EMG 85 Tone

[Volt]

I love my Luke (2) SSH guitar........well, except for the tone of the bridge EMG 85 pickup. The single-coil pickups have a nice clear "open" tone to them but the EMG 85 has way too much upper-mid range for my taste. It's probably a great pickup for lots of overdrive but I most enjoy a vintage humbucker tone.
Are there any pickups that could replace the "85" that would have a vintage PAF "open" type tone?
I'd hate to have to sell this beautiful and very high quality guitar.

 

[Kenji20022]

Pickups are swappable on any guitar, trust me on this. Selling a guitar over pickups is a bad move, I've regretted it plenty of times that I've done so in the past.

If you want to try something with a little more of a sound that you described, you could try ordering the EMG 57 or the James Hetfield Bridge. Those are a pleasant surprise from my experience and trying them. Besides that, you could also try and swap for Luke's Passive Transitioner HSS Pickup Set from Dimarzio.

 

[PaoloGilberto]

but Luke is getting a fabulous vintage tone , as he said:" I can make this guitar sound as a Strat or Les paul if you want"
and I have to agree the Luke can have almost any sound you want. first I said it was a bad move with the Luke since is very different from my JP (that I first bought), now...I'm in love ))

 

[BrickGlass]

I plan on replacing my Luke II pups with new ones. Definitely getting the Transition pickup in the bridge, but you can't buy the single coil pickups that the Luke III uses. I did contact Dimazio and ask what the closest thing that you can buy is and here is the response they gave:

"The pickups in the neck and middle are very similar to the Injector neck model (DP422). To install directly in a Luke II, you will need to special-order them with no flange. You will also need to replace the original 25K volume and tone controls with 500K controls for best performance with passive pickups.

DiMarzio Inc."

I've posted this before, but if you are considering selling the guitar you may want to reconsider. No reason to sell a great guitar because you don't like the pickups. Just replace the pups.

 

[damirpuh]

A couple of things to try out before swapping pickups:

You can raise the height of the pickup. I've done this to the neck pickup of my Luke using some spare pickup tubes (1-2mm higher than factory setup), and it definitely fattens up the tone and increases the bass response. It makes the pickup a bit hotter too, but you can always compensate with the gain level on your amp.

The tone control on the Luke II is very flexible and musical. It warms up the sound without any mud. Lots of tonal options lay there. Bridge / middle combo is interesting for crunchy tones also...a softer version of the bridge-only selection.

IMO, part of the charm of the Luke II is the sound and feel of it's active pickups. If you decide to change the pickups after all, I would recommend switching to passive ones...you won't get true "vintage PAF open type tone" out of EMGs I'm afraid.

Good luck with the tone quest.

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

Maybe you could also try running your guitar through an EQ pedal before your amp or effects.

No modding required, and you might find the sound you are after.

 

[Edgarallan]

I love my Luke (2) SSH guitar........well, except for the tone of the bridge EMG 85 pickup. The single-coil pickups have a nice clear "open" tone to them but the EMG 85 has way too much upper-mid range for my taste. It's probably a great pickup for lots of overdrive but I most enjoy a vintage humbucker tone.
Are there any pickups that could replace the "85" that would have a vintage PAF "open" type tone?
I'd hate to have to sell this beautiful and very high quality guitar.

My two cents...Dimarzio Mo' Joe...omg awesome vintage tone with good sustain and a tad hotter.

 

[guitardan]

I struggled w/ the EMG's when I first got my Luke II, The 85 was fine for me, it was the singles that didn't seem to match well. Lower output, plus I thought the neck pup was too bassy for my setup and taste.
I did swap the set for a passive set, and it was decent and different, but after a few days I realized that the EMG's were a great match for this axe. So I put them back in....and made a few amp setting changes to compromise the balance in tones.
I still may try a different EMG single for the neck cause I'd like a little more high end sparkle. Contacted EMG and they suggested swapping it for an S model cause they have a ceramic magnet. A bit more vintage tonal quality...

 

[Slater]

To go along with Kenji20022, trying an EMG 57 would be the easiest thing to try, but only you will know if that does it for you.

 

[Volt]

Thanks for the quality replies.
The EMG 85 was designed for the neck position. I just read that the EMG 57 is designed for the bridge position and is purported to have an "unmistakably PAF-like quality in its tone" I will definitely be adding an EMG 57 to my wish list.
I also love the neck profile of the Luke. I have very large hands and the added girth is very welcome. AND, the Music Man vibrato (sic tremolo) is the best design I've ever played of the more than 40 guitars that I have owned over the years.

