85 neck 81 bridge. Really only got them as an upgrade recommended to me by several people. Once I heard them after I dialed them in I was impressed. Did everything I wanted from the pickups. The ease of the install was also a plus.
Wow! Thank you so much for this post. Straight to the point no unnecessary talking. This is literally one of the best comparisons I've seen here. I think I've made my decision on which one now to decide WHOM is going to install them!
I'd never thought that the clean sound would be that great with the EMG 81 in the neck. I loved it. Thank you for taking your time and helping us choosing our pickups :). Very good demo.
Don't know why people like the 60s. The 85s actually sound really good. Full, you get those deeper tones. The 60s sound thin and weak. I actually came in wanting to do a 81/60 set but I'm gonna go with 81/85 after this.
Nice video! I like them all for different reasons. They all shine in all styles. I especially liked the 60 for clean tones and the 85 sounded very Les Paul sounding. The 81 surprised me in the neck. I'd love top hear the same comparison done with all of these pickups plus the 89 in the neck. Awesome job and thanks!
I think the 60 captured the natural tone better. The 85 helped it sound a bit more like a bassy acoustic. and the 81 was ok, maybe good for players that like the middle position (81+81)
I really think 81 sounds amazing in both positions. 60 is just wayyyy to thick sounding for me in the neck position and 85 is just a better bridge position pickup imo but overall my favorite emg thus far is the 81.
I'd take either an 81 or and 85 clean, but once it starts getting nice and crunchy, the 60s are pretty solid, to me. I'm feeling pretty okay about getting a 81/60 now. Thanks for the demo!
i like the new 60x it supposed to have the feel somewhat of a passive with the active kick when really crancked and i use it for my cleans and then a regular 81 in the bridge and it sounds fantastic
just got some 81x/60x in the mail for a custom build.. cant wait to hear em. the 85 on N is a close runner though, but im loving the cleaner, sharper more thin.
I think the 81 sounds really clean. I could probably achieve an 85 sound quite easily using an 81 and effects, but the other way around might prove difficult. I think the 60 sounds a little too beepy; almost like 8 bit sound.
Awesome!! A perfect comparison of these three pickups. And there's a version for the bridge position too. Great!! I have two guitars with the 81/85 combo. Thinking of switching the 85s (neck) for 60s after seeing this. 85 in the neck is quite muddy when distorted.
Mathew Wheately; same problem with my 81/85 setup. 81 sounds fantastic but the 85 is muddy and over powering in the neck. Can't clean it up or get good "clean" distortion out of it. Maybe it has to do with the woods my guitar is made of. It is an '87 Epiphone Spotlight ("lawsuit model") made of mahogany neck throught body with a 34 feet ebonite fretboard, mahogany body with carved maple top. Maybe all that mahogany in the neck position makes the tone too brassy for the 85? Anyone know?
For cleans: 60 (although the 85 sounds great, but not as good) Distorted tone: 81 got that one Metal kind of tone: 85 by just a little Hrmmmmmm... what to pick...
81 and 60 seem to be fairly a cleaner sounding pup. 85 adds an over processed eq. When your gear is set for the bridge pup, swithing over to the neck increases dramatically and seems to need a re-eq...cant do that while gigging!
You can hear how the 85 was designed for the neck position - so for smooth noodling, it's probably the best here - but for crunchy compressed playing - the 60 would really shine. The 81 is good for clean strumming - but by comparison - in the neck position - the 85 does just about everything better than the 81 does - EXCEPT - I have to admit, if you're playing jugga-jigga-wugga metal rhythm, and you WANT to leave a bit of a hole, say for a separate lead tone to play over: you might consider using the 81 at the neck, precisely because it's NOT as full, and therefore leaves room ( but also, on its own, doesn't sound as good ) - but otherwise - for just about anything else: just go 85 - unless you play in a crunchy strat style, in which case, go 60.
My esp ltd h-1001 came stock with some passive Seymours, so I switched them out for emgs, I wanted 81 on bridge and 85 on neck and they didn't have any in stock so I just went with 81 and 81, the bridge pickup with distortion is just amazing, but I find the the 81 on the neck to be really dull when trying to get a clean sound, I was pretty disappointed, now that the heavy work with converting it to active pickups is done I might try to swap it out
IAmCjcj11 wow were you dropped on your head as an infant? the 81 in the bridge position is a no brainer on the other hand if they were out of 85's you should have gone with the 60 instead (or been patient and waited a week or so until they got more 85's) what the fuck would possess you to get two of the SAME pickups? personally i recommend the 60 for the neck position
As the neck tends to get muddy, a less bassy pickup makes sense. This seems to be the 60. However I did not like any of those pickups sound. I prefer low output passive pickups for any music style.
