Dang really tough, I think if you were to adjust your EQ to compensate for the extra highs with the X you could really get nice punchy and sharp palm mutes while also keeping your biting lead/clean tones well intact
Wow! I just ordered a guitar that s coming with an 81X and I was anticipating having to change it out immediately, but I LOVE the cut it seems to have here. It'll be in a neck-thru 7 string so I think it'll be perfect.
I think if you like a warmer tone go with the 81 and the 81x brightens things up. I'm deciding between the 2 right now and imma go with the 81 because I dont like really high tones, I like a dark feel more. It comes down to preference, I dont think one is better than the other.
@@ikigai47 Because as is evident from this demo, the cleans are very anemic from the 81X and fuller from the 81, probably due to the difference in headroom/compression, which is lower/greater respectively in the 81, which then evens out a weaker clean sound. - On the contrary, a distorted/compressed sound sounds bigger and warmer with the 81X because of the higher headroom and less compression, which sounds more flattened from the 81. - It's not really lower or higher gain either, it's more headroom because of the voltage used, being 18V versus 9V. This can also be modified on a regular 81, but not necessarily change it to sound the same as an X.
I actually second guessed my 81x purchase and bought the 81 as well because of your video. After watching other vids i cancelled the 81 order and have since installed the 81x. I kind of want the 81 now that i can hot swap em. But im happy with the x type so far.
Thank you again Mike for another great video man. Both of them sounds killer as expected, but for me. And my taste emg 81 classic is unbeatable boss . i love 85 in bridge also...great pickup, an if I could ask for Emg 85 x vs Emg 85 in bridge position video. Thanks again 🤘🙏
Ive got both, And have the 81/85x set in my Poplar body Jackson Warrior and it is one of the best Sounding Shred Machines I own. But I also like the sound of regular 81s in a Mahogany Body such as Les Paul or similar. Cant really go wrong with either just depends on what your Trying to Achieve.
I did expect a much more subtile difference, like just a small difference to the dynamics. But like we can hear the original one also got a little more lower frequencies. Thanks for the comparsion!
They both sound great, but I think i prefer the original 81. It just sounds punchier and thicker to me.The difference I hear appears to be in the EQ curve of the pickup. It does make me wonder if these two pickups could sound almost identical,l with just a bit of tone adjustment of the amp.
To my ears the EMG81x don't have what I would equate to an "active" sound, the 81 sounds much more compressed and darker, the 81x really rings out in the higher end. I find this curious because as an 81 owner I always thought they were on the brighter side. I'm not sure which ones I like better.
Regular 81 is tighter, and more bottom. 81-X has more mids and a little looser. Having used both, including swapping out the 81 for the 81-X in my ESP Eclipse just this morning I can say that I prefer the 81-X and the bigger difference between them isn't the EQ, it's the FEEL. The 81 is very firm with a hard, consistent attack. The 81-X has a slightly softer attack and it responds more to your playing. But, they are still both 81. It's not a complete change, it's just a variation of the same thing.
81 all day. Although with some amp tweaking the 81x could provide some wicked bite if you blend in a bit more punch👊🏻. Might get some just for the hell of it.
I always prefer the one I'm currently playing, until I play the other one again. The X is a different animal in any case. One might think it's simply an EMG 81 with more headroom, but I find myself playing/reacting to it differently.
Хороший обзор, сам мав змогу порівняти обидва, версія Х на дісторшон має трішки більше верхів, в кліні дуже тихий як в брідж так і в нек тому класичний 81 більш універсальний.
81 X sounds better. sound nice and clear. can't listen to this on a phone. use headphones of good desktop speakers. the 81 x sound like a awesome passive humbucker but as always better
Opinion weighs heavily with things like these, as we all see in the comments. The general consensus is pretty much the same, but as for it being better or worse is highly subjective. I can say I prefer the 81, if only because I run my settings with a lot of top end from the amp. That being said, a tone control with the X and I'm just as good to go. But playing on preferences, I can say that the distortion shootout had way to much distortion to make a difference between the 2. But again, I run my amp hard to get distortion (more overall dynamic with my eq preference.) Now I would say with the clean shootout, having an 81 in the bridge would suit my needs perfectly, and the X would be an awesome accompaniment in the neck. The slight treble boost would make for a great balance when switching, without being a dramatic change in tonal quality, if that is something you look for in a guitar.
