EMG's

I have a couple of Dean MLF's loaded with Dimebuckers and was thinking about trying out a set of EMG's, 85 in the neck and 81 in the bridge. Anyone out there running EMG's with the MTS amps? Opionions on tone?

I don't have any EMG's, but I do have one guitar equipped with rare active Lace Sensors (available only in Japan IIRC). They make EMG's look wimpy by comparison :wink: .

Anyway, different guitars sound different through different amps. Whether we're talking about an MTS amp or a Fender or a Marshall or a Mesa or whatever, the characteristics of the guitar come through. That's not true of some solid state or modeling amps, it certainly is of most tube amps.

So, if you dig your EMG's through another amp, you'll dig them through your MTS. Personally, my active guitar slams the front of the amp so hard that clean tones are kinda hard to dial in. Not a big deal in my case as I love gain! :twisted:

I would like to try them on my RM100. I've been using passive pickups for years now, mostly Seymour Duncans. I actually had an EMG 81 in an old Kramer I used to own but it's been about 10 years since I've used an EMG.

Which series are those Dean MLs? If they're the 79 series, can you give a review? I've been looking at those on the net, but there are none available locally to test drive.

A friend of mine got a Black Gold ML last week, and I was very impressed by it.

goldsparkletop said:

Which series are those Dean MLs? If they're the 79 series, can you give a review? I've been looking at those on the net, but there are none available locally to test drive.

A friend of mine got a Black Gold ML last week, and I was very impressed by it.

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I have the 79' MLF, "F" just meaning that it comes equipped with a Floyd Rose. The 79's are currently being made in Korea but are put together very well. Guitar has a set Mahogony neck with a Mahogony body. Fingerboard is Rosewood. Back of the neck is C shaped and is pretty comfortable to play. Not too thin but not too thick either, easy access to the higher frets for leads. It required a pretty normal setup. I adjusted the intonation, set the action, adjusted the pickups, and tweaked the truss rod to put a slight releaf in the neck. Action is very good now and can be set pretty low without fret buzz. Stock humbuckers are some of the best factory humbuckers that I have played on for guitars in this price range but I always replace mine anyway. I ended up wiring in a Dimebucker in the bridge position and a Seymour 59' in the neck. The bridge is a licensed Floyd Rose and is the worst licensed version I have ever played on. It would never stay in tune and was just cheaply made. I am surprised that Dean even uses these bridges because they suck bad. I swapped it out for an original Floyd Rose anyway so it was not a factor for me. If you do not use a trem then you would probably just go with the regular ML and this would not be a factor. The Dime tribute guitars come with the upgraded Floyd which are much nicer and do not need to be replaced. Guitar has a nice warm sound because of the Mahogony and sustains real well and is a screamer when loaded with hot pickups. To sum it all up this is the nicest guitar I have played on in this price range and I have owned most of the major brands at one time or another. With a price tag of only $499.00 brand new you would be hard pressed to find a guitar of this quality. I bought it off the Dean forum from one of the dealers there and they are very good people to deal with and will give you a great price. Hope that helps. If you have any more questions just let me know.

I've used both passive and active (EMG's 81 and 85) with the RM100 and surprisingly I prefer the passive pickups with the amp head. The EMG's just are not as solid sounding to me w/ this amp. With my Dual Rec they scream - but I just don't dig them as much w/ the RM100. I have 3 guitars fitted w/ EMG's, 2 w/ 81+85 configuration and 1 w/ 81+81. The 81/81 combo works better in my opinion when comparing the two EMG setups with Randall.

Hope this helps - any other questions let me know.

Can't say I agree with everything said in this thread; but in this thread, I posted a link to some stuff I just recorded with my RM4 (1086) using EMGs.

EMGs are the best. Period.

Has anyone used the EMG 89 coil tapping pickup. I just got an Ibanez SZ prestige 2020 and I'm think of changing to an EMG 85 in the brige and an 89 in the neak. The emg website says that it sounds like an 85 in humbucker mode, but how much so?

I use a jackson soloist w/out a floyd and i have a prs hfs in the bridge which sounds very nice through my rm100; when we did our ep i was jamming with my other guitarists esp viper with the 81/85 set and i thought it was just a little too much gain, kinda lost some of the meat and added some buzz.

Thats why I always go with the 85 in the brige instead of the 81. It has all the gain of the 81 without the slicey/shreddy'ness. my 2 other SZ's also have an EMG 60 in the neak. I am a rythm player and this is a great set for that purpose. The EMG 60 is pretty meaty and has a more vintage tone than the 85 or the 81. I was looking at the 89 for the neak of my new SZ because it has the coil tap option. I just wanted to know if anyone has ever done an A/B compairison between the 89 and the 85

I use EMG's in my Jackson Soloist and my Ibanex RG with the M4/VHT...sounds great, but I would like to try some passives with this equipment...all my guitars have EMG's though.

MAN your in luck! i happen to use SZ's i got the 89 for the same reason but i needed the coil tap for my cleans , and its wicked for that but if you use distortion you get that blues destortion of old fenders in the mid/neck position. i use the 89 in the neck .

if you want that strat sound once in awhile but want to retain your rythem thud then get that 89 pu!

i use the sz 320's

SZ's are awsome!! I've got 3 of them now. I've got a 720FM in transparent gray burst, a 320 in black and a 2020 prestige with matte gray finish.

I used to play Schecter guitars, but I always HATED the neak profile, especially in the lower frets. The SZ have a fatter neak profile. The only thing i miss about the Schecter guitars is the jumbo frets, but I can remedy that, and the SZ's play so good that I don't miss it that much.

My black SZ has had the tuning machines changed to the planet waves auto locking tuners. These are awsome and I plan on having them outfitted on all my SZ's

bought a washburn WI66 pro and installed EMG's in her. sounds great but I lost a little of the clean "twang" from my blackface module. the original pickups sounded great for jazz/ blues......but we all know what EMG's 81/85's are for!
I noticed a difference on the Recto and JTM modules, little difference on the SL+ and XTC modules. It is the original Recto not treadplate.....

I have 81b/85n in my two Nick Catanese Washburn's. They rock great with distortion MTS modules. But with my Blackface, I've had better sounds with passive pickups.