Wise to put emg's in Dean Vendetta XM?

[rovertnamrod]

I'm on a budget, and the vendetta xm seems seems like a very cheap guitar for metal. i know it has paulownia wood- is it good to put active pickups in it, such as emg 81, 85, 60, or blackouts? how is the paulownia wood tonally compared to other woods? would it be better to put emg's or blackouts in it? is this even a good idea?

 

[MistaSnowman]

For the most part, unlike passives, actives work independent of the tone woods; meaning the pickups would sound the same regardless of the wood. However, from the pics I've seen, the guitar comes with stock passive pickups. If you plan on switching out passives for actives, you may be incurring a cost which may be more than the guitar itself. For example, a set of Blackouts, by itself, retails for $179.99 not including installation (another $80-$100).

 

[Bower1]

It is not worth it to buy a cheap guitar to put in expensive pickups. I suggest that you learn how to install pickups yourself because you will save money in the long run and learn something useful at the same time.

I guess it is really up to you but you might as well just spend the extra money and get a guitar with better pickups.

 

[purpledc]

and if your going to put actives in I have to tell you some of the cheaper sets fucking rule. Ive owned and used EMG 81, 85, 85X, 81X, and blackouts. Ive also used cheaper look alikes. Including dragonfire and Mighty mite C4. Of all of them my favorites without a doubt are the Mighty mite C4 actives. They are very articulate and fat sounding. They are anything but thin. I actually just picked up another Chrome set off of fleabay. Its awesome when you can spend half the money and get twice the tone.

 

[rovertnamrod]

thx for the replies everyone. i'm intrigued by the cheaper look alikes. i've never heard of mighty mights before so i was wondering how they sound compared to emgs or blackouts. also ive heard bad reviews of dragonfires when compared to emgs and blackouts. i do think wood type does play a factor though even with active pickups mistasnowman. i was also wondering how emg x series stacks up to regular emgs and blackouts tonally.