# EMG Vs Fishman



## PariahMusic (Nov 4, 2018)

Swapped out my EMG 81/85 set for a Fluence Tosin Abasi set. Comparison here:


Subs/likes are GREATLY appreciated!!


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## LeviathanKiller (Nov 6, 2018)

Fishman = all day, errryday

EMGs have been the quickest pulled set of pickups I've ever owned (twice)

Blackouts > EMGs imo
Then Fishmans > Blackouts > EMGs

By the way, you made that guitar look so classy with the upgrades!


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## PariahMusic (Nov 6, 2018)

LeviathanKiller said:


> Fishman = all day, errryday
> 
> EMGs have been the quickest pulled set of pickups I've ever owned (twice)
> 
> ...



Lol wow. But yeah, I think that's the general consensus as far as active pickups. I liked the lead tone I got out of the EMGs a lot..but yup can get the same and better out of the fluences.

Thanks! Classy is a great word for it haha I'm in love.


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## Strobe (Nov 6, 2018)

I love Fishmans and own 5 different sets - Tosins, Moderns (both 7 and 6 string), Classics, Strat, and Tele set. That said, I still have a guitar with EMG 81/85 in it, and it will be staying that way. EMG's have a sound to them. Sometimes that's the sound I want, even if I prefer most aspects of the Fishman sets.


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## PariahMusic (Nov 7, 2018)

Strobe said:


> I love Fishmans and own 5 different sets - Tosins, Moderns (both 7 and 6 string), Classics, Strat, and Tele set. That said, I still have a guitar with EMG 81/85 in it, and it will be staying that way. EMG's have a sound to them. Sometimes that's the sound I want, even if I prefer most aspects of the Fishman sets.


Yup I hear you. I'm a fan of flexibility. They both have their place. Certainly keeping the EMGs in my Hellraiser Hybrid C8


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## Lindmann (Nov 7, 2018)

I never played the fishmen myself so I am only relating to your video.

I actually like the EMGs better as I don't like these mid-focused djent tones that much.
While the EMG sound beefier (it' rare that someone calls these beefy, right?) the fishman sound more...uhm....djenty(sorry for the term)

But I wouldn't call one of these two better than the other.
Just different.


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## PariahMusic (Nov 7, 2018)

Lindmann said:


> I never played the fishmen myself so I am only relating to your video.
> 
> I actually like the EMGs better as I don't like these mid-focused djent tones that much.
> While the EMG sound beefier (it' rare that someone calls these beefy, right?) the fishman sound more...uhm....djenty(sorry for the term)
> ...


Im mostly in it for the flexibility and wanting to try them! But I will say this...I realized the next day that my pickup height on the Fluences was a little low, so that probably influenced it some. I raised them and they are a tad more full sounding.
But yeah, in a mix, it's nothing revolutionary between the two of them. All about the flexibility for me


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## PariahMusic (Nov 7, 2018)

And guys... please subscribe if you're into this stuff. Building this channel is a huge goal for me!


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## PariahMusic (Nov 7, 2018)

@AirForbes1 you sir, are the man. Number 40 haha. Thanks dude, lots of cool stuff on the way.


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## KailM (Nov 7, 2018)

I liked the rhythm tones of the EMG way more. Way more beef and a warmer chug. Couldn't stand the Fishman there, TBH.

I liked the Fishman lead tones better though. Cleans were a toss up.


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## PariahMusic (Nov 7, 2018)

KailM said:


> I liked the rhythm tones of the EMG way more. Way more beef and a warmer chug. Couldn't stand the Fishman there, TBH.
> 
> I liked the Fishman lead tones better though. Cleans were a toss up.


Fair enough. The only things to keep in mind are the pickup height thing I mentioned above, and that the tones were created for the EMGs. I used the same patch and settings to highlight differences.


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## Flappydoodle (Nov 7, 2018)

Vastly preferred the EMGs. The Fishmans sound like you have a wah pedal engaged - there's such a prominent mid range bump somewhere.

My advice would be that if those patches were designed with your EMG-equipped guitar in mind, you'd probably want to tweak it a bit (unless you prefer the mid bump sound).

