Do you find EMG's difficult to play?

[leib10]

So I picked up a Schecter Hellraiser Avenger with the standard 81/85 setup. Maybe I'm just a passive pup kind of guy, but these things make clean playing much harder. Combined with 6550's in my Twin Jet, and the slightest pressure on the strings other than the ones you want to hit makes the unwanted ones sound out. I lowered the pups really low, to no avail. Anybody else familiar with this, and does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[lolzgreg]

I haven't experienced this. Lowering those pickups is going to make the guitar sound awful. EMGs have very weak magnets, and need to be close to the strings to sound right.

 

[MrDan666]

Are they definitely hooked up right? Fresh battery too?

All my experiences with EMG's were the opposite.. They were stupidly easy to play, and infact they made my Passive pickups seem harder to play in comparison..

 

[leib10]

Brand new battery, connections seem okay. Try raising the pickups?

 

[johnpace2]

I find EMG's easier to play than other pickups.

 

[155]

yeah they are easier....

 

[Gainzilla]

Are they definitely hooked up right? Fresh battery too?

All my experiences with EMG's were the opposite.. They were stupidly easy to play, and infact they made my Passive pickups seem harder to play in comparison..

Agree mostly but It they didnt make my passives feel harder to play...

Never liked them, they always sounded sterile as hell to me

 

[MrDan666]

Are they definitely hooked up right? Fresh battery too?

All my experiences with EMG's were the opposite.. They were stupidly easy to play, and infact they made my Passive pickups seem harder to play in comparison..

Agree mostly but It they didnt make my passives feel harder to play...

Never liked them, they always sounded sterile as hell to me

I agree, they always have a cold sound to them IMO!

 

[The Hoff]

I agree. They are really easy to play. I lot of people have issue with them but, I enjoy them. They do what they do well.

 

[racerevlon]

Most issues with EMGs as you're describing can usually be remedied by an adjustment to the input received by the pickups.

 

[thegame]

I find them easy to play as well.

There is no tighter pup for metal than the 81. So many are looking for a passive version to do the things the 81 does. It probably won't ever happen. Why ?

1) EMGs have regular full strength alnico or ceramic magnets. Its the windings around those magnets that are very weak. Far weaker than a passive single coil pup. That in itself gives a certain clarity.

2) Then that signal is boosted and shaped electronically, which intentionally or not, will compresses the signal to a degree. That compression has a positive effect (for metal) in that it helps focus the tone in the upper mids to give it the sharpness needed for metal.

3) Its very slender in the low end. In fact its quite rolled off in the lows which places most of the frequency emphasis in the mids/highs.

4) EMG 81 uses bar magnets which have their own magnetic properties, unlike individual pole pieces in most passives. The closet you'll get in a passive will be something like a Bill Lawrence or Dimarzio XN2, both of which use bar or blade magnets.

All that said, I'm gassing for the new Hetfield EMGs. Basically a tweaked 81/60 set.

 

[russellconner]

So I picked up a Schecter Hellraiser Avenger with the standard 81/85 setup. Maybe I'm just a passive pup kind of guy, but these things make clean playing much harder. Combined with 6550's in my Twin Jet, and the slightest pressure on the strings other than the ones you want to hit makes the unwanted ones sound out. I lowered the pups really low, to no avail. Anybody else familiar with this, and does anyone have any suggestions?

Pre-Opinion Disclaimer: russellconner plays almost exclusively in standard tuning, and only occasionaly deviates by changing to Drop-D

Man, I hope you get this figured out. Ive been running my ZW Paul with EMGs through my Dual Rec and Uber Rev 2 for 9 years and 7 years, respectively. I hear you on the sensitivity thing, and yeah, it is noticeable. Once you get used to how dynamic and responsive the EMGs are through a hot rod amp (like your Uber), i think you will appreciate how it reacts to your playing. With mine, i can be running tons of gain and it still seems like my sound is open and able to get even more mean when i really dig in.

setting up the EMGs was pretty straightforward for me:
- fresh battery
- hold strings down at upper-most fret and raise pickups as high as possible without touchning the strings when plucked. From there, i adjusted the neck pickup (85) a little lower because it can be boomy at times.

good luck, man. i dont really have a lot of great things to say about the 85, except it is very warm and very clear...however its not necessarily any better than some passives ive heard in the neck position. The 81, however, is a different story. That beast is the meanest sounding pickup ive ever heard through my amps. I think part of that is because the 81 is very middy and has tons of bite, which really brings punch and definition to dark-sounding amps like mine. that being said, it still seems to provide plenty of low end punch with high gain sounds.

Good luck, and dont hesitate to ask if there's anything i can provide any input/info on. by the way, since we're both in MO, we need to come up with an excuse to get together and jam.

-russell

 

[wheelman]

I find them easy to play as well.

There is no tighter pup for metal than the 81. So many are looking for a passive version to do the things the 81 does. It probably won't ever happen. Why ?

1) EMGs have regular full strength alnico or ceramic magnets. Its the windings around those magnets that are very weak. Far weaker than a passive single coil pup. That in itself gives a certain clarity.

2) Then that signal is boosted and shaped electronically, which intentionally or not, will compresses the signal to a degree. That compression has a positive effect (for metal) in that it helps focus the tone in the upper mids to give it the sharpness needed for metal.

