Vintage mesa made me hate emg 81's

[burt reynolds]

I have used emg 81's since 1999,and i prefer the 81 with the 5150/and single rec we have. But i noticed With my mark iii and my 50 caliber they sound thin and a little lifeless,they are very metallic and abrasive but it seems to smother the tone.
Same with jcm900 cabs with g12 75's,I like the mesas much more through vintage 30's
Has anyone else experienced this? I noticed the dimarzio(not even sure wich model) pickup i have in my cheapo 7 string totaly kills the emg's. It has was more bottom and way better crunch.

 

[mule#1]

I can't speak on the EMG's but I do not like the Celestion G12 75. I think they sound thin with my old Boogies. EV's and C-90's are much fuller!

 

[Neptical]

Actually, I think the total opposite. I thought the EMGs were kind of sterile sounding in the Recs..but pushed through the older Boogies, sounded really nice. Like the old school Hammet/Hetfield tones vs. some of their newer Recto tones. I also really like a broken in G12-75 cab ( which I've owned for years) with my Mark IIIs. It's very tight and punchy with nice note definition. As fas as pickups though, I've always loves Dimarzios the best as well. I've used a ton over the years ( the old Megadrive was sweet). For new school.. the D-Activators are amazing. Everything an EMG wants to do, but can't..and more.

 

[burt reynolds]

Hate was probably to strong of a word to use,the emgs dont sound bad,it seems like this dimarzio i have in my 7 string just sounds killer,i need to find out what model it is.
Well i have figured out i like the way the emgs sound when im running just the el34's in the markiii,but i like th dimarzio when running full power. As for the 50 caliber im still toying with cabs,and strangely im liking the 5150 cab we have so far,.

 

[Boogiebabies]

EMG's offer a consistent output and are designed to operate within a guitars spectrum of frequencies. Unlike passives, they may seem to be sterile when in fact they are just behaving consistenlty. My three main guitars run EMG 85/S/S and through almost any amp, Boogie's included they are much more focused and controlled compared to say a Custom Shop Duncan 78. When playing by yourself, you may notice the tone sounds a bit narrow but when playing at stage volumes in a band mix the pickups stand out a bit. To many amps and pickups today are trying to compete with the frequencies of other instruments. The 81 does have more treble presence due to the use of a ceramic magnets opposed to the Alnico magnets used in the 85 or 89.

 

[leadfootdriver]

I always thought 81's were a bit grating.

 

[JAMz]

In my experience I find that the EMG/mark combination is great for good old school metal, very aggressive, bold and punchy. For other stuff I tend step away from emgs and use passive pickups. The emgs are just too much, so.....ESP w/emgs on a Saturday night and EBMM Silo w/ Dimarzios on Sunday morning.

 

[Jona]

With the one guitar I had an 81 in, I loved the distorted tones for added saturation and tightness (this was through a DC-5 head and Orange 4x12 w/v30s), it's basically like having a really nice clean boost on all the time. Unfortunately you just can't get a nice clean tone- there is far too much output, it's always going to be a bit crunchy and not very responsive.

I had a D-activator 7 once as well, and I absolutely hated it- the definition of ice pick tone. It's like they took the Evo (already very bright), over-wound it and somehow added even more high end- not my bag at all.

Now I'm in to Bare Knuckles- currently using a Painkiller (ceramic) and a Nailbomb (alnico V). The painkiller is incredibly tight, as tight as any EMG tone I've heard, but still allows a usable clean tone. Nailbomb is not quite as tight but huge and still chunky- together they're awesome to record.