Seymour Duncan Blackouts pickups, how do they sound ?

[StefTD]

I wouldn't recommend any passive EMG!

@Felix, ich würde, wenn ich nen passiven PU für ne 7 Saitige bräuchte nen DiMarzio Evolution nehmen.

 

[Joematthews]

It is a personal thing pickups, its just it wasnt a small difference in the test, the EMG's were picked out of a completely blind test sounding better by pretty much most people here. Blackouts can work if you don't want as much razor sharp high and tight bass, but if tight, fast and very metal is your game then EMG is what you want. I'm very happy with mine. Mind you, different guitars need different things, so the blackouts might work for you... fuck it... Horses for courses.

As far as passive's go Seymour duncan > EMG easily, I haven't liked the emg passives when I've tried them.

Joe

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah, I've never heard a single good thing about EMG passives (well, except from Alexi in that he has the HZ-4 in his sig, or did at one point)

 

[Machinated]

TOTD was done with an EMG passive as well and that tone is among the best ever recorded IMO

 

[slashvanyoung]

The HZ-4 really ain't that bad... just have a listen to Exodus' "Tempo Of The Damned".

Thing is just, it sounds very much like the 81... as far as you can probably nail that one without going active. But why would you want that instead of the real deal? So it's pretty much a very redundant pick-up IMO... Same thing with DiMarzio's D Activator, good pup. But if you want the sound of an active pick-up, why go passive? It's not like it's rocket science and that much more of an effort to install active pups.

Edit: @ Machinated: Ha, same thought!

 

[Metaltastic]

Hmm, ToTD is a bit too harsh for my tastes, but I guess it fits for the thrash style (which ain't really my thang)

 

[Dylan S]

Does anyone on these other forums actually record anything, or are their observations just from chugging along in the room? Not saying Blackouts can't work for recording, but as a rule I never trust a guitarist's opinion about tone!

To be honest, they don't record anywhere near as much as here, but they do record quite a fair bit.

I personally try to stay clear from actives anyway. I'd much rather have passives in my 7's, but they've got the big EMG pickup housing so it would take a lot of work, but in my experience, the blackouts sound better to me for both live playing and recording.

 

[Dylan S]

Hmm.

I know that point I made seems like an obvious thing I missed, but even though I'm new here, I do know a lot about tonewoods and the like.

For the record, my Schecter Loomis sig has a blackout set, and my Schecter Hellraiser has 81-7 and 60-7, so obviously, the ash is going to sound a little more bright, but when I plug my hellraiser in after my blackouts, I find I have to turn the gain on my amp up a little bit to give my palm mutes the same kind of chug to them, and I only have it set to about 10:30 when I have my loomis in.

Also, my mate has a Loomis sig that came with 707s in it, and he took the bridge one out for a blackout and we found a noticeable difference in terms of a bit more in the mid-range, as well as everything just sounding clearer, a little more bitey, and retaining clarity and not going 'flubby' under very fast picking.

I'm not trying to tell people here they're wrong or anything, because you guys are all awesome and have tonnes of knowledge, but I'm just offering my experience.