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EMG 81X

Humbucker guitar pickup from EMG belonging to the X series

3 reviews

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Buy new EMG 81X

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News

EMG X-Series Pickups

EMG has released the X Series, a new line of guitar and bass pickups for all styles of playing, featuring "a more organic nature to their sound due to a newly designed internal preamp," acc…

02/25/09

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4.7/5

(3 reviews)

67 %

(2 reviews)

33 %

(1 review)

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jkessel

Not worth the extra $10 over the regular 81

Published on 04/30/12 at 10:09

Now don't get me wrong, this is still a great pickup but I don't find it necessary to spend the extra $10 over the regular 81, not a big enough difference. I made a few recordings comparing the regular 81 next to the 81x, both in the same guitar, same riff, same setup, everything was exactly identical. I went back and forth between bridge, neck, active tone pot, passive tone pot... There WAS a difference but it was so small that when multitracking or in a whole band setting no one would ever know. Even solo tracked it was still hard to notice.

The active tone pot made the biggest difference, at 10 both pots were the same, but the active pot was more reactive than the passive. You could hear the treble roll off a lot more on the active. The 81x with the passive pot the difference was so small that I actually had to sit and listen to the recording over and over just to hear a difference. With the active pot the X sounded slightly thinner, quieter, and smaller, but not by much. With the passive pot instead the difference pretty much went away. Now I tried the 18v mod as well and it was the same thing. The X series was designed to be like the 18V but even more headroom, but without a second 9v battery. The extra headroom is what made the thinner sound, uncompressed clean tones sound weak and thin. That's why most guitarists run a compression pedal when playing clean.

On high gain the difference was pretty much unnoticeable. So my review is basically on cleans, cause that showed the biggest difference. I still have my A/B recordings if anyone wants to hear them. Feel free to PM me for the link to it. I think most of the hype around this was from people hearing so much about them and wanting to hear a difference so bad that they just believe it's bigger than it is.

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DeathPaupiette

Yay!

Published on 01/20/13 at 07:59

(This content has been automatically translated from French)

I use it since last April, bridge position on my Cort Aero 11 coupled to 60X in the neck position, all on my Blackheart BH15-112, my Peavey Vypyr 15, and Guitar Rig 5. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to try other mics (knowing that the original € 10 was quite moldy).

Talk about clean: clean the EMG is NOT UGLY. The new X series in EMG preamp, which gives more headroom (the rest clean clean) compared to EMG "normal." It is accurate, I use it mainly for imitation sounds country, or funk (although it lacks OOUR slamming the illusion is perfect). Arpeggios it appears rather neutral, it is not its strong point for sure.

OD: A bit dry for my taste, for more rhythmic than the solos.

Distortion: So there ... The reputation of the EMG is more to do at this level, and the 81X is no exception to the rule: ultra precise bass very "tight" pinched harmonics that come without any worry, mediums present. In short, a monstrous power, playing in all courts metalleuses, the Black / Death to the Maiden's heavy. In solos, same accuracy, same reactivity, it slams ...

The +:
-Precision!
Power-
-Versatility
The -:
-A little "dry" in overdrive / crunch moderate
Rather clean-neutral

9, as his friend the 60X.

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djodjonx

EMG 40 and 40 cs-x dc x-Low terrible!

Published on 03/26/12 at 03:08

(This content has been automatically translated from French)

I just bought two EMG for my bass, a 40 x CS-mount Neck and a 40 x DC-mounted on a bridge Ibanez K5 (5 strings).

I used since a week and all the sound is just terrible (much better than the original ibanez.), Each microphone has an own personality with a CS-x with a stamp and a substantial and specific DC-x with a stamp and a sharper attack very pronounced.

Editing is all just childish with the seamless system of emg, there's just he has to follow the instructions. the only downside is the jack that comes with that will not go on all low. For my part I have the volume mounted with a microphone with a bridge for both allowing a good mix, but lots of different config effort.

Level for money you can go there eyes closed even if the microphone is 95th, advise anyone looking for a sound has the steeve harris or david effleson.

The kit contains a microphone, a jack, a volume knob, one tone knob, a circuit to connect it all seamless with all necessary cables and a plug for 9v drumkit.

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