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

[weepingminotaur]

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

Yea that's my thought, too. And for some reason I just can't bring myself to have matching sets of anything installed in a guitar, I guess all in the name of "versatility."
I was actually thinking of trying: Black Winter bridge, w/Sentient neck, and/or; Nazgul bridge w/Black Winter neck.

LOL, dude, I'm the same. No matter how much I like a pickup, I can't match sets on any new guitar. Or even pickups, for that matter! Next guitar I buy will not have BWs, Nazgul, or Sentient, for that reason. I like to try different things.

[bldrst]

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

I'm settling in on a set of BW's and try them first in my GLPC then my RR1.

[Gone_Shootin]

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

I highly doubt the '59-N could keep up with the BW-B.

Probably not, but the '59 bridge is in the Dime set for the neck position and it keeps up with a Dimebucker just fine. That's the setup I have in one of my Ibanez RGs. And the Dimebuckers is in the same heat range as the BW, although the Dime is quite a bit more scooped, as I'm sure you know.

If I were to put something else with my BW bridge, I'd probably try a Screamin' Demon in the neck.

[weepingminotaur]

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

Yeah, it's me, the guy who keeps bumping this venerable thread up to the top of the forum.

For context, I have the Winters installed in an Epiphone Les Paul Standard PlusTop Pro -- mahogany body and neck, rosewood fretboard, TOM bridge. I've been getting great blues tones out of both neck and bridge, just dialing straight into the crunch channel on my Marshall and playing around with EQ/gain/tone.

Recently, I've been trying to see whether I can get a credible Hysteria-era Def Leppard tone with the Winters. Happy to report success on that front. Running the LP in bridge position into my old Zoom pedal with long chorus, delay, compression, amp-side reverb, and gain, I'm getting quite close to that chewy fat sound that Collen and Clark had all over Hysteria. Played "Gods of War" this week and it sounded boss -- clear, bright, and articulate for the leads and fills, crunchy midrange goodness for the riffing.

Next up: gonna roll back the tone and try to get some jazz cleans out of the neck and middle positions. So far, there is no sound I want that the Winters haven't been able to achieve. I just want to play this guitar all day long.

[Francois]

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

Sorry I could not read the 29 pages, I tried but it is too much. I have two questions related to the Black Winters set.

Question 1 : Anybody has tried the BW with an Ash body & Maple neck ?
Did it sounds nice ? (I do not need to hear it "too bright" )
(It seems most used it with Mahogany)

Question 2 : Does the split BW sound nice with a fuzz (let say a FF style fuzz Si or Ge) ?
Anyone played with a fuzz + BW ?

The questions are for the next guitar, no hurry.
I Am I aiming at a wall of sound with beautiful harmonics...

[Gone_Shootin]

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

Sorry I could not read the 29 pages, I tried but it is too much. I have two questions related to the Black Winters set.

Question 1 : Anybody has tried the BW with an Ash body & Maple neck ?
Did it sounds nice ? (I do not need to hear it "too bright" )
(It seems most used it with Mahogany)

Question 2 : Does the split BW sound nice with a fuzz (let say a FF style fuzz Si or Ge) ?
Anyone played with a fuzz + BW ?

The questions are for the next guitar, no hurry.
I Am I aiming at a wall of sound with beautiful harmonics...

I've never tried them in Ash, but if you can find a demo of a Schecter Keith Merrow that has the Blackened Black Winters in it (some versions came that way before he switched to Fishman), that'll give you an idea.

Myself, I've had mine in several guitars, and I can say that they will let you know if there are any quirks in your guitar's tone. And if they're too bright for you, you can just try some 300k or 250k pots. And they sound great when split. I don't know how they do with a fuzz, but they have a very convincing single coil like sound.

[bldrst]

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

I recently got a pair of Black Winters in my RR1 (Rhoads V) and so far I like the high output of the bridge. Previously I had done a mag swap using a Ceramic from a DD into the stock JB that was ok but not hot enough for my taste. Seems to have more drive and yet more clarity, less saturation and more articulation. This guitar tends to sound a bit trebly and less woody than a strat shape body. The BW trembucker is giving up some attitude with picking articulation and fast legato runs remain legible. I'm playing through a high gain amp so I'm not expecting a lot of crystal clean. I've noticed a faint hint of hair on the highs that will probably add to definition when layered tracks compete in a mix, don't know yet. I'm going to be getting in some more playing at decent volume in the few days so that should provide me with more thoughts re the overall tone and dynamics. So far so good.

