The Het Set EMG's... What tones besides Master of Puppies?

[Heritage Softail]

So what besides The Het are you getting from these?

Are they any good for The good old Dokken, hair metal, etc?

Lead player pups or just chuggmeisters?

 

[NinjaRaf]

Here are some clips of mine...

Some lead stuff in this one: http://tonefinder.com/?section=id&value=14720

This ones got some cleans and leads: http://tonefinder.com/?section=id&value=14696

Lots of cleans and some leads: http://www.tonefinder.com/index.php?sec ... alue=14751

FWIW, I hated the 81 that I had, but I fucking LOVE these things!! They are really high output...seem higher than an 81. The neck does a really nice fluid lead and a really nice clean. The bridge does excellent heavy rhythm stuff, obviously, and great lead stuff, too. I couldnt tell ya about dokken or hair metal cuz I dont play that stuff...

 

[Heritage Softail]

Here are some clips of mine...

Some lead stuff in this one: http://tonefinder.com/?section=id&value=14720

This ones got some cleans and leads: http://tonefinder.com/?section=id&value=14696

Lots of cleans and some leads: http://www.tonefinder.com/index.php?sec ... alue=14751

FWIW, I hated the 81 that I had, but I fucking LOVE these things!! They are really high output...seem higher than an 81. The neck does a really nice fluid lead and a really nice clean. The bridge does excellent heavy rhythm stuff, obviously, and great lead stuff, too. I couldnt tell ya about dokken or hair metal cuz I dont play that stuff...

Nice...

Sounds like AIC is in there as well. I am running a Rhodes amp so the high gain side should be money. Nice tension in the lead scale mode to the chording in the clips. It does not sound like everybody else's stuff.

 

[NinjaRaf]

Thanks dude!!

I think the last one shows more of what the pups can do than the others. Definitely have a lot of range to them. They stay tight and clear, too. All these are 5150 212 combo miced with a 57.

 

[rocknrolla]

EMG 81's are more Master of Muppets than the Het Set. The Het Set is thicker, chewier than any other active I've tried.

 

[Heritage Softail]

EMG 81's are more Master of Muppets than the Het Set. The Het Set is thicker, chewier than any other active I've tried.

That is good. I don't have any active pup guitars at the moment because I did not get along well with them. I have some Motor City Solutions that are high output. There is a guitar I am looking at with a Het Set. Don't want to change pups out right away.

 

[NinjaRaf]

Just responded to a PM with this...figured I'd post it here, too...

I really like the het set, as far as actives go. When I first got them (I've only had them a couple of months), I played them non stop. I've got them in my LTD all mahogany V. My other guitar is maple neck, alder body, maple top...LTD Elite Horizon-III, and I've got a duncan custom in that one (swapped the A5 magnet in the Custom 5 for a ceramic....just liked the low end response and the attack of a ceramic MUCH more than anything else). They sound very, very similar, with the het set having more output. The hets are ALMOST like having a boost in front of the amp, except they don't remove nearly as much low end...just tighten everything up and add some compression.

I think I like the Custom better, but only slightly, and only because of it having less compression than the hets...but hey, they're actives, they're EMGs, so what can you really expect?

The hets are massively....MASSIVELY...better than any other EMGs I've played...I've never really liked EMGs much, but these have sold me.

 

[Tone Monster]

I had a honeymoon phase with them and put the 81 back in. Neither are perfect IMO. I wish I could have the surgical bottom end of the 81 and the rest of the freqs from the Het. The lows on the Het kind of have a thwak too them. Hard to describe.

 

[Heritage Softail]

Snakebyte incoming. Will be testing out the Het Set soon enough.

 

[Tone Monster]

Snakebyte incoming. Will be testing out the Het Set soon enough.

sweet! I've got an EMTY on the way. Next week I'm gonna do an active pickup shootout. The pickups will be:

EMG 81
EMG 85
EMG Het
SD EMTY

Should be interesting...

 

[madrigal77]

I really want to try them, but I'm afraid I won't like them. I love, love, love the 81. I love the tightness and the compression in the low end. I tried the Blackouts a while back because they were supposed to be "better" than the 81, but I hated them. They sounded kind of muddy to me and too loose. I'm afraid it would be the same with the Het Set. Still, if I can find a good used price on them, I'll jump on it. In fact, I tried to buy some last week, but the guy wouldn't ship to Canada.

 

[NinjaRaf]

I really want to try them, but I'm afraid I won't like them. I love, love, love the 81. I love the tightness and the compression in the low end. I tried the Blackouts a while back because they were supposed to be "better" than the 81, but I hated them. They sounded kind of muddy to me and too loose. I'm afraid it would be the same with the Het Set. Still, if I can find a good used price on them, I'll jump on it. In fact, I tried to buy some last week, but the guy wouldn't ship to Canada.

I find the hetset has more output than the 81, and is almost (ALMOST) like having a boost up front. I think they are at least as tight as the 81, if not tighter. Compression is about the same from what I can remember, but its been well over a year since I've had an 81. I had a blackout years back, too, and I dig these WAY more than those. I think the hets have more character than the 81, too...they have a bigger and more aggressive sound. Seriously, IMO, better in every single way. Both of my friends that have played my guitar with them have said that they are getting some to swap out their regular EMGs.

