Seymour Duncan releases a new pickup system: "Gus G. Fire Blackouts". It seems very versatile system for serious metal and rock players because of the system combines some of the best aspects of traditional passive pickups and cutting-edge active designs.
Created for Gus G., the electrifying young virtuoso just off the road with Ozzy Osbourne, the Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System includes a pair of traditional-looking humbucking pickups and a low-noise, high-output dual active preamp. Now hard rock and metal guitarists can get the explosive power they demand without sacrificing the expressive, hair-trigger response of a great passive pickup. It's the most organic-sounding active pickup system ever.
The Gus G. FIRE Blackouts System includes two pickups handmade in Santa Barbara, California, and a U.S.A.-made Blackouts preamp that replaces one of the guitar's volume pots. The preamp features the bare-wire lockdown system used in Seymour Duncan's Liberator Solderless Pickup Change System, so players who already have active pickups in their guitar can install the new system using only the included screwdriver. The package also includes three 25K potentiometers for guitarists who are migrating from passive pickups.
"This system combines the massive tone, kick, and distortion of Blackouts with the rich tone and expressive feel of my favorite passive pickups. It responds perfectly to all my picking techniques, and more of my personality comes through than with any active pickup I've tried.” —Gus G.
Details and advantages:
• Combines active and passive. The Gus G. Fire Blackouts System is a matched set of two passive humbucking pickups and a dual preamp that replaces one of the guitar’s volume pots.
• Traditional humbucker design with individual pole pieces provides the note definition and string-to-string feel of passive pickups.
• Alnico 5 magnets deliver rich, detailed tones. The bridge pickup’s larger magnet adds more low-mids for fatter, fuller-sounding leads.
• Custom-wound coils create a remarkably open, airy sound.
• A high-output, low-noise differential dual preamp captures every nuance of the passive-style pickups—with plenty of headroom. Most other active preamps clip too easily, decimating your dynamics.
• Long battery life. A single 9-volt battery provides approximately 750 hours of playing time.
• Bare-wire lockdown connectors. Uses the same solderless connectors as our Liberator Pickup Change System. No soldering required if replacing existing active pickups. Screwdriver included.
• Includes three additional 25K potentiometers for users who are replacing passive pickups.
• Organic sound. Instead of tone that sounds as if it was created by a preamp, you’ll hear the wood of your guitar. You’ll hear your picking style. You’ll hear you.
Some other differencies are explained by Frank Falbo from S.Duncan;
Some other differencies are explained by Frank Falbo from S.Duncan;
First, The Blackouts Metal is essentially a Blackouts version of the old Livewire Heavy Metal. I wouldn't say it has any connection to the rest of the Blackouts sonically, it's more of a searing midrange boost or a pickup with a Tube Screamer already on. It just slices your amp in half like a ninja sword.
Assuming you're familiar with the Original Blackouts, the Mick Thomson EMTY's are more crisp and cutting in the top end, and they stay tighter and very well defined on the low end especially for drop tuning.
The Blackouts Modular system is a way to get the sound of Original Blackouts but in a passive pickup/external preamp configuration. This brings with it THREE distinct differences. One is the simple fact that you can have Blackouts tone and power with a passive look. Like a hot-rodded car that looks stock from the outside. Secondly the tone is slightly changed by the fact that the magnet and pole pieces are more traditional. So the feel and note-to-note separation is slightly more passive. Original Blackouts have solid blades or magnet bars under the strings. The third benefit, most most succinctly evidenced in the Gus G Fire system, is that you can now use that same Blackouts Preamp but feed it with different 4-Conductor pickups to create your own unique combination of passive pickups/active Blackouts preamp. Gus did exactly that. We worked with him to create pickups that, when fed into the Blackouts Preamp, gave him the exact sound he was looking for.
If you know Gus, then you know he is a long-time Distortion/59 user. So if you're familiar with that setup you know what he likes and why he likes it. Then more recently he tried and loved Blackouts. Then, we launched the Modular Preamp and Coil Packs, and he loved those because they combined what he liked about the sound and feel of passive pickups with his newfound affection for Blackouts. Now, the coils, the preamp, the magnet, the wire, the wind, have all been perfected for Gus.
The tone is thick and beefy like the Original Blackouts. There is a little high end glass like you hear with the Mick Thomson but the sound is not as tight and precise as the EMTY. It's throatier and growlier. The string to string balance is like any passive pickup feeding the Blackouts Preamp. Overall the tone is huge and punching, like literally punching you in the stomach. It's raging. The neck pickup is smooth and articulate, very fluid for soloing.