Black Winter set and Distortion/Jazz set, which goes where?

[DesolationBlvd]

I now have an ESP EX on the way, with a mismatched set of pickups (Black Winter neck, DiMarzio Dominion bridge) from a previous owner. As I was able to find the Black Winter bridge but not the Dominion neck, the decision was made for me and I've placed the order.

I posted on here almost seven years ago about my old Jackson Rhoads (Distortion/Jazz). The original Distortion had a bum coil, so I bought a replacement, which seemed to also have an issue. Too late for returns, I pieced together the good coil from each pickup and it works fine now. Since then, I dropped it to B.

At first, the obvious choice would be to put the Black Winter set into the Rhoads since it was designed to sound good with extreme tunings. The Distortion/Jazz would go into the EX, and since classic and hair metal is what I'm going for with it, can't go wrong with such a classic set. But the site says the Black Winter has a better mid response than the Distortion. That sounds like what I want in the EX, to help distinguish it sonically from my other Explorer-ish shaped guitar, a Jackson Kelly with Custom / '59, more scooped sounding. Meanwhile, the Distortion in the Rhoads has a coil split, and it gives glorious clean tones.

[Demanic]

Yes, do that.

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[Mincer]

The Distortion/Jazz is the one for hair metal. I'd start there, and unless you are curious enough to swap, keep them there and spend some time enjoying the sound of both guitars.

[DesolationBlvd]

OK, I'll be doing the swap. Here's hoping the Distortion/Jazz has enough lead to reach my EX's controls.

Curious how the Black Winter compares to the DiMarzio X2N, the other high-output pickup I'm familiar with (it's in my Les Paul).

[Mincer]

Thing is, the BW isn't crazy hot. it manages to do what it does while still having some dynamics there.

[weepingminotaur]

The Distortion/Jazz is the one for hair metal. I'd start there, and unless you are curious enough to swap, keep them there and spend some time enjoying the sound of both guitars.

Agreed, but I'll also opine that the Winters are fully capable of doing hair metal too. I have a set in a Les Paul and they can crank out Def Leppard tones with no problem.

[DesolationBlvd]

Agreed, but I'll also opine that the Winters are fully capable of doing hair metal too. I have a set in a Les Paul and they can crank out Def Leppard tones with no problem.

I guess the question I should have asked is "is the Black Winter set capable of doing non-extreme metal". That's the kind of response I've been looking for. It'd be much less work to just switch the bridge pickup in the EX, and the Distortion/Jazz has served me just fine in the Rhoads.

I guess the benchmark tones I have in my mind for classic / hair metal would be Screaming for Vengeance and Shout at the Devil.

[beaubrummels]

I'd use the Distortion for hair metal and the Black Winter for a wider variety of music. That's just my experience with both those. But it's hair-splitting (pardon the pun). Either can work for either. The Distortion sounds great as a humbucker and that's it IME. The BW can do more/different sounds by splitting coils and running coils in parallel. The Distortion just sounds the same louder or quieter no matter what I do.

[Mincer]

I guess the question I should have asked is "is the Black Winter set capable of doing non-extreme metal". That's the kind of response I've been looking for. It'd be much less work to just switch the bridge pickup in the EX, and the Distortion/Jazz has served me just fine in the Rhoads.

I guess the benchmark tones I have in my mind for classic / hair metal would be Screaming for Vengeance and Shout at the Devil.

Indeed, the BW are. They can do all sorts of stuff, not like the Distortion, which does 80-90s metal best.

[weepingminotaur]

I guess the question I should have asked is "is the Black Winter set capable of doing non-extreme metal". That's the kind of response I've been looking for. It'd be much less work to just switch the bridge pickup in the EX, and the Distortion/Jazz has served me just fine in the Rhoads.

I guess the benchmark tones I have in my mind for classic / hair metal would be Screaming for Vengeance and Shout at the Devil.

Yes, definitely. The Winters are some of the most versatile pickups I've tried. Sure, they can handle black metal no problem, since that's what they were designed for, but they can also cover a surprising array of genres, including hair metal, rock, blues, jazz, etc., especially if the guitar has coil-splitting. I think they'd handle your Judas Priest and Motley Crue needs just fine. The Winters will give you a lot of play just through the volume and tone knobs.