EMG 91

Pickup features: Floating active humbucker
Impedence or other specs: 10Kohms?

Model of guitar or bass: Tacoma AJF22CE5
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: stock EMG-91HZ (special design for Tacoma)
Other pickups on guitar: Fishman transducer bridge
Artists using this pickup: Ron Eschete
You musical style(s): Bebop, blues, R&B, Ethnic, Dance
Reason for pickup change: The orignal pickup had overly emphasized upper mid-range, with cloudy, undefined lows, and no treble-bleed through with tone rolled down.

Perceived output level: This is not nearly as hot as you would expect for an active humbucker. I usually plug into the unbuffered input and can set the gain fairly high before it overloads. This may be because the pickup somewhat far from the strings. Also, the battery charge has an effect on output. Because I'm using the other channel on my guitar's EMG Stereo Jack, I needed on/off switch for this pickup. Normally, plugging in would active the circuit, but since if you forget to switch off, the battery can get drained rather quickly.
Tone: The sound is balanced and transparent with a wide response that slightly favors upper frequencies. EMG specs say the resonant frequency is 2.5Khz. There is a VERY slight amount of compression, but most ears won't notice. Occasionally, this pickup produces (or reproduces) some strange harmonics for unusual voicings. If you're strings buzz, it will hear it.
Sonic evaluation: I used lots of amps by Mesa/Boogie, Juggbox, Roland and Peterson. Currently I'm playing through a Polytone Mini-Brute IV, which sounds very warm and lyrical. The unique thing about this pickup is that it really brings out the character of the preamp or amp you're using. This makes it very versatile, though somewhat unpredictable. Through a cranked Mesa/Boogie Studio.22's lead channel, the attack is enough to flatten you. It shouldn't come as a surprise that an EMG pickup sounds good with distortion, right? Nor should it surprise you that it's super-quiet.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This is a jazz pickup, but I like to play blues, R&B, solo-acoustic, and occasionally rock. It does all well in it's own way, except R&B. It's too strong to just blend into the background.

Comments: I was wary of active electronics for years, fearing a sterile, hi-fi sound that would suddenly drop out mid-song if the battery died. But this is the natural upgrade from the stock pickup on Tacoma's archtop. Originally, I wanted to put a Lindy Fralin single coil on, but it would mount. This is a good second choice without the 60HZ hum. However, the sound does not have the dirty classic sound of that pickup.
Whatever! Times change, and this pickup is ready for whatever you throw at it, even a long chain of pedals and effects. This is the best pickup for a player who uses a lot of pedals or a rack (which I don't.)