How can $200 pickups sound like shit?!?!?!?

[EchelonEngineering]

I traded for a guitar (Jackson Dinky Professional series) recently that has these Seymour Duncan AHB-3 Mick Thomson Blackout Pickups and they absolutely sound awful to my ear! They sound thin and lifeless .... I tried every possible way to set my amp (JSX) and guitar (standard tuning) still the guitar lacks bottom end like a mofo! I am at my wits end because they're super expensive and the reviews say that they sound great/ 5 out of 5 stars. help!

 

[hellaboogie]

what's good for some may not be so good for others

 

[EchelonEngineering]

I suppose...anyone want to buy these? lol

 

[noob_pwn]

you sure you got them wired right? fresh battery etc?

 

[bigangryguitar]

Well they shouldn't sound that bad so I agree they might have a bad battery\wiring issue. But, Mick tunes down very low so they might have some low end cut to compensate for the bigger strings\extra low end from those tunings. Pickups are a crap shoot as they will sound very different in different guitars, with different amps, etc.

 

[EchelonEngineering]

Fresh battery yes. Wired right may be another story since I got the guitar with these pickups already installed. I guess that would be the next logical thing to check. The output volume is good (they are loud), but they sound very thin, lifeless, and lack bottom end when they're advertised as the "answer" to pickups that lack bottom end!

@bigangryguitar - I hear you as far as the crap shoot....i've had really cheap inexpensive pickups sound absolutely awesome and super expensive name brand pickups sound worse than shitty.

 

[rupe]

Have you tried to dial your amp in to account for the issues that your hearing? All too often people want to use the settings that their comfortable with thinking that they should work with any guitar/pickup/pedal/etc, which is frequently not the case.

 

[chunkomatic]

mick also puts those pickups as close as possible to the strings. he runs a .70 for his low E and there is absolutely no flub or slack in that string. i've strung my baritone up the same and tune to drop B. the low E is like a goddamn cable saw. i don't see how he makes it through a show on that set.

i like tight, heavy strings and all, but i can only play a set that big for around an hour before my fingers say "fuck this!"

 

[primerib]

I wonder if they are like the Blackouts Metal pickups. absolutely hated those pieces of poo

 

[EchelonEngineering]

I wonder if they are like the Blackouts Metal pickups. absolutely hated those pieces of poo

What were the reasons you didn't like the blackout pickups?

 

[moltenmetalburn]

I wonder if they are like the Blackouts Metal pickups. absolutely hated those pieces of poo

Plus one, but I've also grown to hate Emg as well.

 

[polaris20]

I traded for a guitar (Jackson Dinky Professional series) recently that has these Seymour Duncan AHB-3 Mick Thomson Blackout Pickups and they absolutely sound awful to my ear! They sound thin and lifeless .... I tried every possible way to set my amp (JSX) and guitar (standard tuning) still the guitar lacks bottom end like a mofo! I am at my wits end because they're super expensive and the reviews say that they sound great/ 5 out of 5 stars. help!

First, they're not "super expensive". $200 for a set is pretty reasonable, when you compare it to Bareknuckles, for instance. Second, the JSX sucks with actives, IMO. I had a Schecter with a BO's and an Ibby with EMG's, and they both sounded like arse through my old JSX. Through a Mesa F-50, they both sounded great.

 

[EchelonEngineering]

I traded for a guitar (Jackson Dinky Professional series) recently that has these Seymour Duncan AHB-3 Mick Thomson Blackout Pickups and they absolutely sound awful to my ear! They sound thin and lifeless .... I tried every possible way to set my amp (JSX) and guitar (standard tuning) still the guitar lacks bottom end like a mofo! I am at my wits end because they're super expensive and the reviews say that they sound great/ 5 out of 5 stars. help!

First, they're not "super expensive". $200 for a set is pretty reasonable, when you compare it to Bareknuckles, for instance. Second, the JSX sucks with actives, IMO. I had a Schecter with a BO's and an Ibby with EMG's, and they both sounded like arse through my old JSX. Through a Mesa F-50, they both sounded great.

