I have a Kerry King Sig. Series B.C Rich (Not the starter guitar) and they have EMG HZ's in them and i was wondering what kind of asshole would put emg hz's in a guitar? After using them i realized that they are by far the worst pick ups in the world.

I rarely can hit a pinch harmonic and when i do it quickly turns to feed back, ill admit i dont have the best amp but my other guitar with 2 power sound humbuckers i can nail them easly.

Anyway I was wondering if theres anyway I can fix it maybe with a EQ pedal or should i just get new pic ups? I was thinking about going Duncan because ive heard nothing but good shit about them. Also if I change pick ups how would i go about changing them sence i have a floyd rose and should i go active or not? thanks

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Yes new pick-ups.

Duncans are ok, I thought they were the shit at one point, but REAL EMG's kick there ass (80's, and 85's, and they are active ones too).

As for changing them... Either do it your self, but what I would do is get some guy from the local music store to install them, but you don't have to if you know what your doing, or how to do it.

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Yes, throw those Hz's away and gat the Zakk Wylde 81/85's, pinched harmonics are WAY better. You don't get a huge range of tones, though.

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I have mixed feelings about hz's mainly cos i tryed two esp's (an old explorer and a kh) and in the explorer they didnt sound to bad but in the kh, they sounded completely lifeless. But it may have had somet to do with the wood etc, i dunno, anyways i'd still get rid of them and chuck in some seymours

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Hz's do really suck. Not worth a damn, so buy an EMG 81/85 set and you will have that bitch screaming! I can't believe EMG would put their name on those shitty Hz's. Emg should stick with making active pups only.

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85's all the way...

The EMG-HZ is one one of the best passive picups in the world according to the EMG website...
Thats pure bullshit

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BLAAHAHAHA! Where do they get this crap?

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toss the hz's and get some duncans, you could prolly buy a bridge p-up for the money youd get for the 2 hz's, if you ar lucky

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Hey Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom plays the HZ now, and i like his tone.

\m/

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PPPPPPPPPPPPFFFFFFFFWHAT!!!

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It's true, check out his Sig. ESP RR. http://www.espguitars.co.jp/artist/2004/index.html you might have to click Alexi Laiho on the left. Some people say he doesn't ever play his ESP RR, only his Jackson, but that's not true. There's a poster of him in Guitar world this month playing the white ESP RR.

BTW...does anyone know how i can order a Japanese ESP in the US? Some of the guitar creations on that site are FREAKY but amazingly cool.

\m/

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You may be able to find one on ebay.

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dude just cus the signature series has an hz in it and not an active emg doesnt mean that that is what alexi actually uses, esp could just be going cheap on you.

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my guitarist's backup guitar has an hz in the bridge, he has no problems pulling out pinches left and right....seriously, he can pretty much solo with nothing but pinches... so maybe it's just your ability to pull off pinches.
he has the hz set really close to strings, so you might try raising it.
but yeh, they arent so great, i much prefer his guitar with an 81/85 set.

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Just like the B.C. Rich KKV sig that started this tread and Kerry King sure as hell doesn't use Hz's.

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exactly

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Is that the kerry kind model with a floyd rose...??? AHAHAH stupid bc rich

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Well isnt' that the cheaper version of the KKV? There's no cheaper version of the Alexi Laiho model. Plus to me, it really doesnt' sound like his pickup is active. Though there's certainly a lot happening to his sound before it comes through my speakers, it just doesn't have the same characteristics as my EMGS, it sounds way too dynamic and just different.

\m/

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When I looked at the site you gave, his guitars that were pictured looked as though they had an active EMG, because Hz's have adjustable poles while active EMG's do not. Maybe he does use them but I will never use them again. They don't have what I need.

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BLS, you know that the NJ B.C. Rich KKV sig mentioned here has only a Floyd trem system with Hz's. If it had a Kahler it wound be a true mock of his guitar with 81/85 pups, 24 5/8" scale, 24 fret ebony tribal inlay bourd, because I'm sure he only uses Kahler.

I'd like to find that box of brand spanken new Kahler bridges that are put on his guitars, so I could give them back to the world, maybe!

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If you mean the ESP Japan site (with the white background and frame on the left), it is an HZ. Not only does it say it in the notes on the left, but the logo on the pickup says it. The H3 and H4 don't have poles, only the H1, H1A, H2, and H2A have poles.

\m/

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Wow! I bet your right then because I had no ideal that there that many models of Hz pups.

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Yeah i've heard the H4's are pretty nice. I wouldn't mind trying one out, but havent' seen to many since most stock HZs have poles.

