What Passive Bridge Pickup Is Closest To An EMG 81?

  • Thread starter Thread starter angelspade
  • Start date Start date
Wonder if Chuck used a boost before his valvestate. (?) Maybe the compressed highs pf the X2N just blended well with his solid-state rig.
I'm not even sure what he used for speakers. Probably standard 1960 cabs with t75s.
 
RaceU4her said:
the black winter is the muddiest piece of shit pickup i have. none of my passives are like greatness that is the 81
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Those old good strings should be trashed? :)
BW vs. 81? Have them both, I like BW much more.
 
mcstinger said:
Those old good strings should be trashed? :)
BW vs. 81? Have them both, I like BW much more.
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I can understand someone liking the BW, but out of all my passives I’d say it’s the least similar to my 81s, very soft attack and big tubby lows, I actually think it would work well layering with a 81 guitar to round the low end off when the 81 gets almost too tight and I need some glue with the bass
 
There are a few passives with tight, focused low-end that handle down-tuning almost as good as an EMG81;
DiMarzio Evo and Duncan Distortion SH-6 come to mind.
I had a guitar (Schecter C1 Limited) with EMG's, but I couldn't gel with the active sound. Even created these 9V sized contraptions with special batteries in them, to put out 24V, but it wasn't for me. I did like the guitar otherwise, but I sold it and found my ESP Horizon NTII shortly after, with basically the same base specs (string thru body, neck thru, 2x HB, 24 frets, ebony FB...) and enjoy that one much more.
 

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No other pickup I’ve tried really sounds like an EMG81, but I think the best passive pickups I’ve tried to accomplish something similar-ish (and arguably better in many ways) are the original ‘80’s Bill Lawrence 500L’s and ‘70’s/‘80’s Mighty Mites. I like ‘70’s Bill Lawrence L90’s and L100’s even more, but the 500L’s I think are closer in the EMG direction
 
I don't think the BW is much like the 81, TBH. I love it. It's one of my favorite passives. But any passive is going to have more lows and highs than an 81. The BW is also much hotter than the 81. The 81 isn't THAT hot.
 
EyesOfTheSouth! said:
I have experience with EMG 81’s and have BKP Miracle Man and Dimarzio D-Activator in my parts drawer. The closest passive I’ve found to the 81 is a Duncan Skolnick sig. it’s A5, but it rolls the lows and highs off and is dominant in the high mids. Killer pup if you are going for that. I initially loved it and then found it too much for M style amps as my ears adjusted.

I also found the X2N in the ballpark…..but more lows
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Wow, I have never seen anybody recommend the Duncan Skolnick. I figured all the recommendations would be for ceramic magnets. I'm going to look into that one, thank you.
 
Bareknuckle Miracleman is supposed to be a passive replacement for the Emg81. Though I’ve heard painkillers are more comparable to the 81’s.
 
angelspade said:
The Duncan Black Winter sure seems to have a lot of fans here...Keep seeing it mentioned in threads as a winner. Isn't the BK Miracle Man supposed to kinda mimic the EMG sound as well?
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Yep. & The Ragnarock.
 
angelspade said:
Wow, I have never seen anybody recommend the Duncan Skolnick. I figured all the recommendations would be for ceramic magnets. I'm going to look into that one, thank you.
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The Duncan Skolnic is modeled after the JB. Except with tighter bass & a rolled off high end.
 
dave74 said:
Wonder if Chuck used a boost before his valvestate. (?) Maybe the compressed highs pf the X2N just blended well with his solid-state rig.
I'm not even sure what he used for speakers. Probably standard 1960 cabs with t75s.
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He used Marshall Cabs with T75's. I Spoke to him MANY times back in the day since i live in Florida about 3 1/2 hours away from Tampa & used to go to shows all the time when Death Played Locally.
 
Speeddemon said:
There are a few passives with tight, focused low-end that handle down-tuning almost as good as an EMG81;
DiMarzio Evo and Duncan Distortion SH-6 come to mind.
I had a guitar (Schecter C1 Limited) with EMG's, but I couldn't gel with the active sound. Even created these 9V sized contraptions with special batteries in them, to put out 24V, but it wasn't for me. I did like the guitar otherwise, but I sold it and found my ESP Horizon NTII shortly after, with basically the same base specs (string thru body, neck thru, 2x HB, 24 frets, ebony FB...) and enjoy that one much more.
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is this a long form way of saying you switched from a Schecter with EMG's to a ESP Horizon with Seymor Duncan JB in the Bridge?
 
Detroit1973 said:
is this a long form way of saying you switched from a Schecter with EMG's to a ESP Horizon with Seymor Duncan JB in the Bridge?
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Not quite. ;-)

I quickly replaced the JB (and the '59 neck) in that ESP with a Custom 5 bridge and a Screamin' Demon neck.
When it comes to the JB, my experience is hit or miss. In some guitars it works wonders (I had one in a Hamer Californian where it was awesome, and currently have one in my Kramer SM-1), but in others it became screechy and too loose in the low-end.
 
Speeddemon said:
Not quite. ;-)

I quickly replaced the JB (and the '59 neck) in that ESP with a Custom 5 bridge and a Screamin' Demon neck.
When it comes to the JB, my experience is hit or miss. In some guitars it works wonders (I had one in a Hamer Californian where it was awesome, and currently have one in my Kramer SM-1), but in others it became screechy and too loose in the low-end.
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Ok, It's a Long Form version of I had a Guitar with EMG's, Didn't like it & got a guitar with Seymour Duncans.
 
I kinda think the Duncan JB resembles a 81 a little bit, just with a looser low end and is more open sounding, a Duncan Distortion kinda has that compression level of a 81 but has more high end I would say, or sizzle.
 
Every passive has more highs (and lows) than an 81, really.

I've never tried anything like one of those 20KOhms or more passives, tho.

But yeah, the JB does get active-ish because of the compression and mid-focus, I agree. But it's still bassier and treblier than an 81.
 
Detroit1973 said:
Ok, It's a Long Form version of I had a Guitar with EMG's, Didn't like it & got a guitar with Seymour Duncans.
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Any particular reason why you seem to take an issue with my posts? I thought this was a forum where we could share our opinions. Heck, people can even name-drop here. :sneaky:

"I Spoke to him MANY times back in the day since i live in Florida about 3 1/2 hours away from Tampa & used to go to shows all the time when Death Played Locally."
Is this a long form of boasting that you knew Chuck Schuldiner personally? :geek: :p
See how it sounds?
 
anomaly said:
Muddy, the black winter is the opposite of muddy, it's quite bright.
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:dunno: maybe muddy isnt the proper term but the low end is loose, tubby and super soft responding, in my ibanez, certainly nothing like an 81.
 
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