My own thoughts are that Fishman pickups are cool. I have a set in one of my favourite guitars. But the EMG81 has been around for almost 30 years and has been on so many epic metal albums. It's been successful for a reason. It sounds fucking good. They didn't suddenly become shit when the whole "passives are best" thing came along. And they didn't become worse when Fishman came up with a new way of making pickups.


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## PariahMusic (Nov 7, 2018)

Flappydoodle said:


> Vastly preferred the EMGs. The Fishmans sound like you have a wah pedal engaged - there's such a prominent mid range bump somewhere.
> 
> My advice would be that if those patches were designed with your EMG-equipped guitar in mind, you'd probably want to tweak it a bit (unless you prefer the mid bump sound).
> 
> My own thoughts are that Fishman pickups are cool. I have a set in one of my favourite guitars. But the EMG81 has been around for almost 30 years and has been on so many epic metal albums. It's been successful for a reason. It sounds fucking good. They didn't suddenly become shit when the whole "passives are best" thing came along. And they didn't become worse when Fishman came up with a new way of making pickups.


Completely agreed that EMGs are still fine. People are bandwagon-y..thankfully, folks on this site tend to avoid that. But yeah I do still prefer the fishmans after doing some patch tweaking for them. Certainly a personal preference thing.


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## AirForbes1 (Nov 7, 2018)

PariahMusic said:


> @AirForbes1 you sir, are the man. Number 40 haha. Thanks dude, lots of cool stuff on the way.



Awesome. I like your playing. Looking forward to more videos. Good luck.


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## MASS DEFECT (Nov 7, 2018)

I'm able to get my moderns sound a bit closer to the emg 81 with some tweaks in eq. The 81 has more bass i think and less sizzle. You'd think the 81 was slicey dicey, but the ceramic modern has a bit more high mids and treble. putting on hf tilt with the modern set got it closer to an emg 81x in my experience. 

In a mix it won't matter. But live, the Fluence just has more pros for me. It is very very very quiet and live, I dont even need a noise gate even if im running gobs of gain and an od pedal. The 81 can't do that.


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## ptxxx (Nov 10, 2018)

The fluence moderns definitely have the cocked wah sound as well. Kinda like a tubescreamer eq without the boost. It's not as prevalent at much lower 6 string tunings, at namely g # for me.

Bought the modern set to put in a les paul, and I did not like them in there at all. They found a home in the ibanez baritone, as it needed a bit of tightening up in the lows.

I'm very much a fan of the 57/66 emgs in standard 6s.


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## KnightBrolaire (Nov 10, 2018)

Personally for 7/8 strings I'd never bother with EMGs again. Tried the 707s, 707x, 808x, 57-66-8, 81x/85x-8 and all of them were meh imo. 
that being said, the fishmans were def clearer, though that patch definitely didn't do it any favors. It was super quacky/honky. Using a patch made for the emgs skews the results imo. I'd have preferred if you could've used a more neutral patch/settings that works with both of them.


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## buriedoutback (Nov 10, 2018)

Flappydoodle said:


> My own thoughts are that Fishman pickups are cool. I have a set in one of my favourite guitars. But the EMG81 has been around for almost 30 years and has been on so many epic metal albums. It's been successful for a reason. It sounds fucking good. They didn't suddenly become shit when the whole "passives are best" thing came along. And they didn't become worse when Fishman came up with a new way of making pickups.


As usual, I agree with you. In my case, substitute 81 above for 85


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## lewis (Nov 10, 2018)

Im still waiting for someone to compare an emg with the RPC knob against a fishman. The difference from stock seems that the fishman is tighter and more twangier/Hifi etc.

Which the rpc basically does for emgs. Tightens low end and boosts high end for more clarity.


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## guitaardvark (Nov 11, 2018)

Strobe said:


> I love Fishmans and own 5 different sets - Tosins, Moderns (both 7 and 6 string), Classics, Strat, and Tele set. That said, I still have a guitar with EMG 81/85 in it, and it will be staying that way. EMG's have a sound to them. Sometimes that's the sound I want, even if I prefer most aspects of the Fishman sets.


