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

[Rex_Rocker]

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

I didn't think the neck pickup was overpowering when I had Black Winters. Honestly, I kinda miss them. But anyway, I think the neck pickup had just the right amount of output to balance with such a high-output beast that the BW-B was. Definitely a good alternative to the usual '59/Jazz low output options. The split tones are really nice too. My favorite passive pickup set.

[Van Noord]

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

I have a second BW bridge sitting in a drawer and I'd really like to get the matching neck for it. But then I'd have to get another guitar to put them in LOL! Which I don't really need.

[bldrst]

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

I just came back around to the Black Winter bridge in my #1 Rhoads, as well. Not sure why it ever left!

The pickup is so dang clear and punchy, with a great midrange aggression, nice bite and incredible harmonics everywhere, yet it's surprisingly controllable for being such a hot pickup. It has all the versatility of the Distortion (I have one in another guitar) with something "more" overall. For all styles progressive to thrash to '80s rock, I just love it!

My next move is to wire it for coil splitting, because that really adds to the versatility of it in my experience.

That's my next move for the neck pickup, might give me the volume drop I'm after too - everybody raves about doing that for the neck especially. Likely add a mini switch or two and have a custom pickguard made without the tone pot (which I never use anyway) to give me some room on there to move the knobs away from the main volume knob.

Only thing left for me to try on this one is the Invader, but pretty happy overall, I like to get a guitar settled and leave it alone forever, just enjoy playing it and changing strings.

As a side note, I just got a Loomis 7 string with active pickups, I'm digging the active thing a lot more than I thought I would, so I may get around to trying some actives in my RR1 some day.

[bldrst]

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

I didn't think the neck pickup was overpowering when I had Black Winters. Honestly, I kinda miss them. But anyway, I think the neck pickup had just the right amount of output to balance with such a high-output beast that the BW-B was. Definitely a good alternative to the usual '59/Jazz low output options. The split tones are really nice too. My favorite passive pickup set.

Was that pairing in a RR1 by any chance? I haven't tried the set in any other guitars yet, curious about the response in a strat shape body, or anything besides a Rhoads V.

[Rex_Rocker]

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

Was that pairing in a RR1 by any chance? I haven't tried the set in any other guitars yet, curious about the response in a strat shape body, or anything besides a Rhoads V.

Nope. I've had the Black Winter set in a PRS SE singlecut with a thick mahogany body and neck and an LTD EC-401. Both very different-sounding guitars, though. It was stellar on both. My friend has the set in an Ibanez RGA Prestige I traded him, and he really likes it, though.

I personally hate to have a volume drop between the bridge and neck positions, but if you coil tap the neck, it's easily attainable. Hell, I think it's attainable even when both in humbucker mode. Just lower the neck a little. I did have the bridge pickup running on a 250K volume pot and the neck on 500K. No tone. It was great. Like I said, I wish I had more guitars to have the Black Winters in.

[weepingminotaur]

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

I didn't think the neck pickup was overpowering when I had Black Winters. Honestly, I kinda miss them. But anyway, I think the neck pickup had just the right amount of output to balance with such a high-output beast that the BW-B was. Definitely a good alternative to the usual '59/Jazz low output options. The split tones are really nice too. My favorite passive pickup set.

The Winters split like absolute beasts IMO. Both bridge and neck. So, so sweet. They play really nicely out of the middle position too. I have this weird thing going with the Winters in my Epi Les Paul. They are so good at non-metal sounds that I often have to remind myself to dial up the gain and play the Megadeth or whatever.

[Iron1]

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

Finally, FINALLY, got a Black Winter bridge and put it in my 91 Ibanez S540LTD (mahogany body). At first go, I wasn't sure I liked it, but after knob tweaking I started to like it, then when comparing to my other guitars/pups, the ice pick came thru...

A buddy is recommending I lower the BW to get rid of that annoying high end, which I'm going to try, but I figured I'd come here and ask the experts. For a baseline, I play primarily old school extreme metal with some weird stuff thrown in (think early-Voi Vod). I've had an IBZ-USA (tone zone clone), Invader and Super Distortion in this guitar before and liked the Invader the best, but it didn't sit well in a mix with my other guitars - hence looking for a replacement.

One of my other guitars is a Soloist with DDs in it, and I like that tone much better. My other 6-string is a KM6 with Schecter Apocalypse pups. My 7s: an LTD H7 with a custom/59 set (my fav) and a Jackson (heavily customized) JS22-7 with a set of Dimarzio Imperiums (my second fave).

[Masta' C]

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

The BW bridge has some bite for sure. That said, you came from relatively warm pickups with somewhat subdued top ends to the BW, so I'm not surprised you're seeing a strong contrast, especially in an S-series guitar.

I will say that it is worth spending some time tweaking the pickup height and even adjusting the pole pieces some. That's what they are there for. If you just made the swap, I say give it a few days to get used to the new sound. However, if you find it's still too much after a week or two, consider swapping the DD and BW around between your guitars, you might really like the results.

Or, it may be that this particular guitar simply benefits from a warmer pickup all around and that you need something with thicker or slightly rolled-off highs.

