# EMG Alexi Laiho HZ Vs EMG 81



## ozzman619 (Jul 6, 2012)

Ive recently bought a ESP LTD Alexi-600 and it came stock with a EMG H2 which i am current not liking at all. It seems like theres just not enough output or gain to it, but i do like its tone as the passive EMG. So i was thinking of either getting a EMG 81 because they are my go to pickup OR the EMG Alexi Laiho HZ.

Does anyone have the Alexi Laiho Emg and could maybe compair it to a 81?


----------



## feilong29 (Jul 6, 2012)

ozzman619 said:


> Ive recently bought a ESP LTD Alexi-600 and it came stock with a EMG H2 which i am current not liking at all. It seems like theres just not enough output or gain to it, but i do like its tone as the passive EMG. So i was thinking of either getting a EMG 81 because they are my go to pickup OR the EMG Alexi Laiho HZ.
> 
> Does anyone have the Alexi Laiho Emg and could maybe compair it to a 81?



I had a Jackson rr24 that I swapped the 81 out for the Alexi EMG, and it's a night and day difference. You have a more organic, muddy tone with the 81, whereas the Alexi is just like the Jackson J50-BC; HIGH output and there is a subtle 'wah' effect if you listen to it thru headphones. The passive pickups (atleast the HZ and the Alexi) have a very sterile tone to it; very bright, unlike the 81 that is dark and muddy.

I was a HUGE Alexi/Sinergy fan, so therefore I fell in love with his tone... but go for his pup if that is the sound you are looking for. This video might give you an idea of how his EMG pup will sound (I was using the J-50BC/JE-1000 and they are the same as the Alexi EMG w/booster).



Here is a guy playing the same guitar but with the EMG 81



Good luck in your decision. Go with your ears. The booster with the Alexi EMG will give it more gain for sure, but still, the tonal qualities of the Alexi EMG vs the 81 are very different.


----------



## guy in latvia (Jul 6, 2012)

IMO CoBs tone has been horrible since FTR, but on hatebreeder its the best, low gain and super clean sounding! 

No opinion on the HZ, but I significantly preferred SD Blackouts to the EMG81 in my ESP SV.


----------



## ozzman619 (Jul 6, 2012)

I honestly love all of children of bodoms tones over the years, im not trying to copy their sound exactly but i am going for a really bright, mid heavy high gain tone which is why i like the Alexi over the 81, to me it sounds the alexi is a lot more of an open sound to it compairs to the 81. 

What about the gain boost though, would i have to drill a spot to put that in?


----------



## RV350ALSCYTHE (Jul 6, 2012)

I have both of these pickups.
The HZ is in a esp custom shop alexi scythe
The 81 was in a jackson usa ke2, now in a king v clone.
So the woods/guitars are not direct comparisons but I can give you an idea of what it sounds like to me.

The HZ has a lot more mid-range than the 81. I hated the HZ at first as well, seems very crunchy? crusty? brittle? harder to eq a solid distortion tone than the 81. In time you will figure out how to eq a better tone with the HZ. It sounds amazing through tube amps, but it sounds very sterile and weaker through solidstate amps. I can now get very similar tones through either pickup, it is just more work to dial in the HZ whereas the 81 takes little eq tweaking.

My guitar was made before Alexi added the booster so I think my wiring is similar to what you've got, the HZ sounds very similar to a jackson J-50 humbucker. I had a jackson usa fusion with one of these and they sound nearly identical. I also read Alexi chose the HZ because it was most similar to the J-50 in his old jacksons.

If you want a new passive pickup I'd suggest a seymour duncan model over an 81. It will be less work to instal and will be an improvement on the HZ tone depending on which pickup you like. I like JB/Jazz humbucker set for my 6 strings


----------



## ozzman619 (Jul 6, 2012)

Ive got a few seymour duncans and they do sound great, ive got a dimebucker im a dean ml and a custom wound screaming demon in a charvel but neither of them have that midranged growl im looking to get. I can get a really decent tone with my 81's but i think ill try the alexi and if worse comes to worse and i dont like it, ill just throw it in one of my practice guitars.


----------



## groverj3 (Jul 9, 2012)

I had HZs in my Jackson DXMG before I threw real EMGs in it (actives). They were decent, but nothing exciting. Kind of muddy to my ears.

If you really want that early COB tone find a Jackson J50BC on Ebay. I believe Alexi still records with this pup regardless of his EMG endorsement. Along with the J90C lots of Jackson fans think it's something like the holy grail of tone.


----------



## feilong29 (Jul 10, 2012)

groverj3 said:


> I had HZs in my Jackson DXMG before I threw real EMGs in it (actives). They were decent, but nothing exciting. Kind of muddy to my ears.
> 
> If you really want that early COB tone find a Jackson J50BC on Ebay. I believe Alexi still records with this pup regardless of his EMG endorsement. Along with the J90C lots of Jackson fans think it's something like the holy grail of tone.



I promise that the Alexi pup sounds exactly like the J50BC.


----------



## groverj3 (Jul 10, 2012)

feilong29 said:


> I promise that the Alexi pup sounds exactly like the J50BC.



Well, I knew that it was modeled after it but didn't think it was an exact copy. I mean, feel free to use whatever you think sounds good. HZs just sound blah to my ears.


