Zakk Wylde EMG ZW Pickups Review

I have been a huge Zakk Wylde fan for at least 5 years now and I have always been fascinated with his playing style. He plays with blistering speed and has some of the most unique sounds I have ever heard. By far though, his signature is the heavy chunky riffs filled with screaming pinch harmonics. It’s pretty frustrating when you are trying to learn a song or style and just can’t get it to sound the same as the original. This happened to me when I started learning Black Label Society riffs. So why couldn’t I make it sound the same as Zakk did? Well most of it had to do with my gear; I needed some EMG ZW Set active pickups.

The major difference is active pickups use a battery to re-amplify the sound before it even gets to your amp. That’s what gives you that extra chunk, scream, and sustain that Zakk is famous for. The EMG ZW pickups are a set of 2 EMG pickups, 1 EMG-81 for the neck and 1 EMG-85 for the bridge. As soon as I put them into my guitar and powered it up I could tell the difference, and if you really want to hear it, try tuning your guitar down to D tuning. Nothings better.
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