• SD Blackouts EMTY in Ibanez MTM2

  
  As reviewed by Colin on 8/30/2011

  I have been interested in playing some active pickups for years and recently bought an MTM2 that I though should have them. I've always been a fan of high gain passive pickups and have been aware of how sterile active pickups can sound. Even my guitar tech who said he's never liked actives said these were definitely something different! These give you the ultra high gain only an active pickup with an onboard preamp can give you, but with the organic balanced mids and warmth of a high gain passive pickup. The tone differences between the neck and bridge are most noticeable on a clean channel, but this bridge pickup on a lead channel will literally shatter all the glass in your home. I was on the fence between these Blackout EMTYs and the classic EMG 81/85 combo. I'm glad I'm playing the Blackouts now!

  1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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• One Bad-ass Pick-up

  
  As reviewed by David on 3/18/2010

  I don't have the best equipment, Marshall half stack JCM head. That said, I put these in a MTM2 and they rock! A little on the wiring going from passive to active with a 5-way selector switch. But between the SD website and some diagram searches, no problems. They cleared up the muddy lows and have a screaming high end. These things are a HUGE upgrade to the factory pick-ups! Definitely a "made-for-metal" pickup

  12 of 13 people found this review helpful.
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• Surprisingly Good Tone!

  
  As reviewed by Eric on 8/28/2010

  I installed these in my Gibson Explorer Pro (which previously had bluesbuckers) which I tune down to standard C. Prior to changing the pickups, when I would try to play low thirds, the lower pitch would wash the other notes out (which was the reason I changed out the pickups in the first place.) So I bought these hoping to God that they would sound decent and, to my surprise, they sound pretty amazing! They are slightly more high-gain than most pickups i have, but the main difference is that (as advertised) the bass is very tight. The highs are brought up considerably from the bluesbuckers but not to the point of sounding tinny and grating. So when you're playing in a dropped tuning at a high level of distortion you'll be very clear instead of washing out. They will distort a bit on your clean tone, but all you have to do is roll back on the volume and you're perfectly clean. They aren't very heavy (though the addition of the 9-volt is a little irritating and you may have to route out your guitar if there isn't enough room in your electronics compartment), they look rad and sound great. So for the money and if you're using them in the right application, I'm sure they'll sound great!

  11 of 12 people found this review helpful.
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