----------



## guy in latvia (Jul 10, 2012)

ozzman619 said:


> im not trying to copy their sound exactly but i am going for a really bright, mid heavy high gain tone



In all honesty, if you're just looking for a bright and midsy gain tone and don't want to copy Alexi, go for a SD Distortion! It sounds really awesome in Alder, super fat, aggressive, heavy and midsy, plus its cheaper than the EMGs. I consider it to be the ultimate thrash metal pickup in alder bodied guitars!


----------



## Stuck_in_a_dream (Jul 10, 2012)

HZ = passive
81 = active

So IMHO I think the direct comparison between the two is not fair to either one. If the OP is not settled on Passive/active and is willing to try passives, why stop at the EMG HZ? Go for DiMarzio, SD, BKP...etc. and they may have better options.

As for the 81 and from personal experience, yes it sounds muddy when it operates under 9v, but with the 18v mod, it sounds like a completely different (and better) pickup, "it comes to life" probably is not that much of exaggeration.


----------



## ozzman619 (Jul 10, 2012)

Ive tried out a few DiMarzio's and the only ones ive ever liked (and own) were the Super Distortion and the D-activators, As for seymour duncans, i do have the a JB, a custom shop Screaming Demon (which is sick for hairmetal tones) and the Dimebucker but all of my Seymour Duncans and DiMarzios lack the sound and tone that i love out of the EMG's. The EMG 81 has the tone characterists im looking for but i just wish it was a bit less compressed and more open with a bit more mid bite to it.

One pickup that is catching my eye though is the Seymour Duncan Invader, does anyone have one of those, it seems like out of all of the seymours it might be the closest one to what im looking for.


----------



## wakjob (Jul 10, 2012)

Never in my life have I heard a muddy EMG 81. 

Bad pot? Dead battery? Wired wrong?

I actually like the Jackson CVR2 pu's a lot.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jul 10, 2012)

ozzman619 said:


> The EMG 81 has the tone characterists im looking for but i just wish it was a bit less compressed and more open with a bit more mid bite to it.



EMG 81X.


----------



## xxvicarious (Jul 11, 2012)

.... try an 85 in the bridge


----------



## charlieshreds (Jul 11, 2012)

85 in the bridge all day,dude! It's a lot thicker and nicer without getting muddy.I love emg,but,yeah the 81 in the bridge is meh.


----------



## /wrists (Dec 20, 2021)

necro'ing in this thread - I'm having a really hard time modeling a tone with active blackouts + mm04 boost


----------



## ekulggats (Dec 20, 2021)

Didn't realize this was a decade old post. So anyway... lol.

Which tone are you trying to model with the blackout and MM-04? Blooddrunk? /\ /\


----------



## Blytheryn (Dec 20, 2021)

evade said:


> necro'ing in this thread - I'm having a really hard time modeling a tone with active blackouts + mm04 boost



why not just swap the blackouts, man?


----------



## Zhysick (Dec 20, 2021)

I know this is old post but... EMG81 dark and muddy? first notice


----------



## /wrists (Dec 20, 2021)

Blytheryn said:


> why not just swap the blackouts, man?


too technically inept


----------



## ekulggats (Dec 20, 2021)

evade said:


> too technically inept



Should be a direct swap w/quick connect to an EMG h2 which is what the boost was meant for... and would sound far better.

You may have clip one lead to take power away from the pickup. But thats it. There's no 250k or 500k version of the MM-04 lol.


----------



## Blytheryn (Dec 20, 2021)

evade said:


> too technically inept



Pay a tech 50 bucks.


----------



## Chris Bowsman (Dec 21, 2021)

Tone is obviously subjective, and everybody hears different shit, but a dark and muddy EMG 81?


----------



## TheBolivianSniper (Dec 22, 2021)

Chris Bowsman said:


> Tone is obviously subjective, and everybody hears different shit, but a dark and muddy EMG 81?



The 81-7 in my stealth is super super dark, it's tight and punchy but very dark. Not great on the clarity department but that's about all it lacks besides being super low mid and bass focused. It's still really hot and can do the metallic clank thing but it's so dark and bassy. Some of that might be the guitar but that's certainly not all of it, maybe 50%.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Dec 22, 2021)

TheBolivianSniper said:


> The 81-7 in my stealth is super super dark, it's tight and punchy but very dark. Not great on the clarity department but that's about all it lacks besides being super low mid and bass focused. It's still really hot and can do the metallic clank thing but it's so dark and bassy. Some of that might be the guitar but that's certainly not all of it, maybe 50%.



Contrary to what people say, the guitar can influence the sound of EMGs. It doesn't sound the same in every guitar. I had EMGs that sounded tight and bright as fuck, and some that sounded super dark and borderline muddy.


----------



## Hoss632 (Dec 22, 2021)

If the guitar already has the EMG quick connect system try other EMG passives. There's still the H3 and H4 to try


HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Contrary to what people say, the guitar can influence the sound of EMGs. It doesn't sound the same in every guitar. I had EMGs that sounded tight and bright as fuck, and some that sounded super dark and borderline muddy.


Agreed. One guitar that I can definitely notice EMG's sounded different in are Les Pauls. I find 81's in LP's to sound fucking awesome a lot of the time.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace (Dec 22, 2021)

I love the EMG ALX, EMG 85, and EMG 58 in the bridge.


----------

