85 neck 81 bridge. Really only got them as an upgrade recommended to me by several people. Once I heard them after I dialed them in I was impressed. Did everything I wanted from the pickups. The ease of the install was also a plus.
Wow! Thank you so much for this post. Straight to the point no unnecessary talking. This is literally one of the best comparisons I've seen here. I think I've made my decision on which one now to decide WHOM is going to install them!
I'd never thought that the clean sound would be that great with the EMG 81 in the neck. I loved it. Thank you for taking your time and helping us choosing our pickups :). Very good demo.
Nice video! I like them all for different reasons. They all shine in all styles. I especially liked the 60 for clean tones and the 85 sounded very Les Paul sounding. The 81 surprised me in the neck. I'd love top hear the same comparison done with all of these pickups plus the 89 in the neck. Awesome job and thanks!
I'd take either an 81 or and 85 clean, but once it starts getting nice and crunchy, the 60s are pretty solid, to me. I'm feeling pretty okay about getting a 81/60 now. Thanks for the demo!
just got some 81x/60x in the mail for a custom build.. cant wait to hear em. the 85 on N is a close runner though, but im loving the cleaner, sharper more thin.
Don't know why people like the 60s. The 85s actually sound really good. Full, you get those deeper tones. The 60s sound thin and weak. I actually came in wanting to do a 81/60 set but I'm gonna go with 81/85 after this.
Awesome!! A perfect comparison of these three pickups. And there's a version for the bridge position too. Great!! I have two guitars with the 81/85 combo. Thinking of switching the 85s (neck) for 60s after seeing this. 85 in the neck is quite muddy when distorted.
Mathew Wheately; same problem with my 81/85 setup. 81 sounds fantastic but the 85 is muddy and over powering in the neck. Can't clean it up or get good "clean" distortion out of it. Maybe it has to do with the woods my guitar is made of. It is an '87 Epiphone Spotlight ("lawsuit model") made of mahogany neck throught body with a 34 feet ebonite fretboard, mahogany body with carved maple top. Maybe all that mahogany in the neck position makes the tone too brassy for the 85? Anyone know?
I think the 60 captured the natural tone better. The 85 helped it sound a bit more like a bassy acoustic. and the 81 was ok, maybe good for players that like the middle position (81+81)
My esp ltd h-1001 came stock with some passive Seymours, so I switched them out for emgs, I wanted 81 on bridge and 85 on neck and they didn't have any in stock so I just went with 81 and 81, the bridge pickup with distortion is just amazing, but I find the the 81 on the neck to be really dull when trying to get a clean sound, I was pretty disappointed, now that the heavy work with converting it to active pickups is done I might try to swap it out
IAmCjcj11 wow were you dropped on your head as an infant? the 81 in the bridge position is a no brainer on the other hand if they were out of 85's you should have gone with the 60 instead (or been patient and waited a week or so until they got more 85's) what the fuck would possess you to get two of the SAME pickups? personally i recommend the 60 for the neck position
i like the new 60x it supposed to have the feel somewhat of a passive with the active kick when really crancked and i use it for my cleans and then a regular 81 in the bridge and it sounds fantastic
81 and 60 seem to be fairly a cleaner sounding pup. 85 adds an over processed eq. When your gear is set for the bridge pup, swithing over to the neck increases dramatically and seems to need a re-eq...cant do that while gigging!
I think the 81 sounds really clean. I could probably achieve an 85 sound quite easily using an 81 and effects, but the other way around might prove difficult. I think the 60 sounds a little too beepy; almost like 8 bit sound.
how did you do to not saturate the signal with volumen at full? Active pickups with Mooer Radar just crack everytime (even though I got te gain at minimun on my Focusrite 2i2 2nd generation)
I haven't tried Mooer Radar, but it seems it's an Impulse Response loader /Speaker simulator. You need something before the Mooer to treat the signal (decrease volume, adjust gain, EQ, etc) like a Pedal or the fx loop send of an Amp
I think I preFer the 81 _ the 85 is too bassy /muddy and the 60 liked a turned down 81- however reinforces my preference of no neck pickup -only reason for neck pickup is blues or shred on higher frets - not good enough ROI for me
I really think 81 sounds amazing in both positions. 60 is just wayyyy to thick sounding for me in the neck position and 85 is just a better bridge position pickup imo but overall my favorite emg thus far is the 81.