Not a bad idea for placing the 81X in the neck. I was preferring it for the clean tones, and I often find my humbucker neck pickups don't have enough treble for my tastes. This might be a great idea :-)
It sounds objective to me that the 81X is just rather anemic clean. It's too weak. But that's probably because it's a pure clean sound, from a high-headroom pickups, which is often helped with something like a compressor or booster anyway. - And if you couldn't hear the difference with the distortion, something's up with your audio. Because the 81X clearly sounded a lot bigger and warmer in that case, which is due to the headroom, with the 81 being more compressed and flattened because of that. - It's kinda clear that the 81 is just limited because of its headroom and you can supplement the 81X its weaker clean signal with, again, a compressor or a little signal boost, but have it sound much fuller and defined for high-gain sounds. - That's not an opinion, it's right here.
Did you use an active tone control for x series? Standard is using passive tone control but x series has active VLPF tone control wired in series instead of parallel as standard 81.
Having owned both in the same guitar I prefer the regular 81. The X sounds louder as it has more in the mids and is more open sounding. Granted I prefer passives but between these two I like the regular.
My channel has a lot a comparisons with EMG 85 in the bridge position, and I use a custom strat for all of them. Check out the Guitar Pickup Comparisons playlist! :)
Achei q a linha X seria superior... Parece que os antigos são melhores. Vou comprar um pra guita de 7 cordas e esse vídeo me ajudou muito. Parabéns irmão. Comprarei a linha antiga.
As an old fan of passive pickups, which is now playing EMG 81/85, and has played the Fishman Fluence Modern set, I don't get why people lend over these middle ground options like "active pickups with passive feel". I've tried it with the Fishman Fluence's voice 2 and it's like mehhh... Even when I'm a passive pickups fan I am more happy with true active pickups like the original EMGs rather than FFM's voice 2. To me just give me one thing or the other, nothing in between. It just feels weird and doesn't sound good.
It is real that one little change in a pickup structure means born of an another chracteristic pickup. Emg81x is a different pickup and has good sound. Problem was that Emg got very very less product kind than SeymourD and Dimarzio (81.85.60...) Emg has tried to make an attack, first, 89 and 81tw disasters and lastly 81x 85x 60x.
81x sounds like an EMG competitor tried to copy the 81 and upped the gain at the cost of clarity. I'm speaking on the dirty tones btw. I feel like they tried to outdo themselves but fell short. I prefer the 81 but others might prefer the x.
The X had more clarity or range where the standard 81 sounds scooped. I guess that's why Metallica from And justice for all and the black album sound the way they do. Fully scooped mids. A lot more so on And justice for all than the black album.
Under distortion both sound great to me, but for cleans, it's the standard 81 all the way, the 81x is just way to bright and shrill to be usable imo, the demo hurt my ears at some points.
So, I’m deciding between the two. My guitar body is swamp ash. It will be a single pickup guitar. Which one? Is swamp ash brighter than alder or basswood?
EMG needs to do a better job explaining/marketing the purpose and differences of the "X" pickups. Why "X"? What's different inside? Who should use these? Some people will just insist on using them because the letter "X" seems cool - no matter the meaning or results.
agreed, there's no information on these pickups and some X series models do not have a single demo online, not even produced by EMG. they wouldn't be losing popularity if they'd stop setting themselves up for failure.
@@jayz6008 Ok, the second time that this has been pointed out to me. So to clarify. It sounds similar to a fluence modern to me. I get that the 81X was out before the fluence.
Nonsense the biggest difference is in volume, 81x is the volume harder! If you want to change go for the EMG 57 which sounds absolutely more vintage, between 81 and 81x it is mainly difference in volume output!
Woah. the difference is immense. Was not expecting that. Sounds like 81X has less mids/low mids and has more top end. 81 still reigns supreme for me.
Great comparison, the 81X has that shrill and quacky Fishman sound that seems to be more popular these days. The standard 81 just can't be beat imo.
I agree the 81 is unbeatable and these kids love them some quack.
Dang really tough, I think if you were to adjust your EQ to compensate for the extra highs with the X you could really get nice punchy and sharp palm mutes while also keeping your biting lead/clean tones well intact
Excellent comparison. Good job
Wow! I just ordered a guitar that s coming with an 81X and I was anticipating having to change it out immediately, but I LOVE the cut it seems to have here. It'll be in a neck-thru 7 string so I think it'll be perfect.
very good comparsion
I think if you like a warmer tone go with the 81 and the 81x brightens things up. I'm deciding between the 2 right now and imma go with the 81 because I dont like really high tones, I like a dark feel more. It comes down to preference, I dont think one is better than the other.
