Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

[Lucy Diamond]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

I got myself a set of Black Winters after my previous good experience with the sentient/pegasus set, and also I love Amorphis and the Scandinavian metal sounds. After some time playing it in my Fender alder HH strat yesterday, I can say for sure they are the greatest sounding pickups that I've tried in that strat so far (I've tried a few and was ready to give up and sell the strat). Lucy was right in that they are fantastic on cleans and with distortions, great for me as i favor a more versatile sound. Very satisfying while playing on high gains, split sounded nice too. These pups sort of changed my usual preference for lower output pickups, and might be my favourite Duncan so far. Great job!

I'm really glad you like them AND you like the cleans.

Like most guitar players..especially the one's here, I play mostly heavy guitar driven music but when I was a kid I wasn't allow to play AT ALL unless I learned Jazz. So I was actually trained as a Jazz player initially and I'm a complete MENTAL PATIENT about my cleans and the Winters are amazing. I'm not sure if they were initially MEANT to be as good as they are for clean tone but whatever happened during the research and development, I'm glad it happened.

You will also find that on a high gain channel, you can get a great usable crunch by just lowering the volume on your guitar.

My mini 1 Watt Marshall heads LOVE these things.

[Sensates]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

I haven't heard mine split, so I'm curious about that sound. Do you think they sound more like a true single coil than other 'buckers, and are they noticeably brighter when split?

I do think these are closer to single coil sound as to many other buckers, and doesn't sound as thin. Still, I don't use it a lot, and are happy enough with the normal humbucker sound, they are bright and easily cut through the mix, just adjust volume to taste as Lucy mentioned. I have also tried to play with some Pink Floyds and blues stuff, the Black Winters are quite amazing for those as well. Still need to try it in a band setting..

[Lucy Diamond]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

By the way...for all the Hum Single Hum and Hum Single Single people out there.

Seymour Duncan people...if you are listening...we are going to need a Black Winter Single Coil pretty soon.

Full Moon Single Coil \m/,

[stevesmith1987]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

I got mine in today and got em in a 91 Gibson Explorer.

Now my main string of choice is Ernie Ball Cobalts, but after jamming with it for about half an hour I think those strings aren't a good fit for these pickups (I don't use em on single coils either.) Too much chaos and noise.

I'm going to put on a set of D'Addarios and report back.

Also i'll be trying these out in a band setting tonight, so i'll let everyone know how I feel about them with the full band.

[LonePhantom]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

My Black Winters arrived yesterday. Got a brief moment to install them, and shot a really quick rough demo. Never mind the playing, hopefully the sound is ok. This is in E Standard for those who had asked about what they sounded like in this tuning.

http://youtu.be/42tCYgGpA34

[Securb]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

I am doing a Black Winter review for my site this weekend, in standard E. I always take the pickup through every style possible so I will hit on blues, classic rock and of course death metal.

[stevesmith1987]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

Well I put on the D'Addario set and went to town. As suspected a regular set of strings fits these pickups much better than the cobalts.

The Neck pickup: Perfect for doom. It retains quite a bit of clarity while still sounding like a neck pickup.

The bridge pickup is palm mute city. This is possibly the chunkiest palm muting sound I've never heard. The clarity these pickups provide somewhat remind me of my Strat's SSL-1 while maintaining the beef and midrange of a humbucker.

It's so much different from my main pickups of choice (The JB/59 set or the Gibson 500T). It's like a different world.

Also a fun fact, I loaded up the clean channel on my Marshall JCM 2000. It's so powerful it naturally overdrives the clean channel. It's actually a very useful overdrive too, maybe not the best blues rock sound of all time but still nice.

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

Interesting. Now I'm beginning to wonder if those honky low mids I didn't like when they were in my Explorer weren't due to my Mesa or maybe my particular Explorer? Hmm.......

Is your Explorer full sized or a Pro with the smaller body?

[stevesmith1987]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

Interesting. Now I'm beginning to wonder if those honky low mids I didn't like when they were in my Explorer weren't due to my Mesa or maybe my particular Explorer? Hmm.......

Is your Explorer full sized or a Pro with the smaller body?

Full size. It's an older one. I imagine my Marshall handles the mids better than your Mesa? Maybe a combination of the two. When I bought it I tried a newer Explorer up against this one and it sounded completely different.

[LonePhantom]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

Well I put on the D'Addario set and went to town. As suspected a regular set of strings fits these pickups much better than the cobalts.

The Neck pickup: Perfect for doom. It retains quite a bit of clarity while still sounding like a neck pickup.

The bridge pickup is palm mute city. This is possibly the chunkiest palm muting sound I've never heard. The clarity these pickups provide somewhat remind me of my Strat's SSL-1 while maintaining the beef and midrange of a humbucker.

It's so much different from my main pickups of choice (The JB/59 set or the Gibson 500T). It's like a different world.

Also a fun fact, I loaded up the clean channel on my Marshall JCM 2000. It's so powerful it naturally overdrives the clean channel. It's actually a very useful overdrive too, maybe not the best blues rock sound of all time but still nice.

Yeah the quick go I had last night after installing showed similar results. The neck pickup is really clear, it's a great sounding neck pickup. It has a bit of single coil vibe going while still sounding like a humbucker. Reminds me of the Gravity Storm neck.

The bridge is really woody and percussive I found. Amazing for palm mutes and fast picking.

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

Full size. It's an older one. I imagine my Marshall handles the mids better than your Mesa? Maybe a combination of the two. When I bought it I tried a newer Explorer up against this one and it sounded completely different.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]47333[/ATTACH]

Yeah, the mids on my Mesa is definitely different than my JVM or the TSL I used to have. I haven't had the chance to try these pups through the JVM yet because it's torn apart right now to do some mods, but every time I plan to take the time to finish, something else comes up. lol

[Dahla]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

I keep jarring on the high end sizzle. It sounds good when chugging/riffing, but when I move up to the neck on the g, b and e string it sounds meh...!

A black winter with less sizzle would be perfect!

[LonePhantom]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

I keep jarring on the high end sizzle. It sounds good when chugging/riffing, but when I move up to the neck on the g, b and e string it sounds meh...!

A black winter with less sizzle would be perfect!

Are you playing in standard tuning, or a lower tuning? I did notice up the higher end of the fretboard that notes do get a little piercing and sizzly in E standard. It is brilliant for rhythm though.

[Dahla]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

Are you playing in standard tuning, or a lower tuning? I did notice up the higher end of the fretboard that notes do get a little piercing and sizzly in E standard. It is brilliant for rhythm though.

I play in D.

[Inder_Cine_Mann]

Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

I keep jarring on the high end sizzle. It sounds good when chugging/riffing, but when I move up to the neck on the g, b and e string it sounds meh...!

A black winter with less sizzle would be perfect!

What amp are you using?