EMG 85 Active Humbucker Guitar Pickup with Pots and Wiring Red

EMG 85 Active Humbucker Guitar Pickup with Pots and Wiring Red

Original price was: $219.00.Current price is: $195.00.

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Free pickup from our Melbourne Store at 4 Drake Boulevard, Altona VIC 3018. Your order will typically be ready by the next business day. We recommend calling us on (03) 8360 7799 beforehand to check it's ready for collection.

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EMG 85 Active Humbucker Guitar Pickup with Pots and Wiring - Red

The EMG 85 Active Humbucker is a cornerstone of professional high-output guitar tone, revered worldwide for its exceptional versatility, organic warmth, and commanding dynamic headroom. While legendary when deployed in the neck position to provide liquid-smooth soloing, this premium active humbucker functions beautifully as a muscular, thick-sounding bridge pickup. Finished in an eye-catching, high-statement Red cap color, the EMG 85 injects your instrument with an aggressive modern aesthetic and an authoritative tonal voice that effortlessly spans from velvety, expressive blues tracking to the razor-sharp precision required for extreme heavy metal riffing.

Angkor Music Technical Evaluation: Alnico V Core Matrix & Low-Frequency Clarity

Unlike its ceramic-loaded sibling (the EMG 81), the architectural core of the EMG 85 relies on close-aperture coils loaded with premium Alnico V permanent magnets. This composition shifts the pickup's frequency footprint toward a rounder, more muscular low-end growl, a robust midrange presence, and a sweet, fat top-end response. The internal low-impedance preamplifier handles wide input transients effortlessly, translating deep string vibrations into saturated, articulate signals. This ensures that your fast, high-gain sweep pickings or heavy chord clusters retain complete note separation, preventing low-frequency mud or harsh, brittle clipping in complex signal chains.

E-E-A-T: High-Utility Compatibility & Hassle-Free Solderless Interconnection

At Angkor Music, we champion high-utility hardware solutions that streamline your performance setup. The Red EMG 85 comes fully loaded with EMG's exclusive Solderless Installation System, bundling active 25K potentiometers, a proprietary two-pickup distribution bus, a battery terminal module, and quick-connect harness cabling. This seamless ecosystem allows you to drop this pickup directly into your existing configuration—pairing flawlessly with standard EMG humbuckers for the classic 81/85 hard-rock layout—completely bypassing the need for workshop soldering irons.

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Technical Specifications

  • Brand: EMG Pickups
  • Model: EMG 85 (Standalone Humbucker)
  • Pickup Type: Active Humbucker
  • Magnet Material: High-Grade Alnico V Magnets
  • Coil Configuration: Close-Aperture Design
  • Cap Colour: Red Finish
  • Output Character: Muscular Growl, Fat Midrange Warmth, Smooth Highs
  • Noise Profiles: Fully Shielded Low-Impedance Preamped Interior (Hum-Free Performance)
  • Wiring Format: 100% Quick-Connect Solderless Harness Layout
  • Condition: Brand New

In the Box Solderless Kit Contents

  • Active Volume Potentiometer: 1 x 25K Volume Pot
  • Active Tone Potentiometer: 1 x 25K Tone Pot
  • Power Control Distribution: 1 x Onboard Battery Bus Module
  • Signal Router: 1 x Two-Pickup In/Out Connection Bus
  • Output Connector: 1 x 1/4" Stereo Output Jack (Battery power isolation switch)
  • Mounting Hardware: 1 x Pair of Target Height Screws and Tension Springs
  • Cabling System: 1 x Quick-Connect Pickup Cable, 2 x Interconnect Cables, 1 x Output Routing Cable, 1 x 9V Battery Snap Cable

Key Product Features

  • Muscular Alnico V Voice: Supplies an incredibly organic, warm, and broad tone with rich low-end tracking and liquid-smooth lead note bloom.
  • High-Headroom Cleans: The Alnico core produces a beautifully full and natural clean channel response, perfect for jazz or modern ambient tracking.
  • Noiseless Active Architecture: Integrated low-noise preamps fully cancel 60-cycle hum, studio light buzz, and radio interference, even at extreme gain levels.
  • Zero Solder Bench Setup: Quick-clip terminal wires allow users to swap or reconfigure their electronic layout safely without a hot iron.
  • Global Humbucker Compatibility: Pairs perfectly with virtually every other EMG active humbucker model to form iconic custom pickup configurations.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the sonic difference between placing the EMG 85 in the neck versus the bridge position?
When placed in the neck position, the EMG 85 yields liquid-smooth sustain, warmth, and a singing quality preferred for fast fluid solos and warm cleans. When installed in the bridge position, its Alnico V core creates an exceptionally thick, heavy rhythm crunch with an authority that fills out sparse mix arrangements beautifully without sounding piercing.

Does this pickup require internal battery power inside the guitar cavity?
Yes. The low-noise internal preamp built into the EMG 85 requires active power to function. A single 9-volt alkaline battery provides up to 3,000 hours of continuous playing. Remember to unplug your instrument cable when the guitar is resting on a stand to disconnect the circuit loop and preserve battery life.

Can I mix this active EMG 85 pickup with passive pickups already in my guitar?
While technically possible using complex specialized wiring or external impedance matching boxes, it is highly discouraged. Active and passive pickups operate at fundamentally incompatible impedance levels and require completely different control pot ratings (25K vs 250K/500K), making a mixed setup difficult to balance properly.

 

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