81 for cleans and 81X for distortion 🧨
I got the opposite. Besides, why would you prefer the hotter, higher gain pickup for cleans and the lower gain pickups for high gain?
@@ikigai47 Because as is evident from this demo, the cleans are very anemic from the 81X and fuller from the 81, probably due to the difference in headroom/compression, which is lower/greater respectively in the 81, which then evens out a weaker clean sound. - On the contrary, a distorted/compressed sound sounds bigger and warmer with the 81X because of the higher headroom and less compression, which sounds more flattened from the 81. - It's not really lower or higher gain either, it's more headroom because of the voltage used, being 18V versus 9V. This can also be modified on a regular 81, but not necessarily change it to sound the same as an X.
@@ikigai47You sir, just got owned😂😂
Thanks for the review..
I have em both on deferent guitars both high quality super strats.
I prefer the x.
I actually second guessed my 81x purchase and bought the 81 as well because of your video. After watching other vids i cancelled the 81 order and have since installed the 81x. I kind of want the 81 now that i can hot swap em. But im happy with the x type so far.
Thank you again Mike for another great video man. Both of them sounds killer as expected, but for me. And my taste emg 81 classic is unbeatable boss . i love 85 in bridge also...great pickup, an if I could ask for Emg 85 x vs Emg 85 in bridge position video. Thanks again 🤘🙏
Thank you for coming!! :)
Ive got both, And have the 81/85x set in my Poplar body Jackson Warrior and it is one of the best Sounding Shred Machines I own. But I also like the sound of regular 81s in a Mahogany Body such as Les Paul or similar. Cant really go wrong with either just depends on what your Trying to Achieve.
Basically, the X screams. Sounds more suited to heavy and power metal, while the normal sounds more suited to thrash and new.
Nice profile, both pickups sound great
81X - 3:31 3:54
81 - 3:43 4:06
On my studio monitors the 81x is alive. The 81 has more low end but is darker but has that compressed feel. Prefer the X!
To my taste, 81 better for clean, 81X better for dirty. Thx for the comparison!
It's not your taste, it's just correct. ;P
I did expect a much more subtile difference, like just a small difference to the dynamics. But like we can hear the original one also got a little more lower frequencies. Thanks for the comparsion!
They both sound great, but I think i prefer the original 81. It just sounds punchier and thicker to me.The difference I hear appears to be in the EQ curve of the pickup. It does make me wonder if these two pickups could sound almost identical,l with just a bit of tone adjustment of the amp.
81x is surprisingly killer, in comparison. still love the 81 but depending on if you have a scooped out amp setting, the 81x would be great.
To my ears the EMG81x don't have what I would equate to an "active" sound, the 81 sounds much more compressed and darker, the 81x really rings out in the higher end. I find this curious because as an 81 owner I always thought they were on the brighter side. I'm not sure which ones I like better.
Awesome video my friend ! Big Like!👍👍👍👍👍👍👍💯
Regular 81 is tighter, and more bottom. 81-X has more mids and a little looser. Having used both, including swapping out the 81 for the 81-X in my ESP Eclipse just this morning I can say that I prefer the 81-X and the bigger difference between them isn't the EQ, it's the FEEL. The 81 is very firm with a hard, consistent attack. The 81-X has a slightly softer attack and it responds more to your playing. But, they are still both 81. It's not a complete change, it's just a variation of the same thing.
81 all day. Although with some amp tweaking the 81x could provide some wicked bite if you blend in a bit more punch👊🏻. Might get some just for the hell of it.
81 (And TW in my case) is and will be my choice
They added mid and treble to the X. Sounds good but I'll stick with my 81..well actually wanna check out Hets and Hammetts
I always prefer the one I'm currently playing, until I play the other one again. The X is a different animal in any case. One might think it's simply an EMG 81 with more headroom, but I find myself playing/reacting to it differently.
Хороший обзор, сам мав змогу порівняти обидва, версія Х на дісторшон має трішки більше верхів, в кліні дуже тихий як в брідж так і в нек тому класичний 81 більш універсальний.
81 X sounds better. sound nice and clear. can't listen to this on a phone. use headphones of good desktop speakers. the 81 x sound like a awesome passive humbucker but as always better
Opinion weighs heavily with things like these, as we all see in the comments. The general consensus is pretty much the same, but as for it being better or worse is highly subjective. I can say I prefer the 81, if only because I run my settings with a lot of top end from the amp. That being said, a tone control with the X and I'm just as good to go.
