Anyone swapped out their EMG 85 for an 85X in the neck position?

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Soundstorm

Soundstorm

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I always prefer a clearer tone in the neck position vs a typical thick and bass heavy neck position sound. Wonder if the 85X would be a worthy upgrade. Anyone make the swap?
 
I'm a fan of the X series pickups but keep in mind if you have a regular 81 in the bridge, and try to put an 85X in the neck, it won't sound right. I made this mistake before, I had an 81X in the bridge and two SA's in an HSS guitar and it sounded super funky, and not in a good way. They all have to match, either all "X" or all regular.

The difference between them is really trivial either way. Same core tone and maybe a bit more dynamic range, such as if you pick harder/softer on a clean or mid gain amp, or roll of the volume for clean tones. Similar to an 18v regular EMG. I don't think you'll like the 85X if you didn't like the 85. Side note: the 85 (X or otherwise) makes for a killer bridge pickup.
 
TotallyRadGuitars said:
I'm a fan of the X series pickups but keep in mind if you have a regular 81 in the bridge, and try to put an 85X in the neck, it won't sound right. I made this mistake before, I had an 81X in the bridge and two SA's in an HSS guitar and it sounded super funky, and not in a good way. They all have to match, either all "X" or all regular.

The difference between them is really trivial either way. Same core tone and maybe a bit more dynamic range, such as if you pick harder/softer on a clean or mid gain amp, or roll of the volume for clean tones. Similar to an 18v regular EMG. I don't think you'll like the 85X if you didn't like the 85. Side note: the 85 (X or otherwise) makes for a killer bridge pickup.
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I actually do like the 85 a lot with the 81, it just needs a little more top end. I only use the neck pup for clean tones btw. I'll give it a shot and report back next week some time. Thanks for the input!
 
TotallyRadGuitars said:
I'm a fan of the X series pickups but keep in mind if you have a regular 81 in the bridge, and try to put an 85X in the neck, it won't sound right. I made this mistake before, I had an 81X in the bridge and two SA's in an HSS guitar and it sounded super funky, and not in a good way. They all have to match, either all "X" or all regular.

The difference between them is really trivial either way. Same core tone and maybe a bit more dynamic range, such as if you pick harder/softer on a clean or mid gain amp, or roll of the volume for clean tones. Similar to an 18v regular EMG. I don't think you'll like the 85X if you didn't like the 85. Side note: the 85 (X or otherwise) makes for a killer bridge pickup.
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This isn't completely true (the Bold Section is Subjective) I HAD an 81x in one of my les pauls and a 66 in the neck & then i swapped that for an 85X in the neck & then swapped again for the 60A in the neck. never had an issue at all. The X Series was designed to Mimic the pickups clarity at 18V while using 1-9V.
 
the X series is like 3dB? less output, that should also help in the neck spot
 
RaceU4her said:
ah, i was wondering what the difference in the X's were
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Yeah i was that weirdo back in the day that used to call companies & take notes(before the interwebz) i remeber speaking to someone at EMG when the X Series first came out & that's how they explained it to me.....That's actually what made me start running my 81's at 18V & Now at 24V.
 
RaceU4her said:
ah, i was wondering what the difference in the X's were
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Technically it's two components. The first one lowers the gain before the preamp, so it clips less, thus, less compressed and very slightly broader EQ (still 95% as bandpassed as a regular EMG, though). The second lowers the output impedance, so it becomes less lossy and more or less offsets the lower gain/volume from the first component.

All in all, the X series is just the regular series running at 27V for maximum headroom just with a tiny bit less output.

Personally, I thought the X series was really underwhelming. Not because they sound bad, but because they're not that different from the standard series.
 
valve said:
the X series is like 3dB? less output, that should also help in the neck spot
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I don't think its 3dB less. It's actually 6dB less *before* the preamp, but the lower impedance offsets that. If you strum hard, the highest peaks are actually higher than the classic series, but *in average*, the whole waveform is *slightly* lower. I'm sure it's less than 3dB lower, but it also depends on if you're running tone pots or not with them.
 
Rex Rocker said:
I don't think its 3dB less. It's actually 6dB less *before* the preamp, but the lower impedance offsets that. If you strum hard, the highest peaks are actually higher than the classic series, but *in average*, the whole waveform is *slightly* lower. I'm sure it's less than 3dB lower, but it also depends on if you're running tone pots or not with them.
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You are probably right, i was too lazy checkin (and therefore put the questionmark), i just know they are less than regular
 
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Detroit1973 said:
This isn't completely true (the Bold Section is Subjective) I HAD an 81x in one of my les pauls and a 66 in the neck & then i swapped that for an 85X in the neck & then swapped again for the 60A in the neck. never had an issue at all. The X Series was designed to Mimic the pickups clarity at 18V while using 1-9V.
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True, in the sense that anything “tone” is subjective, but even EMG officially says not to mix and match the X series with non-X pickups. The preamps have different output impedances and the X pickups are designed to use the active tone control instead of a passive one. Whether you care or notice is subjective but it is factual, from a technical perspective, that a EMG 85X + EMG 81 combo will sound different from an EMG 85X + 81X combo even if the pickup selector is set to the 85X only. Without a tone control, it probably doesn’t matter, it’d only sound weird when both pickups are on with the mismatch. But hey, you might even like the sound of the mismatch, one of the great things about music/tone is the subjective tastes.
 
TotallyRadGuitars said:
True, in the sense that anything “tone” is subjective, but even EMG officially says not to mix and match the X series with non-X pickups. The preamps have different output impedances and the X pickups are designed to use the active tone control instead of a passive one. Whether you care or notice is subjective but it is factual, from a technical perspective, that a EMG 85X + EMG 81 combo will sound different from an EMG 85X + 81X combo even if the pickup selector is set to the 85X only. Without a tone control, it probably doesn’t matter, it’d only sound weird when both pickups are on with the mismatch. But hey, you might even like the sound of the mismatch, one of the great things about music/tone is the subjective tastes.
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Well I definitely didn't take these things into consideration, kind of impulse bought the 85X but I think I only paid $65 for it on Reverb. I'll pop it in and give you guys my impressions.
 
Most people don't fuss with the technical details and honestly there are tons of amazing tones out there that people love that were done this way. I've gotten used guitars with EMG's on 500k pots, or a guitar that originally had EMG's where someone swapped in passives and left the 25k pots. That stuff has a pretty noticeable effect on the tone but whether it's better or worse is all personal taste. Best thing you could ever do is buy a soldering iron and experiment - even easier with some of the newer quick connect stuff.
 
RaceU4her said:
ive never heard of either of those either, im curious how all of them ive not heard sound
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It's part of the Retroactive lineup they launched a few years back. Basically passive pickups in sound and construction but with the advantages of actives. They did a couple humbucker sets, one or two Strat sets and I think a Tele set as well.
 
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