EMG 81

active hum bucker.

What model guitar or bass did you install this in?
This pickup came in my ESP LTD KH-603.

What position is it in?
It is in both the neck and bridge positions.

What pickup are you replacing?
My guitar came with it, I did not replace any pickups for this.

Other pickups installed on the instrument?
None.

Any artists using this pickup?
Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Chad Kroeger, Kerry King, Michael Paget, Matthew Tuck, Michael Angelo Batio, Zakk Wylde, and hundreds more.

Reason for changing the pickup?
Came with the guitar.

What's the output level like?
This thing is HOT HOT HOT, I had high expectations for this pickup and it blew me away and still blows me away every time I use my guitar.

What amps and effects are you using it with?
My guitar goes into my Boss GT-6 which on every channel has at least chorus, delay and reverb, and individually includes, distortion or acoustic simulator. The pedal either goes straight into a crown amp and into the PA or straight into my Marshall AVT 150H and used as just a booster.

Tone - Bassy, middy, muddy, trebly, balanced?
This really depends on what your EQ settings are, I have gotten muddy tones from it but that is because the EQ on my pedal was shit on the preset, my custom EQ is always scooped and it sounds really clean, the palm mutes are pretty chunky, the highs are really noticeable but aren't annoying or painful. I would say it's a decently balanced pickup.

What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?
I play melodic death metal, metal core, progressive metal, heavy metal, and pop punk. on my metal side I'm usually in drop C or D standard and I haven't tried it yet with these pickups in that tuning yet because of the floyd rose and I play this guitar with my band and we have practice every other day so ya, so I can't really say much for that tuning but I have played these pickups on an ESP KH-2 and it was damn near perfection. for my punk side we play pop punk (Greenday, Bowling For Soup, etc.) and even on the acoustic simulator, as long as you roll the volume back like the guy a few reviews down said, it can pass of as acoustic.

For which positions is this pickup (un)suitable?
I use this pickup in both positions and in both spots they are fine, for my rhythm I play on the bridge and it gives me good bass but it's more on the trebly side and I prefer that, for my leads, acoustic, and clean I play on the neck pickup and it makes it REALLY bassy and again it's something I prefer.

If it was destroyed or stolen, would you buy it again or get something else?
First of all why would it be stolen? it's screwed into the guitar and no I wouldn't get something else, I've tried a lot of other pickups but I find this to be the most versatile to my ears.

How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?
I have only been playing for 3 years but I can do things on a guitar most people learn in their 5th and 6th years at the very least. I also own an Epiphone Les Paul Special II and it's only backup, let's leave it at that, a Samick Greg Bennett Malibu guitar aka my 'Shat' strat which Idon't use anymore, a Boss GT-6 for my effects, a Marshall avt 150h amp head and a Crate 4X12 loaded with Celestion vintage 30's.

What do you love about it? What do you hate?
It is a very versatile pickup and it has all the power I need and more, the thing I don't like about it is that in the studio since we are so close to the amps, if I don't stand right I get some bad feedback but if i stand right it is the quietest pickup I have ever tried.

Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?
I didn't really compare it with other pickups when I bought the guitar but I have tried other pickups and compared it to the EMG 81's and I still prefer the EMG's.

Anything you wish it had?
Not really, it's a pickup, it has all the things it needs.

Are you satisfied with this pickup or still searching for <b>that</b> sound?
I'm satisfied with my sound from these pickups as is. I've looked into ordering a custom guitar from ESP, Jackson, Ibanez, and more and every time I lean towards the EMG 81's.

Anything else you'd like to share?
Overall this a very decent pickup for just about any application, however that is all based on opinion so try the pickups out for yourself before making the decision to buy these.

EMG-81 Active Humbucker...the rest you should know or you wouldn't be here.

I installed a Kerry King set (81 at the bridge, 85 at the neck, and the pre.) in a BC Rich Platinum Pro Beast. This was to replace the stock BDSM pups.

I play mostly Metal, thrash/power. I plug into a 6505 atop a Randall 4x12 cab. I don't use any effects, except the occassional Crybaby, or Flanger. For Raw Thrash, these things are KILLER! When I practice alone, I also toy around with other styles, hard rock, 80s metal, some classic rock, and rock'n'blues. This loaded beast is the only guitar I use, I have others, but ONLY play this guitar. If you make use of the knob thats on the bottom of your guitar, just under your strings, slightly left of the bridge, then this pickup is VERY versatile. The 81 has killer sustain, harmonics, and if you play with feedback, it allows you to control that feedback, and whammy it, shape it to your heart's desire. If set right. These pups have a sweet spot on height.

