I installed this in the bridge of my tele, I wanted to upgrade my singlecoil tele to a dualhumbucker for a heavier sound but still keep some of that singlecoil character like before the upgrade.
I have not used a 85 in the bridge before so I don't know how they compare, had a 81 in another guitar and this is not worse, this is working great for me. I play alot of heavy metal aswell as some funky stuff in between and this pickup works both ways. As expected from a dualmode active emg.
I would recommend this pickup if you wanna have both a good clean tone but also have the ability to go heavy as *#@! when your crowd is losing attention.