nah, i don't think anyone thinks that --- whether they like them or not! 
but my post is to tell you that i'm impressed with your band and i enjoyed your video post in the OP: nice job!
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Why are EMG Pickups so HIGHLY UNDERRATED? Sound Clip Inside
- Thread starter faulknersj
- Start date
nah, i don't think anyone thinks that --- whether they like them or not! but my post is to tell you that i'm impressed with your band and i enjoyed your video post in the OP: nice job!
I'm seeing them used on many different bass upgrades and as original equipment on some very high priced rigs.
The fact there are so many choices out there only makes everyone a little obscure. Reading enough reviews and user accounts will show EMG to be a top choice for mnay folks. Fear not! EMG is here to stay...
Active EMGs are not particularly high output anyway; I've got passive basses with higher output.
For those that assume actives are necessarily higher output, it shows a lack of understanding for how they work.
I agree. They have a more even and balanced EQ curve to them when compared to most classic, passive designs that always have some peaky spike to somewhere. That more mellow curve can easily be misinterpreted as 'compressed,' but I hear it as balanced.
EMG does not make thirsty pickups/circuits. My most elaborate EMG setups are a Strat with a SA set and SPC control and a J5 set with a BTS system. If one keeps the cable unplugged when not in use, it's standard to get at least a year out of the battery. In my earlier years, before I just did wholesale battery changes every year, I have gone up to 3 years on a battery before it dropped below 7.5-8v, where is does start to sound a little wonky. Even after two years, the battery is still around 8.5v. Having to pop the hood every 1-3 years isn't to cumbersome, IME.
For sure. Play a passive G&L with MFD pickups. Those are hot. EMG output falls right in the middle of my guitars and basses with various active and passive guts.
EMG isn't regarded as cool by the coolest of the cool. It can be said they lack a certain "bluesman" or "roots" authenticity with a certain crowd and might have an "80s" or "hair band" association but that's OK. They've enjoyed a strong foothold in the heavy music community for a long time, but many kinds of players have used them in the last couple decades. Wooten and Hetfield are light years apart but meet at longtime EMG use. Many things that are not original equipment on old Fenders are viewed as "less than", even if such things are vast improvements in design and performance.
EMGs sound great, they're whisper quiet, and they are brilliantly designed. Usually the most time consuming thing in an EMG install is taking off the pickguard and putting it back on again.
Records that are part of the tapestry of the American and world songbook were done with basses and guitars with EMGs onboard. Nothing stays around 40 or 50 years in this business unless it just plain works and is accepted by all levels of players, engineers, and producers. They've greatly pleased me and those I've worked with on stages and in recordings for decades, and I'm nowhere near alone in that in that regard.
EMGs sound great, they're whisper quiet, and they are brilliantly designed. Usually the most time consuming thing in an EMG install is taking off the pickguard and putting it back on again.
Records that are part of the tapestry of the American and world songbook were done with basses and guitars with EMGs onboard. Nothing stays around 40 or 50 years in this business unless it just plain works and is accepted by all levels of players, engineers, and producers. They've greatly pleased me and those I've worked with on stages and in recordings for decades, and I'm nowhere near alone in that in that regard.
I speak from my experience. I actually use them along with a few passives. My hottest pickups are passives (a mudbucker, a pair of Thunderbird Probuckers), but I don't think the EMGs are on the low side. The high output of said passives overloading valve amps gave them the reputation of being "snarly", "grindy", "distorted" or downright "muddy".
Yep. A Mudbucker on a Fender Tele bass was the hottest, most garbled sounding pickup I have ever experienced. I wired that thing to have a push/pull pot for series/parallel. In parallel, it had an output and clarity that was much closer to the rest of my basses, including the ones with EMGs: one with a P and the other with a set of J5.
The usual, long running, old-school EMGs are mid output. An EMG P/PA is pretty much the same output as any run of the mill passive 10-11K A5 P pickup. The EMG J/JA pickups are no more hot than typical 7-8K A5 passive J pickups. If the EMGs happen to be too hot, just rolling back the volume knob to the desired output works well, the tonality stays the same. This alone is a major benefit of active circuits.
I think many hear EMGs with their eyes. They see the pickup/logo and assume they are hot.
I think people sometimes use the term "hot" to describe a big tone as well which confuses things. I remember back in the day always reading interviews with players (especially metal guys) that would talk about moving to EMGs because they were "hotter" than passives, but I always assume (at least in regard to bassists) they just meant brighter and gnarlier within that music genre (although some of the guitar pickups are legitimately "hotter" in output vs a passive in a way that many of the bass pickups aren't- some with a big mid peak that really pushes an amp into distortion more obviously). The association of EMG with metal also now probably helps feed that image about all their pickups.
Agreed. That mudbucker was series wound, wound pretty stoutly, and it was right up on the neck heel. That's a one-two-three punch for guaranteed big, wide, loud sound.
The EMG association with metal really tainted the perception, despite the fact that just as many non-metal players use/used them. It's funny, the EMG 81 guitar humbucker was originally designed for the neck position, with it's medium high output and tight bass roll off. It was found to work great for the bridge, the output pushed the amp and the bass roll off kept it tight when the gain was upped. Now, many high gain players use a lower to medium wind pickup (which tends to sound a little more flat to slightly scooped) and run it through a Tube Screamer (or the like) to scupt the EQ curve back to more mids and less bass. Hmm... that's the same result, innit?
Whoever is saying this has no idea what they are talking about.
EMG is one of the best sound pickups I've ever had the chance to own and work with. Dead silent, great dynamics and punch.
Plenty. I modded my basses with EMGs for the next 20 players,
Here are some.
And no I'm not a shop or a store, just doing it for fun.
Just take a look at the people complaining about the EMGs: "I don't like them because they don't sound natural"
Said by people using "vintage sound" pickups on a bass loaded with preamp and lots of pedals or post-processing
Those were their budget model and you get what you pay for. They came stock on my first guitar which was some $130 no-name, chip board cheapie back in 1988. They were completely dull, lifeless. Got a US Fender Tele soon after and the difference was night and day. Also got some DiMarzio pickups to replace the EMG Selects on that guitar and actually made the guitar sound pretty good.
The great Lee Sklar used them since the70s. Spot on!