If this pickup was stolen, I would definitely buy it again. I've been playing on/off for over 15years. I have played around with several different pickups: BDSM, Duncan, DiMarzio, Lace and out of all of these, these pups sound the best for what I play, Loud, High-Gain, Raw, Thrash! But as I said, if you use your volume knob, you can acheive Awesome tones in virtually Any style of music. Cannot comment on Country/Bluegrass/Gospel/Pop/Classical/Funk/Rap/R&B as I do not play these styles of music. I would recommend going to your local guitar store and playing a guitar loaded with these to see if you like them, some stores have a room/area you can take an amp to try out something. Just have someone check the battery, or your not going to be impressed. Battery life on these, with a Duracell, or Energizer is surprisingly good though, so no worries there.

Humbucking active pickup.

The EMG 81 came stock in the Schecter hellraiser c1 along with an 85.

Used in the neck position.

This pickup is used by Metallica, Zakk Wylde, Kerry King and many various metal players.

For a start the output on this pickup can only be decribed as hot!
I use it through a Mesa Boogie dual rectifier and occasionally through my little cube 30.

This pickup sounds best when played with high gain settings. This pickup absolutely screams when playing leads. The sound this thing puts out is amazing.

I find the tone to be fairly bassy but with a real tone bite to it.

I play Metal, hard rock, alternative, post hardcore and jazz. This pickup suits everything but jazz but thats what the 85 is for.

The pickup is bridge on my guitar. I have heard of people that install two EMG 81s on their guitars. I assume it sounds decent as a Neck pickup...

Amazing sound but theres always room for improvement.

If this pickup was destroyed or stolen I would definitely install it on one of my several guitars or buy another with it. I would probably try the Seymour Duncan blackouts.

I have been playing 8 years I have owned lots of guitars over the years but currently I only own A Gibson SG, a Schecter hellraiser (Amazing guitar btw) a mexican telecaster and an Ibanez RG.

I love the sound it blew me away. It even sounds great through small practice amps.

Definitely has an amazing sound but I will always be looking for different sounds.

Being a very curious person I tested what it sounds like without a battery in it. The sound it very weak but that all changes when you put in the 9V battery...

9 volt humbucking pickup for guitar. Has a built-in preamp.

In terms of output, it is medium to high.

I've tried a lot of different pickups. My points of reference: PAF-style p/u's are low-output, pickups like the Dimarzio Blaze and Seymour Duncan JB are medium-output, p/u's such as Seymour Duncan Distortions or Dimarzio Super Distortions are high output, and p/u's like the Seymour Duncan Dimebucker and Dimarzio X2N are extreme-output.

This particular 81 is in the bridge position of an Ibanez MMM1 Mike Mushok signature guitar. This axe is heavily customized... the neck p/u has been removed and filled in, the p/u switch and tone control are gone, and it is equipped with Schaller locking tuners and straplocks.

This pickup replaced a "Super '58" covered humbucker. I never had the pleasure of playing the guitar with the original pickups.

Lots of artists use this pickup. Grab the metal yellow pages and flip to a random page. That guitarist probably uses an EMG 81/85 set.

It has a built-in preamp. The EQ curve has a sharp spike in the mids. Fairly balanced highs and lows.

Has a distinct midrange grind in a mahogany guitar. Very djenty and percussive.

I play a Fender MH500 through cabs loaded with Celestion 100w V30s.

I plug straight into the amp. No effects between the axe and the
head! (a few in the loop , tho)

I play metal. Lots of tremolo picking, palm-muting, power-chords, and harmonics both natural and artificial.

The EMG 81 has very recognizable mids. I play with flat EQ settings (5,5,5) and I like the djentiness and in-your-face grind of the EMG 81. I also play an Ibby with PAF7's. The tones are worlds apart.

High-gain tones destroy, "classic" overdriven tones are unconvincing, and clean tones are kinda harsh and brittle. Definitely make use of your volume (and tone) controls.

I tend to play solely with high gain. I play the occasional clean part, and the 81 handles that well enough.

