Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

[Scott Olson]

Hard rock and metal guitarists no longer need to choose between the power of active pickups and the response of passive pickups. The Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System blends the best aspects of both.

“This system combines the massive tone, kick, and distortion of Blackouts with the rich tone and expressive feel of my favorite passive pickups,” says Gus G., the exciting young guitarist just off the road with Ozzy Osbourne. “It responds perfectly to all my picking techniques, and more of my personality comes through than with any active pickup I’ve tried.”

Details:

• Combines active and passive. The Gus G. Fire Blackouts System is a matched set of two passive humbucking pickups and a dual preamp that replaces one of the guitar’s volume pots.

• Traditional humbucker design with individual pole pieces provides the note definition and string-to-string feel of passive pickups

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• Alnico 5 magnets deliver rich, detailed tones. The bridge pickup’s larger magnet adds more low-mids for fatter, fuller-sounding leads.

• Custom-wound coils create a remarkably open, airy sound.

• A high-output, low-noise differential dual preamp captures every nuance of the passive-style pickups—with plenty of headroom. Most other active preamps clip too easily, decimating your dynamics.

• Long battery life. A single 9-volt battery provides approximately 750 hours of playing time.

• Bare-wire lockdown connectors. Uses the same solderless connectors as our Liberator Pickup Change System. No soldering required if replacing existing active pickups. Screwdriver included.

• Includes three additional 25K potentiometers for users who are replacing passive pickups.

• Organic sound. Instead of tone that sounds as if it was created by a preamp, you’ll hear the wood of your guitar. You’ll hear your picking style. You’ll hear you.

• Pickups hand-made in Santa Barbara, California. Preamp made in the USA.

Video will be available very soon as well as a list of stores that will have this product very shortly! Stay tuned to this thread to hear examples of the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System in the next several days.

 

[Maynardo]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

How would this set compare to the other 3 blackouts models?

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

First, The Blackouts Metal is essentially a Blackouts version of the old Livewire Heavy Metal. I wouldn't say it has any connection to the rest of the Blackouts sonically, it's more of a searing midrange boost or a pickup with a Tube Screamer already on. It just slices your amp in half like a ninja sword.

Assuming you're familiar with the Original Blackouts, the Mick Thomson EMTY's are more crisp and cutting in the top end, and they stay tighter and very well defined on the low end especially for drop tuning.

The Blackouts Modular system is a way to get the sound of Original Blackouts but in a passive pickup/external preamp configuration. This brings with it THREE distinct differences. One is the simple fact that you can have Blackouts tone and power with a passive look. Like a hot-rodded car that looks stock from the outside. Secondly the tone is slightly changed by the fact that the magnet and pole pieces are more traditional. So the feel and note-to-note separation is slightly more passive. Original Blackouts have solid blades or magnet bars under the strings. The third benefit, most most succinctly evidenced in the Gus G Fire system, is that you can now use that same Blackouts Preamp but feed it with different 4-Conductor pickups to create your own unique combination of passive pickups/active Blackouts preamp. Gus did exactly that. We worked with him to create pickups that, when fed into the Blackouts Preamp, gave him the exact sound he was looking for.

If you know Gus, then you know he is a long-time Distortion/59 user. So if you're familiar with that setup you know what he likes and why he likes it. Then more recently he tried and loved Blackouts. Then, we launched the Modular Preamp and Coil Packs, and he loved those because they combined what he liked about the sound and feel of passive pickups with his newfound affection for Blackouts. Now, the coils, the preamp, the magnet, the wire, the wind, have all been perfected for Gus.

The tone is thick and beefy like the Original Blackouts. There is a little high end glass like you hear with the Mick Thomson but the sound is not as tight and precise as the EMTY. It's throatier and growlier. The string to string balance is like any passive pickup feeding the Blackouts Preamp. Overall the tone is huge and punching, like literally punching you in the stomach. It's raging. The neck pickup is smooth and articulate, very fluid for soloing.

 

[Metalblaze]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

Very interesting and cool looking!

 

[crguti]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

Beautiful ESP.

This pickup works better in Alder or Mahogany?

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

Well, pickups of all kinds work in all kinds of woods, right? So "better" is going to depend on what someone likes. I like it in a brighter guitar, and Gus' NT guitar is a Maple thru neck, Alder wings and a Flamed Maple top. In Mahogany it will be thicker and beefier sounding, but there is still good top end glass so it's not going to sound muddy but it will be darker.

 

[crguti]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

Oh right. Thanks Frank.

 

[dvadneau]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

With fear of beating the horse into the ground, what is the difference then compared with a Blackouts preamp along with the Distortion bridge / 59 neck? Would that be similar to the Gus G. Fire sound?

Separating the Blackouts preamp seems to be a huge door-opener! Gotta get one.

