Impressions of the first EMG set I ever owned

[JimmyMoorby]

EMG's are awful.  Thats why Zakk Wylde, Jeff Loomis, Tosin Abasi, Metallica, Killswitch Enagage and Slayer use them......  :?

[Toe-Knee]

EMG's are awful.  Thats why Zakk Wylde, Jeff Loomis, Tosin Abasi, Metallica, Killswitch Enagage and Slayer use them......  :?

Yep the kinda tones people that own emgs want yet they search for it in other pickups. Guitarist logic.

[Slartibartfarst42]

They're good at what they do. They're not for me but then I don't play that kind of music.

[GuitarIv]

In the end tone is always in your fingers :P

[ericsabbath]

In the end tone is always in your fingers :P

and batteries

[GuitarIv]

In the end tone is always in your fingers :P

and batteries

 :lol:

[King IzzO)))]

Meh, EMG's are fine. I swear at least half of the "sterile and artificial" parrots are probably 13 year olds in Mom & Dad's basement playing John Mayer covers. Batteries are no problem, don't leave the cord plugged in. Dead quiet. Great metal tones. 81 in the neck is ridiculous for shreddy dudes. With the 85 in the bridge and the 81 in the neck and with a little extra volume knob massage the clean sounds are pretty nice too.

That said, I really only logged in because the 350M comments. OP is gonna scare people off them with comments like that, they're actually pretty damn good guitars. They do well with brighter pickups as they can have a kinda thuddy sound naturally, even with the maple board. Maybe OP got a really bad one, but I'd wager with a good setup and some brighter passives (Painkiller or Cold Sweat maybe) it would sound just fine.

[MDV]

Never understood EMG-hate. Even at the peak of my love for BKs.

It doesnt make any sense, aside from anything else. If you like hard/modern rock and heavier, as jimmy says (more or less) half of the bands you like use EMGs.

[JimmyMoorby]

Never understood EMG-hate. Even at the peak of my love for BKs.

It doesnt make any sense, aside from anything else. If you like hard/modern rock and heavier, as jimmy says (more or less) half of the bands you like use EMGs.

For real G.

Also to be fair you can add Dave Gilmour, Prince and Steve Luckather to the EMG list too. Not metal players or hard rockers by any means and all are great player with great tone. 

Of Course Tosian Abasi is now with Di Marzio... but any way I can understand preference and not liking some thing but not the hate as you say.  I think it's just down to what suits your personal needs and nothing more that's why I made the switch.  If Tim from Bare Knuckle didnt like EMG in the first place he wouldnt try to make similar/improved pickups would he?!

[fhn_lopes]

It always ends in personal taste. I don't like EMGs because I can'y feel any dynamics and I'm not a modern metal player.
Tonewise, I think they are too "polished" or "well behaved" to my tastes, with no sharp edges or what so ever if you know what I mean. The sound is too processed at the source, what can be good for some and bad for others. MAtter of taste.

I don't like compressed processed sounds, I like organic and vivid tones, where you can hear every nuance... and of course, you can hear your GUITAR, the whole thing, wood, hardware, string gauge.. Maybe people say EMgs are sterile because they process the tone in the very beggining and they put their own stuff over the sound, but it can also be good to make a bad guitar sound at least decent. Depends in what you want.

I can defenitely say that I will never use EMGs, actually, I can't use other pups after putting my hands on my first BK. The damn 500T /496R set in my Les Paul is Killing me, but I have no funds now to aford a BK set for her :(

[Toe-Knee]

Maybe people say EMgs are sterile because they process the tone in the very beggining and they put their own stuff over the sound,

This is so false. I hate this with a passion.

I have two guitars with emgs in. One is an alder jackson the other is a mahogany ibanez. They sound completely different. I will knock some clips out whenever i get some spare time. Heck just for comparisons sake i'll use the exact same pickup and swap it into the other guitar and measure the string height too.

[GuitarIv]

My opinion is there's nothing wrong with any pickup, every manufacturer and brand has it's strengths and weaknesses. BKP just shines with their clarity, EMG are tight as a virgins rectum, Seymour Duncans have that great classic sound... it's all just a matter of taste and use. I would feel bad hating on anything, because as your signature says MDV, if it sounds good, it is good. And that's the point. Although I love BKPs and use them in 3 guitars right now, I wouldn't want to have anything else in the Ibanez than the EMG set right now. As well as one can't go wrong with Duncans, especially the JB if you wanna place a safe bet. I'm also very tempted by the Entwistle HDNs and I'm gonna order a set as soon as I can. People tend to be narrow minded and it's always gonna be like that, nothing one can really do about it.

[Toe-Knee]

My opinion is there's nothing wrong with any pickup, every manufacturer and brand has it's strengths and weaknesses. BKP just shines with their clarity, EMG are tight as a virgins rectum, Seymour Duncans have that great classic sound... it's all just a matter of taste and use. I would feel bad hating on anything, because as your signature says MDV, if it sounds good, it is good. And that's the point. Although I love BKPs and use them in 3 guitars right now, I wouldn't want to have anything else in the Ibanez than the EMG set right now. As well as one can't go wrong with Duncans, especially the JB if you wanna place a safe bet. I'm also very tempted by the Entwistle HDNs and I'm gonna order a set as soon as I can. People tend to be narrow minded and it's always gonna be like that, nothing one can really do about it.

Very well said.If you come to ordering HDNs and there is no supplier in your country get in touch i should be able to hook you up with a good price

[O731]

EMG's to be tend to be a bit monotonous, by this I mean that they have just one pretty solid tone. The way I describe it is Chuggy, bouncy, and tight. Great for metal core and if you're going for a very specific tone. But once you start recording your guitar work and hearing your tone on a good set of monitors and headphones, you kind of get sick of the tone because it's only good at it's one "signature tone"

They're great for beginners though, I remember when I first started playing I was just playing drop tuned power chords and thought it sounded beastly. Then when I started to refine my playing I needed something a bit less artifical and mainstream sounding.

They seem to be good for beginners who just want a metal tone, and once you figure out what tone route you want to go about, in my case i like that nice 80's tone. You start looking for more focused pickups.

[Toe-Knee]

EMG's to be tend to be a bit monotonous, by this I mean that they have just one pretty solid tone. The way I describe it is Chuggy, bouncy, and tight. Great for metal core and if you're going for a very specific tone. But once you start recording your guitar work and hearing your tone on a good set of monitors and headphones, you kind of get sick of the tone because it's only good at it's one "signature tone"

They're great for beginners though, I remember when I first started playing I was just playing drop tuned power chords and thought it sounded beastly. Then when I started to refine my playing I needed something a bit less artifical and mainstream sounding.

They seem to be good for beginners who just want a metal tone, and once you figure out what tone route you want to go about, in my case i like that nice 80's tone. You start looking for more focused pickups.

Hmm so all those varied legendary EMG tones from the 80s were beginner like?