@@LCRLive687 Lowering the resonance frequency of any passive pickup is for free. You just put a capacitor in parallel to the pickup. The same happens, if you switch to a long cable. Heigthening the frequency however requires an active electronic (to decouple the electronics). Thus my hint would always be: Stick with the higher frequency pickup and than lower as required. Another hint: Always listen to the guitar in a mix. Highs make the guitar cut through, lows make the mix muddy even more, especially with multiple guitars. Of course tastes are different, so it is up to you, what sounds you want... just my 2 cents.
I think I preFer the 81 _ the 85 is too bassy /muddy and the 60 liked a turned down 81- however reinforces my preference of no neck pickup -only reason for neck pickup is blues or shred on higher frets - not good enough ROI for me
megahurtz30 I see so many, Just doing bad comparings. Comparing amps and not using the same speakers...!? It was just great to see someone was awake in science class. nice controlled A-B! I,m gonna A-B EMG 80's with Blackout's When I change my strings as I have them in my charvels . I will not make a video Just a personal thing.
81 in the bridge and 85 in the neck is good in that its almost like having two different instruments in one, i.e. a guitar and a bass, whereas a 60 in the bridge would be more like having two slightly different guitars
Oh this comparison is by you? Cool! I got passive emgs... but I was thinking of this what about going 85 in the bridge and 60 in the neck? Nobody does that. Also I was thinking double 85s and 85 in the bridge and 81 in the neck is possible. After all 85 is a bridge pick up that’s commonly used as a neck pickup just like the 81. It’s just that nobody does that because of zakk wylde lol
Yeah, this is an older one. To me the 85 sounds like it has more mids, so, it can be interesting on the bridge, depending on what you prefer. Personally, on the neck, i love the 60
@@megahurtz30 yeah I had a 60 neck on my ltd ex 400 I loved the bridge and the pickups on that guitar... I had to sell it when I was leaving Iran tho. 81 on the neck is pretty cool too... I love all of them to be honest... 85 is the only one I’ve never had and always liked.
how did you do to not saturate the signal with volumen at full? Active pickups with Mooer Radar just crack everytime (even though I got te gain at minimun on my Focusrite 2i2 2nd generation)
I haven't tried Mooer Radar, but it seems it's an Impulse Response loader /Speaker simulator. You need something before the Mooer to treat the signal (decrease volume, adjust gain, EQ, etc) like a Pedal or the fx loop send of an Amp
Então amigo, parece que o 81 no braço soa mais grave que o 85. Estou pensando em colocar 85 na ponte e 81 no braço, ta certo ou terei algum problema? Obs.Gostaria que o mais grave ficasse no braço.
megahurtz30 Ah sim, vi num vídeo que é só encaixar os pinos, mto prático mesmo. Vou comprar o 85 mes q vem e o 81 no outro para não pagar impostos. Vlw
Different pickup combos sound different in different guitars. For say in a les paul id prefer an 81 bridge 60 neck but with a Jackson or ESP lighter guitar with a Floyd rose id prefer either an 81 bridge nd 81 neck or a 85 bridge 81 neck. A lot of people never give the 85 a chance in the bridge position. Harmonics scream easily with distortion
bighf24 Tom Morello uses an 85 in the bridge position on his arm the homeless guitar and I gotta say that it sounds amazing especially in know your enemy.
60 seems a bit more compressed and sounds more natural to me, 100% the best, sadly enough i don't want to spend 100€ to swap out my 85 for the 60, when the difference is so very minor and the money is required for other more essential guitar things.
