Blackout Singles vs. EMG DG20 set

[Gunny47]

Just out of curiosity...

The other guitarist in this recording session I was involved in had this ash bodied strat with an original '62 neck and EMG pickups (I believe it was the DG20 set). After we put down our tracks, we were jamming, playing some Police and Steely Dan and stuff. His tone absolutely blew me away with the active pickups. What really got me was when he played the lead lines for "reelin' in the years," he absolutely nailed it.

So I was wondering, how do those blackouts compare to the EMG DG20s? Are the blackouts versatile like are they good for clean and medium gain blues and classic rock and stuff or are they just metal screamers? I've used the search function and found a lot on the EMG DG20s, but hardly anything on the blackout singles. Even on other websites there's virtually no information. What are the included circuit and pots set up to be. I know the EMG DG20s are set up for like a midboost and a treble/bass boost, what is it for the blackout singles? Maybe Sir Falbo could chime in or something. Thanks a lot guys.

- Nicky

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Blackout Singles vs. EMG DG20 set

The Blackout singles are louder and bolder than the Livewire Classic II's. If I were going for a David Gilmour sound, I would be using the Livewire Classic II's. Either way, if you were "blown away" with the sound of your friend's DG set, I can give you nearly 100% assurance that he would be blown away by either of these sets. I was heavily involved in the listening tests on these and let me tell you Kevin Beller and the engineering department got it RIGHT. As I read your post, where you're asking about clean, medium gain blues, and classic rock, I'm leaning toward the Livewire Classic II recommendation. Plus they have exposed pole pieces so they look more "stock" if you're into that sort of thing.

 

[Gunny47]

Re: Blackout Singles vs. EMG DG20 set

O snap, thanks a lot for the reply. I totally forgot about the Livewire IIs. My follow up question would have been "do they make/can I get the blackouts with the exposed pole pieces for the vintage look?" but I guess I do not have to worry about that hehe. I'll check them out yo, I was interested in a second pickguard for my strat for shiz and giggles and maybe build another strat around it in the future...

And BTW, I'm sure I was blown away with his tone partly because of his Vintage 1964 Super Reverb with Webers Jensen clones (2 alnicos, 2 ceramics) and his sweet pedalboard with a vintage tube screamer and a vintage EH memory man! I'm more of a vintage guy anyway, the actives just sounded really cool and the Gilmour tone is always something that I love. Thanks again for the reply.