The 85X has an organic and open voice thanks to the added headroom and response known to the EMG X Series. Featuring close aperture coils loaded with Alnico V magnets, the 85X is a powerful guitar pickup with exceptional tone and versatility. The Alnico magnets of this model provide a muscular growl and smooth lead tones enabling you to play everything from the blues to the most extreme metal.Although often used in the neck position, make no mistake, the EMG 85X sounds great as a bridge humbucker thanks to its exceptional smoothness and soul. This pickup pairs well with just about every other pickup in our line and using our solderless system, it makes changing your tone easier than ever.The X series preamp gives the pickup a more dynamic range along with increased headroom while keeping the more traditional string-to-string balance. X series pickups also come with an Active Tone Control (VLPF) designed to roll-off (attenuate) high frequencies, similar to a typical passive tone control. The result is a noiseless guitar pickup with a classic EMG sound that bridges the gap between active and passive.
