« Thicker alternative to EMG's »

For the longest time EMG's were pretty much the only active pickups you could get on the market. With active pickups they have relatively weak magnets and the signal is amplified with an onboard preamp. With the weaker magnets you can pickup more nuances and the sound is quieter. Seymour Duncan is trying to get into the active pickup market. They have recently introduced their line of blackout pickups and they are pretty much clones of EMG pickups. Seymour Duncan claims that their pickups are quieter than EMG's but I have never had problems with noise on EMG's so im not sure what they are getting at. These pickups come with the black plastic cases just like EMG's and have solderless wiring much like EMG pickups. You can also get them in nickle and chrome covers. With the solderless wiring these pickups are very easy to install. They come with their own pots so there isnt much messy work to do. The bridge pickup unit is very aggressive but has nice bottom end. It has all the top end of the EMG 81 but with more of the bottom and thickness that you associate with the 85. The neck pickup is very fat but with some top end sizzle to add more clarity. With the focus on high gain tone the clean tones are a little lacking. This is a common problem among active pickups. With EMG pickups if you wanted a better clean tone you would do the 18v mod to get you more headroom and a more organic sound. With the Seymour Duncan Blackouts doing the same mod does not change the tone much so you cant really help the clean tone. The big difference between these and EMG's is the extra low end they provide. If EMG's do not give you the thickness you want in your tone you should check out Seymour Duncan Blackouts.