 

[marvelous_seven]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

I wonder how that pickup alone would sound like without the preamp. Might be just I'm looking for.
One thing Frank,why does it have to have that graphic over the pickup?
I'm fine with hand signature (Mustaine and Dime) also EMTY,but why graphic?

 

[Scott Olson]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

Guitar World Exclusive: http://www.guitarworld.com/video-gu...ur-duncan-gus-g-fire-blackouts-system-pickups

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

With fear of beating the horse into the ground, what is the difference then compared with a Blackouts preamp along with the Distortion bridge / 59 neck? Would that be similar to the Gus G. Fire sound?

Separating the Blackouts preamp seems to be a huge door-opener! Gotta get one.

I was thinking/wondering this as well.

 

[marvelous_seven]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

I'm thinking a Seymourizer/DDn with large A5 mag,hmm...

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

With fear of beating the horse into the ground, what is the difference then compared with a Blackouts preamp along with the Distortion bridge / 59 neck? Would that be similar to the Gus G. Fire sound?

The TB-6 / SH-1n that is often associated with Gus is very different from this pickup system -- particularly the TB-6. Fire Blackouts are actually closer to AHB-1 Original Blackouts, although it's tweaked a bit for Gus' tastes.

Separating the Blackouts preamp seems to be a huge door-opener!

I agree. Now you can "Blackout" any passive four-conductor pickup, whether SD or otherwise.

 

[blindedbysilence]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

Can we get them in white?

 

[Franknfilms]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

With fear of beating the horse into the ground, what is the difference then compared with a Blackouts preamp along with the Distortion bridge / 59 neck? Would that be similar to the Gus G. Fire sound

This is where I think there needs to be a bit more transparency. We have the coil pack and now the Gus G. Fire, which are both custom wound to sound good with the blackout modular preamp. Then you have all of the other passive pickups to choose from, which will work with the preamp as well...but how can you gauge whether or not they would be a good fit?

If we had the specs on the coil pack and fire we would have a good baseline to work with. If the fire sounds dark and thick, but we find out it is a 10k ceramic pickup (when installed as a passive would make ears bleed) then we could assume the alt 8 or invader would be way too dark to use with the bmp for most peoples taste.

I recall a thread where someone was experimenting with the bmp and ended up using a humbucker from hell in the neck and disortion neck in the bridge. Bottom line, it would be nice to have the specs on the coil pack and fire.

 

[xxxplorer]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

I'm liking what I hear! I don't really care what the specs are lol!

 

[Soulcrusher_X]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

Im now wondering where we might be able to find these extra thick A5 mags. Might make for a crazy JB.

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

We have the coil pack and now the Gus G. Fire, which are both custom wound to sound good with the blackout modular preamp. Then you have all of the other passive pickups to choose from, which will work with the preamp as well...but how can you gauge whether or not they would be a good fit?

If we had the specs on the coil pack and fire we would have a good baseline to work with. If the fire sounds dark and thick, but we find out it is a 10k ceramic pickup (when installed as a passive would make ears bleed) then we could assume the alt 8 or invader would be way too dark to use with the bmp for most peoples taste.

I agree completely. Coil Packs and Fire are both around 8k humbuckers, if that helps.

It's comparable to how the Alnico II Pro and the Alnico II Pro Slash have different wire and number of turns but the magnets are the same. The pickups sound different. But on paper they're pretty similar. The Gus G coils are like that. The DC resistance will be similar to the Coil Packs but you'd never mistake one for the other if you bought both and A/B'd them. But you might mistake Coil Packs/BMP for Original Blackouts in a blind test.

Most Actives are based on mid-lower output vintage winds. They don't start with hot rodded JB/Distortion/Invader style winds. But they all will work JUST FINE into the BMP-1 (we've pretty much tried them all) and you guys are right. Separating the BMP-1 opens up totally new world. I put one in a JS1000 with a Fred and PAF Pro. It aboslutely kills. Instead of the whiny wah pedal thing it's now a huge beefy roar. So that means the Screamin Demon, Custom, Custom 2/5/8, definitely Full Shred, etc. all are fantastic candidates! The only things to remember are that since the preamp roars, then a darker sounding pickup like the Invader will be darker than just about any other passive pickup you've tried. But you know what? I've played it and it still rages through our Marshall JCM800.

 

[xxxplorer]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

It would be so cool to have a pickup set like seth lovers that you could have the blackout system on and then be able to turn it off... Would solve all my woes hahaha.

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Introducing the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System

It would be so cool to have a pickup set like seth lovers that you could have the blackout system on and then be able to turn it off... Would solve all my woes hahaha.

Right??? A Strat/Paul/Jackson with the pickups you mentioned would be total Nirvana, lol.