Holy moly

Andvaka

New member
Had the blackouts installed yesterday. Holy crap. This is sooooooooo sweet. They are in an ESP Horizon NT ll that used to have jb/59 combo. I a/b-ed it with an identical guitar with the jb/59 combo and OMG. Blackouts = sound on jb/59 = sound off. Ridiculous power with balls 'n all. To wrap it up in four words: Balls, brutality and sweetness. I also a/b-ed them with emg 81/85 combo in a very similar guitar and the result is that the emg's are slightly hotter but lack in tone. The blackouts on the other hand Have it all Balls brutality and all this sweet sweet tone.
 
Re: Holy moly

I agree with you that the Blackouts eat the JB/'59 and EMG 81/85 combo's alive but
I must disagree with you on the issue of output. The Blackouts definitely have more power than the EMG's. I checked the DC resistance on the Blackouts and the EMG 81/85 combo and this is what It read, The EMG81 had a DC resistance
of about 16.8K, the 85 had a reading of 17.2K. The bridge position Blackouts came in at a toasty 21.2K
 
Re: Holy moly

I agree with you that the Blackouts eat the JB/'59 and EMG 81/85 combo's alive but
I must disagree with you on the issue of output. The Blackouts definitely have more power than the EMG's. I checked the DC resistance on the Blackouts and the EMG 81/85 combo and this is what It read, The EMG81 had a DC resistance
of about 16.8K, the 85 had a reading of 17.2K. The bridge position Blackouts came in at a toasty 21.2K

That's the second post i have to remind something!I think the PU height must be "identical" to comapre the "hotness"!:friday:
 
Re: Holy moly

The bridge position Blackouts came in at a toasty 21.2K

Aren't the Blackouts active? You can't measure the DCR of an active pickup. Sure . . . you can put a meter on the leads, but it isn't DCR that you're reading. That reading will be meaningless.
 
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Re: Holy moly

It's was a very simple comparison. Identical pup height. identical guitars played through a mesa express 5:50 at 5 watts. Unfortunatly I did not compare them with a clean sound but that will be rectified on monday. I was so thrilled with how the blackouts handled gain without being fizzy that I nearly shat myself. I think it may have been the EMG's fizziness that made me think of them as hotter. It's amazing how the blackouts can be so powerful and yet no fyzz and plenty of clarity and articulation.
 
Re: Holy moly

That's because the distortion characteristics of the Blackouts are more of crunch, whereas EMG's sound fuzzy by comparison.

Artie Too, I wasn't sure if measuring actives that way was accurate. I know now, though.

I was told by one of the Duncan guys that the Blackouts have a power that would equal that of a 29K passive. That's some pretty gnarly output!
 
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