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EMG 81
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EMG 81

Humbucker guitar pickup from EMG belonging to the Active series

wwhhhaatt wwhhhaatt

« One trick pony »

Published on 06/24/11 at 08:05
Features- 9 volt active pickup which requires proprietary electronics to properly install.
Includes pots for volume and tone as well as A battery snap and quick connect cables.

Guitars used for evaluation- Esp Stephen carpenter 6 string- Alder/mahogany body, maple neck, ebony fret board, tom bridge
Carvin DC127- Alder/mahogany body, maple neck through, ebony fret board, floyd rose bridge
Epiphone LP- Mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood fret board, TOM bridge

I have tried this pickup in a variety of guitar with different woods and still got pretty much the same results. It's probably a cliche to say at this point but I really feel like this pickup sterilizes your guitar. It made my ESP SC6 and old Epiphone LP sound very similar and those two guitars couldn't be farther apart in terms of construction. It's not a bad pickup in fact I would almost say it is a great pickup for guitars that don't have the best of woods and construction. It can pretty much make any cheap guitar suitable for metal, especially modern metal. After having these in my cheaper guitars I pretty much swore by them for years even putting them in the nicer guitars I started buying. It wasn't until I really set out to try new passives that I realized what I was missing by using these exclusively. It's a stiff sound that stays tight and consistent which is great when just pummeling through power chords with a super saturated amp but they lack character. I did not get the dynamics of a good passive pickup. They are also touted for their low noise but I have not experienced any more noise since switching to passives. In my guitars I have switched to Anderson, bare knuckle, Duncans and, unless I do something silly like get an 8 string, I don't see myself going back