 | Download Example 1 EMG 81 & 81X Clean |
| Download Example 2 EMG 81 & 81X Dirty |
| Download Example 2 EMG 85 & 85X Clean |
| Download Example 2 EMG 85 & 85X Dirty |
| Download Example 2 EMG 81/ 85 & 81X/85X Clean |
| Download Example 2 EMG 81/85 & 81X/85X Dirty |
The New X-Series
The samples I received for review were the 81X, the 85X, and the SAX. The first thing I noticed upon opening the packaging was the new pickup wiring buss. For the last few years, EMGs have had a slide-on connector on the pickup end of the pickup lead. This made it very easy to change between EMG models in the guitar. Now they have taken it a
step further. This new pickup buss eliminates the need for any soldering. The rest of the wiring harness attaches to convenient screw terminals on the pickup buss. This makes for a clean, neat, simple way to make pickup and power connections in your guitar. Changing pickups takes no time at all with the new EMG models.How Do They Sound?
EMG states that the new X-Series pickups have more headroom, and an extended, more open frequency response.
I decided for this review that I would use a guitar that I had lying around which had a set of EMG pickups in it already. It was an old Ibanez Destroyer with an 81 in the bridge and an 85 in the neck position. This way, I could compare in the same guitar, the different tonalities of the pickups. Care was taken to set the pickups at the same heights as well.
81X
The new 81X has indeed been upgraded in the headroom department compared to the old model. It cleaned up better when turned down, and when cranked it presented the full- on screaming harmonic laden tone that the 81 series is so famous for. While it is still great for heavy rock tones, it cuts through better, making faster passages more articulate. Also because of this headroom it invites some players who might have considered EMG pickups to be too over-the-top sounding. The pickup tone was much more organic feeling—much like a good passive pickup.85X
The 85X has the same organic feel as the 81X. It is a very sensitive warm and clean pickup when played clean. I thought it produced an excellent warm blues tone with just a little bit of overdrive applied. Cranked up, it is another matter. Fort those who like to play the fast legato lines and sweep arpeggios, this is your pickup. The newer improved headroom of this pickup makes it a sure winner. It can hold its own as far as power output goes with the 81-X The older model 85 was a bit bland by comparison; still a great tone, just far less versatility.SAX
With the SAX I found the same differences as with the previous two, this time applied to the EMG Model SA. The SA pickups are my personal favorite EMG model. I have often used the SA pickups and loved them for what they do well, which is create a powerful Strat-type tone. I have, however, sometimes missed the bluesy, Hendrix-type of tones from my EMG-equipped guitar. This pickup is the difference I was missing. It is much more open and responds to the picking dynamics the way that a good single coil does. It of course, has very little noise. With this model pickup in your guitar with an EMG EXG control you will be in the land of great power-blues music. It works well for country music as well because of the open sparkle to the tone.Buy if...
you are looking for a versatile, quiet pickup that covers a lot of bases.
Skip if...
you don’t like the idea of active or battery powered pickups.
Rating...
MSRP 81X and 85X $149.99 SAX $119.99 - EMG Pickups - emginc.com |
EBS BassIQ Blue Label Triple Envelope Filter Pedal
The EBS BassIQ produces sounds ranging from classic auto-wah effects to spaced-out "Funkadelic" and synth-bass sounds. It is for everyone looking for a fun, fat-sounding, and responsive envelope filter that reacts to how you play in a musical way.
Reverend Vernon Reid Totem Series Electric Guitar - Shaman
Silos features six presets, tap tempo, one full second of delay time, and three voices—two of which are styled after bucket-brigade and tape-delay sounds. In the $150 price category, it’s not unusual for a digital delay to leave some number of those functions out. And spending the same money on a true-analog alternative usually means warm, enveloping sounds but limited functionality and delay time. Silos, improbably perhaps, offers a very elegant solution to this can’t-have-it-all dilemma in a U.S.-made effect.
A More Complete Cobbling Together
Silos’ utility is bolstered by a very unintimidating control set, which is streamlined and approachable. Three of those controls are dedicated to the same mix, time, and repeats controls you see on any delay. But saving a preset to one of the six spots on the rotary preset dial is as easy as holding the green/red illuminated button just below the mix and preset knobs. And you certainly won’t get lost in the weeds if you move to the 3-position toggle, which switches between a clear “digital” voice, darker “analog” voice, and a “tape” voice which is darker still.
“The three voices offer discernibly different response to gain devices.”
One might suspect that a tone control for the repeats offers similar functionality as the voice toggle switch. But while it’s true that the most obvious audible differences between digital, BBD, and tape delays are apparent in the relative fidelity and darkness of their echoes, the Silos’ three voices behave differently in ways that are more complex than lighter or duskier tonality. For instance, the digital voice will never exhibit runaway oscillation, even at maximum mix and repeat settings. Instead, repeats fade out after about six seconds (at the fastest time settings) or create sleepy layers of slow-decaying repeats that enhance detail in complex, sprawling, loop-like melodic phrases. The analog voice and tape voice, on the other hand, will happily feed back to psychotic extremes. Both also offer satisfying sensitivity to real-time, on-the-fly adjustments. For example, I was tickled with how I could generate Apocalypse Now helicopter-chop effects and fade them in and out of prominence as if they were approaching or receding in proximity—an effect made easier still if you assign an expression pedal to the mix control. This kind of interactivity is what makes analog machines like the Echoplex, Space Echo, and Memory Man transcend mere delay status, and the sensitivity and just-right resistance make the process of manipulating repeats endlessly engaging.
Doesn't Flinch at Filth
EarthQuaker makes a point of highlighting the Silos’ affinity for dirty and distorted sounds. I did not notice that it behaved light-years better than other delays in this regard. But the three voices most definitely offer discernibly different responses to gain devices. The super-clear first repeat in the digital mode lends clarity and melodic focus, even to hectic, unpredictable, fractured fuzzes. The analog voice, which EQD says is inspired by the tone makeup of a 1980s-vintage, Japan-made KMD bucket brigade echo, handles fuzz forgivingly inasmuch as its repeats fade warmly and evenly, but the strong midrange also keeps many overtones present as the echoes fade. The tape voice, which uses aMaestro Echoplex as its sonic inspiration, is distinctly dirtier and creates more nebulous undercurrents in the repeats. If you want to retain clarity in more melodic settings, it will create a warm glow around repeats at conservative levels. Push it, and it will summon thick, sometimes droning haze that makes a great backdrop for slower, simpler, and hooky psychedelic riffs.
In clean applications, this decay and tone profile lend the tape setting a spooky, foggy aura that suggests the cold vastness of outer space. The analog voice often displays an authentic BBD clickiness in clean repeats that’s sweet for underscoring rhythmic patterns, while the digital voice’s pronounced regularity adds a clockwork quality that supports more up-tempo, driving, electronic rhythms.
The Verdict
Silos’ combination of features seems like a very obvious and appealing one. But bringing it all together at just less than 150 bucks represents a smart, adept threading of the cost/feature needle.
EarthQuaker Devices Silos Multi-generational Time Reflection Delay Pedal
