Which EMG's?

[Lee Bob]

So after playing a buddy's Les Paul through my Tremoverb combo I really digged the tone he was getting with his EMG's vs my SD C-5/'59 combo. I played mostly with his bridge 81 and was loving the tightness and agressivness under high gain (big surprise-that's what it's made for), however, I'm not sure what would be the best EMG neck pickup for my LP. I tried his 60 very briefly and it was ok. I need the pickup to produce good cleans, which I here the 60A is the best for that, but I also want it to provide smooth, buttery leads (think Slash) which I here the 85 is better at. Therefore I guess my question is between the 85 and 60/60A which will provide the best of both worlds (cleans and leads)?

[Edgecrusher]

In the neck I like the 85 better... in that position is seems pretty even and handles leads great there... the 60 seems to be all mids... In reality even unsplit in the neck i like the 89 the best... it seems to have a bit more highs and is less nasaly sounding than the 85 and a little less output...

[That90'sGuy]

I hate every EMG I've ever played. I had the Zakk Wylde set in my Les Paul, I had the Dave Gilmour set in my strat, they were both boring, bland, cold, and sterile. 81s and 85s just can't do cleans and the SA single coils can't do clean or overdriven particularly well. There's so much better out stuff out there, honestly.

[fenderiarhs]

I hate every EMG I've ever played. I had the Zakk Wylde set in my Les Paul, I had the Dave Gilmour set in my strat, they were both boring, bland, cold, and sterile. 81s and 85s just can't do cleans and the SA single coils can't do clean or overdriven particularly well. There's so much better out stuff out there, honestly.

I love emg's in general (though they lack in some areas) but i cannot argue with your personal preferences. They are definately not sterile or cold sounding(well.....maybe the 81 is but not the 85). I agree with your statement that SA's are not very good at giving a slight overdriven sound but they do clean VERY VERY WELL.

[lex666]

If you like Slash's sound, I'd leave the duncans in your LP. I don't think EMG's will really give you slash's sound which is smoother than the EMG's. I'd recommend getting a second guitar and drop EMG's in that. Then you'd have the best of both worlds, EMG's for the heavy and tite stuff, and duncans in your LP for anything else that rocks...

[some_dude]

The first time I played Sweet Child of Mine on a neck 85 I was really surprised at how similar to Slash it sounded....it wasn't perfect of course, but it was surprisingly similar.

I thought the 85 was an excellent soloing pickup, but the cleans were far too bassy for my taste. Conversely, I really like the 60s cleans but it's soloing abilitys aren't the greatest....I sometimes wonder if a 60a would have a smoother lead tone than the ceramic 60.....

[Benjy_26]

I hate every EMG I've ever played. I had the Zakk Wylde set in my Les Paul, I had the Dave Gilmour set in my strat, they were both boring, bland, cold, and sterile. 81s and 85s just can't do cleans and the SA single coils can't do clean or overdriven particularly well. There's so much better out stuff out there, honestly.

What kind of amps were you playing your SA's through?

I play my '77 strat with the Dave Gilmour set with my V-Twin into my 71 Bassman and love the cleans from the Bassman. The blue and red channels on the V-Twin really seem to like the signal they get from the EMG's as well.

[MikeS]

It's all preference, of course, but I prefered the 60 to the 85 in the neck of my Ibanez. The pickup seemed to balance well with the guitar's tonal characteristics. I really dug the mid heavy leads (IMO, souned great under gain. That pup really cut through the mix. It was HUGE). It also cleans up a lot better than the 85 as well.

That said, as big of a 60 fan as I am, I would likely go with an 85 in a Les Paul. I'm afraid the 60 might get a bit muddy on the low end in a mahogany body.

[milkbone]

Just throw an 85 in the neck and smile!