Which Passive pickup resembles the EMG 81 best???

[guitarslayer]

Hey guys, I use the EMG 81 mainly in my guitars. I'm looking for a passive pickup that best resembles the tonal characteristics and feel of the 81 (tight, fast, heavy) but without the negative aspects that come with activate pickups. I've been looking at the Lundgren M6, Dimarzio D-activator, Duncan Distortion, MotorCity Solution and EMG HZ to name a few. Do you guys have any other suggestions or advice about other pickups I haven't mentioned or what I'm already considering to put up against the 81? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[metalmaniac93]

Some say the BKP Miracle Man and I had one in my Ibanez RG3120. Great pickup and is kinda of close, but more organic and tighter IMO.

 

[guitarslayer]

Some say the BKP Miracle Man and I had one in my Ibanez RG3120. Great pickup and is kinda of close, but more organic and tighter IMO.

Really? Tighter than an 81... I'll take a look at that one.

 

[Code001]

Miracle Man is not tighter than an 81. I've had both side by side. For tightness, nothing really beats an EMG 81.

 

[Ventura]

Miracle Man is not tighter than an 81. I've had both side by side. For tightness, nothing really beats an EMG 81.

EMG is tight, but it's active.

Miracle Mans are the closest thing IMHO when looking at a passive. Tastier sounding too.

 

[Snowblind56]

I found the Motor City Solution to be similar to the BKP Miracle Man.

 

[D-Rock]

Dimarzio Deactivator is real close. I thought they were great in comparison.
HZ is fatter, not as fast or articulate. Big and crunchy, but cloudy too.
Haven't heard anything else that really came close to the 81.

 

[firegate]

Dimarzio D-Activators nail the tight low-end and even freq response, but they're quite a bit hotter than the EMG's

 

[midnightlaundry]

What's negative about actives?

 

[D-Rock]

What's negative about actives?

Common complaints are:
-sterile sound
-overly compressed
-lack of dynamics

I love actives. Non of those things affect my use of them.

 

[midnightlaundry]

What about the X-Series?

 

[D-Rock]

What about the X-Series?

Dunno.
Those, along with the Hetfield set claim to eleviate those problems. Not much experience with those around here.

 

[metalmaniac93]

Miracle Man is not tighter than an 81. I've had both side by side. For tightness, nothing really beats an EMG 81.

I have had both in the same guitar with the same amp settings and the MM was slighty tighter/less compressed and sounded less sterile than the EMG 81.

 

[jkkkjkhk]

What about the X-Series?

I did a comparison of the regular 81 vs the 81X in both the bridge and neck positions. I was pretty disappointed, the difference was so minimal that I didn't find the X series worth even the $5-10 difference. The active tone pot made a bigger difference than anything, and that was only if you actually used the tone pot. At 10 it was almost impossible to hear a difference. You can use the active tone pot for the regular 81 as well so to me the difference between the pickups alone was even smaller.

But I did a comparison of the regular 81 vs the 81X with the active tone pot, and the regular 81 with active tone vs 81X with active tone. Personally IMO it's a waste of $5-10, even for how little money that is.

I'll try to find my link and I'll post it here. I believe I posted it here about a year ago, as well as the duncan forum, dean forum, and mylespaul.

 

[Ventura]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I actually thought the X series was just a marketing spin of practically the same pup. Just sayin'....

What's negative about actives?

Common complaints are:
-sterile sound
-overly compressed
-lack of dynamics

I love actives. Non of those things affect my use of them.

And the fact that reliance on 9V batteries sucks.

YMMV.

 

[midnightlaundry]

And the fact that reliance on 9V batteries sucks.

YMMV.

I don't agree with this. Most guitar players run their line thru a flavor of the month train of horseshit stomp boxes... So having a 9V in the guitar is really irrelevant to me. Besides, nothing compresses and kills pure tube tone more than a stomp box distortion.

That said, I never liked the 81 because it has a constant sheen of grainy treble over your tone that I don't like. I much prefer Alnico V mags. But, I thought the X-Series were an improvement to the point that I sold my regular EMG's. They are still tight and butt quiet, but have a bit more bloom to them.

 

[guitarslayer]

What's negative about actives?

Semi sterile and less mojo (probably due to the compression) overall compared to a hot passive. Don't get me wrong, I love my 81s, its been my pickup of choice for years and still is. I'm just looking for something similar in a passive with a little more mojo, a little less sterilness but retraining the tightness and sharp defined attack, for example like when you want to gallop some riffs and have them hold tight, aggressive and clear with no mush, loose bass or flub.

 

[glassjaw7]

Miracle Man is closest I've heard. I know it's not a big deal for a lot of guys here, but I hate clean sounds with actives. Sounds terrible. But gain-wise, actives can be pretty cool. Not much else like the feeling of chunking away with an 85 in the bridge through a heavy amp. (yeah, I said it-85 )

 

[D-Rock]

Really? I love using my 60 on the clean channel. I'm not a huge clean player, but I have heard many worse pickups for clean. I wouldn't use an 81 for clean, but same can be said for lot's of high output modern bridge pups.
I do want an 85 to mess around with though...

 

[Ventura]

And the fact that reliance on 9V batteries sucks.

YMMV.

I don't agree with this. Most guitar players run their line thru a flavor of the month train of horseshit stomp boxes... So having a 9V in the guitar is really irrelevant to me. Besides, nothing compresses and kills pure tube tone more than a stomp box distortion.

Sure, and this is why I use my stomps exceptionally sparingly, and if ever there are a few of 'em, they're in a loop or two off on their own away from the signal path. I'm anal about stomps - love/hate relationship. I've got a helluva lot of stomps, but on any given day? Delay and verb in the 2 loops of the amp, up front maybe pitch, wah, compressor, tuner, dirt, boost - and these, as mentioned - are isolated in their own loops via the VoodooLabs Pedal Switcher.

I'm off to discuss Dumble and tonewoods on TGP, my Cristal is getting too warm