Seymour Duncan Blackout Bridge vs. EMG 81 (and 9v vs. 18v) shootout!

[MetalMGH]

Hey guys, I plopped each of these pickups in the bridge spot of my Ibanez Prestige RGA321 (Mahogany Body, thick maple top, bolt-on maple neck), and recorded the DI's of two tracks with each pickup at both 9v and 18v (so 4 pairs of takes total), and then re-amped them through my Mesa 2 ch. Dual Rectifier and Recto Standard 4x12 cab, mic'ing the BR speaker with an SM57 and going into a preamp on my Mackie Onyx Satellite (I used my Little Labs Redeye both as a DI box and for re-amping).

I didn't bother making the pickups blind, since everyone will know which is which, but it is blind as to which is the 9v and which is 18v Enjoy! And here's a zip file with the 4 tracks as well as the 4 without drums

[MetalMGH]

And for those wondering about how to do the 18v mod, I just made an easily-removable harness of sorts (got the idea from this page) so I wouldn't have to do annoying soldering. Observe



The bottom clip connects to the clip already wired in the guitar, and voila!

[MetalMGH]

Any comments?

[crooked09]

My first impression was that the the first clip was the best but as I flip through them a few more times its hard to tell. Any differences seem to be subtle

[MetalMGH]

Seriously? I feel the differences between the two 81 clips are subtle but there, but I feel BO a is looser than either of the 81's and BO b is atrociously flubby (and both are kinda unpleasantly fuzzy to my ears). And FTR, 81a = 81 9v and 81b = 81 18v, however, the Blackouts are reversed, in that BO a = BO 18v and BO b = BO 9v

And my favorite is 81 B (AKA 81 @ 18v) cuz it's a bit less harsh and present in the upper mids compared to 81 A, and the frequency response seems a bit extended (probably just cuz of the less prominent mids)

dude the only thing you will feel is when you get zapped.good luck. its great to try things sometime it can really do something. best of luck maybe you should call some designer like black lion audio and ask them some info to take it to another step. maybe you are on to something

[MetalMGH]

Umm, I do believe you're in the wrong thread dude