EMG 81, 85 or 89 .. any experience with VH4?

[borkincz]

Hi, have anybody experience with EMG pickups .. 81 in bridge position and 85 or 89 ( for pushpull in single coil) in the neck position?
I like Zakk Wylde´s tone, but he uses JCM800 with 6550 powertubes and its old onechannel amp.. so I am worried, if I´ll try EMG´s with my VH4, if I will be able to get the tone close to his tone.. of course I know, that in VH4 are EL34 powertubes, so this will make the difference too..
I´m thinking about trying out EMG´s , for better riff and lead tone with a lot of gain, to get better clarity of my tone..but on the other hand, I´m interested, if I´ll be able to get the clean tone from the bridge 85 with turning down the volume knob too.. or to try EMG 89 , that is able to pushpull to single one..

Thanks a lot for replies

 

[scottph]

Not sure if I can help you out, but I have an alder guitar with an 85 in the neck and an 81 in the bridge and it's just rockin'. Very good sound definition - much sharper than passives imo. Of course I have a Herbert, but I have tried the VH4 with a similar combination and I liked it.

 

[slate]

it entirely depends on what guitar you're putting them into ....
i have 5 guitars with emg's and they all sound different through my VH4 .

 

[borkincz]

I´d like to try put EMG81 and EMG 85 or 89 into PRS CE24 ... doesn´t seen this yet, so I´m a little worried.. what you think about it?

 

[frantic77]

i have guitars loaded with EMG 81/81 and guitars with EMG 60/81
both sound great on my VH4 but for clean tones i prefer 60 in the neck position!
also 60 sounds way better with chorus

but never tried 85-89

 

[jjj123]

I´d like to try put EMG81 and EMG 85 or 89 into PRS CE24 ... doesn´t seen this yet, so I´m a little worried.. what you think about it?

Hi!

Although I don't always like EMG pickups (kind of a love-hate relationship, soundwise) I have a PRS CE 22 with two EMG 85s, which i like better than the 81s, even at the bridge. They have a little more "bottom" but that's of course a matter of taste. Anyways, in the CE they work really well and the guitar actually sounds great with the pickups. Very articulate, fat and "metal" somehow. Just one thing is that the guy who installed them for me had to do a tiny little bit of work so that the Pickups would properly fit into the cavities, as they seem to be a tad bit larger or deeper than the original pickups... not sure though, as I didn't install them myself.

So, in conclusion, I think that if you like the EMG-sound, you will do well with those in your CE - but maybe it'll be some work installing them.

Cheers

Jan

 

[VH4_BigRig]

Hey there, I have an LTD explorer with EMGs (81/85), and they just don't seem to sound good with the VH4 to me. I've flipped them and had them both in the neck/bridge at one point or another, and either way the 81 just didn't do it for me. If I was forced to use EMGs, personally I'd use an 85 in the bridge and a 60 in the neck, but I just found that the Diezel doesn't like actives for my taste. They sound overly compressed and cold, unlike when they are pushing a Marshall (I was using a Marshall before I upgraded to the Diezel and the EMGs sounded awesome though it).

I had read about this in online forums before getting the amp (and in the VH4 manual afterwards), and was just going to brush it all off and turn down the gain to compensate for the high output, but this didn't do it for me. The amp really does like passives.

In my American HSS strat I'm using a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and Dimarzio Area 58 SCs in the neck/middle, and the tone is sick, just what I was looking for. I love Zakk's tone as well, but I think you're better off trying out a bunch of other pickups until you find one that works best for you. The Dimarzio Steve's Special pickup sounds like it would be a good match, but I haven't played one (I came across it when I was researching pickups, and I'm still curious).

 

[frantic77]

VH4_Brewtality
i disagree with the first part of your post!sorry!

 

[VH4_BigRig]

VH4_Brewtality
i disagree with the first part of your post!sorry!

No worries man, everyone has their own tastes! I used the 81/bridge 85/neck at first because that was the set up that Zakk has, but the 81 was just way too hot/treble-y sounding to me. Later on I read that Adam D. in Killswitch Engage uses an 85 in the bridge, so I was curious and swapped them, and then the clean sound from the 81 in the neck was just awful. Better cut for solos, but just not my cup of tea in general. The 85 was a bit better sounding in the bridge, it warmed things up a bit, but the output was obviously still an issue.

I put that JB in my Fender's bridge because I found out on this forum that's what Adam Jones uses (and he's the reason I got a Diezel in the first place), and that has been my main axe ever since. I love the sound

Maybe the wood in my LTD doesn't match as well with the EMGs as in your guitars or something, who knows? Just my 2 cents. I'd try these bareknuckle pickups everyone on this forum seems to love, but I can't afford them at the moment, I got the JB for $60 CAN

 

[nbarts]

My experience with EMGs, no matter what amp I play, is that you always need a fresh set of strings for them to sound good (I dig how daddarious sound with emgs). As soon as the fresh feel of strings wears out they start to sound overtly harsh & unnatural.