I am new to the forum. I am a novice but have some experience with wiring diagrams. I found 2 diagrams for the Black Outs. The set up is 2 pickups, 1 volume & 1 tone with a 3 way switch. 1 diagram completely eliminates the tone control. They are Seymour Duncan diagrams. Why would you want to get rid of the tone control. Wouldn't that make it balls out heavy?? Or am I thinking it the wrong way??? Thanks in advance for any input.
Black out wiring
- Thread starter EMMET912
- Start date
Re: Black out wiring
welcome to the forum!
getting rid of the tone control has a minimal impact on the tone or output of active pups, less of an impact than in a passive circuit, but even then there isnt a world of difference. youll hear it in a passive guitar for sure, not sure you would with actives. some people dont use tone controls and would prefer not to have em. im in the process of rewiring my guitar with blackouts, pretty simple all around.
welcome to the forum!
getting rid of the tone control has a minimal impact on the tone or output of active pups, less of an impact than in a passive circuit, but even then there isnt a world of difference. youll hear it in a passive guitar for sure, not sure you would with actives. some people dont use tone controls and would prefer not to have em. im in the process of rewiring my guitar with blackouts, pretty simple all around.
shadowfire90
New member
Re: Black out wiring
I'm a big fan of blackouts so you made a good choice.
With passive electronics it gives you a bit more volume, less compression and all because passives are a much more simple circuit.
With the capacitor
0.47uf (470nf) will make your tone control rolled down towards zero be more noticable. I've tried 0.1uf (100nf) and didn't notice enough difference to justify calling it a tone control with seymour duncan AHB-1 blackouts. I had a 0.1uf capacitor in a guitar with a blackout and EMG 81 and had to jump up to the 470nf capacitor. If you never use the tone control honestly I'd wire the guitar up two volumes as besides blackouts 470nf capacitors are only used in pedals. If you do go with a 470nf capacitor anything will do. MLCC (multi layer ceramic capacitors) are usually the cheapest option I've seen from Thailand. The only thing to be careful with MLCC capacitors is they don't like heat as much as polyester capacitors but polyester capacitors are so large in that value it's ridiculous.
Now for the question does a tone control affect active pickups the same way passives do. To my understanding no. I'm no engineer or have access to an oscilloscope but I remember for instance people wanted to try 100k pots in EMG 81/85 trying to get a brighter sound and it does nothing is what other forum users said and of course the other thing people always asked me was 18v modding blackouts. Frank Fablo who used to be a big part of Seymour Duncan's company personally responded to this question on a blog years ago when he used to use the forums back in the day he suggested not to do the 18v mod on them as the circuit inside a blackout and EMG 81 is different.
the only way to go balls out heavy with active pickups is with an EMG afterburner which is compatible with Blackouts or passive pickups. It boosts the signal 20db. If you never use the tone control I'd say wire it up 2 volume no tone. Any standard wiring diagram will do the trick for reference. It's just with actives they add the 9v battery and stereo jack. The two big tips I have installing actives is make sure the pin side is up connecting the pickups and of course the 9v battery clips have to be in a certain way. If you mix the red and black wires around you won't get the sound you're after.
if you need an active pickup wiring diagram I have them all on my computer as I did a bit of "Scrap booking" as I've wired guitars for a long time so if you're after something specific let me know
I'm a big fan of blackouts so you made a good choice.
With passive electronics it gives you a bit more volume, less compression and all because passives are a much more simple circuit.
With the capacitor
0.47uf (470nf) will make your tone control rolled down towards zero be more noticable. I've tried 0.1uf (100nf) and didn't notice enough difference to justify calling it a tone control with seymour duncan AHB-1 blackouts. I had a 0.1uf capacitor in a guitar with a blackout and EMG 81 and had to jump up to the 470nf capacitor. If you never use the tone control honestly I'd wire the guitar up two volumes as besides blackouts 470nf capacitors are only used in pedals. If you do go with a 470nf capacitor anything will do. MLCC (multi layer ceramic capacitors) are usually the cheapest option I've seen from Thailand. The only thing to be careful with MLCC capacitors is they don't like heat as much as polyester capacitors but polyester capacitors are so large in that value it's ridiculous.
Now for the question does a tone control affect active pickups the same way passives do. To my understanding no. I'm no engineer or have access to an oscilloscope but I remember for instance people wanted to try 100k pots in EMG 81/85 trying to get a brighter sound and it does nothing is what other forum users said and of course the other thing people always asked me was 18v modding blackouts. Frank Fablo who used to be a big part of Seymour Duncan's company personally responded to this question on a blog years ago when he used to use the forums back in the day he suggested not to do the 18v mod on them as the circuit inside a blackout and EMG 81 is different.
the only way to go balls out heavy with active pickups is with an EMG afterburner which is compatible with Blackouts or passive pickups. It boosts the signal 20db. If you never use the tone control I'd say wire it up 2 volume no tone. Any standard wiring diagram will do the trick for reference. It's just with actives they add the 9v battery and stereo jack. The two big tips I have installing actives is make sure the pin side is up connecting the pickups and of course the 9v battery clips have to be in a certain way. If you mix the red and black wires around you won't get the sound you're after.
if you need an active pickup wiring diagram I have them all on my computer as I did a bit of "Scrap booking" as I've wired guitars for a long time so if you're after something specific let me know
