EMG neck position pickup...I hate my tone.

[PirateMetalTroy]

I've been having a bit of a problem recently which I believe requires immediate rectification.

I HATE the sound of my neck position EMG's. i have the 85 and 60 in my two main guitars. For cleans, i think they add a lot of life to my XXX's clean channel (which isn't the best to start with) but for my distorted tones, when I switch to that pickup, the sound I get just...sucks.

I thought about trying the 18v mod, to see if that helps, or maybe using the 81 in the neck position as well. You can kinda hear what I mean in this video:



Entire vid played on an EMG 60 in the neck.

Is there something I've missed that I need to try? I might try to get it recorded eventually, but GHAH this is frustrating.

[Racerdeth]

I have exactly the same thing in my 1527. I originally had an 81-7 in the bridge and a 707 in the neck and hated it. Swapped 'em round and hate it less, but I'm not fond (I foolishly replaced an Air Norton 7 with this, just to rub salt into the wound!)

[sevenstringj]

Try an HA. I really like EMG's single coils.

But I gotta admit, I thought that sounded pretty damn good!

[Phlegethon]

have you tried the 85 in the neck slot? might give you what you're looking for. the 85 is capable of doing a thick and harmonically rich tone when height gets tweaked, this is a setup I use in my RG321MH and it works out very well. I spend the most time on the neck pickup as it sounds that good (although I can't beat the 81 in the bridge for distorted rhythm sounds) no matter what I use it for (from jazz cleans to shred appropriate tones)

for what it's worth it the 60 does sound really good in the vid, but if it's not the tone you're shooting for then by all means tweak/change until you find it

[maxoom]

well how about nevermind

[mrhankey87]

I love the 60 in the neck. this video confirms my love, to me it just sounds good, and much better than the 85, 81 or blackout neck. haven't tried the new blackouts ahb-3.

[onefingersweep]

Definitely 85 or 89 in the neck if you're going EMG and not the 60. EMG 81 sounds crap in the neck IMO, way too hot and way too sterile.

Nice playing by the way but get rid of the silly cheater hair-tie

[ugg im kyle]

Honestly, i'd go for an active (81 in the bridge) and a passive (neck position) setup. I'm about to take out my 85 and put an air norton in it's place.

[Arsis]

Originally Posted by onefingersweep

Nice playing by the way but get rid of the silly cheater hair-tie

What a stupid comment if you were being serious.

[onefingersweep]

Originally Posted by Arsis

What a stupid comment if you were being serious.

What do you think smiley's were invented for?

Although I will always have less respect for a players technique when they have a dampening device, no matter what your name is, Guthrie Govan, Greg Howe or if you're just a youtube guitarist. As a musican I don't lose respect but for the technical ability I do.


Anyway back on topic, I saw someone recommend a active/passive combo. Personally I find that it's too big difference with that. I would rather go all passive but if I were to stay active, a EMG 85 would sound smoother than the EMG 60.

[wannabguitarist]

I really liked that tone

You could try an HA or switch to passives (but that wouldn't make sense if you like everything else about your EMGs).