I'm thinking of switching my EMGs for passives

[bpetersen]

Bill from Mastodon has a signature pickup from Lace that sounds really good. If you want Duncan, get the Duncan Distortion

 

[dethyr]

I was an EMG guy for years but I switched to Dimarzio Dactivators and didn't look back once. I am personally way done with EMGs and actives in general. I'm not a BKP fanboy because I honestly don't feel their pickups are as good as the price suggests, they are no better than SD, Dimarzio etc. But that's my opinion.

The Dimarzio evolution, Dimarzio dactivator, SD black winter, nazgul, pegasus and sentient and a lot of other high output passives are the way to go.

 

[C1-ocaster]

I own a couple guitars that came with EMGs. A jackson Demmelition King V and an ESP Eclipse II standard series. I'm not displeased with them, but I'd like to try other pickups. My curiosity was piqued after seeing some the EMG 57/66 set, but they're way expensive. I'd be willing to try them, but I got to looking around and thought maybe there was another set suited to my needs.

I suppose I should specify what I want to get out of them if I'm going to get good recommendations...

I like a high gain crisp tone. I use a 6505 boosted with a TS-9 through an Orange 2x12. I really like Black Dahlia Murder's tone. Carcass' tone on Surgical Steel is really good.

I'm not looking for a "right" answer so a description of the qualities your suggestion would bring to the table would be appreciated.

I was looking at the SH-6 based on Ola Englunds suggestions... I considered the Black Winter pickups, but they seem higher priced for a messier sounding pickup which is something I'm not fond of...

Sorry for my rambling post and thanks in advance for any replies.

I've not tried the 57/66 set but I've read good things about those EMG's. Players say they are more like passives and have a warmer tone compared to the "hotter" EMG's like the ones in the ESP's.
Last years LTD Elite Eclipse 1 series had one model with the 57/66 pup's while the other 2 models had Duncan JB/'59.

I played 2 ESP Eclipse Standards with the EMG's and an LTD Elite Eclipse with the JB/'59, all through an EVH 5150 III.
The EMG's give a lot of gain and are a bit "tighter", but tonally the passive pup's sounded better to me.
The tonal difference is distinct, as soon as I plugged in the passive LTD Elite there is simply a greater tonal warmth letting the guitars wood sing.
The EMG's are too focused, and they lack tonal dynamics. They sound good but only within a narrow range. The Duncan's sounded fuller and were more sensitive to subtle picking and fingering.
And at the same time they can rock hard.

I preferred the passives so much more that I bought the LTD Elite Eclipse instead of the ESP Eclipse Standard.
That was about 2 weeks ago. I've since decided to return the LTD Elite and get the new 2014 ESP E-II, which is pretty much the same guitar except it now comes in a vintage honey burst that I like more than the tobacco burst I bought.
The new ESP E-II Eclipse is the former LTD Elite Eclipse-1 with passive pups.
The other change is that the 2014 E-II with passives now has the 305mm fret board radius instead of 350mm.

Get a set of passives, you'll like it a lot.
That guitar's tone really shines through better with passives.
BTW, why do you think you need to boost a 6505+?
That amp has a LOT of gain and sensitivity, so much so that boost isn't needed, especially with an already active pup output.

Have fun with the pup swap.

 

[dwizted]

The emg het set is awesome as well GC is blowing out at 99 bucks.