Emerald 7 or 8 string version?

[ev1ltwin]

I was listening to the classic rock clips on the new site, and I was thinking that the Emerald sounds like an awesome choice for a 7 or 8 string guitar based on recommendations of Black Dog and Riff Raff for the same applications. To me, the Emerald sounds like an ever-so-slightly overwound lovechild of the Riff Raff and Black Dog. Emerald has the most pleasing sound out of all the classic rock clips to my ears; something about the push and its harmonic content gets me every time.

I've never even heard of anyone getting a 7 or 8 string version of the emerald. What gives?

[Roobubba]

It's probably the most obvious explanation:

most of us down-tuners or extended range players are metal-heads, and we tend to prefer the more compressed tones you get from higher output pickups to impart the 'tightness' that low tunings require. Of course there are many exceptions to this - I used to use a black dog in my baritone, for example. The emerald may be a sweet pickup for rock-pop or whatever it's called these days (teehee), but I've heard nothing much lighter than metal and its variants using low low tunings, hence the dominance of the higher output pickups used in this application.

At the same time, I'm not saying it'd be a bad idea, but my own experiences have led me from miracle man to black dog to aftermath, and I personally prefer the feel and tone of the aftermath for low tuning metal/hardcore/etc. I suspect others have found a similar thing.

[ev1ltwin]

Thanks for the response, Roo. I understand why most people use EMG's, Blackouts, [insert higher output ceramics here], etc. for downtuned stuff. The harder you drive the preamp with mids while retaining a fast bass response, the tighter your low notes will sound. The Aftermath, Painkiller, EMG81-7, and Blackout 7's/8's certainly fit the bill (though I never understood why an alnico pickup like the emg808 was so popular).

My question about the Emerald already made the leap of faith that you could use the lower-output alnico offerings from BKP (black dog, mule, riff raff) for the same applications assuming you had a high gain rig. Nolly explained to me some time ago that a lot of the vintage and vintage hot BKP's have really tight bass and clear treble response unlike other manufacturer's offerings. He had been a high-output ceramic guy for a while, but then he had a revelation after using the Rebel Yell. Now Nolly is a low-output alnico guy (switched out the Aftermath on his new BRJ 7-string for a Black Dog I believe... opposite of you lol).

What I was trying to get at in the OP was why dont people consider the Emerald for downtuned stuff even though the Riff Raff, Black Dog, Mule, and even Rebel Yell seem to be recommended for the same thing? Also, why isn't there more love for the Emerald even for 6-string stuff?

As far as rock pop goes, I'm sure the emerald could do this (avril lavigne Mandarin translation content): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcz9Sulo-W0  :lol:

[MDV]

Its just various ways to skin the cat.

The cat being high gain, detuned metal. The requirements being tightness and clarity and the problem being, all things being equal, if you just crank up the number of turns on a wind and do nothing else you will lose top end and clarity.

There are various solutions. EMGs, for example (and this explains your confusion at the use of 85s, 707s and 808s) are very weak winds with very weak magnets that give an *extremely* clear and tight signal off the wind, but its very weak and very bright, so a preamp is used to bring it up to level and shape it somewhat (mainly bring up the low end) before sending to the amp.

BKs use scatterwinding, coil offsets and quite low power winds with very powerfull magnet/s in variying combinations to aim for the same effect.

Another way that many settle on is to use a weaker pickup altogether and rely on the masses of gain and compression available in modern amps and amp sims (like the axe fx nolly uses), acting on the clearer signal from the guitar to bring it into metal territory.

No way is wrong. Some ways work better with some signal chains than others, in my experience. Running a low output pickup into a high gain amp, for example, I've always found to lack the percussive effect in the low end, and wrestled with highs being too shrill. Works better into modellers, where the models are doing more aggresive toneshaping, stamping their sound on it more, but acting on the clearer signal. On the other hand, actives into a singal chain thats quite 'processed' or has a lot of diode clipping can lead to sterility-death of you sound and thin, weak tone, whereas using them as god intended (i.e. as they were designed to do; hammering the hell out of a valve pre) can yield superb results. To my ears the BK high output answers are somewhere in between and work with most things at least quite well.

The emerald is an often overlooked pickup. I've never played one, or even heard one for that matter. It may work very well, cant say. Spec wise it should be able to metal out, if you have an appropriate signal chain, but I couldnt say for sure.

P.S. Not listening to avril lavigne. Not unless theres some sort of compensation for mental trauma suffered :P

[ev1ltwin]

Awesome post, MDV. I agree that there's many ways to skin the cat, and it seems like everyone on this site has their favorite flavor of pickup. That's why these "which bkp pickup should i get" threads get so massive; there's so many to choose from. I think I'll be the brave soul to test the waters with the Emerald 7 whenever I get around to getting my 7 string from Dr. Rico.

That Avril Lavigne link is one of my favorites because it's dubbed by her in Mandarin. Back when she was popular, she recorded a bunch of her songs' choruses in many different languages to appeal international markets (gotta make that bread while you can). The song "Girlfriend" starts right off with the chorus, so it's one of those instant gratification kind of deals where you get this blast of unintelligible lyrics pronounced poorly... right as the video starts! Mandarin version of Girlfriend is my favorite followed by the German version. Thank me later ;)