81 in the bridge and 85 in the neck is good in that its almost like having two different instruments in one, i.e. a guitar and a bass, whereas a 60 in the bridge would be more like having two slightly different guitars
For cleans: 60 (although the 85 sounds great, but not as good) Distorted tone: 81 got that one Metal kind of tone: 85 by just a little Hrmmmmmm... what to pick...
You can hear how the 85 was designed for the neck position - so for smooth noodling, it's probably the best here - but for crunchy compressed playing - the 60 would really shine. The 81 is good for clean strumming - but by comparison - in the neck position - the 85 does just about everything better than the 81 does - EXCEPT - I have to admit, if you're playing jugga-jigga-wugga metal rhythm, and you WANT to leave a bit of a hole, say for a separate lead tone to play over: you might consider using the 81 at the neck, precisely because it's NOT as full, and therefore leaves room ( but also, on its own, doesn't sound as good ) - but otherwise - for just about anything else: just go 85 - unless you play in a crunchy strat style, in which case, go 60.
As the neck tends to get muddy, a less bassy pickup makes sense. This seems to be the 60. However I did not like any of those pickups sound. I prefer low output passive pickups for any music style.
@@LCRLive687 Lowering the resonance frequency of any passive pickup is for free. You just put a capacitor in parallel to the pickup. The same happens, if you switch to a long cable. Heigthening the frequency however requires an active electronic (to decouple the electronics). Thus my hint would always be: Stick with the higher frequency pickup and than lower as required. Another hint: Always listen to the guitar in a mix. Highs make the guitar cut through, lows make the mix muddy even more, especially with multiple guitars. Of course tastes are different, so it is up to you, what sounds you want... just my 2 cents.
megahurtz30 I see so many, Just doing bad comparings. Comparing amps and not using the same speakers...!? It was just great to see someone was awake in science class. nice controlled A-B! I,m gonna A-B EMG 80's with Blackout's When I change my strings as I have them in my charvels . I will not make a video Just a personal thing.
Então amigo, parece que o 81 no braço soa mais grave que o 85. Estou pensando em colocar 85 na ponte e 81 no braço, ta certo ou terei algum problema? Obs.Gostaria que o mais grave ficasse no braço.
megahurtz30 Ah sim, vi num vídeo que é só encaixar os pinos, mto prático mesmo. Vou comprar o 85 mes q vem e o 81 no outro para não pagar impostos. Vlw
ihave emg 81 in the bridge and 60 in the neck on an ibanez mtm2 and now i am little worried about this, onestly i think that the best active pickups for all kind of music is the duncan ahb-3 emty blackout .....today i remember the sound of the stock embty blackout duncan designed of the mtm2 and i'll change for the second time the pickups of this mahogany guitar..i can change the emg 81 and 60on this week for the stock emty blackout duncan designed....emg 60 is good for the neck clean or drive position...it is veratile and it sounds like an active single coil with a lot of basses. the 81 in the bridge is not a so good guitar picku for me.i ve used this emg set for 3 years.81 is a terrible clean pickup...and it is so toneless ...more than anyother pickup. 81 is good for its neutrality but it is so cold unexpressive bland pickup...however it is perfectfor legato tapping and fast distortion riffs...the 60 id perfect for blues rock and clean sound stuff...one of the best compromises for a neck guitar active pickup...81 is my delusion, i fight for loving it but it is an orrible pickup its make your best instruments sounds like a cold toy and you ll obtain less inspiration in your music...emty blackouts sounds a lot better for the clean sounds....especially neck pickup...you can play all kind of guitar clean part on it, the clean bridge pickup sound goot too but it shines vith the distorted tone, so warmness, rawness, detailed, clear, aggressive, whit an incredible huge spectrum of overtones and armonic, for me the best pickup in the world for phinch harmonics lead and rytmic parts, it is a rock paf with the emgs qualities for legato but a little less compressed and more expressive qualities and smoothness on the dynaic lead solos parts and more brutal on the rytmh parts cause it has less midlle in its eq than 81, the haronics on the emty are 10 times more easy and singing than 81....for my experiences 81 lost with emty bridge and also the 60 with the emty neck....emty is a set that i ll never forget in my life
Oh this comparison is by you? Cool! I got passive emgs... but I was thinking of this what about going 85 in the bridge and 60 in the neck? Nobody does that. Also I was thinking double 85s and 85 in the bridge and 81 in the neck is possible. After all 85 is a bridge pick up that’s commonly used as a neck pickup just like the 81. It’s just that nobody does that because of zakk wylde lol
Yeah, this is an older one. To me the 85 sounds like it has more mids, so, it can be interesting on the bridge, depending on what you prefer. Personally, on the neck, i love the 60
@@megahurtz30 yeah I had a 60 neck on my ltd ex 400 I loved the bridge and the pickups on that guitar... I had to sell it when I was leaving Iran tho. 81 on the neck is pretty cool too... I love all of them to be honest... 85 is the only one I’ve never had and always liked.
