Blackout Hell

[Karmadog777]

So whats the deal with these Blackouts? I have had a set in my Epi SG Prophecy for about 3 months now, I seriously cannot decide if I love them or hate them.
One thing for sure is, that when Im playing the Blackouts ALL my amp and stomp box settings have to change, so its a pain when I switch guitars. I play Heavy Rock Metal kind of stuff and My amp is already mids heavy,so when Im using the Blackouts I have to cut back the mids considerably.

I have seriously considered selling the BOs and put passives in my Prophecy,but that seems like sacrelidge. I have never had EMGs in that guitar,..maybe thats the ticket for me..I really dont know.

I love them, I hate them, I love them I hate them....sometimes I pick up my other guitar with a CC in it and it sounds so much more open and dynamic than the BOs(i know right?)
It just seems the BO equipt guitar is the odd man out, I play Invaders, CC, Diablo, duncan/ibanez even, equipt guitars switching at will and all my settings are fine....want to play the SG? start tweaking.......is it worth it?

[Empty Pockets]

Man i adjust the EQ constantly on everything. Good tone is often just a tweek away.

But it does sound like you're just used to a more dynamic pickup. Nothing wrong with liking passives and playing heavy metal dude.

[SlowGroove]

Looking at the EMG vs. Black Out shoot-out's on Utoob, i have to say that i honestly prefer the Black out every time over the EMG's.
And by a country mile !

If i ever get humbucker actives, it will deff be Duncan Black Out's !

My 2cents
James

[SlowGroove]

So whats the deal with these Blackouts? I have had a set in my Epi SG Prophecy for about 3 months now, I seriously cannot decide if I love them or hate them.
One thing for sure is, that when Im playing the Blackouts ALL my amp and stomp box settings have to change, so its a pain when I switch guitars. I play Heavy Rock Metal kind of stuff and My amp is already mids heavy,so when Im using the Blackouts I have to cut back the mids considerably.

I have seriously considered selling the BOs and put passives in my Prophecy,but that seems like sacrelidge. I have never had EMGs in that guitar,..maybe thats the ticket for me..I really dont know.

I love them, I hate them, I love them I hate them....sometimes I pick up my other guitar with a CC in it and it sounds so much more open and dynamic than the BOs(i know right?)
It just seems the BO equipt guitar is the odd man out, I play Invaders, CC, Diablo, duncan/ibanez even, equipt guitars switching at will and all my settings are fine....want to play the SG? start tweaking.......is it worth it?

Is there such a thing as too-much-mids ???

Like i said, there are a few very good qaulity EMG/Black Out shoot out's on the Toob !
See if you like the EMG's better ! I do not ! YMMV !

Personally, i'd say keep 'em seeing that you also have a guitar w passives, this way you have BOTH !
Amd i love tweaking - do it all the time !


James

[DrNewcenstein]

Only you can say if it's worth the extra tweaking. I use rack gear so I can set my preamp to sound good with any pickup, but then I find I try to make every pickup sound similar.

In that case, doesn't it make more sense to have the same or at least tonally similar pickups in every guitar and avoid the tweak? I mean, if you're going to try to get them all to sound identical, they should already be identical.

However, if you want different pickups for each one's individual tone, then learnt o live with each one's individual tone.

[austin]

Blackouts were too much of an adjustment for me (all my other guitars were passive). They were much better than the EMG's that came stock in the guitar. I ended up replacing them with passives though and am much happier.

-Austin

[Karmadog777]

Yeh, I know, I posted clips of the UtooB comparisons here before, I totally agree that the BOs sound better hands down. Then again those clips were not mine,on my amp...so who knows. I think I just like high output passives the best.

Only you can say if it's worth the extra tweaking. I use rack gear so I can set my preamp to sound good with any pickup, but then I find I try to make every pickup sound similar.

In that case, doesn't it make more sense to have the same or at least tonally similar pickups in every guitar and avoid the tweak? I mean, if you're going to try to get them all to sound identical, they should already be identical.

However, if you want different pickups for each one's individual tone, then learnt o live with each one's individual tone.

Dude you nailed my delima to a T ! It seems no matter what amp or pedal I use I go for the same sound,my settings are always aiming at the same goal sonicly speaking.I use my amps distortion, but I also with use my Blackstar DistX pedal or my Landmine distortion pedal(not at the same time) to get a slightly different flavor,or cut. But my overall tone is basicly the same .
Its that sound in my head Im trying to achieve..it just seems harder to achieve with the BO,if I think Im there then I play one of my other guitars and I realize ooh yeh,this sounds right.
It sucks I wanted that Prophecy SG with a set of Blackouts since the Prophecy models came out, I finally get one and its a total letdown..it looks badass though
Peace!

[Ayrton]

I am thinking if you don't care the Blackouts, then you are going to hate the EMGs. I say drop some passives in there and love life.