| We should ship the first load by November 1st, but that's not a promise. We still have some final manufacturing tooling to make, etc. 7DT-I don't know when they'll hit the UK but our distrubutor will have them ASAP.
While it won't hurt the Blackouts, the 18 volt mod is very much not necessary. The way we're using our differential preamp is like having twice the dynamic range per coil. Now, forget for a moment that our coils and preamp topology is purely "Duncan" and just compare that part of the equation. The 18-volt mod on the EMG's doesn't produce the same result to the dynamic range. It increases the clean headroom by juicing up the components, but running the differential preamp with balanced inputs does far more (IMHO) to increase dynamic range and preserve transients.
One of the things I've been saying all along is that if you like what the 18 volt mod does to EMG's, then you should love the Blackouts at 9-volts. For those of you who haven't tried the EMG's with 18 volts, you should be flat-out blown away by the Blackouts, just like Dino, Mick, Alexi, and all the other artist who have made the switch.
It's like Hi-Def TV. I'm not that into TV so I don't really care. But when you show me HD next to my old tube television, the difference is undeniable. The EMG's aren't bad pickups. They have made and to this day are making very successful and great sounding albums and live concerts. And with 18 volts they're even better. But I'm sticking with Blackouts. |