Cool vid I think that 85 could go well with alder guitars because they sound so thin. And at the same time the 60 sounds amazing with mahogany for the opposite reason. Great vid, thnx
1st There is no need to be agressive dude, my comment wasn't... 2nd Most of the difference in price in guitars come from craftmanship and wood quality, the fact that 85 has a darker sound makes it more apropiate for alder wood guitars that have a thiner sound opposite from mahogany that have more body and low end into it. I have a gibson custom(mahogany) and an ESP MII (Alder) among others and the difference is obvious, sorry if it's not to you even using the same gauge for strings, same pickup distance, and same pickups. Thus the pickups you choose do balace thing. 3 You are completely right, the string gauge makes a huge of a deal putting low end or thikness into the sound. As well as pickup distance, in this latter case is mostly because the added gain. I like the video because it acually isolates the actuall difference between pickups...And if something 50% of the sound comes from the cabin and amp you use, not the guitar. cheers
Mario G Hey Mario, I will try this one more time with more politeness and objectivity. (1) It is rude to call people "pseudo-intellectual" based on auch a small matter. I think no one is here to try to be intellectual.... I just love guitars and engineering. (2) You are right in stating that other factors (e.g. scale, construction, hardware, etc.) have more impact on the tonal characteristics of an electric guitar than maybe the wood. (3) The sound of an electric guitar is determined by the vibrations and oscillations "picked up" by the pickup. And the oscillations coming from the strings are triggered by the entire physical vibrations from the instrument (incl. hardware, fingerboard, neck, body), thus also from the wood. And depending how the vibrations and wood, even the pickup will vibrate. Take for instance an alder body guitar, which vibrates far more than a solid maple body guitar and put your finger on the pick up. You will feel how the pickup vibrates. And this affects the sound. (4) Oscillations travel through the cells and structures of wood and each peace of wood (even the same kinds) is unique in its structural composition. There is a reason why people spend ridiculous amounts of money to find THE tone and why people want to buy vintage guitars from the 50s and 60s.... Because old woods have "damaged" cell walls, which will let the tone travel through the body more easily. (5) I understand that the scale and construction has more dramatic impact on the tone... I own 56 guitars and 12 customs from gibson scale up to 30.5"(!!) scale, from floyd rose to string through... So yeah, I know what you mean in terms of basic characteristics. But I also own 10 identically spec'd les pauls (same color, same wood, almost same weight, no weight relief holes, same hardware) from different years. And each sounds different. Finally, everyone has an opinion and it is rude to call other people less intelligent or whatever because they have a different opinion, especially when an opinion is based on facts. And your statement is a slap in the face for thousands of guitar lovers.... If wood does not affect the tone, why don't we all use metal/plastic/carbon for building a guitar? Cheers man and keep on playing!
Mario G If you speak German, here is an interesting publication about internal friction of wood and their impact on frequency. Google Translator will do provide useful services to translate this paper. link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01366862#page-1
megahurtz30 LOL, I was hearing Edi Brickell & The New Bohemians in my head: "I'm not aware of too many things, but I know what I know if you know what I mean..." now I'm going to have to go listen to that and see if the guitar sounds remotely like that.
ihave emg 81 in the bridge and 60 in the neck on an ibanez mtm2 and now i am little worried about this, onestly i think that the best active pickups for all kind of music is the duncan ahb-3 emty blackout .....today i remember the sound of the stock embty blackout duncan designed of the mtm2 and i'll change for the second time the pickups of this mahogany guitar..i can change the emg 81 and 60on this week for the stock emty blackout duncan designed....emg 60 is good for the neck clean or drive position...it is veratile and it sounds like an active single coil with a lot of basses. the 81 in the bridge is not a so good guitar picku for me.i ve used this emg set for 3 years.81 is a terrible clean pickup...and it is so toneless ...more than anyother pickup. 81 is good for its neutrality but it is so cold unexpressive bland pickup...however it is perfectfor legato tapping and fast distortion riffs...the 60 id perfect for blues rock and clean sound stuff...one of the best compromises for a neck guitar active pickup...81 is my delusion, i fight for loving it but it is an orrible pickup its make your best instruments sounds like a cold toy and you ll obtain less inspiration in your music...emty blackouts sounds a lot better for the clean sounds....especially neck pickup...you can play all kind of guitar clean part on it, the clean bridge pickup sound goot too but it shines vith the distorted tone, so warmness, rawness, detailed, clear, aggressive, whit an incredible huge spectrum of overtones and armonic, for me the best pickup in the world for phinch harmonics lead and rytmic parts, it is a rock paf with the emgs qualities for legato but a little less compressed and more expressive qualities and smoothness on the dynaic lead solos parts and more brutal on the rytmh parts cause it has less midlle in its eq than 81, the haronics on the emty are 10 times more easy and singing than 81....for my experiences 81 lost with emty bridge and also the 60 with the emty neck....emty is a set that i ll never forget in my life
To me they sound flat, not much tone for EMG pickup's. It could just be the settings in the amp Sim but I reckon Dragonfire screamers or crusaders sound alot better than these EMG pickup's. That's just my opinion though. And Dragonfires cost a quarter of the price.