How is the Greg Koch tele set on high gain? Strongly considered getting them but ended up rolling with a Tone Zone T.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Nov 11, 2018)

I'm a Fishman convert and even I have to agree I preferred the EMGs here. Sounds like there's WAY too much mid emphasis with the Fluences. The EMGs sound like that old-school 5150-style chuggachugga, while the Fishmans got the modern Djenty midrange honk.


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## lewis (Nov 13, 2018)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> I'm a Fishman convert and even I have to agree I preferred the EMGs here. Sounds like there's WAY too much mid emphasis with the Fluences. The EMGs sound like that old-school 5150-style chuggachugga, while the Fishmans got the modern Djenty midrange honk.


im going to be a convert too I reckon.

The Moderns just sound too good to ignore. Im tempted to put a set in my Fender Showmaster project with the Stainless Steel covers.
Probably get the strat recharge battery plate too.


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## Strobe (Nov 13, 2018)

guitaardvark said:


> How is the Greg Koch tele set on high gain? Strongly considered getting them but ended up rolling with a Tone Zone T.



On high gain, it's like a tele in a lot of ways - that is to say it has great attack in just about any position and it cuts very well. Some tele pickups are ice-picky, this is not while still remaining quite bright. I used to play in a progressive metal band with a guy - I favored the more common metal stuff - active pickups into an amp with maybe a boost. The other guy just plugged his MIM tele straight into an amp. It was a little noisy, but it worked.

The ways it stands out is the lack of noise (very quiet), and the 2nd voicing. For anything gainy, I prefer the 2nd voicing. It's hotter, middier, with a lower resonant peak. It has a little more low end to give fullness to leads.

I happen to love the Tone Zone in most of its flavors, as it is one of the most fun lead pickups, bar none. If you are mostly doing lead work, it's going to sound better for the single note stuff. The Greg Koch set is going to have the edge if you do clean or less gainy stuff (they are very pretty clean), and it's going to be tighter for rhythm. Leads it's kind of PAF-ish on the voice 2 setting. Not really thick, but decent. The classics and Tosins impressed me more for all around awesomeness in almost any situation, but the Greg Koch set is good, too (just not on the level with those two which are my favorites).


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## Dayn (Nov 14, 2018)

The Fishman does sound like you have a wah filter engaged. Based on this video, I prefer the EMG for distortion. It sounds much fuller and richer. It sounds like the Fishman took away frequencies more than anything. No real preference for the cleans.

However - I *prefer* Fishman to EMG. Just the reasons why didn't come through in this video.

I have the Moderns and the Tosin Abasi signature sets, and I've had EMGs in the past. The Fishmans blow EMG out of the water, for me. It's a much better base to sculpt your tone from, they respond so much better, and goddamn the coil splits are incredible. I think the Tosin coil split is better than the Modern coil split, though.

But just based on the video alone, I preferred the EMG. When I swapped to Fishman I had to completely redo my tones. It's like the EMGs were acting as 'limiters' - I couldn't get any better. When I swapped to Fishmans, that limit was removed, I just needed to change it up.


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## Flappydoodle (Nov 14, 2018)

Dayn said:


> The Fishman does sound like you have a wah filter engaged. Based on this video, I prefer the EMG for distortion. It sounds much fuller and richer. It sounds like the Fishman took away frequencies more than anything. No real preference for the cleans.
> 
> However - I *prefer* Fishman to EMG. Just the reasons why didn't come through in this video.
> 
> ...



I think it heavily depends on your style of play and what you are recording.

If you are laying down metal rhythm tracks, an EMG 81 is absolutely brilliant. That compression IMO helps. For a baseline metal rhythm track, you don't particularly want dynamics - you want a consistent sound, with similar loudness of every note. For something more "expressive" then different pickups would certainly be better.

I have two guitars with Fishmans now (modern and KSE set) but sometimes I'll still reach for the guitar with an EMG81 in the bridge. It has a certain sound, and sometimes that sound is exactly what you want!


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