I would be willing a try a Seymour Duncan Blackout (AHB-1) if the EMG 81 was somehow ripped out of my guitar :P

I love the surgical precision of the EMG 81 under high-gain. It has a lot of natural compression, which takes a lot of the unusable "grit" out of my distorted tone. Power chords, even when tuned very low (I play in A# Standard) are very clear and punchy.

Nothing I hate about this pickup. Clean and overdriven tones are not what the EMG 81 was intended for.

I gutted a Epiphone Les Paul Custom and put this and an 89 in it. I have the splitable version (TW).

The out put is strong but not overbearing. It is not like a passive pickup (which historically I prefer) where if you have a hot pickup that has nice harmonics and dynamics, you also have a pickup that sounds dull and terrible clean - no sparkle or high end clarity (this is my pet peave with high output passive pups). This pickup has changed my mind about active pickups. In the past, the ones I have used have seemed a little dead and w/o a lot of individual character. This pickup is great. Very dynamic, but controlable. I can hear the Les Paul tone, characteristic of maple and mahogany - so this pickup takes on the coloration of the body wood. But, the cool thing is you can get a good clean tone, even in the humbucker mode. When you turn down the volume it doesn't kill all the highs, but acts almost like a gain knob, just knocking down some of the output while retaining the tone - very usable, even w/o splitting it. When in single coil mode it works well to ball park an out of phase sound with the 89 in single mode as well. There is a big drop off in output and the amp vol. needs to be adjusted most of the time to compensate. It certainly doesn't sound as good as my Strat, but it can work in a pinch in a live situation where you don't want to change guitars. This is a great, dynamic, versatile, pickup - more so than high output passive pickups that generally sound like crap when played clean. I'm sold and it ain't coming out of the guitar anytime soon.

I've heard some people say Les Pauls are versatile. I disagree. I sold my Gibson Les Paul, because I was always switching between guitars to get a good clean sound. You either had to set up your amp to play a good distorted sound or set it up play a good clean sound and it was difficult to pull any sparkle or clarity out of the clean sound even when you worked at it. (I play through a Mesa Boogie Triaxis midi preamp and can set up channels however I want and still struggled to get a decent clean sound out of my Gibson Les Paul.) With the Epi Les Paul I had no problem gutting it and putting in the EMG's. And to be honest, I have been very pleasantly surprised with how versatile and dynamic the sounds are, and with it being splitable, I can even fake a halfway decent Strat sound. I am not a metal head, but it can rock with the best of them, but unlike hot passive pickups, it cleans up well too. I play this guitar the majority of the time, now.

Passive humbucker for the lead guitarist, so it has fairly high output. Completely black with the little "EMG" logo on it.

Came on an old Jackson DKMG I had. Didn't like it, and this neck pickup is a bit why. I'll get to that in a second though.

It was paired with an 85, but I don't do rhythm, how do you say? It is a very quiet pickup, handled distortion, and could tolerate very high gain and volume without picking up too much hum, which was nice. It was definitely made for playing at high gain at a live performance.

Now here's the bad part, this pickup sounds...well not like garbage but...dead. Once you play with one for a few minutes, monkey with the pickup height and the tone/volume knobs, no matter what, you're still gonna have that deathly bland taste in your mouth. This pickup is like the zombie version of a passive, dead but alive. Just...no personality, at all. Just what you think a guitar should sound like, driven or clean. I was actually very disappointed to hear the oh-so-famous EMG 81.

The clean sound this pickup got had no personality either. Not round, not warm, not fat, not weak, not ANYTHING. Just...there. It did sound a LITTLE better driven though, a little warmer, but was still pretty bland.

Since I traded the old Dinky back in for my Strat, that's a fairly good sign there that I'd never shoot for this pickup EVER again. I've been playing for a year now, but I know a good guitar when I hear one, and a guitar with the EMG 81 in it is NOT a good sound.

This pickup was meant to be stuck in a guitar that was built for ONLY playing live and for metal. It sounded better driven than it did clean by a longshot.

You know the specs or you wouldn't be reading this. A rail-magnet hot active humbucker. Low impedance output.

Bridge position of a Jackson RR1. I have an EMG 85 in the neck (my rants on the Volume knob also apply to the 85 and all other EMG pickups). I also have a PA-2 and EXG installed on this, and I have had this wired for both 9V and 18V setups. Currently I have it wired for 18V which to my ears does improve the sound of this pickup a wee bit...I'd recommend that mod to you if you can do it, but the pickup sounds great in either 9 or 18V config.