60 sounds thin as fuck. 85 is the warmest sounding of them here. Interestingly, I found 85 sounding the warmest in the bridge, too. So, I guess 85 bridge, 85 neck for me :P
same as the bridge comparo video - 85''s are richer,clearer and louder - test doesn't entirely show the dynamics of rock strumming and riffing but... - and the 60's sure seem made for overdrive
***** AJFA and Black album were dual 81's for James, he switched to the 60 neck around '93. And Kirk has used Dual 81's since about '87, recently started using the 85.
81 clean: 0:49
85 clean: 1:04
60 clean: 1:18
81 strum clean: 1:33
85 strum clean: 1:47
60 strum clean: 2:01
81 clean riff: 2:15
85 clean riff: 2:30
60 clean riff: 2:45
81 crunch: 3:05
85 crunch: 3:20
60 crunch: 3:34
81 higain: 3:55
85 higain: 4:03
60 higain: 4:11
Helpful, thank you
no problem
The best comparision on the web!!! complimenti!!!!!!!!
***** Thanks!! :)
True
Italiano?
85 neck 81 bridge. Really only got them as an upgrade recommended to me by several people. Once I heard them after I dialed them in I was impressed. Did everything I wanted from the pickups.
The ease of the install was also a plus.
I wish all pickup manufacturers would just bite the bullet and license EMG's cabling/hardware. Soldering is so 20th century. Best Regards!
@@hanovergreen4091 RIGHT!!!!
Wow! Thank you so much for this post. Straight to the point no unnecessary talking. This is literally one of the best comparisons I've seen here. I think I've made my decision on which one now to decide WHOM is going to install them!
Thanks :)
I'd never thought that the clean sound would be that great with the EMG 81 in the neck. I loved it.
Thank you for taking your time and helping us choosing our pickups :). Very good demo.
Muito Obrigado! ;) Abraço
EMG 81 in the neck (both) was used for Metallica's Justice and black album. It's my favorite of the 3.
Hahahahahah
81 all the way. Never hated a pickup as much as the 85 in the neck position.
60 neck\81 bridge
Ok james hetfield
@@lonely_soulxd3489 it's not just James hetfield
@@joeylikescapncrunch Hes the one who popularised it. I never said that its explicitly only james who uses it lmao
Yep it's true
jim root😂
Don't know why people like the 60s. The 85s actually sound really good. Full, you get those deeper tones. The 60s sound thin and weak. I actually came in wanting to do a 81/60 set but I'm gonna go with 81/85 after this.
Same, I was honestly suprised how much better the cleans sounded on the 85 compared to the other two,
jones786 Any follow up? How'd it work out?
Shopping some ESP's with the 60 in the neck and this was exactly what I needed to hear!!
Awesome work mate, very comprehensive. Thank you for taking the time and effort to do this. Certainly helped me with a decision.
Brilliant comparison. EMG 85 with EMG 60 Neck for me. Thanks. Off to buy some pickups now. G
I love how tight, wide, chunky, and clean the 60s sound. Definitely going 81/60.
Nice video! I like them all for different reasons. They all shine in all styles. I especially liked the 60 for clean tones and the 85 sounded very Les Paul sounding. The 81 surprised me in the neck. I'd love top hear the same comparison done with all of these pickups plus the 89 in the neck. Awesome job and thanks!
Perfect video exactly the comparison everyone wants to hear!!!!
Thanks :)
I think the 60 captured the natural tone better. The 85 helped it sound a bit more like a bassy acoustic. and the 81 was ok, maybe good for players that like the middle position (81+81)
One of the guitarists for Judas Priest use 81/81.
Thats the exact way I want a demo of such things. Nice!
I HATE it when they talk in between. For my ear I need to go straight to the next sound to analyze the difference properly.
Superbly done comparison. You really helped clarify the similarities and differences. Thanks!
nicely done. no talking and great audio clips
Just what I'm looking for, thank you for taking the time and effort to do this.
Yeah the 81 got me I love the tone of that
that 85 is creamy as anything.
I really think 81 sounds amazing in both positions. 60 is just wayyyy to thick sounding for me in the neck position and 85 is just a better bridge position pickup imo but overall my favorite emg thus far is the 81.
Why did it sound like acoustic? Man is this the magic of EMGs? As a passive guy is this what i have been missing out on?
that and no hum at all.
I'd take either an 81 or and 85 clean, but once it starts getting nice and crunchy, the 60s are pretty solid, to me. I'm feeling pretty okay about getting a 81/60 now. Thanks for the demo!
