All user reviews for the Seymour Duncan AHB-1S Blackouts HB Set

I used recently to replace a pair of EMG 81/85 ESP a Ninja.
Although the EMG 85 stands up very well in the neck position for clean leads and parts were missing a little personality. The 81 I can not hear about is the microphone that sounds too typical and not transparent par excellence. Not enough fishing, not so clean as this, a little bland and synthetic.
In short, I was tired and wanted to stay in the asset (for cleanliness). I was looking for a set of microphones that had a lot of fishing for rock / metal (up to extreme styles) while enjoying a clean efficient.
So, having invested in a Blackout AHB-1 some time ago for a 7-String Squier and being very happy with the sound, I decided to ask a set AHB-1 on my ESP.
And indeed, not disappointed at all! It's very clean, no background noise (in addition to my pedal to the test I went live on the amp). Toc to gain! I went from 7.5 in EMG Fireball 5 on my 100W.
Duncan Announces 6/5/9 in Bass / Mid / Treble for AHB-1. And indeed, with the EQ of the amp at noon the sound is already correct! Refining according to my preferences I found his monumental.
Feel free to adjust the height of good microphones, they are very sensitive to their position and there is no need to make them flush with the strings for gain galore ...
The neck pickup is a sadistic executor, a real butcher! Harmonics which fuse easily, as the big big love! It is clear, it's powerful, it's clean and it is especially super dynamic!
Her boyfriend is very good round and give you clean jazzy sounds great. Coupled with a little slapback delay in, you can have a nice little sound to the old. Funky! For lead, it is a pleasure. It has a sacred character and is rich in media. You will be leaving the mix without worry! It is warm and full of fish at a time.

In summary, the AHB-1 are the assets of Duncan the most effective styles of modern metal! There is still the AHB-2 Metal, the signature emty Mike Thompson of Slipknot and Dave Mustaine LiveWire (which I'm very interested as well).

For those who are tired of EMG, go ahead. For those who want active daring adventure, go for it too! You will not be disappointed!

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan !!!!!!!!!! dla baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalle!!
I have been using 1H and I plant my neck in the middle position bridge, killing the rho lala! I connect directly into the spindle of the emg 81, so no worries for interchange. sound broadcast enormment wins in precision, it is less dry than the emg without going into a drooling 500T gibson, c the perfect mix between the two microphones.
I wonder if I will not let the neck bridge in c so good!
I will test with the same bridge in bridge qd because it lacks a bit of sharp but not that much.
voila, for me I think it will be for the EMG guitars back, because c no common measure. test on an epiphone Zakk Wylde, AC sends big!
qd to background noise, compared to the EMG 85 (thus the equivalent) there is even less, one wonders if even the guitar industry! I coated with batter fix the son of a microphone (not used since I already have the pins)

go, I go back c bluffing too !!!!!!!

_ I use the pair since August 2008.
They are mounted in a LAG Harmaster. No worries mounting, the battery housing niquel in the trapping of the selector.

+ + + After the comparison with EMG (81/85), there is no photo. The blackout is over, especially the bridge pickup. The output level is very high and very defined.
They did not at all what cold side of EMG. Even the clean sound is possible
--- Beware of the battery used, I think they eat more than normal, I am far from the advertised 2500 hours. In addition, the performance really breaks the mouth when the battery voltage drops below 8.8V. I have some batteries in the rab blow that I had to change, they serve me for my wah after ^ ^.
I am looking for info about it elsewhere, feel free to contact me!

_ I bought full price (249 euros I think) directly from Seymour through my luthier and I do not regret my choice ... if I do it again would take 4! lol

9 / 10: -1 for the consumption of battery.

+ +

I use my blackouts for a little less than a week on an ESP LTD F-2E. So this is a hot opinion.

First, I play metal, and the pickups are absolutely awesome. The distorted sounds are very beautiful: ultra-precise, ultra-defined, ultra funky what ... The sound is aggressive and very dynamic. The palm mute and harmonics sound accurate, for the first percussive and strident in the second ... It all really.

The neck pickup, in turn is great for clean sounds and warm. It is very well defined. For more tips or blues rock, this is the best suited of the two. Still many dynamic and precision ...

