Yes, but not without the magic of the Producer switch.
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Why are EMG Pickups so HIGHLY UNDERRATED? Sound Clip Inside
- Thread starter faulknersj
- Start date
I think you’re bang on : these pickups with another preamp sounds like a winning combination IMO.
Don’t know if Audere or Sadowsky might be the best though………..
I like the sound of them a lot, and from a functionality and raw science standpoint they have a lot of advantages over many other pickup brands.
My ONLY gripes are they do not have an OEM barrel jack option (for us Ibby players) and sometimes there isn't much room for the battery without doing some routing to the body, but that isn't always the case (and most Ibbys already have room for them).
They truly would have a lot more business from me if they offered the OEM barrel jack.
My ONLY gripes are they do not have an OEM barrel jack option (for us Ibby players) and sometimes there isn't much room for the battery without doing some routing to the body, but that isn't always the case (and most Ibbys already have room for them).
They truly would have a lot more business from me if they offered the OEM barrel jack.
I`ve got Geezers in my mid-80`s Fender P, strung with flatwounds. I love `em!
You can laugh, but I had my active bass 9v die on a gig once. I had to play my backup for 3 songs because my tone was slightly distorted. MY BACKUP! Oh the humanity. Then I had to spend another 3 minutes on set break changing the battery. This tragedy could happen to anyone playing EMG, you've been warned.
I used to tour in the late 80s with a P/J P bass with EMGs, an 800rb and an Ampeg 810. That rig sure bought the thunder!
There are just a lot more choices nowadays - Nordstrand has sooo many great options now. EMG's are great, but I also kinda look at them as old news.
There was a time I swore by them and used them in all my players...but my taste has changed. I now go for a more old school tone and sometimes it's the 60's pickup with refrigerator magnet glued to the back.
Personally, I love EMG active pickups and those EMG 2-band active EQs as well...but I hate their passive pickups. Over the years, I've bought two basses with EMG-HZ passive pickups, and even with active preamps, I could not get anything except mud out of those passives. It seems like they're all lows and low mids, no high mids, and a touch of brittle highs that are truly unpleasant. But I'll take EMG actives any time.
The Spector group swears by em!
It's what producers and mix engineers are for. The magic "Producer switch" is present on every instrument and vocal track on every recording. NO bass on a recording appears on a final mix without EQ and compression added by the mix engineer at the very minimum. But the best recordings begin with great sounding tracks. And EMG actives are noise free...even their single coil jazz bass pickups. Recording and mix engineers love that.
I don't think you're aware of what the "Producers Switch" is.
I think your assessment that they are underrated is accurate, at least to some degree. It might be that they've just been around so long that they've become too ubiquitous, a known quantity along with Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio, and many folks prefer a more "boutique" or "latest and greatest" badge or just want to change it up. I also think it very likely and totally understandable that many folks prefer the ability to fully bypass the active circuitry that passive pickups and an external preamp allows. I know that EMG now makes passive pickups, but it seems to me to be more of an afterthought and it's not what initially built their brand. I love the active EMGs myself and use them in a lot my basses and builds, but if I I'm looking for passives with a preamp, I'd probably go Lollar and John East.
For the longest time I used nothing but EMG PJ’s or J’s. They are fantastic and really the only active systems I like. Then I started getting into passive more, but with occasional forays into active land. Now that EMG makes Geezers, they’re usually what I use, and my two main basses have them. Had 4 with them at one time but you know how that goes. Still have a 4 and 5 with actives but don’t use them often, especially the 5.
This forum is full of "passive only" "P bass only" "4 strings only" etc etc.
There are a whole bunch of ears that are used to the old school that don't like the EMG sound.
alexclaber
Commercial User
I love EMG pickups! When you're used to them it's so weird playing basses without that detail in the highs or with unwanted electromagnetic noise. They're actually really good at deep mellow sounds, not just sounding like Victor Wooten.
I'd wager that there's a bunch of music recorded with EMG's that folks think is a purely passive bass.
I can get a pretty fat sounding warm tone from my EMG equipped basses, it's called knob turning.
I like EMGs, but there are a ton of aftermarket pickups out there now. I don't think they're underrated at all. If anything, just more competition.
For me, my 1st aftermarket pickups were EMG Select. They were a disappointment, very lifeless at the expense of being quiet. I've never looked at EMGs after that.
This was maybe 1990 or 1989
This was maybe 1990 or 1989
Freekmagnet
Commercial User
At the time (ca. 1986 - 1988), I thought it was the most amazing thing I'd ever heard, but once I realized that everyone in town (SF Bay Area) was striving for the exact same sound, I moved on to something different.
Nice! I had a Trace Elliot 2x410 stack back then. The funny part is that I was actually convinced that I really needed that much power to play small to medium-sized clubs.
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