EMG's Retro Active guitar pickups "react unlike anything heard before"

The Retro Active's look is a far cry from the traditional none-more-black EMG finishes.

EMG may be best known for its high-output humbuckers, but the company looks set to change that with its new vintage-inspired Super 77 and Fat 55 pickup sets.

Promising to update the designs of the past with contemporary technology, both sets use the PAF-style humbucker for their base tone but incorporate a new preamp to deliver a tonal response "that reacts unlike anything heard before".

The Super 77 is voiced to bring the grit and edge of '70s rock tones, while the Fat 55 looks to the late-'50s for its sounds.

Both sets pair low-impedance outputs with traditional bobbins, windings and pole pieces for what EMG promises is the best of both worlds.

The Retro Active Super 77 and Fat 55 are available now for $199 per set from EMG Pickups, and come in black or zebra finishes.

Mike has been Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com since 2019, and an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict for far longer. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and 15 years' experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Radiohead's Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. His writing also appears in the The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock as Maebe.