The EMG-89 Dual Mode Pickup has been through two generations. Our original Dual-mode (EMG-DM) design was incredibly sophisticated for its time (1979). The DM was an 18-Volt model with a single output available only in an Alnico magnet version. The EMG-DM was abandoned in late 1985, but the concept was revived early in 1989 when we came upon a more innovative design featuring "two pickups in one", the current EMG-89. Inside the EMG-89 pickup are both single and dual-coil pickups, each with it's own output. The single-coil mode is an Alnico loaded stacked EMG-SA. The dual-coil mode consists of two Alnico loaded coils opposite one another creating a pickup similar to the EMG-85. A push/pull volume (or tone) pot allows you to change from the clarity of a single-coil to the fatness of a humbucking. The EMG-89's separate outputs give you option to utilize EMG tone enhancing accessory circuits on either pickup output.

You can add the SPC Presence Control, the EXG expander, or the PA2 preamp booster onto either single or dual coil outputs or both. Like all EMG's, the 89 is virtually noiseless in both modes.