 

[Tone Monster]

I really want to try them, but I'm afraid I won't like them. I love, love, love the 81. I love the tightness and the compression in the low end. I tried the Blackouts a while back because they were supposed to be "better" than the 81, but I hated them. They sounded kind of muddy to me and too loose. I'm afraid it would be the same with the Het Set. Still, if I can find a good used price on them, I'll jump on it. In fact, I tried to buy some last week, but the guy wouldn't ship to Canada.

I find the hetset has more output than the 81, and is almost (ALMOST) like having a boost up front. I think they are at least as tight as the 81, if not tighter. Compression is about the same from what I can remember, but its been well over a year since I've had an 81. I had a blackout years back, too, and I dig these WAY more than those. I think the hets have more character than the 81, too...they have a bigger and more aggressive sound. Seriously, IMO, better in every single way. Both of my friends that have played my guitar with them have said that they are getting some to swap out their regular EMGs.

Thats interesting. To me they were NOWHERE near as tight as the 81, especially in the lows. Bigger? Yes. More aggressive? Debatable. All that said, mine were loaded in an Explorer which is dark sounding to begin with so maybe for that guitar the Het had too much bottom. I could see it being awesome for a brighter guitar.

 

[NinjaRaf]

I really want to try them, but I'm afraid I won't like them. I love, love, love the 81. I love the tightness and the compression in the low end. I tried the Blackouts a while back because they were supposed to be "better" than the 81, but I hated them. They sounded kind of muddy to me and too loose. I'm afraid it would be the same with the Het Set. Still, if I can find a good used price on them, I'll jump on it. In fact, I tried to buy some last week, but the guy wouldn't ship to Canada.

I find the hetset has more output than the 81, and is almost (ALMOST) like having a boost up front. I think they are at least as tight as the 81, if not tighter. Compression is about the same from what I can remember, but its been well over a year since I've had an 81. I had a blackout years back, too, and I dig these WAY more than those. I think the hets have more character than the 81, too...they have a bigger and more aggressive sound. Seriously, IMO, better in every single way. Both of my friends that have played my guitar with them have said that they are getting some to swap out their regular EMGs.

Thats interesting. To me they were NOWHERE near as tight as the 81, especially in the lows. Bigger? Yes. More aggressive? Debatable. All that said, mine were loaded in an Explorer which is dark sounding to begin with so maybe for that guitar the Het had too much bottom. I could see it being awesome for a brighter guitar.

I've got them in my ninja, which is all mahogany. The only pup that I remember being way too bright in it was the painkiller. Again, its been over a year since I had the 81 in there, and Ive had lots of passives since then, including a bunch with alnico magnets, but from memory, the hets are tighter. Could be that Ive got a different amp now, too...but who knows.

 

[Kelly]

Pretty sure Het used an Invader for tracking Master...

 

[Heritage Softail]

Snakebyte incoming. Will be testing out the Het Set soon enough.

sweet! I've got an EMTY on the way. Next week I'm gonna do an active pickup shootout. The pickups will be:

EMG 81
EMG 85
EMG Het
SD EMTY

Should be interesting...

I have been reading your posts on brightening up a guitar. Guessing that is the one?

Since we both are using Rhodes, I can say the pups in my JP6 are bright. For some reason they are brighter in the Rhodes than any other amp. And weird as it is, only the JP6 finds that brightness. The amp is quite neutral on tele, LP, SG, Strats...

I have some Motor City Solutions, the solution to Actives in a passive. I am going to side by side them with the Het Set.

Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

 

[Capulin Overdrive]

Snakebyte incoming. Will be testing out the Het Set soon enough.

You getting Steve's black one?

 

[Tone Monster]

Snakebyte incoming. Will be testing out the Het Set soon enough.

sweet! I've got an EMTY on the way. Next week I'm gonna do an active pickup shootout. The pickups will be:

EMG 81
EMG 85
EMG Het
SD EMTY

Should be interesting...

I have been reading your posts on brightening up a guitar. Guessing that is the one?

Since we both are using Rhodes, I can say the pups in my JP6 are bright. For some reason they are brighter in the Rhodes than any other amp. And weird as it is, only the JP6 finds that brightness. The amp is quite neutral on tele, LP, SG, Strats...

I have some Motor City Solutions, the solution to Actives in a passive. I am going to side by side them with the Het Set.

Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

Cool. Yes it's the explorer. Do some clips!

 

[borninwinter]

I find that the Hets have more low end than the 81 and are also less compressed. They can sound pretty much as tight as an 81, but you have to dial back the bass on the amp a bit. In general, I prefer passives, but I like the Hets pretty well too. Not really a fan of the 81, mostly due to the compression. Here's a good comparison vid:

 

[taliababa]

I've primarily used 81/60's. The Het Set feels like a "refined" update to the 81/60. I agree with the folks who say there's a bit more low end with the Het Set. In either case there isn't a huge difference. Just subtle tweaks. Aesthetically speaking I like the way the Het Set looks.