« 81 with some single coil tone to go with it. »

The EMG 81tw is one of the later evolutions of the classic 81 design. Nowadays people are demanding more versatility out of their guitars. Not many people want a one trick pony anymore and the 81 was a one truck pony until now. The 81tw takes the concept EMG introduced with the 89 and puts it in their most popular model. The 81tw is really two pickups in one. Since you cant really split an active pickup EMG literally puts another pickup in the case. With this pickup you get an EMG 81 with an EMG SA in the same pickup case. This essentially gives you humbucker and single coil tones in an active pickup without splitting anything, and these are true single coil tones. With this design you get the classic 81 sound unmolested with true single coil tone. The 81 tone needs no introduction. It has a crushing high end sound that can cut through the thickest gain or the muddiest mix. The 81 has been the benchmark metal pickup since the late 70s. You can put it in just about any guitar and that guitar will instantly turn into a metal machine. Its voice more on the high end so you get a razor sharp sound good for fast riffing. The EMG SA is one of their best single coil models. It has a very fat sound. It is almost like a single coil EMG 85. You still get the single coil twang but with this pickup the twang has some body to it. It is a very cool design. Not many people use active single coils so with this you get a very strong single coil sound. The 81tw gives you both pickups together in the same case. This was a great idea from EMG. Since you cant really split one of their pickups just include 2! If you are an 81 fan but are looking for more versatility in your sound the 81tw was made for you.