megahurtz30 LOL, I was hearing Edi Brickell & The New Bohemians in my head: "I'm not aware of too many things, but I know what I know if you know what I mean..." now I'm going to have to go listen to that and see if the guitar sounds remotely like that.
Different pickup combos sound different in different guitars. For say in a les paul id prefer an 81 bridge 60 neck but with a Jackson or ESP lighter guitar with a Floyd rose id prefer either an 81 bridge nd 81 neck or a 85 bridge 81 neck. A lot of people never give the 85 a chance in the bridge position. Harmonics scream easily with distortion
bighf24 Tom Morello uses an 85 in the bridge position on his arm the homeless guitar and I gotta say that it sounds amazing especially in know your enemy.
Cool vid I think that 85 could go well with alder guitars because they sound so thin. And at the same time the 60 sounds amazing with mahogany for the opposite reason. Great vid, thnx
Please stop repeating pseudo-intellectual nonsense if you don't know what you are talking about. Wood doesn't have anything to do with the tone of a solid body electric guitar while plugged. You should consider real variables like string gauge and material, scale, pickup distance, etcetera. That's where your tone is!
1st There is no need to be agressive dude, my comment wasn't... 2nd Most of the difference in price in guitars come from craftmanship and wood quality, the fact that 85 has a darker sound makes it more apropiate for alder wood guitars that have a thiner sound opposite from mahogany that have more body and low end into it. I have a gibson custom(mahogany) and an ESP MII (Alder) among others and the difference is obvious, sorry if it's not to you even using the same gauge for strings, same pickup distance, and same pickups. Thus the pickups you choose do balace thing. 3 You are completely right, the string gauge makes a huge of a deal putting low end or thikness into the sound. As well as pickup distance, in this latter case is mostly because the added gain. I like the video because it acually isolates the actuall difference between pickups...And if something 50% of the sound comes from the cabin and amp you use, not the guitar. cheers
***** rude? I'm not. Now, you are comparing two guitars that are 24, something and 25,5 scale. How are they the same distances for you? Also did you measure the *fixed* distance of your pickups *from the bridge*? Have both guitars even the same bridge? It doesn't have *anything* to do with tonewood!
FuriousJ it seems that you aren't from the intellectually developed persuasion. Any evidence to base your arguments upon -if you are going to make any- or just more RU-vid wisdom?
60 seems a bit more compressed and sounds more natural to me, 100% the best, sadly enough i don't want to spend 100€ to swap out my 85 for the 60, when the difference is so very minor and the money is required for other more essential guitar things.
To me they sound flat, not much tone for EMG pickup's. It could just be the settings in the amp Sim but I reckon Dragonfire screamers or crusaders sound alot better than these EMG pickup's. That's just my opinion though. And Dragonfires cost a quarter of the price.
60 sounds thin as fuck. 85 is the warmest sounding of them here. Interestingly, I found 85 sounding the warmest in the bridge, too. So, I guess 85 bridge, 85 neck for me :P
