I should preface this by saying that I tend to play music in a style of classic rock, an overdriven tone, much like AC/DC, Zeppelin, ZZ Top...obviously different, but I would describe my playing within this realm of overdriven tube amp type tones. This is about as distorted as I tend to get and play cleaner stuff as well.

About a year ago I got a heck of a deal on some EMG SA's and although I was hesitant at first, I checked out some David Gilmour stuff with his SA's on youtube and gave them a shot. Well they are by far my favorite pickups I have used in a strat application. I simply find them very musical and the never get muddy when overdriven or a lil distortion is added. I had always pictured myself as very old school up until this point with my instruments.

Now I am mulling over dropping some EMG's into my Epi Les Paul. The problem is that all the reviews and the majority of stuff on youtube etc. tends to be from Metalheads, using dropped down tunings, shredding away.(not that there's anything wrong with that...been there and done it from time to time).

I tried putting this on a Gibson forum but really didn't get much help. The question I am getting to is I am wondering if any bluesy classic rock types out there use EMG HB's in guitars and if you could help with a review for such applications?

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CREDO ELVEM IPSUM ETAIM VIVERE

Nah the HZ's are a passive take on their active humbuckers. Kind of the worst of both worlds affair. You need to steer clear of EMG humbuckers as a classic rock player. The 65/81/89's are horrible clean, the HZ's are nice sounding but muddy up at the slightest sign of drive and dont clear up till your into highgain heaven and have the treble maxed.

For what you want get dimarzio PAF's or BareKnuckles crawlers.

[EDITED first reference HZ's instead of HB's]

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I have a LTD EC-1000 with emg Active 81 84 HB's in it. The cleans are good, but not great. When driven they are REALLY hot! IMO too hot!

I'm actually currently shopping a more vintage (passive) style HB set up to replace them with.

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

I happen to love the EMG active pickups. And I seem to love them even more if I put them down a pickup one of my guitars with passive pickups because Passive just see way too weak after that I have to reset my amp controls, volume is different which is a real pain in the neck in a live situation. I play clean Country, blues, and classic rock with my EMG 81 / 85 and have zero complaints on how they sound and how they perform. I think the cleans are great; yes there a bit darker than a single coil but to my ears that is a good thing. The high pitched strat or tele spanky quaky sound is very annoying to my taste and actually hurts my ear to listen to for very long… I prefer my cleans a bit warmer and smoother and I think the EMG delivers that at least to my taste. The EMG are very responsive to the pots and there are dozens of sounds per pickup by just using the Guitar volume and tone controls; when you start talkin about the Amps EQ’s then you get just that much more on top. Not to mention they deliver any reverb you may be using spectacularly. My tone is kinda very ZZ TOP-ish for the most part but AC/DC –ish sounding as well … I think that is where these p/u’s really shine ( not mentioning Metal because that goes without saying)…But don’t sell the EMG’s short on clean tones at all as they are a very, very versatile Pickups…Yes they are primarily associated with metal music and that has turned off a lot of other players from trying them out but trust me they do many styles of music very, very well. In fact if I did not have to route out wood in my strat’s to install them I would have done it long ago. How I would love to have a strat with an EMG 81 / 85 in it.. though about picking up a dave murry strat and dropping them in but I just cant swing that kinda money right now so im combing the pawn shops looking for a nice used Guitar at a low price that I don’t care if it is routed for humbuckers.
Like any piece of gear it is subjective and your own ear will guide you on if it sounds right for you. All you can do is test drive it and see.

By the way i really need to change the battery in them every few years and i play them every day so in that respect they are trouble free

Cheers
Bill

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(80’s Hair Metal) = A snapshot in time before Grunge ruined Rock & Roll forever!!!!

I LOVE the 81/60 combo. I have 2 guitars w/ that set up (LTD Truckster and Gibson Explorer). I have the LTD FM 400 w/ dual 81s. I'm not crazy about the 81 in the neck position. I have another guitar w/ dual HZs. The clearity and extra power is lacking.

I would suggest you go w/ the 89 (red) since it has the split coil capability. perhaps dual 89s?

What kind of amp do you primarily play through?

Also, I am on the Gibson forum and remember you bringing it up. I apologize for the one guy who said he hates EMGs. He is 15 and really has NO clue what he's talking about. He can't tell you why he hates them or what he actually likes.

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Live guitars: 2009 LTD Truckster, 1989 Strat Plus, 2001 Am Standard Strat, 1996 MIJ Jaguar, 2007 Gibson Explorer 76 reissue, 1999 Ibanez RG7621, LTD MH-301, LTD FM400, 1999 Jackson Kelly, Mystery Les Paul, Hamer Chaparel, Fender FM 62SCE A/E Mandolin

I primarily play through a Hot Rod Deluxe and I think I may have been a little misleading. The majority of stuff I play is cleaner, bluesier stuff but I was trying to give an example of the limits of my distorted range.

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CREDO ELVEM IPSUM ETAIM VIVERE

Yeah see my previous recommendation. They will do what you want, probably better than anything else.

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I was also lookin at SD Pearly Gates...thoughts?

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CREDO ELVEM IPSUM ETAIM VIVERE

nicholsoni , b4 you change the pups on your epi , change the pots, wiring caps , and switches , you'll find the pups arent too bad at all for classic rock , i've just changed the inards of my epi lp and it sounds like a new guitar now , i also removed the cans from the pups , sounds lovely now

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I actually did that a while ago. I undertook the project of turning it into a Jimmy Page tribute guitar, like the one Gibson is selling for 16k or something like that. So wiring it has push/pull pots and a new switch. I just find that when over driven, the sound is gets muddy on the bottom end. What I like to be able to do is play chords and then play individual notes over top and have it all come through.

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CREDO ELVEM IPSUM ETAIM VIVERE

I've consistently found seymour duncans to be bland pickups. Particularly there humbuckers. Plenty of power but nothing about the sound that grabs your attention. Not my cup of tea at all.

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