My friend asked me to get him some pickups for his Ibanez RG T42FM. I thought-"why not try the James Murphy set up?" So i order an EMG 89 (it can do split coil) for the neck, and an EMG 85 for the bridge. I used to think that the 85 was NOT a bridge pickup. Once my tech installed everything...holy ****! The tone is amazing! The 85 is actually very clear, great for metal riffs and has an a very bright "voice". Ive tried the EMG 81 on my old Hamer V, and now i just prefer the sound of an 85 in the bridge. The 89 is a superb neck pickup! You can get great single coil sounds, and with a simple tap you can get the thick sound of a humbucker. Sweeping on the the 89 sounds great,very clean. Then again, who is to think that James Murphy would not settle for anything but the best for tone?
85 on bridge!!! coool! i neva liked 81's to be honest ..they are too bright for me .. by the way ... how good is 85 at pickin harmonics .. at this bridge position? and how is sustain etc? i am sure tone would be midaway between 85 and 81 ..
i find they way i got my friend's guitar set up happens to be very versatile. He's getting a range of tones (one of the main contributors is the EMG 89 since it has split coil options and hes getting really nice stat-type sounds. As for the 85, he says its perfect, nice harmonics, nice sound) I guess everything else is up to his amp and his playing Ill try and get a clip of James Murphy.
https://www.msanthrope.com/jamesmurphy/index2.htm check out some of the clips here...i just love James' playing on Testament's take of Sails of Charon! And check out the solo for Inoculated Life by Gorguts
Hey EMG rocks..... its too good ... let all the active pickup haters hate it.....(Saying its not wht u play) ...... EMG - 81 and EMG - 85 together sound great....... Zak uses it.....
thnx alot scary .... love the sound bits ... by the way is this a x2n in the neck position? did james ever use x2n ?? :S
Wow thats an old old old old old pic of James. Im not sure if thats an X2N, i remember reading on his forum that he once wrote he wasnt very fond of the X2N. He used The 89/85 set when he used Ibanez, and now on his Capparision he has active EMG single coils in the neck and middle posistion and an 85 in the bridge.
well it seems as if that is an x2n .. you can see the trademark magnet arrangement ... (two parallel bars) ...
bah! ill post the question in the morning. and as for chintan, sorry, i didnt see your post. I guess you'll have to try both out to see the real difference.
