I've experienced a "Blackout"!

[fullfistrock21]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

if all the circuitry on the guitar had an active eq then anyone can get the tone they wanted i dont know why there arent more guitars with active controls, ultimate toneshaping seems to be the goal of all these tone seekers

[Darth Nihilus]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

As one of the few people who's had the chance to play a Blackout, I can say that their distortion characteristic is crunchy and NOT fuzzy like EMG's.
They sound thicker, fuller with less compression, more dynamics and higher gain. Based on this, I feel the Blackouts indeed have more tone!

[Ang3lus]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

more gain.. hmm.. love...

[eternal_metalhead]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

More crunch.. love ! hehe !

Hey fullfistrock21, do active pickups work with these circuits ? Which one are good ? I'd put one in the guitar I'll make for sure... Worth the 150$ investment !

[fullfistrock21]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

active pickps need a stereo jack and 25 k pots with enough space for a battery, if you already have emgs you can do the swap easy with a lil bit of soldering if you dont you might route a space for a battery....if you dont have enough room... they will work with the same circuitry as emgs if thats wat you were asking, but they wont work with livewires they use 100k pots and have a different design.

[Darth Nihilus]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

My Blackouts have arrived!!!

[Darth Nihilus]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

Yeah, I got my Blackouts tonight and installed a set in my Les Paul Custom.....
I'm taking them out! The reason is quite simple, they're distorting my clean channel. The 7-string Blackout didn't distort my clean channel. The distortion is
still just as crushing as the 7-string Blackout I tried but I need my cleans, so I guess I'm still an EMG guy for actives.

Sorry guys.

[Zerberus]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

I assume you already tried lowering them or reducing the gain on the clean channel?

[Darth Nihilus]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

Sure. I couldn't even set the neck pup far enough for it not to distort.
Oh well. Back to EMG.

[Pierre]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

Less midrange, less master volume...if it still doesn't work then WOW. You need a bigger amp


Come on. It's the perfect excuse man!

[Evan Skopp]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

Sorry to hear you're not digging your 6-string Blackouts. What's weird to me is that the 7-string version you tired out wasn't distorting your clean channel and the 6-string version is. They have the exact same internal pre-amp with the exact same gain.

Dino Cazares reported that Blackouts had more gain than his previous pickups. But the 6- and 7-string versions should be the same.

I wonder if you have a defective pickup. If you want to exchange it for another AHB-1 set, please contact our customer service and we'll take care of it.

[frankfalbo]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

Yeah, I suspect something is out of normal. I just tested the Blackouts here next to a "median output" set of passive pickups through a Twin Tube straight into a Mackie with headphones. The output is more present and perhaps a little louder, but when I had the gain set to just the slightest hint of break up, the passives and the Blackouts both generated similar amounts of break up on hard picked notes. When I had it set just under that threshold for a clean but pushed sound, neither the passives nor the Blackouts pushed the preamp to overdrive. There are other things that can impart distortion characteristics when using actives, so maybe some Q & A offline will get us going in the right direction. All of the high level artists are telling us the output is absolutely perfect.

[Darth Nihilus]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

Attention EMG users looking to replace them with Blackouts and currently run EMG's at 18-volts........Don't run them that way or you'll have no clean tones!

I had this problem until I spoke with Frank Falbo and he was certain that was the problem and dammit if it wasn't. I have both cleans (backing down the pup eliminates slight distortion to the cleans) and the most satisfying distortion that will crush the most jaded of Metal guitarists.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Frank, Evan, Patrick and all at Seymour Duncan for all their help and guidance with me and my new Blackouts. You guys are the greatest!!!

[ex-250]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

if you put the neck model in the bridge, will it be similar to an 85 in the bridge? or is it configured solely for the neck position?

[peace_destroy_many]

Re: I've experienced a "Blackout"!

Thanks for the update Darth Nihilus

wish I had the friends that you have...been dying to get a set of blackouts ever since Winter Namm

I'm wondering how the blackouts would sound in conjunction with the EMG afterburner or pa2 boost.