$22 EMG 81 85 Pickups from AliExpress Are they any good? Let’s find out!

What do you think about these $22 EMG Pickups from AliExpress?

[@ILLRICARDO]

its crazy that you can actually find a cheaper clone of your favorite pickups. i managed to find clones for the dimarzio dp100, the seymour duncan tb6 and the evh frankenstein humbucker for around10 bucks each... and they all were pretty good

[@GuitarYapper_]

Yeah, if you think about it pickups are not magic so they can be recreated pretty easily

[@al3x2728]

Hi, how did you find those clones in AliExpress? Thanks in advance

[@ILLRICARDO]

@@al3x2728 the donliss dh53 is a Seymour Duncan JB clone The donlis dh05 is a dimazrio dp100 clone.

[@ILLRICARDO]

@@upreydeen I remember there was a point in time where you could get the emg81/60 set for 100 bucks.... Times have changed.

[@A.S.-ty7rv]

​@@upreydeencrazy prices? 77 euro for single pickup. Same time Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan cost 110+ euros. Are you high?

[@MrDalegray]

I have bought the China EMGs and they just sound a bit brighter then the originals. For the price they are good pickups. Use an EQ and they will sound pretty close.

[@Jayteaseepiirturi]

That's pretty much it, really. I'd probably get these just for the looks as... you know... I'm a creature of habit with EMGs. In reality, everything can be tweaked. The only thing that matters is single-coil/humbucker, really.

[@vanturner9403]

Honestly in my opinion I didn’t think they were as bad as people say. I’m with you on the price point perspective.

[@somdebaixoguitarraeviolao9255]

So, the difference to my ears is striking! Mainly due to the noises from the Chinese pickup, shielding might solve the problem... I'm thinking about buying it but...

[@GuitarYapper_]

You should buy it, if I spent more time with it I'm sure I could have had them sounding pretty good!

[@vexzed]

There's a few videos out there now that show any pickup of a similar output will sound like the EMGs at high gain. So that excess noise does indeed make these garbage/useless. If you can fix that then they'd probably be fine. Maybe they weren't potted?

[@GuitarYapper_]

I didn’t spent a lot of time with them so maybe this could have been resolved, maybe I will try again in the future

[@guitartap]

I tried some a few years ago you're right they weren't potted and they do feedback a lot

[@jeffreyheffner908]

I think i read somewhere these were wire opposite of the real emg pickups? Maybe just try flipping the wiring around

[@PhoenixAndTheRaven]

I knew a guy in college who knew a Chinese guy named Joe Businessman. Seriously. Joe could get ANYTHING you wanted made in China. My friend bought and sold knockoff jerseys and Rosetta Stone Master Disc CD's. Joe said he could make anything from a snowboard to a PlayStation. Kind of scary if you thing about it.

[@michaelsmith9544]

The copies were very noisy.

[@michaelgrahamwongacutemadness]

more like active p90s

[@heavyasi1981]

These pickups are in a hetfield explorer copy I got 2nd hand and THEY SUCK! Very noisy, bad ground hum, and too much treble clatter! They are in ok offs, not the originals by a long shot!

[@gooseabuse]

great video, seemed like a good deal more noise but the sound was pretty close. I think you should just cut between the two sounds with no silence in between, probably a lot more work in editing but the subtle differences would be easier to hear I think. Thanks for telling us your thoughts at the end, its always good to hear from the ears in the room.

[@GuitarYapper_]

Great feedback appreciate it! Will do for the neck comparison. Honestly these are surprisingly good if you are on budget! Thanks for watching :)

[@WaleshiddenhistoryMD]

Terrible video you can't hear anything apart from loud humming noise..

[@GuitarYapper_]

😕

[@karbolythium]

connecting a noise suppressor pedal to the guitar before the amp or the interface, wouldn't that solve the feedback problem?

[@GuitarYapper_]

Not this much feedback it’s a faulty pickup or wiring.

[@karbolythium]

@@GuitarYapper_ Are they compatible with the solderless system?

[@Dollyo98]

Hey man! A bit unrelated to the video, but what's the song in the back of the first minute of the video?

[@GuitarYapper_]

Honestly I don't remember, something royalty free

[@pauld1568]

So we are none the wiser 😂

[@sushantshakya9776]

where is the link

[@chaosandorderstudio]

They sound very good... goddamn did you hear the grounding noise How can you say they sound good?

[@GuitarYapper_]

😂

[@karbolythium]

do these chinese pickups connect with solderless system (emg usa)?

[@roberto3262]

He said that his guitar had EMG pickups in it already, and he was using the original wiring. So I would say yes.

[@JoelEnVrac]

Damn sounds horrible ! I own real EMG 81/85 with a "Les paul" from VGS brand, sound really nice. In contrast, the fake EMG clones purpose is to be trashed as I can hear... Sad

[@GuitarYapper_]

I may give them a second chance. I think if I spent more time getting them to work it wouldn't sound too bad

[@JoelEnVrac]

@@GuitarYapper_ Inteerestiong, will you compare them again ?

[@Paul-ji4hg]

So I got some of these, but because the 3 leads on the back of the fake pickups are much shorter, the didn''t work.... when connected, the leads couldn't reach the wiring inside the black plastic endpoint of the quick connect cable. Did you have no issue when connecting here? I was under the impression that the quick connect cables only came in one size.

[@GuitarYapper_]

That’s actually a good question that I didn’t consider at the time, I don’t have these pickups anymore but you could easily pop the wires out of the connector and put them on the pins directly

[@Jayteaseepiirturi]

I got one old-school EMG-85, as in cables only. I went to the electronics store and got some pins and attached them prongs on the cable. It works fine with my EMG sets. The Molex connectors are pretty much standardized. Of course, you never know how the prongs on these fakes work BUT... If you can use soldering iron at all, it'll be easy enough to solve the problem.

[@crock2434]

They are Chinese knock offs? Why im afraid to buy from ebay any more....the bundle of guitar strings looked like Ernie Ball but ended up being ting ling chings...

[@GuitarYapper_]

Yeah I have bought them on purpose

[@8Junio76]

Those EMG pickups are fake asf

[@android199x]

😂😂😂

[@ToneD5150]

Sorry to say. But they are probably knock-offs made in China...😢 Ain't nothing like the real thing! You get what you pay for. I have the 81/85 set in my BC Rich and wouldnt trade them for anything else...!!! Enjoy

[@Cpmnk]

You say that like he doesn't know they are fake... Its in the title

[@eliask9074]

#mo ron

[@Mauritusz]

f**k Aliexpres EMG pickups....Cheep and like a s*it. Feedbacking and i can t do anithing with this...So the original EMGs all te best. I love chinese girls. But if I can choice between chinese EMG and chenese girls, I will chois the second one. :D:D:D