VI. All about Blackouts

As far as Blackouts go, keep in mind there are 3 variants. I have heard the AHB-2's are generally not very good (but I have no first hand experience). The AHB-3's have a radically different frequency response from the AHB-1's. Also, the AHB-1 bridge is different from the AHB-1 neck. I like the AHB-1 bridge in the bridge position and AHB-1 neck in neck position. The difference is the magnet used - the AHB-1 bridge tends to sound a little less defined, but more compressed and "thick". Many people prefer the AHB-1 neck in the bridge position to get a cleaner sound. I tried it both ways - I think the AHB-1 bridge gets a great djent sound, whereas the AHB-1 neck was a little "crispier".

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VII. Pickup Height on Passives

Too low and you lose SNR and your dynamic response gets messed up, too high and you get input clipping on your device, as well as "pole pull", which can screw up your intonation and kill sustain. I recommend allowing them to have a safe distance. Also, don't confuse output level with SNR. Raising your pickups will increase their output level, but it is probably not improving their SNR unless they were very low (or extremely weak) to start.

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VIII. Pickup Height on Actives

EMG recommends you to put them as close as possible. I followed this advice when I had these pickups and never noticed any problems with doing so. For the Blackouts, this is where things get a little interesting. The pickups seem to have some kind of buffer, so they will not output above a certain level. So it's like a limiter effect. If you raise them close, you will actually reduce the dynamics to your attack. I prefer to keep a medium distance on these pickups. They work pretty well at a distance. I actually have them as low as possible on my custom Jem (which actually isn’t THAT low). Even with some distance, they still have a higher-than-normal output. But if you go too low, you’ll notice you can’t get good artificial harmonics or softer notes to sound good.

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IX. Pickup Suggestions

Petrucci uses the Dimarzio Crunchlab and Liquifire combo. You can't deny his tone. I switched to these on an earlier model of his EBMM signature, and I like the tone better - it's very mid-focused but modern and thick. The earlier Steve's Special/Air Norton are also great pickups - slightly more chunk and bite to the tone. Vai uses Dimarzio Breed and Evolution pickups (EDIT: and now the acclaimed Gravity Storm pickups) - also a guy with great tone. I've played a stock Jem before and was surprised how easily you could get a great metal tone from it - I figured they would come off a little fatter and fuzzier. I've heard that EMG's __X line of pickups have improved on the short-comings of their earlier models, but I am skeptical that they'd sound better than high-quality passives. I really, really like the Dimarzio D-Activators - very aggressive pickups. And while they cost a bit more, I hear that BareKnuckle Pickups are basically the best in the industry, although I've never used any in person - I personally think they're too expensive, but if money is no obstacle... In general, Seymour Duncan, Dimarzio, Lungren, Lace, EMG, and BareKnuckle are all popular brands, and you can find pickups suggestions all over the web.

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