3) Its very slender in the low end. In fact its quite rolled off in the lows which places most of the frequency emphasis in the mids/highs.

4) EMG 81 uses bar magnets which have their own magnetic properties, unlike individual pole pieces in most passives. The closet you'll get in a passive will be something like a Bill Lawrence or Dimarzio XN2, both of which use bar or blade magnets.

All that said, I'm gassing for the new Hetfield EMGs. Basically a tweaked 81/60 set.

Nice explanation I just got the Het set. IMO they sound nothing like the 81 they are larger sounding and act a little like passives. They are of course quieter than passives. They don't use the bar magnet in these. They seem more open, more output and have more of that gritty edge to the high's. The bottom is bigger and clearer seems pretty balanced ( possibly tighter sounding, but the lows are not as compressed ). If you crave that compression the 81 has it's not quite here with the Het set. Its got more of a grind going. Cool pickups. I like both the 81 and Het for different reasons. To me they are a lot different aside from the ceramic tone similarities. I barely messed with the neck pickup I can't tell you much about that and I am having problems with it. Its always on.



To the OP I find EMG's pretty easy to play. Not really any different to me unless I get into higher gain then I find them easier to play than regular pickups.

 

[zuel69]

They sound as tone-full as any good pickup to me..just more balanced(maybe slightly less dynamic because of this) and yep easier to play.

 

[Badronald]

I used them for years. Very easy to play on.

 

[Red_Label]

Until this past year I've alway preferred passives (specifically the Duncan JB/59 pairing). But I am playing more hard rock/metal this year and the EMGs (81/60 and 81/81) in my Eclipses sound GREAT for modern stuff. SO tight. Cleans aren't as glassy, chimey, spanky... but they are very full.

I just picked-up an Ltd Gus G loaded with the Duncan Blackouts and I find those very EMGish for metal, and yet more organic ala passives for classic rock and cleans. So we'll see whether I prefer the EMGs or the Blackouts for the long run.

Anyways... I've never found active pups to be anything less than "easy" to play, just not as well-suited to certain genres of music and tones.


BTW... I'm taking the EMG 81/60 Eclipse and Blackout-loaded Gus G into a nice Pro Tools studio this weekend to record some demos. I plan to double-track a lot of stuff, one with each guitar. So it will be interesting to see if/how much I can hear the difference on record.

 

[leib10]

Until this past year I've alway preferred passives (specifically the Duncan JB/59 pairing). But I am playing more hard rock/metal this year and the EMGs (81/60 and 81/81) in my Eclipses sound GREAT for modern stuff. SO tight. Cleans aren't as glassy, chimey, spanky... but they are very full.

I just picked-up an Ltd Gus G loaded with the Duncan Blackouts and I find those very EMGish for metal, and yet more organic ala passives for classic rock and cleans. So we'll see whether I prefer the EMGs or the Blackouts for the long run.

Anyways... I've never found active pups to be anything less than "easy" to play, just not as well-suited to certain genres of music and tones.


BTW... I'm taking the EMG 81/60 Eclipse and Blackout-loaded Gus G into a nice Pro Tools studio this weekend to record some demos. I plan to double-track a lot of stuff, one with each guitar. So it will be interesting to see if/how much I can hear the difference on record.

Yeah I had JB/59's for awhile, and they sounded great for anything clean or with mild gain, but they just couldn't cut it with anything like the gain I play with.

 

[wheelman]

Until this past year I've alway preferred passives (specifically the Duncan JB/59 pairing). But I am playing more hard rock/metal this year and the EMGs (81/60 and 81/81) in my Eclipses sound GREAT for modern stuff. SO tight. Cleans aren't as glassy, chimey, spanky... but they are very full.

I just picked-up an Ltd Gus G loaded with the Duncan Blackouts and I find those very EMGish for metal, and yet more organic ala passives for classic rock and cleans. So we'll see whether I prefer the EMGs or the Blackouts for the long run.

Anyways... I've never found active pups to be anything less than "easy" to play, just not as well-suited to certain genres of music and tones.


BTW... I'm taking the EMG 81/60 Eclipse and Blackout-loaded Gus G into a nice Pro Tools studio this weekend to record some demos. I plan to double-track a lot of stuff, one with each guitar. So it will be interesting to see if/how much I can hear the difference on record.

Yeah I had JB/59's for awhile, and they sounded great for anything clean or with mild gain, but they just couldn't cut it with anything like the gain I play with.

I got a jb from the 80's that is super duper tight for metal. I got one from the 90's that's more rounded and warmer not so good for metal. The Jb from the 80's sound more sterile than EMG's. The highs are pokey as hell.

 

[Ventura]

I went from EMGs to BKPs in my ESP NT-II, and I have ZERO regret. Only after going back to passives, did I realize how little 'character' the active EMGs actually pronounced in their signal response. Especially going through fine rigs, I can't imagine negotiating or compromising the tone of fine axes with these otherwise sterile and stiff pups.

Just me though, opinions and assholes, we all got one

 

[Juggernaut]

Try swapping the 85 into the bridge position, I ALWAYS run them that way, I find the 85 to be less harsh than the 81, and I actually like the 81 in the neck position gives it abit more grind for heavy bluesy riffs....