do the EMG 57/66 really sound like PAFs ?

[thegame]

I'm not asking , but telling you that they do indeed sound like very nicely voiced PAFs.....with a built in clean, transparent preamp boost giving crazy high output, but which said boost cannot be turned off.

In other words, they sound & behave like passive PAFs connected to an (always on) high quality clean boost pedal (TC Electronics BLD, Creation Audio 4.23) set to a rather high level, slamming the amp hard. Therefore they clean up with the volume pot about as well as that would (quite respectably), but not as well as would be without the boost aspect happening. They do not 'breathe' or feel like PAFs connected directly into an amp with no boost in between, due to their inherent compression. True, its less compression than most other EMG humbuckers, but still more compression than a low output PAF.

To conclude my mini review, I like them a lot & would recommend them to the following players :
- Those who like PAF voiced humbuckers who need to cover everything from pristine clean to the highest of gain
- Those who like PAF voiced humbuckers & usually (or always) use a boost (or two) to get their desired gain

- Not recommended for the purest of players who depend on the dynamic strengths of PAFs to fully exploit all the sonic nooks & crannies of volume/tone pot manipulation while plugged straight into the amp with little to no effects added.

 

[Fuego]

I have some and love them. You can however, control the boost,sort of. Since it's active, when u turn down the volume knob, it has no effect on the tone like a passive. So you have the tone of a pickup on "10", but can control the pre-volume with the knob. So leave the volume knob on 7-8 and roll up for a boost. Kinda.

 

[tarices22]

I just swapped in the 57/66 set in place of the 81/85 set and made a few recordings with Bias on my computer. I think this is a pretty good description of their tone and application. The two tonal differences that stood out to me were that the 57 is less scooped than the 85, almost as if the bass got shifted up in the spectrum. Makes it sound crunchier and more dynamic and definitely less compressed. The 66 neck totally removed the boominess the 85 had and gave it more perceived chime. I did not notice as much difference in the high end frequencies. Hard to put words around.

The 57/66 set seems to be a touch less hot. Like the volume got rolled down 1/2 a click.

My esp ltd bw-1 is a rock and heavy rock/metal machine now. It can clean up really nicely too. WAY more versatile than before. Just great all around.