ahb1 blackouts or emty Mick thomson blackouts?

[KiD CuDi]

Trying to choose between putting ahb1s or ahb3s in my ESP eclipse(mahogany neck body ebony board) for standard tuning with he occasional drop or down tuning. Looking for high output and clarity but good(dare I say) "passive" tone.

I'd appreciate some insight here!

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: ahb1 blackouts or emty Mick thomson blackouts?

I own the similar but less expensive LTD EC-401 model. I get output, clarity and good "passive" tone from SD Live Wire Classic II humbuckers.

 

[Jeff5]

Re: ahb1 blackouts or emty Mick thomson blackouts?

I'll caveat all of this by saying I haven't tried the Mick Thompson pick ups for regular tuning, so someone who has should chime in. If your doing standard tuning I'd recommend the regular blackouts. The Mick Thompson ones are geared towards his sound and the drop B tuning that Slipknot tunes to. Or is it Drop A? I forget, but it's something crazy like that though.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: ahb1 blackouts or emty Mick thomson blackouts?

I own the similar but less expensive LTD EC-401 model. I get output, clarity and good "passive" tone from SD Live Wire Classic II humbuckers.

And that relates to Blackouts, how?

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: ahb1 blackouts or emty Mick thomson blackouts?

To the OP, if you want "passive" tone, why are you asking about actives? If you want passive tone, get passives, because actives sound nothing like passive pickups.
People have said it on this forum before, that Blackouts sound more "passive" than EMGs, but as an owner of Blackouts, I don't buy it at all.
If anything, the Blackouts sound even more hi fi and have even more of the qualities people associate with actives.
Does this make active pickups a bad thing?
Hell no.
Just embrace actives for what they are. They do many things far superior to passives, and for modern metal, you just cannot beat actives.

 

[KiD CuDi]

Re: ahb1 blackouts or emty Mick thomson blackouts?

To the OP, if you want "passive" tone, why are you asking about actives? If you want passive tone, get passives, because actives sound nothing like passive pickups.
People have said it on this forum before, that Blackouts sound more "passive" than EMGs, but as an owner of Blackouts, I don't buy it at all.
If anything, the Blackouts sound even more hi fi and have even more of the qualities people associate with actives.
Does this make active pickups a bad thing?
Hell no.
Just embrace actives for what they are. They do many things far superior to passives, and for modern metal, you just cannot beat actives.

Ok I didn't mean literally passive tone(I have passives for that sound) I meant better tonality and dynamics than EMGs (this is why I'm considering putting blackouts in my EMG guitars);. The question I want answered, and I apologize for not specifying, is which blackout set would be better for big, defined, natural high gain sounds at standard tuning the original blackouts or the mick thomson blackouts.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: ahb1 blackouts or emty Mick thomson blackouts?

Ok I didn't mean literally passive tone(I have passives for that sound) I meant better tonality and dynamics than EMGs (this is why I'm considering putting blackouts in my EMG guitars);. The question I want answered, and I apologize for not specifying, is which blackout set would be better for big, defined, natural high gain sounds at standard tuning the original blackouts or the mick thomson blackouts.

Better tonality is really subjective.
Personally I do prefer the Blackouts tonality to the EMGs, and it's objective fact that the Blackouts are more dynamic, but if you're really obsessed with getting the tightest sound out there, it's a match between the EMG 81 and EMTYs.
Personally, I play a 7 string tuned to B standard (that's just E standard with a low B string, I don't detune at all), and I didn't feel the need to increase the tightness with EMG 81-7s.
But if you're not going below C# (I would say B, but you've only got a 24.75 inch scale guitar, whereas 25.5 inch scale guitars go down to B quite easily), than EMG 85 in the bridge or regular Blackouts will be fine.

 

[KiD CuDi]

Re: ahb1 blackouts or emty Mick thomson blackouts?

Better tonality is really subjective.
Personally I do prefer the Blackouts tonality to the EMGs, and it's objective fact that the Blackouts are more dynamic, but if you're really obsessed with getting the tightest sound out there, it's a match between the EMG 81 and EMTYs.
Personally, I play a 7 string tuned to B standard (that's just E standard with a low B string, I don't detune at all), and I didn't feel the need to increase the tightness with EMG 81-7s.
But if you're not going below C# (I would say B, but you've only got a 24.75 inch scale guitar, whereas 25.5 inch scale guitars go down to B quite easily), than EMG 85 in the bridge or regular Blackouts will be fine.

Ok thanks so if I was going to tune low on say a schecter hellraiser than the emty blackouts would be a good choice I suppose

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: ahb1 blackouts or emty Mick thomson blackouts?

And that relates to Blackouts, how?

Seymour Duncan Live Wire Classic II humbuckers are active, employ the same Quik Connect wiring loom and have the same outward appearance as Blackouts. More importantly, they produce more of the "passive" tonal and dynamic qualities that the OP claimed to desire.

I call this answering the brief.

 

[cakire82]

Re: ahb1 blackouts or emty Mick thomson blackouts?

AHB-1 has more versatility than the AHB-3 since it can also handle clean tones. AHB-3 breaks up very very easy.