Blackouts or Livewires

[MartyEvans]

My head says Livewires but my Wallet says "The more expensive the better".

I'm torn between the two, are there any differences between these pickups and if so, what are they?

Oh, and I forsee the letters E,M and G appering in this thread at some point :ROTF:

[nsubulysses]

Well.....this thing happened once where I had this this one kind of pickup in my guitar and then I swapped it for the Blackout and was totally overjoyed.

Don't know anything about livewires, though.

Isn't the Blackout only like 80 or 85 bucks? I think mine was $88 with shipping new.

I do remember checking out the Blackouts on the Duncan site for a sound sample and I thought they sounded kind of shitty. Not true in RL

[JetFixxxer]

I purchased the Dave Mustaine Live Wires and installed them in my RR3 and I'm soooooo glad I did. I did picked them up for 152.00 for the pair. I want another set for my DKMG...

[thetroy]

Do you ever play anything other than metal? If so, Livewires.

[MartyEvans]

Isn't the Blackout only like 80 or 85 bucks? I think mine was $88 with shipping new.

I think it is yeah, but I think that that's only for a single Blackout, the Bridge and Neck set are pretty expensive brand new.

One of my friends said that the Blackouts produce too much bass (kinda like the invaders), not too keen on a bassy tone myself, also I heard that they need two 9v batterys where as the Livewires don't.

Is this true?

[JetFixxxer]

The Dave Mustaine Livewire are active and you do need a battery.

[mustaine-who?]

Wow

I think it is yeah, but I think that that's only for a single Blackout, the Bridge and Neck set are pretty expensive brand new.

One of my friends said that the Blackouts produce too much bass (kinda like the invaders), not too keen on a bassy tone myself, also I heard that they need two 9v batterys where as the Livewires don't.

Is this true?

Wow..a lot of dis-information in this thread.

Hell no they don't need 2 batteries...just one.

JB w/25db boost??? They're not that fricken hot...I was massively disappointed in the Mustaine set...and I'm a Mustaine fanboy. Now the BO bridge is real hot...much hotter than the Mustaine bridge.

The BO bridge does have a lot of low and low mids. Hmmmm..oh yeah, change the fricken eq on your amp or the eq in your effects loop.

The BO neck model sounds soooooo much better than the Mustaine Jazz. In fact...just get 2 BO neck models...and put 1 in the bridge...which is what I did. Absolutely love it. The A5 magnet is grindy, organic, meaty, and modern-ish. And the low-end is tamed somewhat.

I have played all 3 sets (EMG 81, Mustaine set, BO set) and IMOFWIW the BO neck is the winner here by a mile.

[Sunbane]

Which LiveWires are we talking about here? The Mustaine signature LiveWires, or the old "HM" LiveWires? The latter are reknowned for their insane output levels...

[MartinBarre]

The Blackouts are supposed to be an upgrade on the Livewires, and also an upgrade on the EMGs. EMGs use pretty old technology, so Seymour Duncan decided to see what he could do with new technology. Blackouts are pretty much universally loved by everyone who's tried them from what I've read.

I ordered a set myself for my RR3, wish they hurry up and arrive!

[Rich#6]

I have a blackout in my san dimas. It's boosted to 18volts. VERY NICE!

[GuerillaPete]

Tough call on the subject since everyone has their own tastes. Until you can try all the PUPs (EMG, BO, LW) in question you can't make a ruling. I got a set of DM Livewires and will try them out soon. If I don't dig 'em, they will go.

If only we had the luxury of having three exact guitars and have all three PUPs installed on each. Then we could do some "lab tests". Hmmmm. Perhaps one of the guitar mags can do a "shoot-out".

[toejam]

Wow..a lot of dis-information in this thread.

Hell no they don't need 2 batteries...just one.

JB w/25db boost??? They're not that fricken hot...I was massively disappointed in the Mustaine set...and I'm a Mustaine fanboy. Now the BO bridge is real hot...much hotter than the Mustaine bridge.

The original LiveWires were 18v.

The only LiveWires that are based on the JB/Jazz are the Mustaine set. I like them a lot in my Mustaine Dean V signature... they seem like they've got a tiny bit more gain and are tighter in the bass response than the passive JB/Jazz, but not all that much.

[MartyEvans]

If only blackouts wern't so expensive >_<

[mustaine-who?]

If

If you can get your $$$ together in a few days...I can IM a link for a dealer who has them for $75 shipped apiece...

If only blackouts wern't so expensive >_<

[MartinBarre]

If only blackouts wern't so expensive >_<

I get my pups from Banjomike on eBay. Blackouts from him were less than £100 for a pair - including postage to the UK.

Sure, customs might catch them and slap another £12 or something on it, but they might not, and even if they do, still cheaper than buying from rip off Britain.

I've had 4 pickups from Mike so far, customs have caught two.
I think they've caught my Blackouts though, cos that's two weeks and they're still not here.
Fucking bastards.