Active Pups

[Kramerman]

I'm thinking about having a custom guitar built. I want a mahogany body for that nice deep tone. I also want active pickups. I've chosen an HSH configuration of either EMG 81bridge/85neck/SAmiddle and Seymour duncan blackouts. Which would you guys recommend? What are the advantages of either?

[albee1952]

The EMG setup is probably a more popular choice. I have been too happy with passives to bother with active pickups any more.

[mozfan98]

I used to have both pickups. The 85 in the bridge will give a thicker sound and a slightly higher output, but I think the 81 sounds much more clean and defined in the bridge. The Seymour Duncan blackouts initially gave me that wow factor. It's pretty much an active version of a hotter wound passive pickup. I'd say it's a cross between an EMG and a hot passive pickup with a warmer tone. In my opinion, I like the EMG's better for their infamous tone and I think the EMG's still sound the cleaner than the Blackouts.

Both pickups sound different. If you want the Zakk Wyld-ish tone..I'd say EMG's. If you want the new Megadeth Dave Mustaine tone (although he doesn't use blackouts but they sound similiar to his sig active Duncan pickups) , I'd go for that. Both men kinda use similiar rigs ie Marshall amp through a mahogany bodied guitar.

[jjblacksheep]

On a custom rig, I'd probably go passive but on my HSH 570, fooling with several different actives, I eventually went with an EMG 85 in the bridge....and nothing else. Couldn't be happier. But that's me.

[shreddersymphony]

Neither of them dude, get Carvin active pickups with the active module if you want some SERIOUS actives where you can really really shape the sound, rather than just higher output pickups.

[texshred777]

I have an 85 in the bridge of my guitar(swapped the 81/85 around) and it sounds great for an active pickup. Thicker sound than the 81 had. I'm about to go with passives though. Just need to figure out who'll do the rewire, and how much it'll set me back.

[SAVAGEDISTORTION]

get a 81tw( new COIL TAPPING version) for the bridge and a 89 for the neck and a SA for the middle
the one thing that the EMG's have over the duncan BO's is that they can be split for a SA tone
FWIW, the 81 sounds more evil than the much BO bridge pup IMHO
like the other poster said the BO is a hotter ,warmer passive tone in a active
they are great but the emg 81 in the bridge just sounds more metalic metal
the BO bridge pup is like killswitch(real thick and warm) and the emg 81 is slayer,zakk,metallica(crunchin,kicking,present,and generally aggressive)and all the others that use it