[weepingminotaur]

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

Question for fellow Winter aficionados: in millimeters, what's your pickup height, neck and bridge, and bass vs. treble? Just did a very rough measurement today.

Bridge bass: just under 2 mm
Bridge treble: ~ 2 mm

Neck bass: ~ 4 mm
Neck treble: under 4 mm

A couple things. I'm noticing that there's a bit too much bass when I'm on the BW bridge, and so I wonder if I shouldn't get the height reduced on the bass side to about 3 mm (I think the treble is fine, though maybe I should go even closer to the strings?). Neck side, I'd like things to be a bit warmer and hotter, so I'm thinking 2.4 mm for the bass and 3 mm for the treble.

So tell me your pickup heights! I'm really curious to see the spread.

[SGFanatic]

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

Question for fellow Winter aficionados: in millimeters, what's your pickup height, neck and bridge, and bass vs. treble? Just did a very rough measurement today.

Bridge bass: just under 2 mm
Bridge treble: ~ 2 mm

Neck bass: ~ 4 mm
Neck treble: under 4 mm

A couple things. I'm noticing that there's a bit too much bass when I'm on the BW bridge, and so I wonder if I shouldn't get the height reduced on the bass side to about 3 mm (I think the treble is fine, though maybe I should go even closer to the strings?). Neck side, I'd like things to be a bit warmer and hotter, so I'm thinking 2.4 mm for the bass and 3 mm for the treble.

So tell me your pickup heights! I'm really curious to see the spread.

What I do is: at the setting I normally play at (distortion, bass, mids and treble) at a decently loud volume, I pluck the low string on my guitar (or if you can use headphones, that's cool too) Starting with the pickup close to the body, I raise it until I hear the bass response "flub out" or become too present, then back the pickup off some. Don't be afraid to roll off some of the low end on your amp...if you do that, and then find it to be dry or a little lo-fi; dial back some mid range and increase the treble.

[Sensates]

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

Just to report,

Black Winter bridge sounds mighty awesome on a basswood body Sterling JP60 as well.

Only an occasional high gain player and being not really a Petrucci fan, the BW provides superb versatile tones from bright funky tunes tosinging prog rock leads, to nasty black metal stuff. I'm usually a single coil guy and i love this pickup.

[Lucy Diamond]

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

I'm actually thinking of putting a set of Black Winters in a strat.

Can anybody suggest a middle pickup for the "super strat" thing?

I was thinking Antiquity surf Reverse wound.

[Mincer]

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

I'm actually thinking of putting a set of Black Winters in a strat.

Can anybody suggest a middle pickup for the "super strat" thing?

I was thinking Antiquity surf Reverse wound.

This depends on what you want from a middle pickup. Do you want a similar EQ? Is hum-cancelling important? Do you want the volume to be the same across pickups?

[Lucy Diamond]

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

I'm thinking Duckbucker.

[Mincer]

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

The Duckbucker will be quieter than the BW. That is OK, as long as you expect it. For something that balances more, volume-wise, look at the Classic Stack Plus.

[Kreator]

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

Question for fellow Winter aficionados: in millimeters, what's your pickup height, neck and bridge, and bass vs. treble? Just did a very rough measurement today.

Bridge bass: just under 2 mm
Bridge treble: ~ 2 mm

Neck bass: ~ 4 mm
Neck treble: under 4 mm

A couple things. I'm noticing that there's a bit too much bass when I'm on the BW bridge, and so I wonder if I shouldn't get the height reduced on the bass side to about 3 mm (I think the treble is fine, though maybe I should go even closer to the strings?). Neck side, I'd like things to be a bit warmer and hotter, so I'm thinking 2.4 mm for the bass and 3 mm for the treble.

So tell me your pickup heights! I'm really curious to see the spread.

Greetings, it sounds like your bridge pickup may be too close to the strings.

My guitars are all equipped with the Black Winter in the bridge position and strictly set up for D# Standard strung with D'Addario EXL 115 strings.

Bridge Bass: 3.5 mm (Unfretted) 3.25 mm (Fretted at the 22/24)
Bridge Treble: 2.75 mm (Unfretted) 2.5 mm (Fretted at the 22/24)