matters

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6 hours, was this the first time you have done this? Did you use the solder I mentioned before; the high silver content electronics flux core resin solder? If not, then that is why it wasn't holding right; that or you over heated the solder with iron and turned it to slug.

Glad you got it together regardless of how long it took.

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Yea it took me about 6 hours to lol, except i was doing it on and off throughout that day. 81 and 60.

Jesus christ people, its not that hard to solder lol

DO NOT use acid core solder as its not meant for electronic's its meant for jewelery and other bullshit.

Put a little bit of solder on the tip of the iron

then heat the surface you wish to solder, onces its heat keep the iron on it and touch the solder to the surface.

done.

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Yup, and bigger the blob isn't better the job either. Big blobs and over heated solder have less conductive properties and will act is a resistor. This is bad!

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well yeah, i didnt exactly sit there for 6 hours straight, i had to take breaks every now and then and then i had to get a new solder gun and larger gauge solder, cuz the 15 watter wasnt doing shit.

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ok emg question. i have my other gibson sg special which has not been modded (the first one has the iommi humbuckers). is it worth putting emg's in the second one? or do you guys consider the SG one of those good guitars? i wasn't sure if i would benefit from emg's or decent passives, either way the sg special pickups are junk

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Some good passive's would better suite it.

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Hey I'm sure this sounds pretty dumb, but do they make single coil active pickups? Or just hums? Yes I know its a stupid question and I'm even dumber for not knowing the answer so somebody help me out I havent slept in 28 hours and 11 minutes




blah

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They sure do. EMG has any pickup you can think of. Just check the site.

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cool thanks BLS i'll look into it. i got some money to piss around with so i'm hoping i can get my gear upgraded before we hit start gigging the tri state this fall

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what states?

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western PA, ohio and west virginia

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I have currently ordered some EMG-81 pickups, and I am wondering how to actually fit them, would i be able just to connect them up to my existing tone, volume and 3 way toggle switch, as on the EMG website it has a diagram of wiring their own stuff up? Also my guitar is a Epiphone Gothic Explorer. Please help

No.

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I only have enough for one EMG which one should i get first?

whats the difference between a EMG 85 and 89 in the neck postion? iv only played an 89...

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Active emgs... sounds like what I should use on my budget pos 7-string, I absolutely love pinch harmonics and a heavy sound in general. But as far as the pickup numbers and location (bridge,neck) go I'm totally lost, 81 85 what's the difference? Also does the battery inside last long? And is it hard to change for a total electronics n00b?

Oh and my axe has space for two humbuckers, so let me hear your recommandations.

correct me if im wrong but cant you only use 7-String Pickups on a &-String guitar? I know EMG's have atleast one 7-string pickup but that doesnt really give you much of an option. If it were a six string id go with the emg-81 (Bridge) and the EMG-60(neck) Hetfield Style, I really like the warm tone from the 60's clean channel. And yes the batteries do last a long time.

Thanks for your input, yes after visiting emg's official website I realised there's only one kind of pickups for a 7-string and they say it's pretty much the equivalent of an 85, so unless someone gives me a damn good reason not to, I'm gonna go with these.

yea they probably wanted to make it be like the 85 cause ive heard the 85 sounding good in the neck and bridge. But if i were you i'd go with another brand no reason spending so much on an emg if its for a 7-string, i say that cause its not like buying an emg for a 6-string since you can easily switch the emgs in and out of differant guitars with the quick disconnect (thinking your not gonna have any other 7 strings) so either get EMG 7's, go with another brand, or just get a 6-string with emgs in it like some of ESP models or a RAN!?!/11?1?!

Actually I'm planning on eventually getting another 7-string and my reasoning behind getting emgs is that someone explained that active emgs sound pretty much the same, so since I'm using a cheap guitar (de armond)I might as well beef it up than use something that would sound better on a high-end axe.

And besides what would be good alternatives to emg?

True that, if you want that sound get Active Pickups, EMGS's are the way to go.

Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio are good pickup companys.

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Alright I'm back from the store, first of all they gotta check if the battery would fit in my axe, second the emgs are back ordered so if I take those it means no 7-string for a month.

So if I was to go with sds or dms would they be wasted on a crap guitar like mine? And if not which pickups would you recommend?

The guy who works there suggested these:
DiMarzio Tone Zone DP755
DiMarzio Air Norton DP793
Seymour Duncan Sh6b/7s
Seymour Duncan Sh8b/7s

ehhh dont do that just order them online from like guitarpartsdepot.com or somthing or search froogle.com, or course the battery is gonna fit and if it doesnt just carve a little space for it its not like it will affect the beautiful tone of that $2000 7-string (sarcasm)

GuitarPartsDepot sells a 7 string EMG 81

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What's the diff between the 707 and the 81 7-string?

Thats badass if thats true i would put the 7 string 81 in the bridge and the "85" 7 string pickup in the neck.

http://guitarpartsdepot.com/Merchan...&Category_Code=

This man speaks the truth.

So basically what you're saying is that 81 >`"85"

If I was to get both the pickups would be worth as much as the guitar itself lol.