EMG 81

Pickup features: Active Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: Shit, I don't know...

Model of guitar or bass: Ibanez h/s/h Copper flake finish
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Ibanez V8
Other pickups on guitar: Emg 85, Ibanez S1
Artists using this pickup: Shitloads
You musical style(s): Metal
Reason for pickup change: Bought them for a guitar I was making. When it fell apart I put the pickups in the Ibanez.

Perceived output level: Way more output than stock pickups.
Tone: Trebly in the bridge, but middy if I turn down the tone knob.
Sonic evaluation: Through A 200-Wat Carvin amp alone it gets great distortion. Throught a Toneworks GNX3 it sounds outstanding.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This pickup is great for metal, but it gets a descent clean tone when treble is boosted.

Comments: This is the ultimate pickup for metal and is better than most for any style of music. I have stopped searching for the best metal pickup.

Pickup features: Active humbucker
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Ibanex RG270B
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Stock Ibanez Passive
Other pickups on guitar: EMG 85
Artists using this pickup: Lead metal players
You musical style(s): Hardcore, Metalcore
Reason for pickup change: I wanted a hotter, crunchier sounding palm mute.

Perceived output level: It's an active pickup - meaning it's really, really, really high output.
Tone: This pick-up is all crunch, no definition. The bottom end sounds like shit. The top end is nu-metal hiss. The middle is nonexistant.
Sonic evaluation: Really the stock passive Ibanez pickups put these EMGs to shame. I'm running my Ibanez RG270 through a Peavey 5150 with Electro-Harmonix tubes and a Mesa Rectofier Traditional 4x12 cabinet. I really, really, don't like the pickups for ANYTHING. They just don't sound right. The attack is absolutely awful sounding. I think that's what ruins it for me, it sounds like a amazingly high output single coil. It sounds like I'm playing slap bass on my guitar almost. That's how bad the attack is. If I could somehow kill that attack it wouldn't be so bad. It sounds downright spongy.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play hardcore and metalcore. No, not a good match AT ALL. The EMG 85 is a little better is you like sounding like eighteen visions. This pickup is unsuitable for pretty much every position, but most people run it in the bridge.

Comments: If it were destroyed or stolen I would probably buy a set of passive pickups or stick my old Ibanex pups back in.
I've been playing for about 5 years now, I own a bunch of junk that doesn't really matter.
The thing I love about this pickup? It looks really slick. What do I hate? How it makes me sound like I'm playing Slipknot covers with a slap bass. It really sounds terrible.
I wish it had better tone. I'm not satisfied at all.
Anything else I'd like to share? Well, I hate this pickup. HATE. It's no good, trust me, it sounds like crap.

Pickup features: Humbucker
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Jackson Dinky Reverse, Jackson Rhodes Pro, ESP eclipse custom
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: EMG-HZ in the Jackson Dinky, Jackson stock in the Rhodes, pickups came stocked in the ESP
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Thrash metal/ hardcore/ crossover
Reason for pickup change: I wasn't getting the sound i wanted out of the EMG HZ. They weren't hot enough. The Jackson stock pickups in the Rhodes were shot.

Perceived output level: The output level was much hotter than the emg-hz and the jackson stocks in the rhodes.
Tone: The Emg 81 really beefed up my sound. It gave me a nice tight bottom end crunch and more kick to my highs.
Sonic evaluation: Right now I am using mainly the ESP eclipse w/ emg81's in the neck and bridge through a marshall TSL half-stack. The Jackson dinky is my backup. The rhodes was basically old and broken down so I figured id fix it up and throw in an 81 and try and ressurect it. It sounds like a completely different guitar. It really made a huge difference. The first time i showed up to practice after i put the emg's in my first Jackson, my bass player asked me if i had set my amp differently because my guitar has sounded fuller and had a tighter bottom end. Thats when i really first noticed the difference between the active and the passives when i had my amp cranked. After that i bought the eclpise with the emg's stocked and put them in my rhodes. From now on all my guitars will have them in it. They really won me over. I had a gibson Iommi put in my strat a few years ago, but it never completely made me happy like the emg's have.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: In my guitars with the EMG's i play mostly thrash metal (no nu-metal garbage). i also play other styles with the eclipse that has one in the neck and it sounds great as well. It should suit most styles pretty well

Comments: If it were destroyed or stolen I would totally get another one. I am sold on these pickups from now on. I have been playing for 10 years and these are the best pickups i have used. I resisted buying actives for years, i wish i would have gotten them sooner. Great pickups, well worth the money!