READ THIS!!!!!

Okay, here is the gig with EMG pickups people...and some other reviewers on here have stated this as well, but this importance of this can not be overstated- USE THE VOLUME KNOB!! People bash the cleans of this (and other EMG) pickup(s) without fully realizing their potential through changes in the volume knob. At '10' it is LOUD and extremely hot- exactly what it should be. However if you roll it down to say '6' or '7' you're going to be in more of a hot passive pickup zone. I often play distorted tones with the volume at 2.5 (yes, 2.5), which sounds GREAT. Turning the volume down also does wonders for clean tones- again this is applicable to ALL EMG pickups. There are so few of us guitarists that actually know what a volume knob is for...it's time to develop some maturity in your skill here my brothers and sisters- use that volume knob!!! :)

Overall, withOUT any volume knob tweakability, i'd give this an 8, because it's sold as a lead pickup, and it is a fantastic, hot lead pickup- however the added versatility delivered with manipulating the volume knob without question gives this a 10- extremely viable and useful tones for virtually any style can be pulled from this baby- but USE THAT VOLUME KNOB!!!! :)

Its an active humbucker...not much else to it.

Was already installed in a Jackson DKMG I once owned.

What it like? Whats it like??? Its boring! There's no zing or personality to it. Its just a pickup. Sure it sounds better than something from a Squier Strat Pack or something like that, but dang, there is NO personality. No matter how you monkey with it, lowering it, raising it, mixing it with another pup, its BORING. It makes your guitar sound like everybody else's. Yuck.

I traded in the guitar this pup was set in for a Mexican Fender Stratocaster. I got a better bang for the buck for the Strat. The std. Strat pups had a LOT more personality and tone that was much fuller and powerful than the 81. Sure, the 81 is a lead pickup, but I'd rather play with a single Telecaster pup than I would the 81.

Unless you just like a Zakk Wylde or Slayer kinda sound, then this pickup is for you. Otherwise, the pickup itself has no real personality or even its own distinctive tone.

Active Humbucker

I replaced the stock Ibanez V8 in my Ibanez RG470XL With the EMG-81
in the bridge position.
my guitar is Tuned to drop C.
I changed to this pick up to get a more aggresive sound.
Bands that use this pick up include.
Chimiaria..Machine Head..Metalica..ETC..

The output level is high.
I am using a Peavey 6505 Head with a marshall cab.
My guitar i tuned to drop C (Low CGCFAD High)
I am in a hardchore metal band, and my amp only ever see's the dirty channel.
For the kind of music i play and the tuning and amp i use the pickup is perfect.
I dont play any other kinds of music so i cant comment on the versitilty of this pickup.

If i lost my guitar i would get another with this pickup in it.
I have been playing on and off for 15 years. I know what i like, and i like this pickup.
The only thing i dont like about this pickup is the price

Active humbucker. Very high output.

I installed this on a ESP/LTD M-200 guitar in the bridge position. I replaced a crappy duncan designed pickup with this EMG. The other pickup is a EMG 85. Artists using this pickup are Kirk Hammett, Zakk Wylde and Bj??rn from In Flames among others. I changed the pickup because I like ZW and Hammett's lead sound and have read that it has a very good tone with tight bass and a fat top end and quick attack which is great when you play fast.

The output is very high. It can push a clean amp into overdrive if you play hard but if you turn down the volume knob it is very clean and sounds a bit like a vintage clean sound. You can get more distortion on a lead channel with EMG's than other pickups. I think the tone is balanced. Lots of mids and treble and when playing palm muted riffs you get a t??ght and punchy bass. I play rock and metal and it fits very good. It suits fine in all positions but I wanted a fatter sound with a bit more bass in the neck so I put a 85 there. I have tried to put it in the neck position and it sounds great, have actually a great clean sound!

If it got stolen I would be surprised that they didn't take the guitar and only the pickup :-). If my guitar got stolen I would get a new guitar with EMG's because I don't like passive pickups like DiMarzios and Seymour Duncans. I don't hate anything about it. Everything is great. If you would like to hear how this pickup sound I recommend you to visit my myspace at
www.myspace.com/peterholmgren
where you can listen to some instrumental stuff played on a 30 Watt 10" Marshall with a DOD YJM overdrive in front of it.