Active pickups need batteries, huh? How long does it take before they need to be replaced?

For a guitar with an alder body, are passive pickups a good choice?

when u notice a big change in tone. and alder would be fine for passives, it just depends what kind of pick ups u want

I was thinking about Seymour Duncan Invader...

What woods would be good for a passive pickup??

Are there any good passive EMG pickups?

yes those are good. adler mohogony are my top choises for passives

Generally, stay away from passive EMG's. I think we need to know your style of music if we are going to make any recommendations.

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Hard Rock, Heavy metal...

Ranging from Zeppelin and Deep Purple to Pantera or Metallica

hey i need some opinions i have this guitar http://www.musiciansfriend.com/prod...itar?sku=516643

and i think it would sound a whole lot better with new pickups.

suggestions?

should i just emg it cuz the wood isnt that great?



i play stuff like necrophagist/Between the buried and me/opeth/behemoth

Wunderboy, you want passives. Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz is probably exactly what you're looking for.

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I agree, they are very versatile pickups btw, will do anything from Death and Thrash metal to Classic Rock, they have a real warm and crunchy tone

Well you're gonna want something a little hotter for death metal, you can't get much heavier than Megadeth unless you're using a super high gain amp and even then you'll find yourself pushing the gain knob. But with OD or an EQ boost or with a SD pickup booster you can fix that without altering the tone of the pickups.

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How does an 81/81 set compare to an 81/85 (85 in neck, 81 in bridge)?

IMO the 81/85 is better. more tonal options than dual 81s

Hi,

I have an old-type EMG-81 pickup (without an easy connector socket). I only have 2 wires coming out from the pickup : a wider white one with braid and a thinner red one (which I assume goes to the battery).

My main problem is I want to pass the tone pot and connect the pickup to one 25KOhm pot only; I don't want to use a tone pot. I have tried every combination possible incuding the pdf manuals for EMG81, none of them worked.

Could you tell me : is it possible to use an EMG81 with a single volume pot only? Sorry if this is a stupid question, I am a beginner.

Thanks for your time

-SF-

Yes of course you can. Here you go:
http://guitarelectronics.com/product/WDUH0101

There are more diagrams at that site.

Of course that's for passive, but put it next to the wirings at the EMG site and you'll figure out how it should go. I'm surprised EMG don't have a basic wiring for "1 pickup, 1 volume, no tone/switch", as that's probably their most popular use for their pickups.

The 85 is absolutely useless in the neck fellas. I really never get satisfactory sounds out of it, either alone or blending it at 80% with the 81 engaged. Might sound good alone in the bridge, but it's otherwise horribly muddy in the neck.

The 81/60 combo is most likely a lot better, given that the 60 is a lot more like a hot single coil and is far more articulate, clear and responsive than the EMG-85 as far as lead playing goes. And they have even better cleans too.

81/81 is a bit of overkill and offers little versatility.

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If my guitar was factory-made for 2 EMGs, and I wanted to switch to 2 passive DiMarzio humbuckers, would I have to get my guitar re-drilled or anything? I know I'd have to change the pots. And how hard would it be to repot and install the pickups myself (I don't have any experience with soldering, but I have installed an electrical socket before)?

You wouldnt need to make any modifications to the guitar body if thats what you are wondering. As far as wiring goes, its a little trickier than it seems and I would probably recommend having a tech do it, but if you are good with diagrams and can learn how to solder you might be able to do it yourself.

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Cheers!
I own a Jackson Randy Rhoads with two Jackson-Humbuckers (performer series) and it sounds like shit.. simple and stupid question: is it possible and advisable to install the EMG 81/85-set in that guitar? I don't know anything about guitar technique. Hope somebody can help me out...

You'll need to have a hole drilled in the back of your guitar to hold the 9v battery that the emgs use. Best to take it to a guitar technician or a professional luthier.

Thanx!! Any idea what it will cost?

Just finished installing and securing my 81/85 combo in my Ibanez RGT42. They go so well with the black powder paint job. I'll post some sound clips of them once everything is setup. My buddy that helped me is pretty electronics savvy. He said we could get a custom 1/8" power supply jack and run it out besides the input jack and ultimately have it connected to the battery and have the other end fused with an a/c adapter. That way I could have a steady full supply of power consistently. That would be sweet, and just intertwine the power cable with the length of the instrument cable. I'm also gonna keep the battery power option open for when I finally get wireless.

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