Impressions of the first EMG set I ever owned

[MDV]

No, Tony, hes right.

These sound the same

Sultans Of Swing (multicam) - dIRE sTRATS - Fulda 27.08.2011

Origin - The Aftermath (music video)

[serch777]

EMG are tight as a virgins rectum

 :lol: :lol: :lol:
I'm just about to practice on my EMG James Hetfield set-loaded Les Paul, and it'll be hard not to feel like a paedophile now...

[pagan7]

I have an Ibanez RG with a through neck and mahogany wings and a Floyd , which needles to say sounded pretty cr@ppy with the supplied Ibanez pups , so I fitted it with a set of A Bombs . Much , much better , but I could never dial out a certain murkiness in the tone regardless of how much I played with the tone controls , changed capacitor values , adjusted pup heights etc etc , and there was none of the organic "breathiness" to the sound that A bombs are renowned for , so Tim made me a set of C Bombs with 3 ceramic magnets per pup as in the Painkillers , and nickel allan bolts poles which Tim said had more of a focusing effect as apposed to iron screw poles , more top end but still murky and none of the singing sustain I was hoping for , so , tried a set of Painkillers which sound like the proverbial dogs bollocks in another RG with a hardtail bridge , this time more crunch but still a lingering deadness to the tone , so , with thoughts of putting my dead plank on ebay I decided to have one last attempt at wrestling some tone from it with a set of actives and as I didn't fancy forking out for EMG's I turned to another British pup maker , IronGear , and bought a calibrated set of their Volt active pickups . Two pickups , 4 pots , two capacitors and battery connecter , a stereo output jack plus hookup wire , all delivered to my door for a grand total of just over 70 quid .
Seemed too good to be true until I installed them and what a revelation , bags of tone and power and finally the RG was sounding pretty flippin amazing , even with the gain rolled off and played clean .  I agree that they suit certain styles , but they do those styles real justice and on this particular guitar there are dynamics too and my EMG loving mate says they sound just like EMG's for a 3rd of the price.
A big thumbs up from me for IronGear Volt actives ...  8)

[Toe-Knee]

I have an Ibanez RG with a through neck and mahogany wings and a Floyd , which needles to say sounded pretty cr@ppy with the supplied Ibanez pups , so I fitted it with a set of A Bombs . Much , much better , but I could never dial out a certain murkiness in the tone regardless of how much I played with the tone controls , changed capacitor values , adjusted pup heights etc etc , and there was none of the organic "breathiness" to the sound that A bombs are renowned for , so Tim made me a set of C Bombs with 3 ceramic magnets per pup as in the Painkillers , and nickel allan bolts poles which Tim said had more of a focusing effect as apposed to iron screw poles , more top end but still murky and none of the singing sustain I was hoping for , so , tried a set of Painkillers which sound like the proverbial dogs bollocks in another RG with a hardtail bridge , this time more crunch but still a lingering deadness to the tone , so , with thoughts of putting my dead plank on ebay I decided to have one last attempt at wrestling some tone from it with a set of actives and as I didn't fancy forking out for EMG's I turned to another British pup maker , IronGear , and bought a calibrated set of their Volt active pickups . Two pickups , 4 pots , two capacitors and battery connecter , a stereo output jack plus hookup wire , all delivered to my door for a grand total of just over 70 quid .
Seemed too good to be true until I installed them and what a revelation , bags of tone and power and finally the RG was sounding pretty flippin amazing , even with the gain rolled off and played clean .  I agree that they suit certain styles , but they do those styles real justice and on this particular guitar there are dynamics too and my EMG loving mate says they sound just like EMG's for a 3rd of the price.
A big thumbs up from me for IronGear Volt actives ...  8)
[/quote

I have looked at the volt pickups a few times but always waited a little longe watching ebay and got an 81/60 set for £60-80. I've never paid more than that for standard EMGs.

Please could you post up some clips of the volt pickups? The ones on irongears site are uninspiring to say the least

[Dr.Pain]

The EMG Hetfields are a really good set of pick up's.

[Toe-Knee]

The EMG Hetfields are a really good set of pick up's.

I agree entirely. They're hands down my favourite pickup

[serch777]

The EMG Hetfields are a really good set of pick up's.