2:16 - is that inspiration out of the Floods solo? You know, there are same frets played exactly. Same notes on Standar E tune
No, it's the riff from Message In a Bottle, from The Police, a song that was released in 1979, so, maybe Dimebag got inspired from it ;)
megahurtz30 it's funny to notice that, thanks much for your answer (;
btw, EMG 60 sounds really awesome while clean. Have a great tone! \m/.
thx 4 ur effort it help us alot
good comparison on same footing. I am deciding on which one to get.
On a serious note, who chugs on their neck pickup?
she builds quick machines: velvet revolver kinda did it
I used to do it sometimes during some songs live, but only softer songs (unforgiven etc...)
Dumbasses, the only time I use both pickups or neck pickups is clean, I use bridge 99% of the time cuz I'm playing chunky metal
Actually you can get some pretty Sabbathy dirty tones with the neck pickup. Pretty awesome sounding for the stoner/doom stuff.
Some people actually use the neck pickup for rhythm and the bridge for soloing. I alternate, depending on what I'm playing.
Love the 60 for the neck but they all sound good to me
The 60 pickup has that Master of Puppets album tone, when he plays on clean, u can hear Sanitarium for a little bit
i like the new 60x it supposed to have the feel somewhat of a passive with the active kick when really crancked and i use it for my cleans and then a regular 81 in the bridge and it sounds fantastic
just got some 81x/60x in the mail for a custom build.. cant wait to hear em. the 85 on N is a close runner though, but im loving the cleaner, sharper more thin.
Muchas gracias hermano !!! Excelente video para poder decidir la mejor combinacion.
I think the 81 sounds really clean. I could probably achieve an 85 sound quite easily using an 81 and effects, but the other way around might prove difficult. I think the 60 sounds a little too beepy; almost like 8 bit sound.
The 60 in this video sounds very different than the 69 I have.
81 NECK ....REALLY COOL !
85/81 for me.
The 60 has more bite than the 85. I'd go with a 81/60 combination.
Use the middle position and tone knob to brighten it up a bit 😉
Awesome!! A perfect comparison of these three pickups. And there's a version for the bridge position too. Great!!
I have two guitars with the 81/85 combo. Thinking of switching the 85s (neck) for 60s after seeing this. 85 in the neck is quite muddy when distorted.
Mathew Wheately; same problem with my 81/85 setup. 81 sounds fantastic but the 85 is muddy and over powering in the neck. Can't clean it up or get good "clean" distortion out of it. Maybe it has to do with the woods my guitar is made of. It is an '87 Epiphone Spotlight ("lawsuit model") made of mahogany neck throught body with a 34 feet ebonite fretboard, mahogany body with carved maple top. Maybe all that mahogany in the neck position makes the tone too brassy for the 85? Anyone know?
+A Keeper Of Odd Knowledge ; that was to read: "a 24 fret ebonite fretboard...".
Thanks for the video. They all sound great to me. :)
For cleans: 60 (although the 85 sounds great, but not as good)
Distorted tone: 81 got that one
Metal kind of tone: 85 by just a little
Hrmmmmmm... what to pick...
@megahurtz30 no man, I thank you!!now I'm sure I made a correct decision yesterday that I ordered my new set of pickups!
81 and 60 seem to be fairly a cleaner sounding pup. 85 adds an over processed eq. When your gear is set for the bridge pup, swithing over to the neck increases dramatically and seems to need a re-eq...cant do that while gigging!
You can hear how the 85 was designed for the neck position - so for smooth noodling, it's probably the best here - but for crunchy compressed playing - the 60 would really shine. The 81 is good for clean strumming - but by comparison - in the neck position - the 85 does just about everything better than the 81 does - EXCEPT - I have to admit, if you're playing jugga-jigga-wugga metal rhythm, and you WANT to leave a bit of a hole, say for a separate lead tone to play over: you might consider using the 81 at the neck, precisely because it's NOT as full, and therefore leaves room ( but also, on its own, doesn't sound as good ) - but otherwise - for just about anything else: just go 85 - unless you play in a crunchy strat style, in which case, go 60.
