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Vintage threads from the first ten years

EMG PICKUPS:Do they sound sterile?

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4/23/1999 10:40 PM
Steve	EMG PICKUPS:Do they sound sterile? I was wondering if EMGs will give me extra sustain. Also I've heard active pickups sound sterile. What does that mean from a technical point of view. Do they have less "sag"? I love vintage type pickups, but I also like to embrace new technologies. I guess what I'm trying to say is will a set of DG20s(SA pickups) trash my sound?

4/24/1999 10:23 PM

I have had an EMG set in my Tokai strat for 12 years now - not sure what model - the lower-output type, I believe. They seem to have a very wide frequency range - perhaps less midrange than various passive Strat types. Plenty of quack in positions 2 and 4. No tonal degradation when turning the guitar volume down, and - the big selling point for me - virtually no noise in almost any situation - you can use heavy distortion with minimal noise with a Strat - impossible with regular single-coils. I am sold on these great pickups.

Re sustain: My belief is that this is more a function of guitar wood and setup quality and guitarist technique, rather than the pickups.

These may sound sterile to some, due to the low-noise, hi-fi sound: you have to make up for this by playing with extra soul.

4/25/1999 7:50 PM

Hello all. I have had several sets of EMG's, both single coils and humbuckers. They definately have their own sound, quite unlike passive pickups to me. They can do their own thing very well but indeed try before you buy if possible. The only EMG I was unhappy with was a EMG85 humbucker, unusable in any of my guitars- too thick and loud. I really like EMG81's however. One of the factors to low noise if the low output impedance- the EMG's use a 25K pot instead of a 250K like Fenders. Less tone sucking from your effects can be expected.

As fet said, the guitar makes a huge amount of difference; I once put a 81SASA set in a neck through Charvel, it nearly sounded like an acoustic because it was so clean and bright. They sounded okay in a normal Strat.

Finally, be warned that EMG has two different single coil sets, the SA and the S. I have had both; SA's are thicker sounding than the S set and have more output. Try both if you can.

6/1/1999 2:31 PM
Michael Fragassi	If you've heard that EMG's sound sterile the person whom you heard this from isn't using the right amp.

6/2/1999 11:40 AM

The only sterility I noticed with EMG's was that they do not respond to being in a (loud) soundfield as stock pu's do. The lace sensors have the same "problem". I like (and have come to depend on) how stock pu's allow a nice level of +fb to work through the guitar and boost sustain & mids. I found the "feel" was sterile, not the tone. I felt cut off from my amp. If I played higher gain, I probably would not feel this way. I'm not slagging EMG's, just that I think I understand what people mean with the "sterile" comments. They do respond differently. If you're an "organic" guitarist (guitar+cable+amp = tone) then you will probably notice this more than if you're a "modern" (pls forgive the generic packaging here! No offense intended) guitarist whose rig is axe-->digital mutli fx-->amp and whose gain level is somewhat higher..

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