Seymour Duncan Blackouts

R

RandyRhoads

New member
I have two questions

One: Who has experience with the SD Blackouts and the Metal Bridge PU? What do you think about them and how do they differ from EMG's?

Two: Is the SD Blackouts Coil Pack also worth it? They look very appealing, but I can't find much info/videos on them
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Blackouts

No experience with anything but the standard AHB-1B. Compared to the EMG 81 it is based off, it's much higher output, slightly less compressed, and with more going on in the lows and highs.

I'd imagine the Blackout Metal would be even higher output. TBH, I did not like how hot the AHB-1B it was when I had it. Yes, its preamp was less compressed and had more headroom than the EMG 81, but it didn't really sound all that much like a passive because it was that much louder.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Blackouts

Only had experience with the AHB-1 set, so no idea how the metal version is.
Rex_rocker has it pretty much summed up. More lows and headroom than an EMG.
I found them to be a vast improvement over EMGs, sounding better to my ears in pretty much every aspect, especially the cleans. The output is absolutely huge though, which you may or may not like. They also produce a little more general noise than EMGs, so a little bit more buzz is to be expected. I must admit that after playing the normal blackouts I questioned why Seymour Duncan decided that they needed an even more aggressive version.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Blackouts

The blackouts are good, but the metal is great. It has huge output. It will not clean up without overdriving the cleans. They all have lots of output and aren’t as compressed as emg’s.

The blackouts metal sounds just like the old livewires metal, but they don’t need 18v and are in phase with other actives.

The old livewires metal was my favorite pickup, but fitting 2 9v batteries was a lot of space.

I tried the regular blackouts, the mick Thomsons and the Gus G’s. I also have the fishman fluence moderns. I love the metal blackouts and the fishman moderns. I kept the Gus G’s too. I like high output pickups, but your mileage my vary.

The coil packs are just more traditional looking versions of the original blackouts, they sound about the same.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Blackouts

I have a Blackouts set.

I've not tried the metal bridge, but the standard Blackouts bridge is heavy enough for anything really. The neck pickup is incredible, too.

I like them better than the EMG 85/81 set I had before them. Cleans are better and I prefer the heavy sounds too. I can't quite express why, but it just sounded less sterile and more interesting.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Blackouts

RandyRhoads said:
I have two questions

One: Who has experience with the SD Blackouts and the Metal Bridge PU? What do you think about them and how do they differ from EMG's?

Two: Is the SD Blackouts Coil Pack also worth it? They look very appealing, but I can't find much info/videos on them
Click to expand...

Only played the regular ones. They're just plain better than EMGs. More dynamic, and less of that top end harshness. That being said, I still hate actives :lmao:
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Blackouts

I am NOT a fan of actives. I do, however, really like my Blackout. Could use it for most anything and more than enough output for whatever.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Blackouts

The regular blackouts are great. I like EMG's too though (especially with the 18V mod), they have a more distinctive tone.

The metal pup is downrigtht awesome in the right guitar though it t can be pretty beamy/overly nasal in a mid-heavy axe. The overtones are insane for solo's & it's very juicy/thick/meaty/organic for rhythm with a massive low end that's actually a bit "round' rather than clinically tight...huge chuggs haha..a dream pup for 80's metal. And by that I mean 80's power metal like Vicious Rumors, Riot, Anvil, Helstar, Liege Lord etc or even the older Maiden/Saxon/Grim Reaper/ NWoBHM type thing ...not the LA glam rubbish.

This one's for true metal :D
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Blackouts

Also what about the Mick Thomson Blackouts? I might get his new pro series Jackson guitar. Also Does the blackouts have a boost like the blackouts metal do where you can have a push/pull pot and go from9v-18v? I believe that's how it works? Correct me if I am wrong on that, I am not that knowledgeable about electronics
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Blackouts

haha..sweet! Being a doom-death metal band we are more of a FHD (fat hairy dudes) kinda band & average about 5 chics per gig.. but we're ****ing tr00 :D

Also..I forgot to mention it, but the metal pup is awesome for that Painkiller tone...it's like it was made for it :bigthumb:
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Blackouts

RandyRhoads said:
Also what about the Mick Thomson Blackouts? I might get his new pro series Jackson guitar. Also Does the blackouts have a boost like the blackouts metal do where you can have a push/pull pot and go from9v-18v? I believe that's how it works? Correct me if I am wrong on that, I am not that knowledgeable about electronics
Click to expand...

The mick Thomson version have a tighter sound and shifted eq for better downtuned chugging and such. I didn’t hear a whole lot of difference between the regular and MT blackouts in standard tuning. Maybe a slight change in the mids but nowhere near the difference the metal and regular.

The metal and some of the Strat sized singles have a jumper for more or less volume. This makes the metal a little more useable because it is so hot and loud it’s hard to match it with a neck pickup. It adds a bit of a boost but doesn’t double the voltage.

It’s nice but a boost pedal or an amp with boost do a better job. The regular blackouts don’t have it. You could wire in a pa2 or other Emg boost knob and it would play fine with the blackouts though.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Blackouts

It does'nt need the boost..that's overkill lol. The boost is instant Marshall crunch going straight into your clean channel. (and this pup won't give you cleans anyway..)
 
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