My esp ltd h-1001 came stock with some passive Seymours, so I switched them out for emgs, I wanted 81 on bridge and 85 on neck and they didn't have any in stock so I just went with 81 and 81, the bridge pickup with distortion is just amazing, but I find the the 81 on the neck to be really dull when trying to get a clean sound, I was pretty disappointed, now that the heavy work with converting it to active pickups is done I might try to swap it out
IAmCjcj11 wow were you dropped on your head as an infant? the 81 in the bridge position is a no brainer on the other hand if they were out of 85's you should have gone with the 60 instead (or been patient and waited a week or so until they got more 85's) what the fuck would possess you to get two of the SAME pickups? personally i recommend the 60 for the neck position
60 for sure
As the neck tends to get muddy, a less bassy pickup makes sense. This seems to be the 60.
However I did not like any of those pickups sound. I prefer low output passive pickups for any music style.
Buddy there just had cookie cutter tone on this. It would have been just as shrill with a passive.
@@LCRLive687 Lowering the resonance frequency of any passive pickup is for free. You just put a capacitor in parallel to the pickup. The same happens, if you switch to a long cable.
Heigthening the frequency however requires an active electronic (to decouple the electronics).
Thus my hint would always be: Stick with the higher frequency pickup and than lower as required.
Another hint: Always listen to the guitar in a mix. Highs make the guitar cut through, lows make the mix muddy even more, especially with multiple guitars.
Of course tastes are different, so it is up to you, what sounds you want... just my 2 cents.
I think I preFer the 81 _ the 85 is too bassy /muddy and the 60 liked a turned down 81- however reinforces my preference of no neck pickup
-only reason for neck pickup is blues or shred on higher frets - not good enough ROI for me
Or Stoner, Doom, Sludge
very nice demos thankyou
81 takes it for me
Nice clean chops at the demos around 5:00 in
Great sound test.
I guess I'm an 85B/60N guy.
same pick here!!
I agree someone payed attension in school,and Actually got an education!
Nice work.
thanks :)
megahurtz30 I see so many, Just doing bad comparings. Comparing amps and not using the same speakers...!?
It was just great to see someone was awake in science class. nice controlled A-B!
I,m gonna A-B EMG 80's with Blackout's When I change my strings as I have them in my charvels . I will not make a video Just a personal thing.
I have 81s but I think 85s are much better, PD: police 👌🏻👏🏻
Caramba que som!!!! totalmente diferente do que poderia imaginar!
81 in the bridge and 85 in the neck is good in that its almost like having two different instruments in one, i.e. a guitar and a bass, whereas a 60 in the bridge would be more like having two slightly different guitars
85 all the way
To sound like metallica clean tone what of them should i buy?🎸🤘🤘🎸☠
I would advise EMG 60
@@megahurtz30 thanks🤘
EMG custom pickups for James Hetfield
I cannot get a clean sound with my EMG 81... cannot figure out the reason why.
have you tried replacing the battery?
Oh this comparison is by you? Cool! I got passive emgs... but I was thinking of this what about going 85 in the bridge and 60 in the neck? Nobody does that. Also I was thinking double 85s and 85 in the bridge and 81 in the neck is possible. After all 85 is a bridge pick up that’s commonly used as a neck pickup just like the 81. It’s just that nobody does that because of zakk wylde lol
Yeah, this is an older one. To me the 85 sounds like it has more mids, so, it can be interesting on the bridge, depending on what you prefer. Personally, on the neck, i love the 60
@@megahurtz30 yeah I had a 60 neck on my ltd ex 400 I loved the bridge and the pickups on that guitar... I had to sell it when I was leaving Iran tho. 81 on the neck is pretty cool too... I love all of them to be honest... 85 is the only one I’ve never had and always liked.
Awesome demo bro!
+Zach Krovin Thanks! :)
Straight forward no bullshit, I like that,HAIL!! From Singapore \m/
I think the EMG 60 is the better choice for the music I play.
Here's the reason - bass in neck =bad -muddy -this is why strat neck sounds good-
For me I prefer 1 pickup and roll off volume
I llike more of the 81 but 85 os also really good.
how did you do to not saturate the signal with volumen at full? Active pickups with Mooer Radar just crack everytime (even though I got te gain at minimun on my Focusrite 2i2 2nd generation)
I haven't tried Mooer Radar, but it seems it's an Impulse Response loader /Speaker simulator. You need something before the Mooer to treat the signal (decrease volume, adjust gain, EQ, etc) like a Pedal or the fx loop send of an Amp
Então amigo, parece que o 81 no braço soa mais grave que o 85. Estou pensando em colocar 85 na ponte e 81 no braço, ta certo ou terei algum problema? Obs.Gostaria que o mais grave ficasse no braço.
