Used this pickup in an Ibanez RG550 for over a year... Basswood has a very balanced smooth tone, so.. I think it was a forgiving canvas for a pickup to make an impression. I have had extensive experience in tone dissatisfaction.. so I am always changing stuff in and out of guitars.. It IS a disease! I have used Fender, Gibson, Paul Reed Smith, EMG, Dimarzio, Seymour Duncan, Carvin, etc, etc.
Alright. So, now the pickup. EMG81. The pre-eminent metal pickup of choice for all the Nu-Metal kiddies. This pickup has been around FOREVER. I think I was using this 12 years ago.. maybe longer... so this is definitely not the new piece of gear lots of people think it is. Very high output, neutrally voiced pickup. It has a lot of clear, boosted signal. Kind of the opposite gain approach of the Dimarzio HS-3.. which is a low output... very, VERY neutral pickup. Zakk Wylde seems to love this in a Les Paul.. I imagine it might be a good choice in that guitar.. as the maple may add brightness.Let me also add that he has a maple neck, so.. this has a small bit of impact as well. In the Ibanez, it was opaque. Flat. Neutral. Can't think of any other boring adjectives to describe it. The good news is.. it should take on the characteristics of your rig. If you have a good preamp... or a Marshall JCM800.. with a bunch of Boss pedals in front of it.. you might be able to get a nice dark, heavy tone. (like Zakk) Not particularly complex.. pretty straightforward, high gain. Easy pinched harmonics, but not rich and detailed sounding. The best way to get a rich sound would be if you have a crunchy amp.. and use this to push it into higher gain. I'm sure Zakk Wylde's rig would not scream quite so loudly if you played a Strat thru it. The best part about this is that it is verbose. Huge. Fat. Like playing a regular humbucker with a clean boost. (One good way to avoid buying this, changing your pots and adding batteries) But if you want a dead quiet, high output solution.. need your notes thick and meaty (and your rig provides the character you want) this is the way to go. You hear it on lots of heavy albums nowadays... the question one has to pose themselves is... Do I want to create my OWN sound? This might be it... but there are lots of other options.

- as for the others EMG pickups, the SA improve clarity, définition and sustain while providing warmth (alnico magnet)
- a great single coil for cleans and low distorsions.

- Had three of them since 2000
- as for the other EMG pickups, this one brings définition, high output, and improved sustain. You can do almost everything with the 85 (much more than with the 81): bass are really huge and the alnico magnet provide warmth
- i had tried lots of pickups (passive and active) and this humbucker has been my favorite for years

- I had two of them in 2000 and in 2007. I didn't keep the first in 2000 because i find the sound thin and trebly. In 2007 i decided to give it a second chance in case i got a faulty one the first time: the sound was still synthétic to my ears (even on a tube amp). I also had EMG 60, 85, SA and only dislike the 81 and the 60 (those two have céramic magnet).
- as the others EMG, the 81 has great clarity, définition and gain, they are great for métal, and i think they would be perfect with Mésa tube amps (to bring more clarity and articulation to the distorsions)
- a very good pickup, but i prefer by far the 85