New to Mark V, pickup question.

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FFFDFEFRFKFFF

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Hello everyone, I've recently gotten my hands on a Mark V, birthday present to myself. After a week of tweaking I've pretty much got the tone I was going after but I was wondering one thing, pickups...anyone actually use actives with their Mark V? I bought an Explorer that came with an EMG 85/60 set up and did the 18V mod which made it pretty much own any guitar I've played before but with the Mark it just seems lifeless. I used it on a Lany GH50L and on a Mark IIB, both for sale by the way, and it owned in those but in the Mark I've fallen in love with my Bill Lawerence pickups all over again.
 
I've never been a fan of the 85 with Mesas. I don't know why, but it always felt the bottom end in it felt kind of artificial. The 81 however was a monster... cut through gain like a knife and was extremely percussive when palm muting.

I haven't tried any actives with the Mark V yet as I've loaned out that guitar to a friend's kid, but someday I'll get around to it.
 
My ESP Eclipse II with EMG 60/81 just didn't work for me at all with my Mark V - they seemed way too clinical and flat, so I replaced them with a pair of SD P-Rails and they're great... My Strat also sounds fantastic through the Mark V, so I don't know why I couldn't get the EMGs to sound sweet, but I don't play heavy, high gain stuff - Santana's about as gainy as I get...

I should probably mention that my drummer thought I got my best tones ever from my rig when I still had the EMGs... but he is a drummer... :lol:
 
I would say they both sound fine depending on the listener.

I had a Jim Root Tele with 60/81's and I didn't really care for the sound with the MV... so I sold it(JRoot).

I prefer the sound of my USA Jacksons with Duncan passives with the MV.
 
Jimi D said:
I should probably mention that my drummer thought I got my best tones ever from my rig when I still had the EMGs... but he is a drummer... :lol:


Yeah, my drummer says the same thing about my EMG's before the 18v mod but the cleans are so much better after the mod. Thanks for the responses though, I just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something when I was tweaking that'd make it all magically better. Ordering some Dimarzios in a week or so and I'm sure that'll help a ton.
 
I use two guitars both with the 81/81 setup and one of them has an 18V mod (Ibanez Rosewood fretboard) while the other one is a 9V (ESP Ebony Fretboard)...both go into a Mesa Boogie Mark V

Frankly...the ESP sounds brighter than the Ibanez because of the fretboard..great Thrash metal sounds akin to Kreator etc.

The Ibanez sounds a lot more warmer with the 18V mod..lot more headroom and the sound just feels so much more organic. The Mark V brings out the best in my active pickups compared to the different heads/cab combinations I've played through before. But I'll give you that the low end does sound boomy and artificial..but the attack and the cut through the mix is incredible.

If you want to play glassy smooth sounding leads like Santana or any other virtuoso out there, yes....you'll need to go to Passives for sure.
 
I have an EC1000 with EMG 81/60s and I think it's a bit sterile when clean as well.
It gets "better" with gain and it cuts good in a band mix. When clean, I think adding
a touch of chorus makes it more organic, IME. I'm not playing a lot of high gain with
this band so I've left it alone.

I think that's one of the "goods" with the MV though. It seems to really make
subtle differences and limitations in guitars stand out.

I have recently rediscovered my strat on the MV. It's a cheap modded MIM from
2000. I put a hot rail in the bridge, kept the mid and bridge pickup stock, and I
swear this is giving my #1 52RI Tele a run for it's money.

Anyhow, let us know how the DiMarzios work, I've been thinking of swapping out
the EMGs as well.
 
I thought my ESP LTD EC-1000 had EMG 60/81 but when I took out the pickups recently it had 81/81 wtf?! anyway I took them out because I ordered some new pickups for my guitar. yup im going passive. I ordered some Bare Knuckle Nailbombs and they should be arriving anyday now. From everything I've heard from tons of people and reviews, they put Dimarzio, Seymour, and EMG to shame but I'll find out for myself. I liked the heavy tones from these pickups but I felt like I could get something more and I figured there must be a much better pickup for me that is very versatile so I got the Nailbomb after emailing Tim from BKP. I'm also installing a push/pull coilsplit on my single tone knob so I can get singlecoil-esque kind of sounds, great for funk.

I tried my friends Gibson Les Paul Studio with BurstBuckers Pro and I must say they just sounded awful. Very muddy and lack of definition I found, I was very surprised.

Should be great to play through my new pickups when I install them, I'll let you guys know how it goes.
 
Is it just me or do passive pickups just sound more musical? Ive never been much of an active fan except the emg 707s
 
it all depends on eq set up, how the player plays and waht kind of wood/guitar that the pickups being played in. The 707 sounded better to your ears cuz its based off the emg 85 with a bit more treb for the low b string for the 7 string. I find the 81s cut through liek no tomorrow and my 60 on my tele sounds like butter. Now when i switch to my 7 string with dimarzio x2n-7 and paf7 i gotta tweek a lil bit but i find i have more control over whats being played with teh passives becuase it doesnt have the built in preamp like the emgs.
 
RocknRory: BKP are my first choice but I don't think I can afford to replace all of my pickups for those at this time, eventually though. Let me know how to sound and I may just hold off and pick some of them up instead.
 
Active pickups tend to be midrangy....to my ears anyway....nothing like a paul.....humbuckers hum with the V. MASSIVE...but that being said my powertele with the fishman pickup gives me some very nice clean clean fx friendly sounds....I guess its all what you like to hear with your ears.
 
i've played my esp kh2 w/ emg 81's through my rkII a lot and they sound awesome. but i was surprised when i got the mark v, the emg's just didn't sound right to me.

my lp has burstbucker V pickups, and they sound better through the mark v than through any other amp i've tried. same goes for the d-sonic in my jp6.

i've had the mark v for about 8 months now, and i rarely use active pickups through it. they don't sound bad, but passives just sound better to me with the V.
 
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