\m/

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Bah i have only played H4's and they rock!

do you realize that youve never heard alexi playing with the hz because he recorded all of COB's current cd's with a jackson j50bc before his jacksons were stolen. Ive only seen one live vid of him playing the emg and it sucked donkey ass compared to the jackson. As far as EMGs go stay away from them at all costs, they have no tone, are sterile, are impossible to get good cleans out of without a lot of processing, and are noisier and muddier than evans and bartolinis. I have an 81/60 set in my guitar now and hate it passionately.

Maybe you just have a shitty wiring job. I love EMG's.

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no the wirings perfect because i got a guitar place to do it and it looks like it should, shiny solder joints. I just hate the extreme sterility of emgs.

sounds like you're the problem not the emg's. i've never had a problem with sterile tone and muddyness. my guitarist has a gibson sg loaded with an 81/85 set going into a 5150 on a defaced crate cab full of v30's and his sound is great.

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Yes, maybe the real problem is somewhere else. EMG's are sterile and have a crisp sharp attack, but thats just why I like them; thats suppose to be their signature tone. They can't be sterile and muddy at the same time. As for noise... you said that a shop did the wiring. Did they connect the ground to the bridge? There should be no ground to the bridge for EMG's. It can make things crazy sounding and is dangerious to you.

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nope, i took that off myself.

Man you have to know how to dial them in...You can great pretty good cleans, you just have to crank back the volume knob, they are too high output for cleans at full power. Your rig has a lot to do with your tone. EMGs can give great tone, but if your rig blows, then of course your tone is going to blow regardless of pickups. Now I love EMGs, but the next few guitars I get won't have them cuz I want a different flavor, but this doesn't mean EMGs are bad. I don't know about your rig, but make sure you have mids. Also, if you are running a distortion pedal, THAT is what's shittifying your tone. It also depends on your amp and cab and whatnot. One thing about EMGs that makes them a BIT sterile is that they have some natural compression of the signal. You can add more headroom by installing another battery in series with the first battery, you can have up to 3 batteries actually, but EMG doesn't highly recommend it. This gives more dynamics to your sound.

\m/

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i hate emg's, duncans are the way too go, they have a unique tone in every guitar, all emg's, active ones at least, sound the same no matter what guitar you throw them in, i have played the all the hz's, and i dont like any of them, they sound better than like the cheapo bcrich or squier no name brand pickups, but they still suck compared to duncans or dimarzios.

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EMG's sound good for metal, and they cna really tighten up the low end. But yes they do sound almost exactly the same in any guitar... seems like they ignore the qualitys of tonewood. I agree, Duncans are the shit.

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EMG's dont sound the same in every guitar, every guitar I've played with EMG's sounded different from the other, and all of them had 81's in the bridge

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they don't sound "exactly" the same in every guitar, but definately "more" the same in different guitars because they're active and they don't rely on the wood characteristics of the guitar as much as passive pickups...
but a squire with emg's won't sound exactly like a prs with emgs just because of an emg pickup.... i wish it worked that way because then you wouldnt have to spend as much money to get a good sounding guitar, just buy an active pickup.

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EMGs always sound somewhat similar becuase they have an internal preamp, which drastically characterizes the sound before it ever reaches the amp. This can be gotten around using active EQ options as well as different amps, though they will still never be quite as versatile as other pickups. I think it'd be sweet if EMG came out with pickups that allowed the player to change the settings on the internal preamp through some buttons/menu on the guitar...now that'd be the best of both worlds.

\m/

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or you could just use duncans, cus as said before, they are the shit

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Now that is a great ideal. Wonder if EMG would do that if enough people demanded it... but then we would have threads were people ask what you favorite EMG settings are

Shadow Pickups have an active pup with level and active E.Q. adjustments for its preamp right on the pup. The adjustment screws are on the face of the pup, kinda like post screws. It can mimic all EMG's and nearly any other pup, so they claim I almost got one of them once, but got scared of change and stayed with EMG's. I think they are made in Germany or something and they cost about $100+/- USD.

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or you could just use passive pickups and buy a parametric eq.
i think if you like the tone that active pickups put out, go for em. if not take your pick of dozens of other high gain, low gain humbuckers,single coils,multibuckers,minibuckers... ect.
you just got to find what you like.

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no i bet its cause he has a shitty amp or distortion pedal, or both
i have a bcrich with 81/85 and sometimes my pinches will turn to feedback on some amps

shitty amp or dist pedal? no no no, he has a 5150 with sovteks and a sonic maximizer in the loop on top of a crate bv4x12 loaded with v30's.... so his amp is great. he has a boss ns-2 so his shit doesnt feed back at high volumes, it doesnt affect his tone either, and he has talent and proper technique so his pinch harmonics actually sound like pinch harmonics...

i don't see how a shitty amp or distortion pedal would "help" pulling of pinches....i can do it fine with just about any half decent guitar with just about any half decent amp. but it's easier with nicer guitars with good pu's into a good amp.... sorry if i'm not seeing your logic. but if you have a nice guitar with and 81/85 set into a good amp then it isnt the gear it's the guitarist.