I agree entirely. They're hands down my favourite pickup

Totally agree with you guys; they have all the positive characteristics of the 81/85 set, but with a more organic sound. The lows also sound more meaty and the cleans are a massive improvement. Their output's so high that when I use a tubescreamer I need to roll back the gain in my amp to 3 lol.  PDT_003

[GuitarIv]

I'd love to try out the HetSet but buying a used 81/85 combo was a way cheaper option than spending over 200 quid on a new set of pickups  :lol:

[GuitarIv]

EMG are tight as a virgins rectum

 :lol: :lol: :lol:
I'm just about to practice on my EMG James Hetfield set-loaded Les Paul, and it'll be hard not to feel like a paedophile now...

Sorry mate  :lol:

[Dr.Pain]

I'd love to try out the HetSet but buying a used 81/85 combo was a way cheaper option than spending over 200 quid on a new set of pickups  :lol:

They are worth it though.  The neck pick up has a really fat warm sound to it with out being sterile.  The bridge pick up has loads of out put and use the volume right, there's not much it can't do.  I play AC/DC, Iron Maiden and thrash metal on the one guitar and it does it all well.  I put my Vypyr amp on the 6505 legend pre set and run the P-90 phaser and it sounds good for that too.  I can't play like EVH but the tone is there.

[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.

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

Oh no, those legendary 80's tone's are beautiful in my opinion. I didn't mean to generalize that every one who uses an EMG has a beginner like tone (because those 80's legends had great gear, and god like fingers  8) ) I guess I meant that they tend to be very touchy to the point where they can cover for poor technique. Speaking from experience when I was first starting off I thought I was hot shite because I could get "omg brootalz" sounding power chords and they would sound pretty decent. But they just lack that dynamic variation that other pickups do.

Beginner like would be a bad way to word it, perhaps beginner friendly would be a better way to put it.

[Kiichi]

Personally I hate EMGs with a passion...and I like them.
Thing is to me there is a difference between hearing them and playing them.

Hearing EMGs is no problem, there are a lot of people getting nice sounds out of them, often I really dig them. In Flames alone make EMGs sound so nice. Ok the Bullet for my Valentine tone got a lot worse after they dropped their passive PUs, but in general I have no issue with how they sound.

Thing is every EMG I have tried so far I hated playing. It felt processed, unarticulate, dead, sterile and the way the output and agression played out just felt overdone. Really I had all the complaints that are so legendary about EMGs. However when I listened to an impromtu recording I did while playing them (using a Zoom H2) I did not notice those nearly as much. Sounded more like a generic EMG sound, which was not a bad thing, just that modern metalcore sound. In a way it still sounded bad, but that was down to me hating to play them.
Also before someone chimes in with the imagination thing: I did try EMGs and passive guitars side by side in a blind test. Thus far I always hated the EMGs. Ok most stock passives too, but for different reasons, mostly mushy low end, which could be mostly fixed with a quick PU setup.

So yeah, that is my experience with EMGs thus far. I can see why people use them and I like hearing them, but god do I hate playing them.
I am however interrested in trying the Het set, maybe that will work better for me.

[MDV]

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?

Oh no, those legendary 80's tone's are beautiful in my opinion. I didn't mean to generalize that every one who uses an EMG has a beginner like tone (because those 80's legends had great gear, and god like fingers  8) ) I guess I meant that they tend to be very touchy to the point where they can cover for poor technique. Speaking from experience when I was first starting off I thought I was hot shitee because I could get "omg brootalz" sounding power chords and they would sound pretty decent. But they just lack that dynamic variation that other pickups do.

Beginner like would be a bad way to word it, perhaps beginner friendly would be a better way to put it.

This is nonsense imo. EMGs are clearer, tighter and more conducive to articulate playing (through top end clarity and massive dynamic range) than...anything, basically. All of those properties are very beginner-hostile.

Also, how exactly do they allow a great players technique to shine if they supposedly mask differences between players?

[Dave Sloven]

I guess I meant that they tend to be very touchy to the point where they can cover for poor technique.

OK now you have me confused  :?

[serch777]

I can see why EMGs (especially the 81/85 combo) can be so controversial, as they have a very distinct sound which tends to be less dependant on the guitar than most passives. I disagree though, that they tend to cover technique mistakes, as I actually find them quite sensitive to string touch; that's why they're so tight and easy to get pinch harmonics. If you're playing on a high gain amp like the 5150, you'd better have good chops or distortion will eat your playing lol.

I really recommend everyone to try the Hetfield set, as they have a warmer and more organic tone than the 81/85. I've also heard great things about the '57/66 combo. :mrgreen:

EDIT: Here's a short clip of the 57/66, surely EMG have achieved a great tone there:
http://youtu.be/-N7_oLASj14