Ok so i just fiddle around by playing guitar couple hours a day and am finally looking to upgrade these stock Ifinity 1 & 2 pickups on my Ibanez RGT 42. Originally came to having to make a choice of EMGs vs a Dimarzio x2n and something else.


Most of the reviews i read at other webs say they either love them or hate them completely so my question is does any one have any personal opinions on EMG's performance and sound/tone you can get out of them. Im not the type to just turn the guitars volume nob and distortion to max all the time.

Or is there other options of humbuckers that are a better bang for the $$$

Thanks for any replys.

Then DONT BUY Emg's
They are toneless, and the most processed sounding pickup you can get.
The average metal band will use them of course.

I'd go with dimarzio's or some seymour duncans if i were you

False, false and false!

Don't bitch EMGs because you don't like them, because they are indeed very good pickups.

As for opinions, if you wanna go with the EMG 81/85 combo, do the 18V mod:



Other than that, Dimarzios are pretty good, SD's are not bad, not a fan of em though.

This post was edited by Darkshade on Dec 1 2008 06:22pm

Got the EMG 85 today and waitin till next week for the 81.

Is there a lot of wiring and soldering work for the 18v mod?

Never soldered much of anything before and the wiring pasterns look intimidating to me so i have plans to take the guitar to a Guitar Shop to have them install the pickups and do all that jazz. 5 Way toggle switches , 3 way toggle switches , mono jack and stereo jack inputs are all new to me and i ain't to sure on the configuration.

Not even sure if they will have to cut in the guitar cavity where the jack input goes or if its just a simple swap from the jack that came with the pickup.

I'm not a fan of EMG pickups. One of my guitars has an 81/85 set, and they sound generic as hell. Every wanna-be metal band uses them. Tone is half-assed, clean channel sounds horrid..Not my kinda thing.

Seymour Duncan = Tone that will melt your face.

That's the kind of answer you will get on these forums.

And no 18v mod is pretty easy to do, check out the link I gave you.

What an answer from real musicians?
Fool.

This.

EMG's are ugly.

Seymour Duncans are the way to go ofc

All the EMG newbs will one day realize how toneless they are when they turn they're gain lower than 8, then they will buy sd's

I smell rage.

My gain is way lower than 8 and yet I think my tone could surpass yours easily.