Duncan Designed Blackouts HB105b/n

[jeffb1979]

Hey all, I just got these at a music go round. They had leads instead of the connector so I soldered them in with parts I had left over from another Jackson that came with actives that I replaced with passives. Both pots are 25K, the cap is .1, the battery is fresh. Now they work, but I'm noticing a noticeable drop in volume with the higher notes and yes I've messed with the string heights.

How similar are these to true blackouts?

I've never really had to ask because in my experience it's either sound or no sound, no in-between, and I've replaced pickups definitely more than 10 times in my life plus I'm j standard and IPC certified so that would place me at advanced for the soldering aspect and that all checks out.

 

[jeremy]

welcome to the forum!

ive never tried the duncan designed blackouts, only the real deal, and never had that issue. can you describe the issue in more detail? is it only the unwound strings and on the high frets?

 

[jeffb1979]

You got it, that's what it seems like, The lower notes are quite as punchy but the high are much weaker. I don't know much about actives or what all is under the epoxy but I know regular pickups this would probably have something I can see where it would explain. Now I can understand dead notes, dead spots due to other setup related issues, but this doesn't seem the case and can usually figure that out pretty quick

 

[Artie]

How similar are these to true blackouts?

In the past, they've said that they just send the blueprints to a factory in South Korea, rather than Santa Barbara.

The blog doesn't say much.

 

[hamerfan]

The recommended value for the cap is . 047. So my advice is to look whether we are on the right track by disconnecting the tone pot. This should brighten it bit. Then report back.

 

[Masta' C]

The HB-105 set is great. Basically an improved EMG 81/85 set (a bit different than regular Blackouts)

I've never experienced a volume drop on higher notes. Something's definitely off.

 

[Artie]

The recommended value for the cap is . 047.

All the diagrams show 0.47 uf. I think, (but I'm not sure), actives require a higher value cap.

 

[jeremy]

right, not 0.047, 0.47. i use 0.1 in my blackout strat i believe. seems odd that it would only be the high frets. does the tone control work as expected?

 

[jeffb1979]

The recommended value for the cap is . 047. So my advice is to look whether we are on the right track by disconnecting the tone pot. This should brighten it bit. Then report back.

Good idea, I don't think I have a .047 since any other cap I would have would either be for passives, or some other electronics. I'm a little stoned at the moment so don't wanna screw around with a soldering iron but I'll give it a shot since that'll bypass everything.

Speaking of EMGs, I'm ditching them because I've tried two sets, an old zakk wylde set, and a newer Gary Holt set, both solder and solder free, different guitars and all variables checked and the same awful result. crap output, sterile, etc etc. I have only used digital though, like Helix, Tonex, and stuff like that. But I'm baffled.

 

[Artie]

Technically, there would be nothing wrong with using a .047, just your tone control would be very subtle. Sometimes that can be a good thing.

 

[jeffb1979]

Technically, there would be nothing wrong with using a .047, just your tone control would be very subtle. Sometimes that can be a good thing.

True, but yes, I would say either going no cap actually or the 47 does seem to help. I could just take out the tone pot anyway. I barely ever feel the need to touch it. Got two guitars I am going to because the volume is right under the bridge and I hate that.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

The recommended value for the cap is . 047. So my advice is to look whether we are on the right track by disconnecting the tone pot. This should brighten it bit. Then report back.

I'm not sure if it's the same with Blackouts, but if you remove tone knobs off EMG's or Fishmans, you actually gain 3dB output, but they don't become brighter. I would assume it's the same with Blackouts.

Yet another reason why I feel like tone knobs are no bueno.

 

[jeremy]

i actually use my tone knob sooo...

 

[Rex_Rocker]

i actually use my tone knob sooo...

You're like... missing out on tone, man!

I'm kidding, of course. I just wanted to drop the info that you actually gain output by leaving out the tone knob on EMG's and Fluences. I would assume you do with Blackouts too since they use 25K pots as well. It's different that with passives where you just gain a bit of brightness. With the actives that I've tried, you gain 3dB more of everything. I would assume you gain 3 more dB if you go direct to jack, but I don't think I've ever tried that.

 

[jeremy]

ive never tried actives without controls, my blackouts are plenty hot already and i like to twist knobs. for some people i can see an on/off switch right to the jack being a great option if you get a hotter signal

 

[Rex_Rocker]

ive never tried actives without controls, my blackouts are plenty hot already and i like to twist knobs. for some people i can see an on/off switch right to the jack being a great option if you get a hotter signal

I guess another cool option if you like tinkering with controls would be wiring in a blow switch where the bridge pickup (or both pickups) go direct to jack for a solo boost. 3dB is subtle-ish with distortion on, but 6dB is pretty significant.

Now that I think about it, I'm surprised it's not something common. It's more or less a 6dB "passive"-ish boost. I'd totally try it when/if I go back to actives.

 

[jeremy]

i have a set of blackout singles and the neck and bridge are wired to a switch to get both output levels, love it!

 

[jeffb1979]

The HB-105 set is great. Basically an improved EMG 81/85 set (a bit different than regular Blackouts)

I've never experienced a volume drop on higher notes. Something's definitely off.

I've been busy but since I picked it up again I realized that yes, these are more like an 81/85 instead of a blackout which is probably my problem. EMGs are extremely over rated. To me they always sound like something is wrong with them. Like the notes all cutout like you went to far with noise gate or something. All Seymour Duncan pickups and hell most $20 Chinese pickups on Amazon sound better than EMGs. It's like they intentionally fucked up a pickup. This has nothing to do with the battery either. A couple months ago I got a real bridge blackout with the same connector as the EMG and switched them without even changing out the strings or opening up the cavity and the difference was massive. It's like it fixed a faulty guitar.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I think EMG's are fine. Or at least, they used to be until a few years back when they decided to change something in the preamp. Countless iconic tones were recorded using them. I'm sure the new ones are fine too, but I prefer Fluences as far as active pickups go nowadays.

 

[Masta' C]

Running older EMG's at 18V helps, too. Pretty sure you can also do this with the HB-105's, even though I believe they already have more headroom than the EMG's they are modeled after.

Personally, I find the output from regular Blackouts to be a bit hard to tame, but the pickups are quite expressive at just 9V and nicely voiced for rock and metal styles.