EMG pickup question

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discordJF

New member
I am going to replace the stock pickups in my Ibanez with EMG's. The configuration is two humbuckers, bridge and neck. I know I definetly want the EMG 89 so I can split the coils. Where should I put this pickup, in the neck or bridge? And depending where I put the 89, what should I put in the other pickup position, an 81 or an 85? Thanks for any help you guys can give me. BTW, I play through a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and I play Dream Theater type stuff.
 
Just out of curiosity, why wouldn't you put an 89 in both positions? Do they cost more than 81's and 85's? Most people slam me for this but I have 89's in both positions on an old PRS Custom and I think I'll leave them in forever. Lots of different combinations and very full sounding. I can get them to sound very PAF-like by rolling them down to about 7. IMHO they sound way better than the PRS pickups that come stock on this guit.
 
Man, no matter what EMG you put in your guitar, if its a humbucker it should be splittable. I've got DiMarzio's in two of my guitars and I have 5 switches on one guitar and 3 on the other... its cool, tons of sounds.
 
i thinbk split humbuckers mostly sound like shit. too trebly and or too harsh. i like a real single coil if i want one. seems like a waste to put emg's in a prs... heard the emg's take away a lot of the character... can anyone comment on that?

guhlenn
 
I told you most people slam me on this one. But seriously, my 89's have the least amount of shrill nasties to them compared to any other humbuckers I have split. That definitely includes the PRS stock pups (dragons?) that came on my PRS.
 
i'm not saying they are shit i ment that if you want sc why not buy sc? the split leaves to be desired... and i think it's kinda waste of money to put two identical pu in a guitar, and yes i know about the tonal difference in placement, but still, you could get a real high output (like the 89 ) and a creamy type of bucker like the SD '59

IMHO
guhlenn;)
 
I didn't think you could mix actives with passives (I could easily be wrong I've just never tried). Also it's not practical to put a single coil pickup in a guitar like a PRS, Les Paul etc...for obvious reasons. I'd rather have the option of a split humbucker than none at all. It's a compromise. I agree nothing beats the real thing and I play my strats more than anything else.
 
to mix active and passive you need to have different pots (top of my head 250 and 500k ohms pots)

and in a prs you can put two sc's ... more options.

guhlenn
 
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