Pickup features: Humbucker Active pickup
Impedence or other specs: loud

Model of guitar or bass: Dxmg Jackson guitar
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: stock emg hz
Other pickups on guitar: Emg 60
Artists using this pickup: Metal Gods..........
You musical style(s): metal, jazz, classical, blues
Reason for pickup change: My Reason for the pickup change, well the ones that came in the guitar were stock Emg-hz. they sounded good but it wasn't loud enough.

Perceived output level: These Emg 81 pickups are well made they sound Amazing
Tone: The tone is clear, balanced, smooth distortion. crunchy heavy palm mutes just like metallica I can see why the metallica boys use this pickup. When you crank you amps full blast these pickup sound clear and thunderous.
Sonic evaluation: my guitar is hooked up to 6 Marshall full stacks hooked together with a eq system. and wireless cable. with effects. when its cranked its loud as can be. The 81 pickups are just as loud as the Duncan heavy metal live wire pickups.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Heavy F@#$##@ Metal Man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comments: If these pickups were stolen I would buy 30 more of them.
The Emg 81s are a lot better than the Duncan live wire metal pickup.
The duncan live wire metal pickup is for rythm players only. If you have the 81s you can Play rythm and solo parts Live and they sound Awesome.

Pickup features: active humbucker
Impedence or other specs: go to emg.com

Model of guitar or bass: guitar
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Stock Ibanez
Other pickups on guitar: disengaged stock ibanez on neck
Artists using this pickup: Zakk Wyle, Kirk Hammet
You musical style(s): all types of metal
Reason for pickup change: Ibanez pickups were shit

Perceived output level: This pickup is extremely hot and has very high output. It is on the verge of crunchy on my clean.
Tone: a little trebly....but not too much...Just perfect. Has the added distortion from the high output, and way more clarity than my old pickups. I can actually hear the notes when I palm mute in dropped c. Has great secitivity to the notes. you can hammer on pull of the whole is that's your style. Has great sustain.
Sonic evaluation: I'm going through an Ibanez GAX, to a original crybaby wah, to an Ibanez smashbox, to a fender deluxe 112. It has great sound. It's still the same tone....but better definded through the amp. Keeps clarity no matter how much distion. I play everything from metallica and megadeth, to godsmack and mudvayne, to Zakk Wyle and Dime. This suites my every need. A freaken wall of distortion. I was thinking about puting an afterburner on it before I bought it...but i don't think I need it, that's how sensitive it is. Make sure you put it as close to the stings as possible. I get the freaken greatest fade to black solo sound if I turn my crybaby on, rock it all the way bass side, and leave it and solo away.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: bridge, great metal pickup

Comments: It's a great pickup, perfect for you metal heads out there. I've been playing every day for ten years..and this is as good as it gets. I also got a nice price on it too...so I'm completely satisfied. Installed it myself, not too hard. I would recamend it to anyone, the best $80 you can spend on you guitar.

Pickup features: Active Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: ?

Model of guitar or bass: BC Rich N.J Ironbird
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Stock
Other pickups on guitar: Stock
Artists using this pickup: Everybody (which is shame)
You musical style(s): Metal
Reason for pickup change: Wanted better pickup than BC Rich stock...

Perceived output level: Not as hot that I've heard. In fact EMG-81 is pure shit compared to SD LiveWire Metal humbucker!!!
Tone: Tredly... The pickup has too thin sound. I wanted something with crunchy palm mutes and dark bassy sound, but no!
Sonic evaluation: Laney amps.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I Play Black- and Deathmetal like Immortal, Dark Funeral, In Flames, Dimmu Borgir etc. This pickup is a metal pickup, but still I'm very disappointed with the sound.

Comments: If somebody would stole it, I would get a Seymour Duncan LW Metal humbucker which kicks the living shit out of this!! GET LIVEWIRE METAL HUMBUCKER!!! It's MUCH better than this piece of shit!

Pickup features: Active Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: Dunno....lol....

Model of guitar or bass: Jackson USA Custom Randy Rhoads 1
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: stock Seymour Duncan TB-4
Other pickups on guitar: EMG 60 (neck) / EMG Afterburner / EMG-EXP Expander
Artists using this pickup: Hetfield, Zakk Wylde, etc...
You musical style(s): Heavy Rock
Reason for pickup change: I wanted something with more sensitivity, harmonics, heaviness, etc. The duncans weren't hot enough.

