Guitar Gear Forum

I am curious about the splittable EMG pickups, but I'm having issues with finding decent demos about them and was curious if anyone on here had any recommendations?

I'm not a fan of the 81/85, but figured I haven't explored their catalog enough.

Also, any Seymour Duncan active pickup users? I guess I shouldn't rule out Fluence, but they seem to be everywhere.

I’m also not a big emg fan. Funnily, my kid loves emgs lol.

I liked the old Duncan livewires back in the day but it’s been forever since I’ve tried them. I liked the blackouts too. Way more output than most of the others. More similar to the hetfields.

Used fishmans for a couple of years. I liked them a lot with marks but hated them with 5150s. So they didn’t stick around when I back to 5150s.

I’m sure there are other options I haven’t tried.

I like EMGs. I think that for active tones, they're hard to beat. I love the 85 in the bridge position. Or the 89, which is a dual voice pickup that let's you alternate between the 85 and the SA.
The 81 has its place too, especially for heavier stuff.
I can't stand the Fishman though, they sound like nails in a chalkboard to me, they have this very fatiging mid hump.
It's been a long time since I've played the active Duncans but they were good IIRC.

I'd probably just go with EMGs tbh. I don't think I could have only active guitars, but it's good to have one in the collection.

Guitarbilly wrote: ↑Fri Mar 28, 2025 2:23 am I don't think I could have only active guitars, but it's good to have one in the collection.

If I ever want to remember why I don't like EMGs, I grab one of James guitars and play it for 13 seconds and throw it back in his room lol.

ninjaraf wrote: ↑Fri Mar 28, 2025 12:06 pm

Guitarbilly wrote: ↑Fri Mar 28, 2025 2:23 am I don't think I could have only active guitars, but it's good to have one in the collection.

If I ever want to remember why I don't like EMGs, I grab one of James guitars and play it for 13 seconds and throw it back in his room lol.

good thing you don't like EMGs or he'd have no guitars

In the right guitar the Duncan Blackouts really are my favorite. It’s in my yellow Fender Strat with the 2 Duncan single and everytime I play it, it’s like damn this is brutal. But they FEEL like a high out out passive In that guitar. They seem to be as picky as EMGs. But when it’s right it beats EMg , Fishman…

For splittable stuff i only know the 89. I mean it does split so there ya have it. I don’t know if there are many others besides Fishman that do a single coil sound

I love my 81’s for pretty much everything, the 57 in my tele is kind of hit or miss, works well with a couple of my amps and not so much with others. I really gotta try laxkouts and fishmans

I think I'm gonna try the Het set in my Berzerker, since it may provide the sound my ears are looking for. I appreciate everyone's opinion and experiences

I've never been a huge fan of the 81/85 but I wouldn't mind giving the Jim Root set a try.