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nickname009
Published on 04/12/11 at 20:30
This is the EMG 85! I'd say it's the better of the emg bridge pickups from the original line compared to the 81.
Cleans are thick and rich, with plenty of headroom unlike the 81. good for rhythms
The distortion is where it's at! Unlike the 81 it's got smoother highs, but is still aggressively tight, even though it seems to have more lower mids and bass than the 81 would. It sounds relatively well rounded overall and doesn't seem to matter how much gain you throw at it, it's still tight, even with downtuned guitars. If I had to choose between only active EMG pickups, the 85 would be the one for me for the bridge position.
The only thing it seems to be lacking is a bit of dynamics, it doesn't clean up with the volume, if at all. This seems apparent in all active pickups. Still, though this would be one of the versatile active pickups out there. It sounds good even in the neck! In the neck the cleans are also really good and there's plenty of headroom. on top of that there's a bit of a bounce with the clean. The dirty is also quite smooth but also sort of woody sounding overall, which I like!
I've had the 85 in a lot of guitars and found them to work quite well with nearly every type of guitar as the tone is pretty balanced. Although nowadays I've grown tired of active pickups now and lazier by the day so I've begun going back to passive pickups and I fancy cleaning up the volume on a pickup which, to this day, i have not found in active pickups. They have now begun the X series which I believe is supposed to be act more like a passive pickup but have the hi-fi quality and noiseless feature of an active pickup. I've yet to try them.
Cleans are thick and rich, with plenty of headroom unlike the 81. good for rhythms
The distortion is where it's at! Unlike the 81 it's got smoother highs, but is still aggressively tight, even though it seems to have more lower mids and bass than the 81 would. It sounds relatively well rounded overall and doesn't seem to matter how much gain you throw at it, it's still tight, even with downtuned guitars. If I had to choose between only active EMG pickups, the 85 would be the one for me for the bridge position.
The only thing it seems to be lacking is a bit of dynamics, it doesn't clean up with the volume, if at all. This seems apparent in all active pickups. Still, though this would be one of the versatile active pickups out there. It sounds good even in the neck! In the neck the cleans are also really good and there's plenty of headroom. on top of that there's a bit of a bounce with the clean. The dirty is also quite smooth but also sort of woody sounding overall, which I like!
I've had the 85 in a lot of guitars and found them to work quite well with nearly every type of guitar as the tone is pretty balanced. Although nowadays I've grown tired of active pickups now and lazier by the day so I've begun going back to passive pickups and I fancy cleaning up the volume on a pickup which, to this day, i have not found in active pickups. They have now begun the X series which I believe is supposed to be act more like a passive pickup but have the hi-fi quality and noiseless feature of an active pickup. I've yet to try them.