Acho boa idea. De qualquer forma, se voce quiser experimentar trocar os dois, mais tarde, é facil de fazer.
megahurtz30 Ah sim, vi num vídeo que é só encaixar os pinos, mto prático mesmo.
Vou comprar o 85 mes q vem e o 81 no outro para não pagar impostos. Vlw
Great Video!
Different pickup combos sound different in different guitars. For say in a les paul id prefer an 81 bridge 60 neck but with a Jackson or ESP lighter guitar with a Floyd rose id prefer either an 81 bridge nd 81 neck or a 85 bridge 81 neck. A lot of people never give the 85 a chance in the bridge position. Harmonics scream easily with distortion
bighf24 Tom Morello uses an 85 in the bridge position on his arm the homeless guitar and I gotta say that it sounds amazing especially in know your enemy.
85 in the bridge is usually standard and traditional since the 80’s.
60 seems a bit more compressed and sounds more natural to me, 100% the best, sadly enough i don't want to spend 100€ to swap out my 85 for the 60, when the difference is so very minor and the money is required for other more essential guitar things.
Man the 81 is the most optimum pickup among these and the 85 has a good clean tone but 60 must be the best pickup for heavy or thrash metal
thank you alot
Maybe my ears are shit but outside of clean, I can't tell much of a clearly noticeable difference. I like the 60 clean the most, personally.
will you please write the songs' name here? Thanks.
Cool vid I think that 85 could go well with alder guitars because they sound so thin. And at the same time the 60 sounds amazing with mahogany for the opposite reason. Great vid, thnx
1st There is no need to be agressive dude, my comment wasn't... 2nd Most of the difference in price in guitars come from craftmanship and wood quality, the fact that 85 has a darker sound makes it more apropiate for alder wood guitars that have a thiner sound opposite from mahogany that have more body and low end into it. I have a gibson custom(mahogany) and an ESP MII (Alder) among others and the difference is obvious, sorry if it's not to you even using the same gauge for strings, same pickup distance, and same pickups. Thus the pickups you choose do balace thing. 3 You are completely right, the string gauge makes a huge of a deal putting low end or thikness into the sound. As well as pickup distance, in this latter case is mostly because the added gain. I like the video because it acually isolates the actuall difference between pickups...And if something 50% of the sound comes from the cabin and amp you use, not the guitar. cheers
Mario G tone does not come from the wood..... Right....
Mario G Hey Mario, I will try this one more time with more politeness and objectivity.
(1) It is rude to call people "pseudo-intellectual" based on auch a small matter. I think no one is here to try to be intellectual.... I just love guitars and engineering.
(2) You are right in stating that other factors (e.g. scale, construction, hardware, etc.) have more impact on the tonal characteristics of an electric guitar than maybe the wood.
(3) The sound of an electric guitar is determined by the vibrations and oscillations "picked up" by the pickup. And the oscillations coming from the strings are triggered by the entire physical vibrations from the instrument (incl. hardware, fingerboard, neck, body), thus also from the wood. And depending how the vibrations and wood, even the pickup will vibrate. Take for instance an alder body guitar, which vibrates far more than a solid maple body guitar and put your finger on the pick up. You will feel how the pickup vibrates. And this affects the sound.
(4) Oscillations travel through the cells and structures of wood and each peace of wood (even the same kinds) is unique in its structural composition. There is a reason why people spend ridiculous amounts of money to find THE tone and why people want to buy vintage guitars from the 50s and 60s.... Because old woods have "damaged" cell walls, which will let the tone travel through the body more easily.
(5) I understand that the scale and construction has more dramatic impact on the tone... I own 56 guitars and 12 customs from gibson scale up to 30.5"(!!) scale, from floyd rose to string through... So yeah, I know what you mean in terms of basic characteristics. But I also own 10 identically spec'd les pauls (same color, same wood, almost same weight, no weight relief holes, same hardware) from different years. And each sounds different.
Finally, everyone has an opinion and it is rude to call other people less intelligent or whatever because they have a different opinion, especially when an opinion is based on facts. And your statement is a slap in the face for thousands of guitar lovers.... If wood does not affect the tone, why don't we all use metal/plastic/carbon for building a guitar? Cheers man and keep on playing!
Mario G If you speak German, here is an interesting publication about internal friction of wood and their impact on frequency. Google Translator will do provide useful services to translate this paper. link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01366862#page-1
Mario G A research project in this subject would be helpful. Cheers
81 - 85's are boss, can we get 81 with 60's in a jam?
Is this melody from Dream Theater endless sacrafice intro?:D
WHATS SONG AT 4:20 ?
