Impressions of the first EMG set I ever owned

[Lucifuge]

Anyone have any experience with EMG bass pickups? I was thinking of buying a set (BKP do not make a pickup that will work in bass.)

EDIT: of course, I meant to say BKP do not make a pickup that will work in my bass (a 5-string J-type.)

[PhilKing]

Anyone have any experience with EMG bass pickups? I was thinking of buying a set (BKP do not make a pickup that will work in bass.)

I have EMG's and Bartolinis in three basses (I also have BK's in 3 basses).  I have had the EMG & Bartolinis in the same bass (a Modulus Graphite 5 String).  I really prefer the Bartolinis in terms of the tone and versatility (they have a really nice active EQ package), but the EMG's are the sound of the 80's basses in many cases.   I currently have them in an 8-string bass where  they give me a nice sound and let the octave strings cut through.

[GuitarIv]

Whatever people say, at the end of the day I know the EMGs I own fulfill their destiny by being THE metal pickups I was missing in my RG. I don't think BKPs would sound as good (or as bad, matter of perspective and what you expect from your gear really) as they do. And in the end I'm just another happy BKP/EMG/SD pickup user :P

[braintheory]

Whatever people say, at the end of the day I know the EMGs I own fulfill their destiny by being THE metal pickups I was missing in my RG. I don't think BKPs would sound as good (or as bad, matter of perspective and what you expect from your gear really) as they do. And in the end I'm just another happy BKP/EMG/SD pickup user :P

Out of curiosity, which Seymour Duncans do you use?  None of of the Duncans I tried impressed me that much.

[MDV]

Whatever people say, at the end of the day I know the EMGs I own fulfill their destiny by being THE metal pickups I was missing in my RG. I don't think BKPs would sound as good (or as bad, matter of perspective and what you expect from your gear really) as they do. And in the end I'm just another happy BKP/EMG/SD pickup user :P

 PDT_003

They're pickups, not marriages, and you use what works for you, according to your ears, not received wisdom from the internet. Says the EMG/Bare Knuckle/Entwistle/Kent Armstrong user whos thinking about duncan and bulldog :lol:

[Toe-Knee]

Whatever people say, at the end of the day I know the EMGs I own fulfill their destiny by being THE metal pickups I was missing in my RG. I don't think BKPs would sound as good (or as bad, matter of perspective and what you expect from your gear really) as they do. And in the end I'm just another happy BKP/EMG/SD pickup user :P

 PDT_003

They're pickups, not marriages, and you use what works for you, according to your ears, not received wisdom from the internet. Says the EMG/Bare Knuckle/Entwistle/Kent Armstrong user whos thinking about duncan and bulldog :lol:

I don't think you will be dissapointed with either of those latter choices. I Still have the DD kicking about.

[GuitarIv]

Out of curiosity, which Seymour Duncans do you use?  None of of the Duncans I tried impressed me that much.

Jeff Beck, the Jazz, the SH-1 and I have the Invaders. I still like BKPs more, at least when it comes down to passive pickups but Duncans give you the compression you sometimes miss with BKPs. I'd still like to try the Duncan Distortion as everyone in the metal scene seems to like it and judging from the soundclips it should be somewhere in the ballpark of the Painkiller.

Right now I'm loving the shiteee out of my Holydiver that I moved into a Jackson Dinky DK2M. It's my favourite pickup at the moment and just has everything I want in that Axe. Much like a better version of the Duncan JB :D

[marauder]

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

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

After fitting these yesterday, I'm of the same opinion.  I know I'm in the honeymoon period, but they really are fantastic.

[Toe-Knee]

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

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

After fitting these yesterday, I'm of the same opinion.  I know I'm in the honeymoon period, but they really are fantastic.

I'm well out of the honeymoon period and I still love them. It helps that they look awesome as well as sounding it.

[Alex]

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

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

After fitting these yesterday, I'm of the same opinion.  I know I'm in the honeymoon period, but they really are fantastic.

I'm well out of the honeymoon period and I still love them. It helps that they look awesome as well as sounding it.

Please enlighten me a bit, what makes them so much better than the normal EMGs? I'm curious.
I've been interested in the SD Dave Mustaine pickups for a long time, but there's not a lot of feedback on how they are. It seems there's much more on the Hetfield models already.

[Toe-Knee]

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

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

After fitting these yesterday, I'm of the same opinion.  I know I'm in the honeymoon period, but they really are fantastic.

I'm well out of the honeymoon period and I still love them. It helps that they look awesome as well as sounding it.

Please enlighten me a bit, what makes them so much better than the normal EMGs? I'm curious.
I've been interested in the SD Dave Mustaine pickups for a long time, but there's not a lot of feedback on how they are. It seems there's much more on the Hetfield models already.

Firstly they're a tiny bit hotter but not quite as compressed if that makes any sense?

The low end is a bit thicker and they have a nice helping of upper mids as well as the standard EMG low mid aggresion.

The clean tones are quite exceptional especially on the neck pickup which also delivers really fluid lead tones too.

The thing that stands out for me the most is that the top end is very present but not in a harsh way and the lows whilst chunkier still retain that trademark EMG tightness and you will never need an overdrive with these pickups.

With regards to the Mustaines. They're also rather nice they're very similar to the JB/Jazz set but tighter and more focused. These too are quiet hot pickups and have a lot of upper mids like the BKP aftermath but aren't as honky. One thing to keep in mind with these though is that they're very upper mid/high focused so they can be a bit much in brighter guitars.

[pagan7]

I still like BKPs more, at least when it comes down to passive pickups but Duncans give you the compression you sometimes miss with BKPs. I'd still like to try the Duncan Distortion as everyone in the metal scene seems to like it and judging from the soundclips it should be somewhere in the ballpark of the Painkiller.


On my LP-alike I have the classic set of a super distortion in the bridge and an air norton in the neck and I have to say they work really well together and nail quite a variety of "sounds" , but in comparison to a Painkiller the super distortion has more fizz and compression  but it's also quite tweakable

[GuitarIv]

I still like BKPs more, at least when it comes down to passive pickups but Duncans give you the compression you sometimes miss with BKPs. I'd still like to try the Duncan Distortion as everyone in the metal scene seems to like it and judging from the soundclips it should be somewhere in the ballpark of the Painkiller.

On my LP-alike I have the classic set of a super distortion in the bridge and an air norton in the neck and I have to say they work really well together and nail quite a variety of "sounds" , but in comparison to a Painkiller the super distortion has more fizz and compression  but it's also quite tweakable

Nah man, I was talking about the Seymour Duncan SH-6 Distortion, never actually tried any pickup by DiMarzio, or at least I don't remember :P

Tony, you're making my mouth water to try out a set...

[Toe-Knee]

I still like BKPs more, at least when it comes down to passive pickups but Duncans give you the compression you sometimes miss with BKPs. I'd still like to try the Duncan Distortion as everyone in the metal scene seems to like it and judging from the soundclips it should be somewhere in the ballpark of the Painkiller.

On my LP-alike I have the classic set of a super distortion in the bridge and an air norton in the neck and I have to say they work really well together and nail quite a variety of "sounds" , but in comparison to a Painkiller the super distortion has more fizz and compression  but it's also quite tweakable

Nah man, I was talking about the Seymour Duncan SH-6 Distortion, never actually tried any pickup by DiMarzio, or at least I don't remember :P

Tony, you're making my mouth water to try out a set...

I was vey sceptical for a long time thinking they'd just be an 81/60 in shiny new covers but when some came up cheap i couldn't resist and i'm so glad that i didnt.

[GuitarIv]

Will certainly keep my eyes on them!