Seymour Duncan vs. EMG

[uzunov_daniel]

Hi All,
I have LTD M100FM and want to do some upgrades on the pickups (bridge and neck as well). Currently the guitar has ESP LH-150 (B & N) pickups (passive).

First question is:
Passive or active pickups?
I’ve read that active is really good but induced some noise.

Second question is:
Passive pickups - EMG H4 or Seymour Duncan SH-16’59? Active pickups EMG-81 or Seymour Duncan AHB-2 (or Dimebucker SH-13)?

I love to play metal , I like fast and heavy riffs and also not complicate solos
Please advise which one is the best and where in Singapore I can order these pickups?
Thank you in advance and let’s ROCK :twisted:

 

[VidaK]

generally changing pick-ups are the last thing to do to adjust your sound.. what are your gears first?

 

[kenkwok]

Don't bother, just go for Bare Knuckles Pickups.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/archive/index.php?t-1345028.html

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=7030.0;wap2

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

@kenkwok: haha bro, he might not know about the bare knuckle trolling episode bro!

@OP: generally, actives are widely considered to have a more consistent tone across a wide range of guitars, while passives are more affected by the guitar in which they are placed in. however, for passives with very high output, they sort of retain more of their character also. well installed actives are dead silent, but quirks might occur when the 9v battery powering the active circuitry comes close to depletion.

but like vidak has said, changing pickups is the least economical way of improving your tone. if you're not happy with your current tone, especially distorted ones, then it's very unlikely your pickups are the prime suspects. perhaps you could list out what you use here?

 

[uzunov_daniel]

Thank you guys,
As I wrote before I’m having LTD M100FM with Boss-ME25 (back up Boss MT-2) and amp is Marshall MG 15.
Currently the sound is good, but want to make it better

 

[zesn]

Metal zone?
Don't bother changing, it'll sound the same.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

aiyo, MT-2 ah..

 

[uzunov_daniel]

Hi All,
Thanks for all recommendations.
A few weeks ago I bought ME-25 and found it really nice multiple guitar effect, from nice clean tone (with some delay) to heavy distortion tones . I love to play Pantera and think ME-25 can give me what I want :twisted:.
It seems I won’t change the pickups yet, because it won’t change the sound too much

 

[Godsmen]

If ya like pantera, than a heavy metal pedal ie DOD death metal with highput pu are you are ready to go man. Not forgetting your floyd rose ya haha :twisted:

 

[seeyoudownthere]

Just my opinion, your playing style will have an important effect on sound.
Don't feel changing kit will be the "be all & end all"

 

[mightyboy88]

I think the emg's or blackouts in general have lots of output, so if say you were using an overdrive pedal or boost pedal currently to "pre-boost" your main distortion channel in your me-25 you could probably not engage those pedals and have a similar amount of saturation

i think one important aspect of choosing pickups is to choose the right combination of neck and bridge pickups. Something that can give you great tone options on either neck or bridge pickups given the same settings on your other gears. It wouldnt be good to have pickup combi with a vastly mismatched output levels