But playing on preferences, I can say that the distortion shootout had way to much distortion to make a difference between the 2. But again, I run my amp hard to get distortion (more overall dynamic with my eq preference.)
Now I would say with the clean shootout, having an 81 in the bridge would suit my needs perfectly, and the X would be an awesome accompaniment in the neck. The slight treble boost would make for a great balance when switching, without being a dramatic change in tonal quality, if that is something you look for in a guitar.
Not a bad idea for placing the 81X in the neck. I was preferring it for the clean tones, and I often find my humbucker neck pickups don't have enough treble for my tastes. This might be a great idea :-)
It sounds objective to me that the 81X is just rather anemic clean. It's too weak. But that's probably because it's a pure clean sound, from a high-headroom pickups, which is often helped with something like a compressor or booster anyway. - And if you couldn't hear the difference with the distortion, something's up with your audio. Because the 81X clearly sounded a lot bigger and warmer in that case, which is due to the headroom, with the 81 being more compressed and flattened because of that. - It's kinda clear that the 81 is just limited because of its headroom and you can supplement the 81X its weaker clean signal with, again, a compressor or a little signal boost, but have it sound much fuller and defined for high-gain sounds. - That's not an opinion, it's right here.
I already knew from other comparisons that I preferred the 81x for rhythm but I didn't think I'd prefer the 81 for cleans and leads that much!
Don’t fix what ain’t broken! OG 81!
Did you use an active tone control for x series? Standard is using passive tone control but x series has active VLPF tone control wired in series instead of parallel as standard 81.
Old 81 is better
🧙♂️
I'm a fan of the 81TW myself personally.
I dont think so
If you like good ol tight 81, then its the waydago, nothing against it either.
Having owned both in the same guitar I prefer the regular 81. The X sounds louder as it has more in the mids and is more open sounding. Granted I prefer passives but between these two I like the regular.
EMG 81's still King 👍
King of them all. Doesn't matter what new pickups or tech they come out with. The 40 year old 81 still beats them all.
The *81* have *more pressure* , *more accentuation* , *more overdrive* and *more clearity* . I go with the 81!
The X is noticeably brighter but not enough to justify the cost to swap it out.
that's odd ahah one of thoses test must have newer strings, I don't know
The standard 81 has more of a scooped tone, 81x has more bite. 81x I think would be worth the upgrade if you play lead and rythm and not just rythm.
Yeah you nailed the difference
Playing distortion with less dynamic on the 81 can be quite tiring after awhile. I had them. Human inherently prefer dynamics, so i choose the 81X.
🤔🤔 which would John Mayer pick? 😅
Has anyone ever put an 85 in the bridge on strat style guitar? Differences between the 85 and 81?
My channel has a lot a comparisons with EMG 85 in the bridge position, and I use a custom strat for all of them. Check out the Guitar Pickup Comparisons playlist! :)
That 81 is the \m/
3:06
3:18
3:31
3:43
Am I crazy for preferring the original 81?
wow this is hard... maybe i slightly prefer 81x, sounds more open and organic
Achei q a linha X seria superior... Parece que os antigos são melhores. Vou comprar um pra guita de 7 cordas e esse vídeo me ajudou muito. Parabéns irmão. Comprarei a linha antiga.
In this case the regular sounds better to me but I think the x is predestinated for extreme low tunings, 8 strings and such.
I definely love the standard one
As an old fan of passive pickups, which is now playing EMG 81/85, and has played the Fishman Fluence Modern set, I don't get why people lend over these middle ground options like "active pickups with passive feel". I've tried it with the Fishman Fluence's voice 2 and it's like mehhh... Even when I'm a passive pickups fan I am more happy with true active pickups like the original EMGs rather than FFM's voice 2. To me just give me one thing or the other, nothing in between. It just feels weird and doesn't sound good.
Yea the 81x sounds the slightest bit more clear
Playing distortion with less dynamic with the 81 can be quite tiring after awhile. I had them. Human inherently prefer dynamics, so i choose the 81X.
You want less 400hz and more 1.6 but didn't the original already have that?
The 81 is more scooped and compressed than the 81x. The 81x sounds hotter too.