Truthfully, $200 is way more than I would spend on pickups especially cause I mainly get my stuff 2nd hand (plus I'm poor folks right now). 2nd, I'm not a fan of EMG pickups but they sounded okay through my JSX. As for Mesa, they sound like ass anyway (imo). Never liked Mesa...very dry and stale sounding. That's why I mainly play fenders and marshalls but liked this JSX for some reason.

 

[Rushtallica]

I traded for a guitar (Jackson Dinky Professional series) recently that has these Seymour Duncan AHB-3 Mick Thomson Blackout Pickups and they absolutely sound awful to my ear! They sound thin and lifeless .... I tried every possible way to set my amp (JSX) and guitar (standard tuning) still the guitar lacks bottom end like a mofo! I am at my wits end because they're super expensive and the reviews say that they sound great/ 5 out of 5 stars. help!

I noticed the Peavey Ultra Plus I used to have sounded funky with active EMG's as compared to running the same guitar/pickups through other amps. I don't know about those Blackouts but wonder if it might make a difference which amp you're playing them through.

 

[Badronald]

User error?

 

[MYLILSS]

i run a set of the mick thompson blackouts in my dean soltero, and i run them through my jsx. i have absolutely no issues with bottom end. it is very tight and punchy, but the mick thompson versions have more bottom end than the regular blackouts which have a decent amount. i would look over all your connections and like previously mentioned check the battery. something must not be right

 

[Mark Day]

Tons of bottom with the AHB3's.

Mark

 

[polaris20]

I traded for a guitar (Jackson Dinky Professional series) recently that has these Seymour Duncan AHB-3 Mick Thomson Blackout Pickups and they absolutely sound awful to my ear! They sound thin and lifeless .... I tried every possible way to set my amp (JSX) and guitar (standard tuning) still the guitar lacks bottom end like a mofo! I am at my wits end because they're super expensive and the reviews say that they sound great/ 5 out of 5 stars. help!

First, they're not "super expensive". $200 for a set is pretty reasonable, when you compare it to Bareknuckles, for instance. Second, the JSX sucks with actives, IMO. I had a Schecter with a BO's and an Ibby with EMG's, and they both sounded like arse through my old JSX. Through a Mesa F-50, they both sounded great.

Truthfully, $200 is way more than I would spend on pickups especially cause I mainly get my stuff 2nd hand (plus I'm poor folks right now). 2nd, I'm not a fan of EMG pickups but they sounded okay through my JSX. As for Mesa, they sound like ass anyway (imo). Never liked Mesa...very dry and stale sounding. That's why I mainly play fenders and marshalls but liked this JSX for some reason.

That's interesting. I sold my JSX because it was too sterile/lifeless in comparison to my DC-5.

 

[EchelonEngineering]

I traded for a guitar (Jackson Dinky Professional series) recently that has these Seymour Duncan AHB-3 Mick Thomson Blackout Pickups and they absolutely sound awful to my ear! They sound thin and lifeless .... I tried every possible way to set my amp (JSX) and guitar (standard tuning) still the guitar lacks bottom end like a mofo! I am at my wits end because they're super expensive and the reviews say that they sound great/ 5 out of 5 stars. help!

First, they're not "super expensive". $200 for a set is pretty reasonable, when you compare it to Bareknuckles, for instance. Second, the JSX sucks with actives, IMO. I had a Schecter with a BO's and an Ibby with EMG's, and they both sounded like arse through my old JSX. Through a Mesa F-50, they both sounded great.

Truthfully, $200 is way more than I would spend on pickups especially cause I mainly get my stuff 2nd hand (plus I'm poor folks right now). 2nd, I'm not a fan of EMG pickups but they sounded okay through my JSX. As for Mesa, they sound like ass anyway (imo). Never liked Mesa...very dry and stale sounding. That's why I mainly play fenders and marshalls but liked this JSX for some reason.

That's interesting. I sold my JSX because it was too sterile/lifeless in comparison to my DC-5.

different strokes for different folks I suppose.

 

[EchelonEngineering]

Tons of bottom with the AHB3's.

Mark

Standard Tuning??