Just some riff i invented at the time...
@@megahurtz30 cool riff thanks
What song is that at 2:20?
Message in a bottle, by The Police
megahurtz30 LOL, I was hearing Edi Brickell & The New Bohemians in my head: "I'm not aware of too many things, but I know what I know if you know what I mean..." now I'm going to have to go listen to that and see if the guitar sounds remotely like that.
Could you please tell me the name of the intro clean riff? It's beautiful!
the first clean riff is from Children of the Damned, from Iron Maiden
I need a tab for that! Nice video
Cool video
thanks!
ihave emg 81 in the bridge and 60 in the neck on an ibanez mtm2 and now i am little worried about this, onestly i think that the best active pickups for all kind of music is the duncan ahb-3 emty blackout .....today i remember the sound of the stock embty blackout duncan designed of the mtm2 and i'll change for the second time the pickups of this mahogany guitar..i can change the emg 81 and 60on this week for the stock emty blackout duncan designed....emg 60 is good for the neck clean or drive position...it is veratile and it sounds like an active single coil with a lot of basses. the 81 in the bridge is not a so good guitar picku for me.i ve used this emg set for 3 years.81 is a terrible clean pickup...and it is so toneless ...more than anyother pickup. 81 is good for its neutrality but it is so cold unexpressive bland pickup...however it is perfectfor legato tapping and fast distortion riffs...the 60 id perfect for blues rock and clean sound stuff...one of the best compromises for a neck guitar active pickup...81 is my delusion, i fight for loving it but it is an orrible pickup its make your best instruments sounds like a cold toy and you ll obtain less inspiration in your music...emty blackouts sounds a lot better for the clean sounds....especially neck pickup...you can play all kind of guitar clean part on it, the clean bridge pickup sound goot too but it shines vith the distorted tone, so warmness, rawness, detailed, clear, aggressive, whit an incredible huge spectrum of overtones and armonic, for me the best pickup in the world for phinch harmonics lead and rytmic parts, it is a rock paf with the emgs qualities for legato but a little less compressed and more expressive qualities and smoothness on the dynaic lead solos parts and more brutal on the rytmh parts cause it has less midlle in its eq than 81, the haronics on the emty are 10 times more easy and singing than 81....for my experiences 81 lost with emty bridge and also the 60 with the emty neck....emty is a set that i ll never forget in my life
60 sounds the best i think, 81 was also good in the neck
Well, 85 for neck and 60 for bridge
To me they sound flat, not much tone for EMG pickup's. It could just be the settings in the amp Sim but I reckon Dragonfire screamers or crusaders sound alot better than these EMG pickup's. That's just my opinion though. And Dragonfires cost a quarter of the price.
ok, thanks for your opinion.. that's interesting, i might try to get some Dragonfires and test them
The 85 I think...
I think about 81/81 and 81/85 maybe i would try 81/81
I can hear alot more difference with these in the neck
the 81 in the neck gives me p bass vibes
60 sounds thin as fuck. 85 is the warmest sounding of them here. Interestingly, I found 85 sounding the warmest in the bridge, too. So, I guess 85 bridge, 85 neck for me :P
+Mario Krušelj Yeah, 85 sounds here so much better then the other PUs O_O cant wait for my guitar with 85/81
EMG 85 is the best pickup ever hands down people!
60 neck 81 bridge. the 85 sounded like dookie in the neck.
81 all day everyday.
85 in the bridge 66 in the neck. Alnico's for the win bitches
The best for neck pickup is emg 85
The best for bridge pickup is 81
85 neck\85 bridge
same as the bridge comparo video - 85''s are richer,clearer and louder
- test doesn't entirely show the dynamics of rock strumming and riffing but...
- and the 60's sure seem made for overdrive
81 Bridge / 85 Neck.
The first song with emg 85 sounds like James Hetfield from Metallica in And justice for all era
***** Mostly the amp and its settings that makes the difference :P
His first esp mx250 eet fuk was equipped with 81/60 ? Always thought it was 81/85
***** AJFA and Black album were dual 81's for James, he switched to the 60 neck around '93. And Kirk has used Dual 81's since about '87, recently started using the 85.
With all the guitars he had I'm sure he had both the 81 and 60 in the necks of some.
***** Slayer is 85. They were gibson dirty fingers, 81's and 60's.
For me, 81 is better!!
Ill go with the emg 60 is more cleaner and brighter.
Emg 85,60 either is better on highvE than emg81