It is real that one little change in a pickup structure means born of an another chracteristic pickup. Emg81x is a different pickup and has good sound. Problem was that Emg got very very less product kind than SeymourD and Dimarzio (81.85.60...) Emg has tried to make an attack, first, 89 and 81tw disasters and lastly 81x 85x 60x.
81x sounds like an EMG competitor tried to copy the 81 and upped the gain at the cost of clarity. I'm speaking on the dirty tones btw. I feel like they tried to outdo themselves but fell short. I prefer the 81 but others might prefer the x.
The 81 seemed to be better on cleans but the 81x for high gain.
The X had more clarity or range where the standard 81 sounds scooped. I guess that's why Metallica from And justice for all and the black album sound the way they do. Fully scooped mids. A lot more so on And justice for all than the black album.
It's not scooped. It's all mids..
81 is simply a much much better pickup.
Under distortion both sound great to me, but for cleans, it's the standard 81 all the way, the 81x is just way to bright and shrill to be usable imo, the demo hurt my ears at some points.
The 81x has a more full tone, its lows are more similar too something like a fishman fluence
thanks. no need for 81x.
I like both the 81x for dark sounding guitars and the 81 for brighter sounding guitars. Both sounded great.
Exactly. The 81X gives a dark guitar the bite and percusiveness it needs and the 81 gives a thinner sounding guitar that low mid growl.
So, I’m deciding between the two. My guitar body is swamp ash. It will be a single pickup guitar. Which one? Is swamp ash brighter than alder or basswood?
The X is much tighter sounding.
Everyone has a preference… The X series sounds much better to me (regular sounds compressed and dull in comparison)
EMG sound better for me. If I want passive electronic sounding pickups I go with Seymour Duncan or something else.
The x has to much hair on the highs
81x has just that little bit of extra head room.
81x is definitely louder and sharper. However, the 81 has better definition and better all around and still king.
Why 81 sounds so quietly and thiner compared to 81x XDDD
besides the X is louder, the 81 is better in low end, and less high mids, that nasty noise :D
81 X sounds more rough but the 81 sounds better
The X sounds less compressed compared the original.
EMG needs to do a better job explaining/marketing the purpose and differences of the "X" pickups.
Why "X"? What's different inside? Who should use these?
Some people will just insist on using them because the letter "X" seems cool - no matter the meaning or results.
agreed, there's no information on these pickups and some X series models do not have a single demo online, not even produced by EMG. they wouldn't be losing popularity if they'd stop setting themselves up for failure.
I have 81 on the bridge and in this video 81x seems better....
shit...I love my 81 like no other but I like the 81X a little better...IN THIS comparison.......
EMG 81X once again proves that you can't improve upon perfection. I'll stick with me 81's.
EMG 81 is more balanced in frequency range than EMG 81X
81
The difference is too large.. Something between would have been great for an evolution of the most used active pickup.
it would be better if the comparison would be properly level matched imo
My thoughts exactly. People with untrained ears will immediately vote for the louder one.
El emg x gana. Más abierto mejor brillo y claridad.
OG 81 All day. It's an unmistakable sound. 81X sounds like it's trying to be a Fluence Modern. . .a bandwagon I won't jump on.
81X came out way before moderns, lol.
81x was pretty much EMG's response to the Duncan Blackouts so you're wrong about them trying to be like Fluences
@@jayz6008 Ok, the second time that this has been pointed out to me. So to clarify. It sounds similar to a fluence modern to me. I get that the 81X was out before the fluence.
@@mikeallen4200 it needed repeating in how wrong you are :)
@@jayz6008 Fair enough. Lol. Stay safe out there
I STILL THINK 81 better
No X
The EMG 81 is my favorite bridge pickup and the X doesn't come close to me.
81x is like Marshall JCM800 while 81 is like JCM900. :)
81 non X - top
Surprised that I liked the regular 81 more. 707-Xs smash the originals
EMG 81 RULES!! Period.
81 is fuller.. X is too trebly and thin.
81x excels in riffs whereas 81 has better solo sound --- less 'squeally'
Emg 81 better
X sounds very fizzy
The 81x is what the 81 should have been.
Old 81 better
81 sounds better,
81X sounds so thin. I don't think it'll be that usable. 81 sounds better to my ear
Nonsense the biggest difference is in volume, 81x is the volume harder! If you want to change go for the EMG 57 which sounds absolutely more vintage, between 81 and 81x it is mainly difference in volume output!
81x is thin & cold, 81 is warm & curvy