Passive or Active pickups?

[JosephVincent]

Go for some Dimarzios. In my experience Crunchlab and Liquifire are the best choice with DActivators in close second. I'm only experienced with the 6 string versions, though if the 7's are similar, this should be the case.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

passive are more natural sounding and EMG's just have loads of output

but the blackouts are a good choice, a bit of both i guess

The Blackouts have even more output then emgs.

 

[MetalBuddah]

My best recorded tones pretty much always come out of my guitars equipped with EMGs. So I am definitely going to have to go with actives. I can pretty much dial in any tone I need out of them. Honestly, it really just depends on your tonal preference and how much tweaking you want to do.

 

[MstrH]

I have awesome passives and actives. You don't have to pick just one. (easier to accomplish if you have more than one guitar!) But, I love me some EMGs. mmmm....crunchy

 

[SlaveUnit]

I was jus playing some Dactivators through my 5150 with a Rivera cab and v30s . Great pickup imo.

 

[The Only Factor]

Can you coil split the CL/LF? The 7320 has a 5 way that coil splits the Ibby pickups. So I might go passive, but I am hearing nothing but good reviews about the Blackouts. If I could coil split the Blackouts that would help. Plus I'll be tuning to drop G, so would the passives get muddy?

Yes, you can coil split the DiMarzios, with either the DA's or the CL/LF set. If you go with the DiMarzio's, just be sure you follow the digram posted above to wire them right. As for using the DA's or the CL/LF set with a G tuning, no issues with the DA's on that tuning so you should be fine.

However, I also think the EMTY Blackouts would be a good choice for such a low tuning. And I just inquired about a coil split-able set of Blackouts, and your looking at $450 EACH PICKUP!!! If you want more dynamics and versatility, then go with passives. But if you want sure-fire clarity for that tuning, I'd go the Phase 1 Blackouts, either the normal or the EMTY's.

 

[leftyguitarjoe]

I'm a passive guy. My Schecter 8 came with EMG's and I swapped them out for passives. Bareknuckle all the way man. My 8 string now sounds HUGE thanks to the Painkiller.