Mean, crushing. This is the best rock pick-up ever. High output and absolute crunch removed the necessity of an outboard pre-amp for me. The sustain is unbelievable. My only complaint would be that they are sooooo powerful that they pickup every little noise. Every pickup hole in ALL my guitars will soon be plugged with EMG 81's

This is a mean nasty pickup....must have for any metal guitarist

Totally solid. Absolute quality

I paid $79 a piece. That's about $50 less than I expected to pay when I went "shopping"

Unknown

Solid black...they look badass

Speed Metal

The noise impedance really works. I use mine with cabs and head and play in large venues with lots of interference and yet when used in combination with a noise gate it stops humming the second you turn your guitar volume down. It

Metal (progressive death)

I has a really high gain output its kinda hard to describe the sound of it.

Not that much features

It is not easy to get good sound from it, it is very easy to get AWESOME sound out of it.

It was made well no doubt about it.

It is just that good of a pickup you wont need any contact.

ITS an awesome pickup and has the best sound for metal nuff said.

I have been playing guitar for 5 years getting close to six. I play bass, guitar, and drums and i do jam and in a band

Meta core, nu metal, black metal, death metal, thrash metal, etc

Sound is great. I have an emg 81 on my bridge and 85 on the neck which is a great setup that a lot of people use. For instance one of the memebers of slayer, Zackk Wyld and kirt hammit from metallica. Also james from metallica uses an 81 on the bridge but a 60 on the neck. I havent tried that setup. I love how the harmonics flow out. the amp makesa huge diff on how the pikcups sound. The better the amp the better the sound of the pickups. I recommend a randall those are great for metal and the emg 81 and 85 is mostly used for metal. A good guitar has a lot to do with it to. I reccoment just buying a guitar with the emg setup. U would have pay at least 600-700 for a guitar with the emg setup since a active emg set is worth 200 bucks. the comapny wont put a 200 set of active pickups and a 300 dollar guitar. I reccomend a esp or a esp ltd for these kind of pickups. I use the ltd mh400nt(the best one in its class). It was 680 and it came with the 81 85's. Esp class is very expensive. If your going to buy an esp ltd which are the cheaper ones but still great.(mostly your paying for wood in the esp class) If your goign to buy a ltd get the best one in its class which would be around 700. Or go for a ltd deluxe which is around 850-900. Yes the active pickups use a battery but dont worry one 9v gives u a lot of hours. If your worryd about if actives give more noise than passive just get a noisegate pedal. I dont like passive pickups it really takes away from the sound. Don't mix active with passive.

lots of features with the sound.

Sound comes easy out of these. Espically pinch harmoincs or regular harmonics. so much eaiser to hit them with active pickups.

Emg in my opinion makes the best active pickups for metal! I'm sure passive might be better for other styles. How do i know emg makes the best active pickups for metal? Because for one i know esp makes the best guitars for metal. I look at the roster for musicians and they got the guys from metallica, alexi laiho, will adler from lamb of god, stephan carpenter from deftones, the guys from chimara one of the guys from slayer, and tons more. And most of those guys all use active emg pickups with there esp. Except i know will adler uses passive for some reason and alexi uses a seymor duncan blackout on his bridge and he has nothing on his neck. I think thats because he never has a clean tone ever in his music or something.

These are priceless

im sure its good never used it yet

They look mad sexy on a dark guitar

Active musician

metal

Crunchy. Extreme highs. Brutal lows. Insane metal pickup, picks up harmonics like a beast. Great quality, wouldn't regret the purchase for a second.

The best active pickups.

Really easy to get good sounds from this guitar, makes harmonics a breeze. Although the paper explaining how to install could have been better.

The best quality, the finish is amazing looking on my red guitar (i have black EMGs), 100% reliable. Nothing bad to say about it.

Couldn't ask a better price for what you are getting.

oh my gosh insane looking, I couldn't believe how much of a difference in how awesome my guitar looked after having them installed.

Active Musician (Metal Band)

Metal

It's like an after-market turbocharge for guitar. That's how significant the change is compared to stock pickups. These pickups open up the midrange allowing you to cut through the mix. Articulation and definition is achieved which is a miracle when going heavily distorted. Oh yeah... I forgot... It's heavy.

The Switchcraft knobs are silent and spread their effect over the entire potetiometer spectrum. There are no "sensitive spots." Just a smooth mix.

It hasn't broke yet and has that solid-weight letting ya know that it ain't gonna break

Costs about as much as a good pedal but does way more for your sound

Black is a standard look-good color

Hard Rock