Finding the right balance for a 7-string neck position is usually a bit of a nightmare, but the Seymour Duncan MortalCoil Neck 7-String Active Mount finally stops the low-end mud from ruining your clarity.
Most active pickups fall into the trap of being either too sterile or too compressed, but this unit was built with a bit more soul. It’s designed for players who need their neck position to do more than just provide a liquid lead tone; it needs to actually behave itself when you're playing complex, fast-moving passages on those lower strings.
The engineering behind this pickup moves away from the old-school active tropes. Instead of just boosting a weak signal, Seymour Duncan used high-density copper coils and a fresh preamp design to ensure the transient response is immediate.
If you’ve ever felt like your pickup was struggling to keep up with your picking hand, this is the remedy. It gives you that surgical precision required for modern metal without making your guitar sound like a piece of clinical laboratory equipment.
Versatility is usually a marketing buzzword, but here it’s actually backed up by three distinct internal voicings. You aren't just getting one sound with a few EQ tweaks; you’re getting three legitimate personalities. The primary voice is all about that tight, aggressive modern attack that stays composed under heavy gain.
If you need to dial things back, the second voice taps into the heritage of the JB and Jazz set, giving you that familiar passive warmth and sag that’s been the industry standard for decades. Finally, the third voice delivers a single-coil snap that is actually usable, providing enough output to ensure your cleans don't vanish the moment you switch over.
Because it uses an active mount, it’s a straightforward swap for most existing active setups. It’s a sophisticated upgrade for anyone tired of the "one-size-fits-all" approach to active electronics. You get the headroom and low noise of an active system, but with the character and nuance usually reserved for high-end passive boutique builds.
- Neck humbucker pickup
- Designed for 7-string guitars
- Active mount
- Modern metal, JB/Jazz Passive, and Articulate Single-Coil voices
- Optimised resistance coils with advanced audio op-amps