Would EMG pickups make a noticeable difference in sound on a regular amp compared to the stock pickups on an ESP EX50 guitar? And which combo would anyone recommend: an EMG 81 pickup in the neck and an EMG 60 in the bridge or the other way around? Thanks!

Short answer, yes
EMG's work differently to regular pickups, they're active meaning they have a seperate power source.
They're much higher output than regular pickups and have a sound all of thier own which is hard to describe.

I'm guessing that you're a Metallica fan, James Hetfield and Kirk Hamett both use EMG pickups in most of thier guitars so that may influence your decision.


My brother uses EMG 81's in the Telecasters I built for him and they sound great

Do you know which setup would be better? The 81 in the bridge and 60 in the neck or 81 in the neck and 60 in the bridge?

I would put the hotter of the 2 in the bridge.

I don't know, I've only ever dealt with 81's, 85's and 89's
Never heard of a 60

81 at bridge and 85 at neck is a very good set.60 sounds more like a big size single coil because it has narrower aperture than a standart HB and i like to have it combined with 85 at bridge.
85 sounds like a classic PAF pick-up.81 is hotter and more agressive.
Active EMG's produces higher output voltage than the conventional passive HB and are working great in some critical(for the signal)situations - lot of processors on the signal path;bad amp;bad P.A...
I am using 81;85;89;60;SA and SAV instaled on some of my guitars,but I really prefer the sound variety of the passive pick-ups.

Would it be a bad thing to use two 81s or would it be better to use the 81\85 setup... i love the sound that metallica has so i would like to get as close to that as possible so should i go with the 81\85 or two 81s (which is what kirk uses i think)

It is not a bad thing to use any pick-up combination which works for you.81/81 is one powerfull set.Having a very high output HB on the neck,probably you should put it much more away from the strings for equalising the output of the two(or more)p.ups.This could cause a change in the tonal characteristics of the p.up(which does not mean necessarily "bad").You just should experiment.
81/60 is J.Het

SORRY! Accidental click of the mouse button sent the unfinished reply.

...81/60 is J.Hetfield's combination.He uses 60's more accentuated clean sound for the clean passages(where KH usualy doesn't play or plays some melodic lines).When massive distorted sound is needed - 81 is switched.
KH's neck 81 is used for rounder but still agressive,cutting through(because of it's HiMid presence)sound.
In the studio Metallica guitarists uses a huge number of different guitars and pick-ups - passive and active.
So,in my opinion,81/85 or 81/60 are more suitable than 81/81, to reproduce richer sound variety.