Seymour Duncan Blackouts AHB-1s 7-String Phase II Active Humbucker neck & bridge set Black

I had never installed pickups before, but I gave it a shot. I bought this to upgarde a Schecter Demon 7 that I have, which is beautiful and plays great, but the original pickups made it pretty much useless onstage or to record. I followed the diagrams, took my time to avoid mistakes and it worked great! Loved the sound and how the pickups are responsive, not at all displaying that "plastic" sound I normally associate with active puckups. Now the Schecter can take any of my other high end guitars at any time.

I've always thought that the EMG 81-7 and 707 combo was the best out there. After playing this in multiple Schecters and not having my tone cravings satisfied, I began to do research on the Seymour Duncan Blackouts. I've watched countless review and play-through videos on the internet and came to the conclusion that these pickups will DEFINITELY sound better than EMGs, but if and ONLY if your guitar is made of specific wood types. All the videos showcasing the Blackouts had them in guitars made of either mahogany, maple, walnut, or some combination of either two or all three of these woods. Putting these pickups in a guitar with a basswood body (i.e. most Ibanez 7 strings) wouldn't be a good choice--they tend to react oddly with the basswood and get muddy at lower notes. In another light, people who put these pickups in a Schecter Jeff Loomis signature model (ash body) said that they eventually switched back to the EMGs, saying they just matched the guitar better. In short, do some research on the characteristics of the wood your guitar is made of. If your guitar is made of ash, basswood, or any woods similar in how they react in a guitar, go with either EMGs or passive pickups. If your guitar is constructed with mahogany, maple, walnut, any combination of these woods, or any similar woods, I strongly recommend going with Blackouts. I put these pickups in a Jackson SLATXMG3-7 that came with 707s. The Blackouts are leagues cleaner on the clean channel. Same margin of victory with distortion. Much fuller sounding eq, they're actually louder (the EMGs sounded really weak in comparison), and each note rings through much more clearly. Blackouts for maple/mahogany are by far the superior pickups