Looking for suggestions on a passive pickup closest to emg 81

[Scoeb City]

hey guys ..whats going to give me the best metal sound closest to an EMG 81 without being an EMG pickup. ive got a 97 prs custom 22 and i wanna try a passive pickup other than an EMG so the wiring and the pots don't need to be completely redone....im searching for a tone thats got lots of top end bite, good mids and bottom...so i can do harmonic squeals, get good harmonic feedback, thick chunky crunchy down tuned chords...

think Corrosion of Conformity, Down, Black Label Society, metallica, pantera...etc. basically rockish metal....

ive been looking at a duncan , jb, invader and dimebucker
a dimarzio X2N and Drop Sonic or any others?
ive also thought about a gibson iommi or a dirty fingers...

suggestions would be great

[Chrome Dinette]

The 81 has generally been my favorite pickup. It is a whole different animal than passives, though.

One passive that I have used as an alternative, with good results, is an OBL 900. They show up on ebay once in a while. These used to come on some Hamers. Do not confuse them with the cheapo OBL's Gibson used on some Epiphones in the 90's.

Apparently, the Bill Lawrence L500xl is more or less the same pickup(www.billlawrence.com) (http://www.billlawrence.com%29).

[EVO]

I would recommend trying either the Bare Knuckles Warpig (22.55k output!) or the WCR Ironman (22k otuput).

Warpig (http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/ZH-warpig.html)

Ironman (http://www.crcoils.com/New_PIckups/Iron_Man/iron_man.html)

[Zero]

22.55k and 22k are measurements in resistance, not output.

[flicker180]

try the anderson HN3+.....pretty high output pickup. :)

dave

[uberpict]

The Dragon pick-ups you have are some of the hottest passives available. What amp are you using? My CE-22 with Dragons can squeal and feedback with the best of them but I'm using a fairly high gain amp. Sounds to me that you would be happier with a higher gain amp that can make use of those powerful pick-ups. Just my dos centos.

[Scoeb City]

im using a diezel herbert ...my amp is very high gain....but the dragon pickups just dont pound like thunder the way my emg's do. its kind of like a controllable chaos. where as the dragon pick ups are too quiet and too kind you know? too vintage sounding for my tastes.

[EADGBE]

DiMarzio X2N.

[Caretaker]

Wolfetone Fenris or Blisterbucker

[daoinnyc]

Bare Knuckle Miracleman or WCR Herc. i own a miracleman, havent decided what to install it yet. I THINK the guy who makes em uses them in his Ozzy tribute band and the name kinda implies EMG's dontcha think ?

[SeaFarer61]

Dimarzio X2N. It will slam the front end of your amp with about 550mv. That should do the trick. It worked for me back in '81 when I put a pair in my koa BC Rich Eagle.

[rooster]

I would put in a vote for the Bill Lawrence L-500L. Not as hot as the XL, but nice and chimey with a helluva kick in the amp. Just make sure you get it from www.billlawrence.com (bill lawrence), rather than the Bill Lawrence USA stuff.

rooster.

[screamingdaisy]

whats going to give me the best metal sound closest to an EMG 81 without being an EMG pickup.

Give up now, it's not going to happen. There's no way a high output passive humbucker will ever sound like a low output humbucker with a built in preamp.

Low output passives will lack the punch of the 81, and high output passives will be way too compressed to give you that aggressive edge.

[jony2]

A nice balance between what Screamingdaisy mentioned would be the Duncan SH-5.

Good bass and mids. Snappy treble. Screams and chugs equally well.

[pep]

For output and wide range tone a Bill Lawrence L-500XL would be the ticket. It isn't going to be exactly the same as active, but they are about as close as you will get.

[ibanez4life SZ!]

PRS Tremonti! I'm very very happy with mine!

[Navigator]

I used to use the 81 back in the day. Then I tried a Duncan JB and couldn't believe that (to my ears), the JB gave me the "same" tone, with a nice tight low end, that the 81 did, but in a passive pickup. Certainly inexpensive enough (especially used) to try if you're not familiar with it.

[twoheadedboy]

Scott, my vote goes to the Bill Lawrence pickups. Nuno Bettencourt has played them forever, and it always sounded to me like he was using EMGs. I recently played a Nuno sig guitar that had them, and it was pretty close. They split very nice as well. If you're looking for a slightly different flavour, the JB is my favorite humbucker of all.

[jazzandmetal?]

Vote number 3 for the X2N.

[devilrob1979]

Anybody ever try the D-Activator-X by Dimarzio? Looks good on paper.

[John Catto]

The Bill Lawrence pickup is what Dime used with Pantera, moderate output but very clean and hifi sounding with a lot of top and bottom, great for metal like the EMG.