Standard battery life, I have not done enough to turn my guitar to notice a loss of power ...

In the end, if it again, I would reiterate again!

I use a pair of microphones Blackout September 2008 (ie around 6 months back), I really hsit between them and the well-known pair EMG 81/85 but I thought it was necessary try a little and not stay in the wake of the ordinary (arf how beautiful the poetry in rveil). I have an Ibanez ART320 Mount (body and mahogany set neck and rosewood fingerboard hard enough) and I found quite quickly that the microphones well CHARACTERISTICS transcribe the guitar, whether in round or in easel. I test the microphone on a skyscraper in alder and aa pretty well confirm what I thought, silent sound drier, more banging, less round than the mahogany.
Moving to the same test that was:

Music-clear: a nice surprise for "EMG-like", as in round bridge, the sound is trs beautiful, well balanced and the neck pickup does not dborde low dgueu that g Chenta any sound (I had this problem before with a little passive "midrange"), the neck pickup is dbrouille trs well, it's not too slamming "quack" Alfred Quack-Jojo and may make a small intro without clear switch and crash like an asshole when placing in distortion.

-Sons crunch: it's pretty, it's beautiful, has remained robust but starts out that the neck pickup lacks a bit of roundness and this, even changing its rglage.

-Distorted sounds: it is their area of ​​prdilection, the pickup turned a holorge francomtoise RULES by Switzerland, good balance, a level lower lev rgal for palm -mute, high output, good DEFINITIONS, silent, in short, a canon of the genre. The black dot is the neck pickup is not quite got round me, it sounds good, although full and well Dfine but it lacks the small peak in the low mdiums that makes each sweeping is exquisite.

I'm pretty happy, even trs happy because I do not spend my time sweeper, I prfre play: D I do not regret is aggressive in my style m east tal / heavy and there is just the problem of the neck pickup too round hurts me.
I recommend it highly for those who hsite between "discrete" Seymour and the "hyper popular" EMG, allows a bit of originality.

[8] neck pickup next to the unsatisfactory performance of the bridge pickup.

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.

I had in the past a rather mixed with regard to active pickups with the stars of the class what the duo Emg85/81. In the end, despite their undeniable qualities I blamed a certain coldness and especially sound quite synthetic reminded me that my amp was not a lamp but transistors. In short I had not been conquered and the experiment was stopped after a few months of cohabitation by separation.
There was still active in things like precision and silence that I found interesting and that I sometimes regret. And then along comes an outsider in the market who bragged to do better and so bring down the monopoly EMG. So being curious I threw myself into the adventure blackouts.
With regard to the look and assembly, by the mark on the mic is simply the same.
Indeed one of the arguments to migrate from SD on blackouts is to note that simply replacing one by the other without touching electronics. The boiboite however, contains everything needed to start from 0 and if you had liability is what to do.
Note that in my case I used the blackouts EMG85/81et set on the same guitar to an Ibanez RG2620 Prestige know and so my decision is not altered by external criteria subjective.
Other arguments and not least is the silence of SD (-14dB announced) and especially an active pickup that keeps the best of two worlds: the warmth of one another and accuracy that far n had never been realized.
So true false? We will see this.
Well first when you take active pickups is usually not done in lace.
To the side, you can trust the blackouts. This microphone is going to chop menu ears. This is clearly a killer especially easel next course. The sound is big, heavy, with a fairly pronounced hump in the midrange. While it's still super accurate with impressive sustain. The blackout also excel in the creamy sound with endless sustain for so that the material can follow behind. Remember to revise downwards the level of gain on your amp and equalizer
For the blackout is over at the gentleman saturax. Note that the best result I got is a slightly lowered the volume to calm the beast. The sound becomes magical precision while remaining aggressive.
For the most part civilized the neck pickup is more than his job too well. If the crystalline sounds are not strict there is a good round. It perfectly complements her boyfriend and some points as the game I prefer tapping the same.
Is the blackout is as warm as liabilities? Well I say yes almost. I think the difference is very small may even be only psychological (knowing we are playing on what the asset). In any case it is much better than EMG. Specifications therefore respected.
And about harmonics? The good pick too. Yanaplein. It's whistles, it bursts it leaves all sides.

