Metal Pickup Shootout! EMG 81 vs. Fishman Fluence Modern vs BKP Aftermath and more

Guitar pickup comparison by High Z Productions. Here's a demonstration of each set of pickups, hopefully it gives you the information you need. Timestamps below!

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00:00 Intro and signal chain
00:36 DiMarzio Fusion Edge playthrough
01:40 EMG 81 playthrough
02:48 Fishman Fluence Modern playthrough
03:56 Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz playthrough
05:04 EMG 57/66 playthrough
06:13 Bare Knuckle Pickups Aftermath playthrough

07:21 Thoughts and impressions intro
07:26 DiMarzio Fusion Edge thoughts
08:16 EMG 81 thoughts
08:56 Fishman Fluence Modern thoughts
09:36 Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz thoughts
10:12 EMG 57/66 thoughts
10:48 Bare Knuckle Pickups Aftermath thoughts

12:03 Objective Ranking
13:29 Subjective Ranking
15:14 Conclusion
15:30 Why pickup choice may not matter
15:52 Why pickup choice may matter

I recently bought some Fishmans and BKPs and figured now would be the best time to do some before/after comparison. So I wrote this short song to showcase some tones that may be commonly used in a metal context. The scope of this project inevitably crept to include a few other guitars and I'm glad it did. I wasn't expected the JB to work as well as it did, nor was I expecting the DiMarzios to be a hair distance away from the coveted Aftermaths or acclaimed Fluences in quality.

It then seemed appropriate to do a writeup. I'm not a gifted speakist but gave it my best shot. Should I have included a face cam for the discussion section? Probably, although the guitar playthrough section of this video took priority since it's the most useful part for viewers trying to hear more information on pickups they may be considering.

I'm personally of the opinion that if you try to make something as perfect as you possibly can, you'll never finish your project. Therefore I would be fine keeping any one of these pickups to solely use moving forward, especially since EQ can be applied to fix most issues presented or to enhance the strengths demonstrated.