EMG T

Active single coil w/ low impedance. These are made of Alnico magnets.

I installed these on my American Deluxe Tele in both the neck and bridge. The pickups I had before were a Seymour Duncan lil' 59 in the bridge and a Quarter Pound in the neck. I actually dont know anyone else using these pickups, But I randomly say Gwen Stephani's guitar player with these (EVERYONE GET EXCITED). I changed the pickups because Tele's are known for there bridge pickup. And I did'nt want to have a humbucker cause any tele player would rip on me for having it. But the little 59 was a SIIIIICK humbucking pickup. The Quarter Pound was cool but i just was'nt all about it. Worth Holding onto though.... I picked these because EMG says the neck tele pickup is there best by far!

These are hot! that's one of the reasons I bought them. I wanted Single coil tone but loud. The Amp I run through at the moment is a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100. When I bought these I ran them through a Mesa Triple Rec which was a TERRIBLE choice because it had too many watts and it muddied up the tele. Any single coil through a triple rec will probably sound shitty. but the EMG's did sound better through it than any other single coil. But the Marshall complements the tele WAY MORE. I love the sound! not perfect but almost there. The twang AND quack out of this is GREAT. I have another American Deluxe tele with the SCN pickups in it and although they sound good the active neck pickup has more character (I know and its an EMG...crazy right?) I liked the SCN bridge a lot though! The tones are the guitar are totally usable as well. I must say Im WAY happy with them! The Balance these pickups have are great too! they snap right in the mix very well. When the gain is too high the bridge still sounds good but the neck sounds like crap. TOO muddy. But at the right amount of gain it sounds AWESOME! about 11 o'clock on my marshall. I play a lot of styles. I go to music school in LA so I've used this for a bunch of things. Jazz is good, blues is great! Rock is great, Metal not so much....but you can always fake it. I would say all positions are WAY usable! I give it a 9 because nothing gets a 10

I would but these again for sure. Its part of my live set-up and my sound. Most people hate on EMG's because they lack character. I can kinda see that with other EMG's but this one is different. Not to mention how diverse they really are. Most people can rip on EMG's because they are visually different and THAT makes any purist pissed off right away, sp they just default and say they suck. I've had all the different EMG humbuckers and I know the 81 is only for distortion because clean is terrible. I also had a 89 (coil tap) and it was cool but not that cool. But the 58 is an AMAZING pickup! I've been playing for 7-8 years now and I love gear all around. Lace-sensor's, seymour's, Gibson's.......all good pickups but these pickups are for me because they are extremely balanced and still sound like a tele. I want to try the TC set but not that bad! hope this helps.....

Pickup features: Active single coils
Impedence or other specs: 10K ohms

Model of guitar or bass: 2001 Fender Standard Telecaster (Made in Mexico)
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Standard Mexican pickups
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Waylon Jennings (RIP, Hoss)
You musical style(s): Country (Waylon style -- not this new "country")
Reason for pickup change: The original pickups were very shrill sounding and noisy.

Perceived output level: Quite a bit hotter than originals, although they don't distort my amp (a pre-DSP Fender Deluxe 90), and I'm not even using the second input, which is meant for active pickups.
Tone: Plenty of bass, yet very twangy. The mids are strong. There's lots of treble, but it's not shrill at all. You can hear a lot of detail, especially with new strings.
Sonic evaluation: I'm using a pre-DSP Fender Deluxe 90, and while these pickups are hot, they don't distort the amp at all. The original MIM pickups' shrill treble always sounded terrible and used to distort. The EMGs have a much better top end that isn't shrill but is still very bright.
These pickups NAIL the Waylon Jennings tone, especially his post-1990 or so tone (he used EMGs from then on). I can get his earlier tones with these pickups, too. That is why I bought them, and they're serving me well.
The neck pickup is MUCH better than the original MIM pickup. I thought that was a good pickup until I heard this one... I was blown away. It twangs and has plenty of treble. The EMG bridge compared to the original MIM is like night and day. The EMG is just better in every way. It's plenty bright (if you ever find it too bright -- and I don't -- the tone control is great and rolls the treble off nicely) and twangs, yet it's not thin or shrill sounding like the original MIM.
The neck pickup is quiter than the bridge (and the specs state this), with only a small amount of hiss present. The bridge pickup does have a small amount of hum, but, really, it's pretty hard to hear it. Compared to all the passive Tele pickups I've heard, I would call these silent.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: These pickups seem very versatile. They're very quiet, so they're great when using distortion, and they are beautiful clean.

Comments: These are great pickups. They are bright but not shrill, twangy but not thin. Overall, they're unbeatable if you want great Tele tone -- and the fact that there's no noise is the icing on the cake!

Pickup features: active single coil set for Tele
Impedence or other specs: 10 Kohms

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Nashville Deluxe, made in mexico
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: made in mexico passives
Other pickups on guitar: EMG SA single coil
Artists using this pickup: ???
You musical style(s): would you believe a conglomerate of Danny Gatton (R.I.P.), and Radiohead?
Reason for pickup change: standard pickups were noisy, lacked bite and output.

Perceived output level: active=very high clean output
Tone: crystal clear, with all frequencies present.
Sonic evaluation: I use lots of effects with a Peavey Classic 30 (I wouldnt use EMG pickups with a solidstate amp). The pickups give a good loud clean signal with MINIMAL NOISE/HUM for effectpedals and amps to work on, and , I guess because of the low impediance, they don't get lost in a long chain of grungy effects - you can really pile them up. This Tele set has a modern, ultra quiet Tele twang, with a smooth top-end that is never shrill. They do have this treble 'shimmer' that sounds bite-y or sometimes sterile, depending on amp+FX tone. There is a little lack of character, yes, but somehow I feel that this allows you the player to add to the sound - with you hands, pedals and amp, or whatever you feel like throwing at the guitar.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I need a setup that can handle different styles and these can. And for heavier fatter (generic) distortion you shouldnt be playing a telecaster guitar (unless you mangled it with a humbucker) ;)

Comments: This is a versatile set- emulating a Tele sound and yet allowing you to reach for other tones, instead of another guitar. So the little it lacks in character it gains in versatility. (and that is a character of sorts)
The tone control is interesting, as it strangely enough is very useful on the bridge pickup, cutting highs in a usable way, making it more smooth - but sounding very boring on the other pickups. Will have to experiment with other pots, as this one completely lacks the vowely Tele tone control.
I wasnt going to buy an active set but this was a steal - for the price of one, say, Seymour Duncan, I got a whole used Tele set. and the 9v battery fits into the control cavity, which is nice - I once drilled out a huge hole in a Ibanez guitar's output jack cavity and that was a PAIN.