The level of silence is indeed impressive. My ears tell me it's not crack. Using a noise gate is much less necessary unless extreme sounds of course.

So what we could blame him for this nice pair (Ouarf, Ouarf ...)?
The only thing that bothers me a bit is this bump may be too prominent in the media that it is difficult to correct even with a good equalizer.
The blackout requires a specific setting of gain and equalization compared to any other microphone.
Thus, the blackout is going to be a problem if you want to use the same amp with other guitars are not equipped with blackouts. If you're on the programmable midi hardware you can get away with assigning a specific EQ. On a head 2 or 3 channels that will be more problematic. It's not really a problem of micro lui_même but it is something that must be taken into account.

So for those who are interested in a comparison with EMG you'll understand my heart wide scale blackouts for set. It is simply more natural but also more powerful and certainly quieter. If I gave one I'm not about to abandon the other.
Note that there's a version AHB-2 even more aggressive. I have not tried it but it must be a real beef (maybe even too much). Also a model AHB-3 set created by Mick Thomson, who takes the concept of AHB-1 but apparently with a better balance. The admit that I am interested because it regulates the only complaint that I do in AHB-1.
In any case, the model that reconciled me with the active pickups.

They Seymour Duncan AHB-1 Blackout pickups are Duncan’s attempt to rival the famous EMGs that have been so well known throughout the metal community as the #1 pickups out there. Just like the EMGs, these feature the same style black cover, quick disconnects, use special pots and the such. They’re truly EMG clones.

The Blackouts come in both neck and bridge varieties. This review should hopefully cover both for you. First off is the bridge – The bridge model is an extremely high output and aggressive sounding pickup. It’s like a cross between the EMG 81’s aggression and the EMG 85’s fatness. They’re fat enough to where they deliver huge bass, but they’re aggressive enough to where they cut through the mix without any problems at all. They’re fairly scooped sounding, but that’s mainly because the bass and treble are increased more so than the midrange being actually pushed back.

The neck model is like a much hotter and more aggressive EMG 85. It’s extremely fat sounding, but it also has some bite to it to help it remain clear sounding under high gain. This helps quite a bit when doing fast note soloing.

Just like EMGs, I’m not a huge fan of the clean tones. Mid gain tones aren’t too bad, but most people who try these are looking at the high gain tones, and they deliver pretty good. Given that they’re active pickups, they’re very quiet sounding, and when under high gain, that’s a big must. However, I can’t help but feel these things have way too much output and too much bass. Every time I go to record with them, I keep thinking to myself that the EMGs just sound better. I’ve tried these in various woods with the same result.

If you’re a fan of EMGs, you probably won’t like these pickups as much. However, if you always thought EMGs were thin sounding and not delivering the tones you’re looking for, the Blackouts are worth checking out.

(Originally written by jaydecham/translated from Audiofanzine FR)
I installed this kit 3 or 4 days ago. I thought it would be difficult with my passive Les Paul Custom since I had to upgrade the whole electronics!

I followed the instructions of the diagram provided and it wasn't difficult at all. If you work step by step, you won't have any problems. I installed and soldered everything myself. When I plugged my guitar for the first time, I was afraid no sound would come out, but it did work!

I was immediately blown away by the efficiency of these pickups. They provide a killer sound! The clean sound is wonderful and the distortion even better. The sound is powerful and well-defined with many natural overtones. I never heard a better sound. It's a wonder!!!

I was surprised by the lack of noise even with a heavy metal distortion pedal, a high volume setting on the amp, and the guitar's volume controls turned to the max! It's just incredible. When Duncan specifies 14dB noise, they don't lie.

Excellent value for money for me because I found them very cheap. For that price, I would install them on all my guitars.

My three other guitars have EMG pickups (81, 85 and 60) and none of them can compete with the Seymour Duncan except for the clean sound of the RMG60. These Blackout pickups sound much better than EMG pickups.

I strongly recommend them for heavy metal, but also for other styles. The clean, crunch and distortions sounds are wonderful with my H&K Tube 50. The sound range is incredible. They are ultra versatile (although it might also have to do with the fact that I have good amps). Don't hesitate to buy them: you won't be disappointed!