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you should have him check out the MXR Smart Gate. I used to use the Boss ns-2 until i tried the Smart gate... damn its awesome, my amp can be COMPLETLY silent when i stop playing, yet it dosent cut back on sustain or tone. Kinda pricey though ($120 @ musiciansfriend)

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nah dude the ns-2 is awesome.... it doesnt chop off anything from his sound. if he doesnt have it on then he can just sit there and it will be noisey as fuck, but with it on it's nice and quite. you just gotta know how to use it.

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well if he has that shit then id say its not his pickups that are the problem, lets just leave at that

Ever try a ISP technologies descrimator pedal; seems like it was made for hi gain metal players that change tempos fast? Far superior to any pedal or rack gate/noise reduction imo. If I ever get my guitar from US Customs, next thing I'm doing is to finish getting a rack set, but my ISP pedal will be included in my rack somewhere.

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yeh i used to think that too

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yeh, considering v30's are only some of the best speakers everymade... and sovtek tubes in a 5150 must sound horrible, especially with a cruddy bbe sonic maximizer ....
in case you read something wrong, there's nothing wrong with his rig. his guitar is great, the pickups in it are great, the ns-2 is an awesome noise suppressor, 5150's are great heads and sovteks are great tubes. a sonic maximizer can help any rig. v30's are like the best speakers(tied with g12t-75's and greenbacks). and the bv4x12 is actually a really nice cab when loaded with great speakers and no crate decal.
he has no problems with it. it's just that people say emg's suck or 5150's suck, blah blah... then i just think..."hhmmm these people must be the ones sucking because me and my guitarist have no problem getting great sounds out of his emgs and 5150.

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i just hate the sounds that emgs give, duncans have more of a natural sound, emg's are harsh and dont sound different in different guitars. 5150's are killer amps though.

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emg's do sound different in different guitars, the active ones just sound less different in different guitars.
duncans can sound pretty harsh too. it just depends on if you don't know how to work your shit.
i laugh when people talk shit on something like emg's... saying they have no tone and they sound exactly the same in every guitar.... blah blah. i just sit here and think "god these guys must not have very good technique" or " they must not know how to adjust the knobs on there amps" because i can play a decent guitar with or without active emgs through a decent amp and still get a good sound out of it.
amps react differently to different pickups, if you go from a jb to an invader you totaly just changed your sound and you will have to adjust your setup. same as if you go from a dimarzio tone zone to an emg 81, the sound has completely changed and you need to adjust your shit.
every body has a different sound, and deciding which pickups you want is just another way to get "your" sound.

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I tried out a jackson with duncans at a store, with a marshall, and i dialed in some high gain shit, sounded like shit to me.

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duncan designed = shit
marshall ........ high gain????? yeh right...

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Marshalls can be high gain. Nile uses them and they have some heavy dist.

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they can be, with the help of a tube screamer or something of the sorts

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have you ever played a marshall?????
m4- high gain
dsl- high gain
tsl- high gain
jmp- high gain
the jcm 900's and 800 as well as other older tube marshalls can get pretty high gain with high output pu's and the gain & volume dimed, but not jcm 2000 type high gain.
the s.s. stuff(avt,mg....) is so so when it comes to gain.
but yes marshalls can do high gain with no assistance

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Peavey VTM-120 is pretty high gain too, perfect for me because it was only $330.

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well..... peavey vt era amps are weird lets just call it that...... my cabs are oldschool vt era cabs with bass ports n' shit, crazy, but very high quality and awsome sounding.

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My cab is a 412 Peavey with Sheffields. I couldn't really distinguish between good or bad cabs. Is there really a big difference, say, between the 412 and a 1960A cab, that cost 600 freakin' dollars?

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Ive played a M4 (sucks) a TSL (was better) and a JCM 800 (didnt like it much) I didnt played them cranked though...

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It wasnt duncan design, it was real Seymour Duncan. And it was a TSL that i plugged it into.

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and it sounded like shit??? .... maybe you've been using pedals too much and dont know what tone is

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well it didnt sound too well. I tried a Peavey instead after that and it was much much better..

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would it happen to be a 5150 you played afterwards???

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Are you like psychic or what , it was the mk II.

