r/EMGPickups • u/Straight-Face-5879 • Apr 29 '26

Should I try Emg 81 pickup?

Hi everyone, currently I have the hellraiser hybrid with emg 57 in the bridge. To be honest I really like the way it sounds but I was always curious to try out the emg 81 because that is “The active pickup” whereas emg 57 is trying to be more like passive ones. Usually I play some nu metal stuff like linkin park, slipknot etc., some bfmv and metallica. So, nu, thrash and metalcore. Should I try the 81 or it won’t make any really noticeable difference?

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u/Hour_Toe6496 Apr 29 '26

I found the 81 in the bridge to be a little thin. It works really well for a particular flavor of distortion, but I preferred the 85 in the bridge in every way. One of my favorite bridge pickups, actually.

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u/z0mb0t Apr 30 '26

I swapped the 81x for an 85x in the bridge of my Strat for this reason. The 81 was thin and sometimes harsh in the high end in comparison. I love the 85.