Perceived output level: High Output
Tone: Balanced. I'm very happy. The only time I get some mud is if I have the afterburner cranked...so I just back off a little...cranked it's a little too much anyways..
Sonic evaluation: I've been playing through my Jackson and Marshall JCM 900 "Hi-Gain Dual Reverb" head since '97 I think. My signal chain goes like this: guitar-->boss TU-2 tuner-->Morley Bad Horsie Wah-->Amp. In the effect loop I use a boss dd-5 delay and a boss ch-1 super chorus. I am one of those "tube amp" kind of guys (always use the amp's distortion and clean, etc) and I like to keep everything simple. Anyways, I used the stock pickups (Duncan SH-2 jazz <neck>, Duncan TB-4 trembucker <bridge>) all these years and when I finally had some extra cash I decided I wanted to change my pickups. I was looking to get more of a massive crunch through my Marshall, etc. I don't know if that happened much (basically Marshalls and their valves always sound like Marshalls), but I instantly turned into Zakk Wylde with my leads! lol. I got all that super sustain and crazy harmonics and awesome hammer-on sensitivity. Pretty much you can let your fingers fly around the fretboard and don't have to pick as many notes for them to be heard. This rocks. Fingertapping sounded good on the 1st and 2nd strings, not as good on the 3rd string as with my old trembuckers...got a tad muddy. But I was able to clean it up some with my technique. The cleans on the 81 sounded great (I'm a marshall-clean type of guy); even more lush on the 60 in the neck. The cleans are much better than the Duncan TB-4. However, without my EMG Afterburner engaged, everything gets a little bit duller sounding and less sensitive...I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this addition.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This is a great match for just about anything I could dream up. Works well for me.

Comments: This is a great match for just about anything. With the 81/60 combination, I get Zakk Wylde, I get SRV, I get Hendrix, Gilmour, etc, you name it. What it DOESN'T do is instantly give you James Hetfield's TriAxis Boogie heaviness. If you want that, get THAT AMP. Basically your amp tones stay the same, different pickups just help you get more out of it. And it REALLY helps if you're a decent player because the magic happens with your hands...these pickups just give it that added boost and sensitivity so it makes things happen MUCH easier! There are other products out there...Duncan makes a Live Wire Heavy Metal pickup which I think is the hottest one on the market, but I didn't want to expand the cavity in my guitar to hold an extra battery! So I don't know how these may sound...I'm betting much sicker than the EMG's. Anyways, to make sure I had gained out everything, I threw on an EMG afterburner to give it a some more boost. This helped with all the harmonics and sensitivity. As I said before, I am happy with the sound and would never see the need to spend hundreds of dollars to change pickups again. Do they sound processed? Probably a little. Does it matter for my style or ear...NO!!!! And I'm a purist freak. Basically, you know what humbucking pickups sound like, and you get that with more sensitivity and gain. I want to get a 7 stringer in the future and hope the 707's sound as nice as these do. Well done EMG!

Pickup features: A humbucking ACTIVE
Impedence or other specs: ACTIVE=NEEDS A BATTERY(but thats a good thing), Low impedence

Model of guitar or bass: RG270
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Stock
Other pickups on guitar: middle: SD hotrail neck: Dimarzio Evolution....passive pickups
Artists using this pickup: Hammet, Wylde, and pretty much anyother metal guitarist you can think of
You musical style(s): Extreme Metal, Particularly in the style that albany, ny creates it.
Reason for pickup change: Well im a gearhead, and every guitar i own must be Fucking jacked! Also the EMGactives were the only high output pickups i have not installed, so i figured i just had to give it a try on my RG.

Perceived output level: extremly high and clear. it's like having a fernandes sustainer with the sweet spots always on with the harmonic switch, For those who may relate.
Tone: i would say it is the best well balanced high output pickup ive played. and i own a sh-6, invader, and X2N(all bridge pickups)
Sonic evaluation: Randall Cyclone head, through the cheaper Marshall cab. And like i said, this pickup is installed in my Ibanez Rg270.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Many styles, such as classic badass rock(Zep, Sabbath and so on), and all kinds of "shred" metal, whatever metal it is, its gotta be SHRED and be technical. Im not sure how this pickup would sound in the neck, but kirk hammet has it installed there, so it must splice rather well.