 

[BrickGlass]

[QUOTE
You can raise the height of the pickup. I've done this to the neck pickup of my Luke using some spare pickup tubes (1-2mm higher than factory setup), and it definitely fattens up the tone and increases the bass response. It makes the pickup a bit hotter too, but you can always compensate with the gain level on your amp.
[/QUOTE]

This isn't bad advice. I did the same thing but to all three pickups and it most certainly helped.

 

[Sweat]

Love the tone I get from the Luke II bridge pup try different amp settings pedals etc

 

[Mikey]

Maybe you should try a different EMG pickup like the 57 or the 60. If you stick to EMGs, changing pickups should be as easy as it gets because as far as I understand you just have to losen the strings, tke off the two screws and pull the connector...
I myself am thinking about trying an EMG SA pickup in the neck position of my Luke II to get a mor stratty tone...
Has anyone tried an SA in the neck position or does anyone own a Luke I because they had them as well?
Cheers
Mikey

 

[Luc]

Maybe you should try a different EMG pickup like the 57 or the 60. If you stick to EMGs, changing pickups should be as easy as it gets because as far as I understand you just have to losen the strings, tke off the two screws and pull the connector...
I myself am thinking about trying an EMG SA pickup in the neck position of my Luke II to get a mor stratty tone...
Has anyone tried an SA in the neck position or does anyone own a Luke I because they had them as well?
Cheers


Mikey

Yes, I borrowed a set of SAs from a friend of mine a few years ago. Too dark sounding for my liking. The SLVs sound brighter. I found the SAs to be somewhat muddy. But to each his own.

 

[Gas Hed]

Hoping to breathe a little life into this thread again as I'm on a Luke quest. I'm in love with a BFR that has the EMGs (is this considered a Luke II?) and am tempted to pull the trigger, but I'm not clear on what to expect with the EMGs. Seems the consensus is the DiMarzio Transitions are excellent. Mixed bag with the EMGs. I'm actually looking for a different tone as I've got a SSS Strat and Gibby Les Paul for my "vintage" tones. So what should I expect from the EMGs? YouTube videos all sound great. Someone said the bridge is upper mid focused - like upper mid EVH focus? Thoughts?

 

[ZeroFivefour]

Hoping to breathe a little life into this thread again as I'm on a Luke quest. I'm in love with a BFR that has the EMGs (is this considered a Luke II?) and am tempted to pull the trigger, but I'm not clear on what to expect with the EMGs. Seems the consensus is the DiMarzio Transitions are excellent. Mixed bag with the EMGs. I'm actually looking for a different tone as I've got a SSS Strat and Gibby Les Paul for my "vintage" tones. So what should I expect from the EMGs? YouTube videos all sound great. Someone said the bridge is upper mid focused - like upper mid EVH focus? Thoughts?

I'll chime in on the EMGs. EMG's are great at what they do. Clean tight, percussive, slightly compressed tones, Think clarity and or a bit of high fidelity. In the lukes that I have they are a perfect match for me. And I mean perfect. I find the emg 85 to be a fantastic bridge pickup in my 3 lukes. Super crunch, juicy and clear tones galore. It is a great pickup that cleans up remarkably well. Not as organic as a nice paf of course. Is it the tone you want. That is an entirely different discussion. And a discussion that can only be done after you try them out with your gear, style, technique etc... IMHO not every pick up is suitable with all gear, musical style, technique etc... I also have fantastic passive pickups in other guitars that excel at what they do. But they will not get you the EMG sound in my opinion. Try them out and see if you like them. Luke sure did make some fantastic music with his emg's.

Good luck,

Cheers,

Tom

 

[jakedawgwhite88]

I have had 3 pickups in my luke 2 bridge. Original 85, 85x and a Seymour Duncan active abh 3. When I needed a more aggressive tone I really liked the Duncan. It plugged right in to the guitar with no modifications. I have since gone to the 85x. I really enjoy it. It has a good amount of mids for my taste and works well with chimey sounds. The Luke tone control is very useful with the bridge pickup on this guitar. One of my favorite lead tones is very British with my luke using bridge and middle, tone about 60-70%.