EMG's for Genres of Music Other Than Metal

[LavJQ]

Hey Unofficial Warmoth-ers, I hope everyone's having a good day! I've recently found myself captivated by EMG pickups. Between the noiseless operation and the solder-less installation, they seem like a really strong option for a replacement set of pickups. I love metal, but it's not the genre of music I primarily play. I usually find myself genre hopping from classic rock to alternative to RnB (and sometimes country). Does anyone use EMGs for other styles of music? I'm looking for a HH set that has good clean sounds in all positions. I realize that's what everyone's after, but I felt it was worth including. I've been finding myself using the clean bridge pickup more and more.

I've been looking at the 57/66 set and some kind of setup involving an 85 in the bridge (maybe an 85/85?). A lot of the demos of EMGs on YouTube are all super high gain, which is totally badass in all the quality ways you'd expect, but not exactly helpful when trying to hear how clean tones sound. I realize that they're just pickups and that there are so many things that can impact how they sound (and if I'm being totally honest, I think my "interest" in EMG has crossed into the realm of overthinking), but I'm curious to hear what people think about EMGs in contexts other than rock and metal. Thanks for reading!

 

[rockandroller]

Ive been using EMG model "H" and "MH" since the late 70s, along with "S", and have tried almost all of the modern models that have come along in the intervening decades. They all clean up very nicely if you turn the gain down on your amp (or amps with no gain - turn the guitar volume down). Right now I have a strat with the Lukather SA set, and a prestige Futura with the 81/85 set, and they can both play clean very nicely all night long

 

[mycroftxxx]

I thought about EMG pickups - the Retro Active Crossroads set, to be specific - for my upcoming super-blues-Strat build, but the reviews are a bit mixed, so right now I’m planning on a Zexcoil set (I still have time to change my mind though , but I probably won’t). However, I want to use the EMG AB220 clean boost and SPC mid-boost to give me a Clapton mid-boost feel, while being able to control each boost separately (the Fender “Clapton” mid-boost pops in 12dB of cleanish boost at all times that the control is active; all the guitarist can control is the mid-boost part). So, I plan to use the EMG solderless system for almost all the wiring - the EMG 5-way switch, the EMG passive master tone and master volume pots, and the two EMG boost controls. I’ll have to solder the pickup wires to EMG harnesses to connect to the switch, and same thing for the battery box leads, but that all looks straightforward. Should be fun!

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

EMG 57/66 on my main TFS 6 and Ibanez FRG 7620.
EMG Standard Tele Set on my Warmoth Buckskin Tele.
EMG 58’s (P90 voiced) on my HH Tele, but it’s getting a Sustainiac installed as we speak.
My Carvin DC727 that I inherited from a friend remains dead stock except for the saddle shims that I installed.

I had the EMG SV set in my old Strat, and I loved those.

I primarily play metal as well, but I have no problem getting nice cleans from the 57/66 set. I’ve used them for church worship music just as easily as I have used either Tele, although they are the best voiced for that application in most sets.

Since I spend so much time recording, I find actives to be far more consistent.

 

[BroccoliRob]

the late, great Prince himself used an 81 in the purple guitar, so yeah, I'd say theyre more versatile than ppl give em credit for

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

I like the 89R in the neck position since the split works very well. I had trouble finding a well matched bridge p/u. You could probably get nice results with another 89 in the bridge or maybe the “tried and true” 85. That was good enough for Steve Luthaker back in the day.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Sustainiac in “Bluey with an EMG 58 (P90) voicing. The Sustainiac driver is switchable hum/single voicing. I have it set to Single and it’s a very good sounding neck pickup in its own right. Push/Pull On/Off Volume, and Push/Pull Fundamental/Harmonic on the tone pot with the tone adjusting drive. I put coil cover decals on the neck driver to hush the cork sniffers…

With regards to superstrats, I’ve always felt that the 81 was not the best pairing with any of their SC pairings. Before I donated my Nigel Strat, I swapped out the SSS config for an HSS config with the 58 in the bridge. Gets you the best middle ground between a full Hum or an SC. I find the 58 far more versatile as a standalone Hum, but it can also take high gain very well.

 

[Waraxe]

Hey Unofficial Warmoth-ers, I hope everyone's having a good day! I've recently found myself captivated by EMG pickups. Between the noiseless operation and the solder-less installation, they seem like a really strong option for a replacement set of pickups. I love metal, but it's not the genre of music I primarily play. I usually find myself genre hopping from classic rock to alternative to RnB (and sometimes country). Does anyone use EMGs for other styles of music? I'm looking for a HH set that has good clean sounds in all positions. I realize that's what everyone's after, but I felt it was worth including. I've been finding myself using the clean bridge pickup more and more.

I've been looking at the 57/66 set and some kind of setup involving an 85 in the bridge (maybe an 85/85?). A lot of the demos of EMGs on YouTube are all super high gain, which is totally badass in all the quality ways you'd expect, but not exactly helpful when trying to hear how clean tones sound. I realize that they're just pickups and that there are so many things that can impact how they sound (and if I'm being totally honest, I think my "interest" in EMG has crossed into the realm of overthinking), but I'm curious to hear what people think about EMGs in contexts other than rock and metal. Thanks for reading!

I have a set of 57/67tws in my VIP build.
I was intrigued by the very same aspects of actives that you are.

As @TonyFlyingSquirrel said, they do get some good clean sounds, moreso with the tws in single coil mode.

My trick is to eq a little bass and low mids, which shifts the eq a bit to the higher mids. They sound more passive to my ears this way.

I play everything from clean to megadeth levels of metal. They work fine.

I'm mainly in single coil mode for most stuff up to hard rock. Its humbuckers from there.

 

[db82]

So the lore goes, EMGs were originally designed to solve a jazz problem... David Gilmour has signature EMGs, definitely isn't playing metal... but his set is not HH. It's funny someone also mentioned Clapton because Gilmour and Clapton were also fans of the BOSS HM-2, which is a pedal closely associated with Swedish Black Metal.

I know you said EMGs and there are a lot of great suggestions surrounding them here, but have you looked at the Fishman Fluence at all? They meet the noiseless criteria and I'm pretty sure you could get them set up without soldering. The Fluence Moderns offer a wide palette of options within one set of pickups to hone your sound. The voicing, HF roll-off ("tilt") and splits can be set by jumper or hooked into push-pulls. I have them in 7 guitars of fairly varied specs/builds (6/7 string, swamp ash and alder bodies, neck through, set, bolt on, roasted maple, panga/walnut, etc...) and they work well after some tweaking in all of them. Some people argue that they are sterile - I find them to be relatively neutral and easy to shape.
The downside - they eat batteries faster than a typical EMG set.