Guitar people - active pickups

[Breadfan]

Any guitar players here?

Has anyone tried these new Seymour Duncan pickups? They are active pickups, called "Blackouts." They appear to be marketed to compete directly with EMG's specifically the EMG 81/85 setup such as the Zakk Wylde kit.

The reviews make it sound like these have better tone and sound quality than the EMG's. They are also $15 cheaper than the ZW set.

I know Duncan makes some OK pickups, not always the best, but these seem to be getting a positive nod.

I've been toying with upgrading the stock pickup's in my Jackson kelly (stock jackson passives) to a hot set of actives, everyone does EMG's and these may be something different. Was curious if anyone knew much more about them or had tried 'em out.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Seymour-Duncan-Blackout-Active-Humbucker-Set?sku=301007

[BigCars4Ever]

I have a passive double coil stack in one of my strats from SD. This must be new for them. A lot of pro's play with active pickups and I would love to buy the EMG strat kit but I can't justify the cost. Even the 9V batteries I would have to keep on hand would discourage me from playing with active pickups.

[arejayesss]

I'm just trying to focus on the pickup on my car right now!!

[Egon Spengler]

THIS IS THE ONLY GUITAR I KNOW HOW TO PLAY
http://userimage.gamespot.com/images/union_icon/4/3/union13534/union_icon.jpg

[Breadfan]

THIS IS THE ONLY GUITAR I KNOW HOW TO PLAY
http://userimage.gamespot.com/images/union_icon/4/3/union13534/union_icon.jpg


I've played Guitar Hero, I even bought GH3. It's a fun game. Some guitarists don't like it because it's not real guitars.

That being said, if you play Guitar hero but wanted to learn to play a real guitar, you will walk into it with a few good things:

- Helps finger dexterity
- Helps you learn to follow rythyms

My Jackson has 24 frets and 6 strings.

So really it's like a GH controller that has 6 seperate strum bars (that can be played one at a time or in unison) and 144 buttons. :) Oh and a "whammy" but in the form of a Floyd Rose locking tremolo.

[Egon Spengler]

I have no idea what the hell you just said, but YEAH!!! I have a new respect for guitarists after playing that game... not just because the game is hard... but because there is even more to playing a guitar than what is in the game!! Very difficult

[arejayesss]

Try playing this guitar!!!!
12315

[Raudermaster]

All the Guitar Heroes are great games. They can go onnnn forever.

[Egon Spengler]

I like being Lou in GH III... I do him with either the skeleton guitar of the leg lamp guitar from the movie "A Christmas Story"... I sound like a nerd right now, but I'm really not... I haven't played video games in quite awhile... this one I found interesting
http://www.ripten.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/devil_goes_down.jpg

[Egon Spengler]

:Offtopic:Sorry about the thread highjacking by the way:hijack:

[Breadfan]

:Offtopic:Sorry about the thread highjacking by the way:hijack:

That's OK, we spent most of our time saving gh gig money to get the Elroy Budvis character and buy him the Tijuana outfit. ;)

[Motorhead350]

EMGs are more meant for heavy metal as I'm sure you know. Duncan is really good and I have had a super distortion pickup in my strat since high school angled like Billie Joes from Green Day back when they used to be good and tuned down half a step. With the ZW you are just paying for his name. Unless you are a total fan of his I would get the Duncan, but if you like distortion all the time get the EMG.

[Breadfan]

EMGs are more meant for heavy metal as I'm sure you know. Duncan is really good and I have had a super distortion pickup in my strat since high school angled like Billie Joes from Green Day back when they used to be good and tuned down half a step. With the ZW you are just paying for his name. Unless you are a total fan of his I would get the Duncan, but if you like distortion all the time get the EMG.

Thanks Dom. Yeah I think Zakk Wylde got lucky, the EMG 85/81 setup is extremely popular. All his "kit" gives is the pickups and wiring. You can get the same setup buying an EMG 81 and 85 seperately, and they come in plain EMG boxes with no one's name.

But, the ZW set is actually a buck or two cheaper than buying them seperate unless there is a big sale.

Still tons of other big names use the same pickup setup.

It sounds like the SD Blackouts give a better clean tone which is important to me but also wail nice.

[Motorhead350]

No problem. What type of music do you usually play and what type of guitar will this new pickup go into?

[Breadfan]

I play alot of blues and metal right now. A few years back I used to jam more with my close friends and they like punk a lot so we played a lot of that. I don't mind it but seem to prefer blues and metal.

The SD's would go in my Jackson Kelly performer, which has pretty weak stockers.

It looks similar to this: http://www.guitarcenter.com/Jackson-KE2-Kelly-USA-Electric-Guitar-511471-i1147007.gc

But mine was the Performer series which isn't sold anymore (and was no where near that price). I got it scratch/dent at the local GC a few years back and got a good deal on it. It's similar to the above but it's transparent red (not the cool airbrush design), doesn't have the sharkfin inlays, and has Jackson pickups. It does have a floyd rose though and hte neck design is the same just has dot inlays instead.

I also have a standard Strat which was my first guitar. It's still 100% stock, plays nice but I haven't upgraded anything on it. It's midnight blue with a white pickguard and rosewood fingerboard.

[Motorhead350]

Ya I think you mentioned what type of guitar you had, but I failed to look up the page. :o Nothing like Blues and Metal. What type of blues artists do you like? Are you a fan of Hound Dog Taylor?

[Breadfan]

BTW when I used to play punk with my friends a few years back we played alot of Op Ivy, ramones, Social D and old Green Day came in alot.

[Breadfan]

Ya I think you mentioned what type of guitar you had, but I failed to look up the page. :o Nothing like Blues and Metal. What type of blues artists do you like? Are you a fan of Hound Dog Taylor?

Yeah, I've heard some of his stuff, pretty good. I like alot of the big names, but also Detroit Jr, and bluesrock like Stevie Ray Vaughn and Kenny Wayne Shepard (though his newer stuff isn't getting me as psyched).

[Motorhead350]

BTW when I used to play punk with my friends a few years back we played alot of Op Ivy, ramones, Social D and old Green Day came in alot.

All of that is sweet. Green Day from the 90s is best.