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sure am

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I bought this Musicman RD100 , 100 Watt Hybrid (tubes in poweramp) with a 4x12 to accompany it, i use a BOSS MD-2 with it and im not too happy with the sound. I think i should have waited and bought something else or just bought a Bandit 112 from the start cuz im kinda stuck on peavey tone now.

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you must not know how to work your shit, tsl's are some of marshall's nicest high gain tube amps..... and what kind of "real" duncans were these? some real duncans still sound like shit. *cough*detonator*cough*



well, you must not know how to work your shit either, the m4 is unliked because it's not all tube and people want to feel like they're tube freaks so they bag on hybrid amps, so the m4 has gotten a bad rap for that, i have no prolems getting good "tone" out of them... but i still don't think they're worth what they're asking for them.
the tsl and dsl have tons of gain, i'd even say they have more "usable" gain than 5150's.....
the jcm 800 needs to cranked out for powertube saturation in order to get higher gain, but the newer jcm 2000's(dsl tsl) have more preamp gain so they don't have to be cranked.


is it the ms412? black with a metal grill on the front? i used to own one of those, not bad especially for the price i paid($200 used). the marshall 1960a has celestion g12t-75's in it which are better than the sheffeild 1290's in the ms412, that's the biggest difference. but other little things like a marshall decal add to the cost.

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the detonater is duncan designed DUH

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yeah, uh, hes right, the detonater is DD, its the cheap version of the invader

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At first I thought that Invaders sucked cuz I tried out a guitar with the DD version of the Invader and I didn't realize it.

Whats the cheapest high gain marshall amp? I'm thinking that the best way to right now is Marshall. I'm a cheap mother fucker and will only buy things used pretty much.
My Crate Shockwave has a lot of gain but I'm kind of stuck with one Distortion type and it sounds bad at high volumes.

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Marshall's arent cheap, definetly overprice. Out of the Marshalls i tired the TSL was the only one i though was decent... not worth the price though

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IT WAS REAL SEYMOUR DUNCAN! IT FUCKING STOOD SEYMOUR DUNCAN ON THE PICKUPS! NO DUNCAN DESIGNED OR SHIT! SEYMOUR DUNCAN!

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my bad, i could have sworn i saw one that said seymour duncan..... well, some ducnans arent to great anyways.

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uhhhhhhhhhhhh shutup

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well, thats even worse...... you played a guitar with real duncans into a marshall tsl(one of their best amps) and you couldnt get it to sound good....... i'd be embarassed(spel chek?) if i played a nice guitar into such a nice amp and i couldnt get it to sound good, i'd go home and relearn everything.

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some poeple just have different taste in tone.

WELL CHECK OUT MY THREAD ABOUT PICKUP POSTION! DAMNIT! THE BRIDGE PICKUP I USED AT THE SHOP SUCKED; BUT IT WAS VERY LOW AND AWAY FROM THE STRINGS!

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JESUS CHRIST OKAY!!!!! I LIKE SHOUTING TOO!

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this guys getting annoying REALLY annoying

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I like the duncan jb/59 and the jb/jazz combo

yea, that combo rox

you qoute yourself....

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yea , do u hav a problem with it
i auta slaughter all of u cuz ur such losers

OMFG...How pathetic is he?

i did try a guitar with REAL duncans at another shop with a rectum-frier and it was nice, although the cabinet was a laney TF412...

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Passives are only good if their NOT EMGs and they are in a guitar with high quality wood.

not really.

hell, i don't think parker guitars have any wood in em at all.... they have passive pickups... and they play and sound like a dream.

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Parkers sound extremely thin.

But the stainless steel frets are awesome!

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wash your mouth out boy!!! parkers are the shizzle! reprizizzle

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Parkers cost like 1000$ if you get a good price so they dont count but youre right about them sounding good. I like EMGs though. But good wood and a good passive means better sound.

my nizzle?

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parkers can get pricey, yeh, but most top notch guitars do.....
for active vs. passive, there is no "better"... a great guitar with nice woods and everything should still sound amazing with active pickups. it just wont be so much the wood's fault
so good wood + passive pu doesnt really mean better sound at all.
that's like saying a dual rectifier is better than a fender hotrod.... each amazing amps but totally different sounds for different purposes.
it's all in the ear.

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EMG's should really be an active pair if you wanna get emg's, they add vicous bite and attack but the hz's arent really anygood. emg 81 and 87 are a good combination. As far as passive pickups i think seymour duncans are the best i love the tone in the jb and the alnico 2. make sure you buy a seymour duncan pickup and not a duncan performer.

Yes, the JB is a great all around pickup, im gonna but jb's in all my guitars.

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maybe you've never played a dimarzio.... they're easily just as good and in some cases better than duncan...
i also have a thing for gibson pickups like the burst bucker.

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