Help with active blackouts

9

9Lives

New member
Hi everyone. I'm coming to you with great frustration. I do lots of work on guitars and amps. So I'm no stranger to the tech aspect of this type of thing. But I am pretty unfamiliar with active pickups. I have a ltd h 207. Seven string I put them in. I love the tone I'm getting out of them but they are clipping my amp at every setting I can do. I've set the guitar up every way possible action height, pickup height , compressor (Maxon cp9 pro to level output) High input on the amp, low input and every thing I do I get clipped signal. This is killing me Bc I want to like them so much. However this is frustrating me. Is there any tips or tricks anyone can give me or is this what I'm stuck with.

By the way I'm running into a peavy prowler combo. Similar to a valve king.

I also thought it could actually be the speaker itself. I'm not above ripping that out and replacing it...
I've read countless threads on similar issues where no one gets to a real answer. I've already installed new rings and done the foam trick. Thanks I'm advance.
 
Re: Help with active blackouts

Did you leave the string ground attached but unconnected in the guitar? Did you use a stereo output jack so the battery turns off? Is the battery weak? Do you leave the guitar plugged in if you aren't playing it? Did you use the 25k pots included with the pickup assuming you bought it new? Is the guitar trying to use both active and passive pickups?
 
Re: Help with active blackouts

At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, Blackouts For Metal are supposed to overdrive valve amplification.
 
Last edited:
Re: Help with active blackouts

I installed correctly. Have done it a few times. I Did ground the tuneomatic bridge. And yes I used the correct pots. I'm using the single vol and single tone 25k pots. I used mini coax 50ohms inside the cavity to make every thing super neat. They are phase 1 7 string blackouts. Not the metal version. While I'm mostly attempting to achieve metal tone, I do want to be able to at least achieve a compromised clean tone at 25%.

I did a lil work on it today. I used a longer ring screw to lower them down farther. I have the action set at 2mm on the low B and 1.5mm on the high e. The neck pup is set bass side 2mm treb 1.5 mm. Bridge pup 3.5mm low side and 2.5 mm treb side. I finally got a reasonable compromise with clipping. While still achieving the distortion levels I'm after.

My dilemma now is that I keep reading every one and their mom says to raise the pup as close as you can. I imagine a top quality m boogie wouldn't clip but this lil peavy was struggling with that high output.

Is this far of a distance ok? Or am I missing out on something by doing this? I read somewhere someone used a resistor in line with the pup. Have either of you heard of this method, and would it effect the freq in any kind of way?
 
Re: Help with active blackouts

Oh ya, I did use the correct jack and fresh bat. Shrink wrapped all solder joints and kept all coax short as possible. The only thing in question is the bridge ground connection.
 
Re: Help with active blackouts

Lurking within the SD production description for the AHB-1 7-string humbucker is the phrase "maximum tonal aggression".

I have an ASB-BO-4 bass humbucker in a Flea Bass. This totally lives up to its product description of "specifically voiced for aggressive music". It's nasty, nasty, nasty. I'd like to try it in a Squier Jaguar H or Mikey Way Mustang Bass.
 
Re: Help with active blackouts

Ya that's waft I want to do. Still don't want it to scream feedback at me like that. There's got to be an answer.
 
Re: Help with active blackouts

Funkfingers is right. Those things are hot as a red hot iron poker - I received a guitar with them and ripped them out for passives that night. It wasn't a good thing to give the intended recipient.
 
Re: Help with active blackouts

I love the dynamic range and voicing. I even love the pick attack and ability to shape eq. I just want less of it. I thought it might just be the ceramic mag that I don't like as I usually end up picking alnico v. How would it sound to switch? I read that using the neck in the bridge pos sounds good but where does that leave the neck?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top