Comments: In the un-godly instance of the pickup being gone, i would buy another one, because this pickup is just way too cool. Here's the deal, if you are looking at this than you are probly thinking about purchasing one....BUy IT! Its the best pickup i have played, period. Ive been playing since i was 11 years old, now im dawning on the age of 20. Through everything i have tried..this is the best overall pickup i have played through, What i currently own, is a fernandes retrorocket with a X2N, a Fender Strat with a invader, and a ESP m252 with a Duncan distortion. So its fair to say when it comes to high output pickups...not only have i heard them all, but i pretty much own them all. It is extremely obvious why Zakk Wylde and hammet use these pickups, and you'll see what im talking about when you play through them. However for the people out there that install their own pickups and are looking to start going active, there's some things you should know. The EMG's are low impedence, which gives its ability for the amzing clear output, but this means they have to be connected to 25k pots, as aposed to 250k-500k pots that passive pickups must use. so there is a problem if you plan on splicing the two. If you wire the passive pickups, say neck, and middle, with a emg in the bridge...the passives are going to sound like shit and barely be noticeble. NOT COOL. and if you use 250k or 500k pots, you'll kill the emg. So i didnt find this out until i was checking the wiring diagrams at emg's website, and then noticed a FAQ question about mixing the two. So before you buy one of these, take that into consideration...what i plan on doing is installing a EMG afterburner, and then maybe buying a seymour duncan pickup booster pedal. If that does not help my situation, than more than likely ill buy a emg neck and middle for my RG, and then transfer my evolution neck, and hotrail middle to another guitar. Now if you are maybe thinking twice about going active, a pickup that comes the absolute closest in quality of output mixed with clearity, for technical metal...would be the seymour duncan sh-6, the invader is a great choice too believe it or not, however your sacraficing very little clearity with the higher output, but either way its some brutal shit. ROCK ON!

Pickup features: Active Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: ???

Model of guitar or bass: Ibanez RG something or another.
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Crap Ibanez pickups that came with the guitar
Other pickups on guitar: EMG-60(neck)
Artists using this pickup: Metallica and musicians better than them.
You musical style(s): Doom/Sludge and Grindcore
Reason for pickup change: Needed better pickups.

Perceived output level: More output than the stock pickups I replaced but not by leaps and bounds.
Tone: Well balanced for my setup.
Sonic evaluation: Ibanez RG through several distortion pedals and EQs out of various different heads and amps. I live in Japan so all the amps I use are what the practice studios and clubs have in supply.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play "earth aging slowly" drone doom to noisy grindcore. This pickup is ideal for both styles.

Comments: If this thing was lost, stolen or destroyed(most likely of the three) I'd replace it instantly. My only gripe is with all the soldering and drill work I had to do to get the things installed. I couldn't use the jack that came with the EMG since it was too short for my Ibanez but luckily I was able to solder the battery to the jack I had already. Distance between the tone and volume pots was too short too and I didn't feel like extending the distance so I drilled a new hole for one of them. Works good since I was able to put a separate tone for my neck EMG-60 in the vacant hole.
I tune waaaaaay too low for a 6 string guitar(Low G) and use heavy gauge strings so I needed something to pick up the low frequencies enough so as not to be a muddy mess. The EMG does this perfectly. I also distort my sound to the point that it's a cacophony of noise and where before notes had difficulty being heard above the droning chaos they now rise through it while not destroying the shit awful sound I've cultured over the past 10 years. This thing is amazing. I've tried quite a few pickups, both active and passive, and the EMG is by far the best I've used. For a harsh, fucked up sound this is the pickup.

Pickup features: Active humbucking pickup
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Ibanez RG 270
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: stock
Other pickups on guitar: emg 85
Artists using this pickup: U know
You musical style(s): Metal rulez
Reason for pickup change: stock pickups made alot of noise and were sucks

Perceived output level: the pickup issss hotttt it has powerrrr
Tone: balanced - its very good for metal solos if u pick a tone it last for atlist 10 secondes and thats on clean!!!
Sonic evaluation: i am using this setup:
ibanez RG270 ----> zoom 505II -----> ibanez dt7 -----> washburn amp 45W
my amp is vintage from england ( from marshall days)
its not vulve buy its still rocks!!!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: i play metal shit and this is the pickup for me

Comments: for does how have any ibanez rg - they have the same wood so its sounds good on 270 - 570 - its doesnt metter its sounds the same
my guitar sound better then the 570 and cost me less