EMG 81

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JohnnyGtar

JohnnyGtar

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I love the high gain sounds of the EMG 81. Amazing pickup. But even on the clean channel of a Fender Twin, it still distorts a little bit. The 85 sounds clean with no breakup and it's supposedly more powerful. Does adding the 18 volt or higher voltage mods clean up the headroom on the 81? Does the 81X sound clearer on the clean channel than the regular 81?

I love the 85 in the bridge, but I'd really like to have an 81 as well. However I really want it to be able to sound good clean. Is it possible?
 
Look into an 81TW. I don't think either of the solutions you mentioned would actually fix your situation.
 
85 more powerful than 81? Through Fender Twin?
:unsure:
But sure, probably try the 18v mod first.
 
NowYou'rePlayingWithPower said:
The 18v mod does give a bit more headroom before clipping is induced.
It might be the only thing that makes sense in the OP post.
Click to expand...
I personally never noticed a huge difference between 9v, 18v, or 24v when I did my A/B testing. It's more subtle than I think people give it credit for. I'm willing to bet the treble frequencies from the 81 are what is causing the amp to overdrive more noticeably than the actual headroom of the preamp considering he said the 85 doesn't have the issue. But at the same time, it is indeed cheap enough to try. Much cheaper than a pickup swap.

Decent clip showing 9v vs 18v for anyone who hasn't tried it:
 
Greazygeo said:
Try lowering it away from the strings a little.

All the 18 v mod does is increase the headroom alittle. It is most noticeable on lower notes / chords and lower tunings. It helps with 7 strings too.
Click to expand...

This is my experience too.

the 18v mod does its best work on super low tunings/baritones.

I would try lowering the pickup a bit.

Of course, I would probably be using the 85 in the bridge in the first place
 
Greazygeo said:
Try lowering it away from the strings a little.

All the 18 v mod does is increase the headroom alittle. It is most noticeable on lower notes / chords and lower tunings. It helps with 7 strings too.
Click to expand...

This is the answer. EMGs are super sensitive to height. Plug in, grab a screwdriver and keep giving it half turns lower until you find the sweet spot. Either that or swap an EMG81TW in there like mentioned above. But your main mistake is using the 81. The Ultimate EMG combo is 85 Bridge / 60 Neck. 85's got that nice low end, but still has great punch/clarity.
 
I think the 81’s are actually not high output at all. But they do clip, which as mentioned can be helped with the 18v mod if that’s a problem.
 
Greazygeo said:
Try lowering it away from the strings a little.

All the 18 v mod does is increase the headroom alittle. It is most noticeable on lower notes / chords and lower tunings. It helps with 7 strings too.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I notice it most on the low end also. Makes the low end more bouncy. I run all my EMGs at 24v.
 
I get amazing crystal cleans using an EMG 81-x in the bridge position of my main guitars.
Not sure why anyone uses the regular 81 anymore.
The 81-x makes it obsolete
 
I installed an older complete set of emg’s in my Greco Sykes. I bought the 24volt mod on a whim and damn…it instantly changed everything. It opened them up…if that makes any sense…no compression and an increase in dynamics. The 85 does seem to have more output than the 81 but both are excellent. I have had tons of emg equipped guitars and have always just been bleh….not now. Plus the 24 volt mod is the same 🦶 as a 9 volt battery.
 
vultures said:
This is the answer. EMGs are super sensitive to height. Plug in, grab a screwdriver and keep giving it half turns lower until you find the sweet spot. Either that or swap an EMG81TW in there like mentioned above. But your main mistake is using the 81. The Ultimate EMG combo is 85 Bridge / 60 Neck. 85's got that nice low end, but still has great punch/clarity.
Click to expand...
85/60 is my go to for dual humbucker guitars. You have excellent taste in pickups! I like the 81 as well for different distorted tones.
 
FLUXX said:
I get amazing crystal cleans using an EMG 81-x in the bridge position of my main guitars.
Not sure why anyone uses the regular 81 anymore.
The 81-x makes it obsolete
Click to expand...

That's good to know! Have you noticed any other differences?
 
Shask said:
Yeah, I notice it most on the low end also. Makes the low end more bouncy. I run all my EMGs at 24v.
Click to expand...
I have never tried he 24 volt. Will have to do that sometime and see what it is all about.
 
I've gone back and forth between the standard 9V and the 24V mod on my 81/60 equipped baritone. The 24V mod does seem to give it more punch and tighten up the low end a bit, but after exhaustive A/B testing I found I preferred the grind and mid character of the standard setup.
 
The 81X sounds just like the 81 at 24V with the output notched down just a tad. It's literally two resistors apart from the regular 81. It renders nothing obsolete, IMO.
 
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