[Iron1]

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

The BW bridge has some bite for sure. That said, you came from relatively warm pickups with somewhat subdued top ends to the BW, so I'm not surprised you're seeing a strong contrast, especially in an S-series guitar.

I will say that it is worth spending some time tweaking the pickup height and even adjusting the pole pieces some. That's what they are there for. If you just made the swap, I say give it a few days to get used to the new sound. However, if you find it's still too much after a week or two, consider swapping the DD and BW around between your guitars, you might really like the results.

Or, it may be that this particular guitar simply benefits from a warmer pickup all around and that you need something with thicker or slightly rolled-off highs.

Thanks for the info. I'll keep trying for a bit, but don't see myself swapping the Distortion (I'm selling the guitar it's in... ha). Any other recommendations for pickups?

[Rex_Rocker]

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

I used to run my BW bridge through a 250K volume pot and the BW neck through a 500K pot. No tone. That balanced the set quite nicely. Try it. It might do what you want.

I feel the BW's "brightness" is more "in-your-face", meaning it's more about the high mids rather than the DD's brightness, which is more sizzly and placed higher up. The BW was also slightly leaner (and tighter/faster) in the low-end than the DD, thus pushing its bite further. I've never thought the BW was brighter per se than the DD, but it is definitely more "up-front" and aggressive.

[Iron1]

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

I used to run my BW bridge through a 250K volume pot and the BW neck through a 500K pot. No tone. That balanced the set quite nicely. Try it. It might do what you want.

I'd had the thought of pot swapping... I'll mess with height and all that first, though.

[NeglectedField]

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

I'm glad there's already a thread on this. I have a Schecter KM-6 (mk.1) with 'Blackened' BW's in - not that I know what's different about them to regular BWs. It's a swamp ash body, maple neck, ebony fretboard. While I like the tightness and aggression. (of the bridge pickup at least), I am finding it incredibly brash with a noticeably 'vowelled' sound, like a cocked wah. It's like a nannnggg sound. Not to mention that it's a bit 'much' as a neck pickup where something alnico would be more tasteful. I'm doing my best to appreciate I've come from using a basswood Ibanez RG321 with a (ceramic) BKP Warpig to something much brighter again.

Is this to do with the body wood, the pots or perhaps some specific high-mid frequency that these 'Blackened' BWs have? Someone on another forum suggested swapping the allen-style polepieces for regular flathead screw types but I'm not sure if that's going to make a noticeable difference or if I risk damaging the pickup.

I really liked the DD I had in my Ibanez S320 and how surprisingly all-round it was, not to mention a very useable metal pickup. Then again that was in a mahogany body.

So what do you reckon, do you think the DD is a viable alternative to the BW, even in a bright tonewood, perhaps paired with the 59 in the neck? Or some other combo, or even a mod to my existing BWs (or pots/circuitry) to ameliorate the aforementioned harshness?

[Masta' C]

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

You can safely swap the hex poles with regular screw poles without issue. In fact, I'd highly recommend this modification on the "Blackened" model, as you can swap out both rows of hex poles for the screw poles, similar to the Allan Holdsworth model or Suhr DSH/DSH+ design. That will round out the tone slightly and smooth things out noticeably. Definitely helps with any "harshness".

The other thing that isn't mentioned is mag-swapping the Black Winter, because most prefer the BW as-is. However, there's a lot of potential in a low-cost mag-swap and an Alnico option could remedy some of the other issues being reported.

[NeglectedField]

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

You can safely swap the hex poles with regular screw poles without issue. In fact, I'd highly recommend this modification on the "Blackened" model, as you can swap out both rows of hex poles for the screw poles, similar to the Allan Holdsworth model or Suhr DSH/DSH+ design. That will round out the tone slightly and smooth things out noticeably. Definitely helps with any "harshness".

The other thing that isn't mentioned is mag-swapping the Black Winter, because most prefer the BW as-is. However, there's a lot of potential in a low-cost mag-swap and an Alnico option could remedy some of the other issues being reported.

Are said screws okay just to grab from eBay? Are they fairly uniform in length and thread? Will these be okay, for example? https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/39036444567...SABEgJAavD_BwE

[Iron1]

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

I'm glad there's already a thread on this. I have a Schecter KM-6 (mk.1) with 'Blackened' BW's in - not that I know what's different about them to regular BWs. It's a swamp ash body, maple neck, ebony fretboard. While I like the tightness and aggression. (of the bridge pickup at least), I am finding it incredibly brash with a noticeably 'vowelled' sound, like a cocked wah. It's like a nannnggg sound. Not to mention that it's a bit 'much' as a neck pickup where something alnico would be more tasteful. I'm doing my best to appreciate I've come from using a basswood Ibanez RG321 with a (ceramic) BKP Warpig to something much brighter again.

Is this to do with the body wood, the pots or perhaps some specific high-mid frequency that these 'Blackened' BWs have? Someone on another forum suggested swapping the allen-style polepieces for regular flathead screw types but I'm not sure if that's going to make a noticeable difference or if I risk damaging the pickup.

I really liked the DD I had in my Ibanez S320 and how surprisingly all-round it was, not to mention a very useable metal pickup. Then again that was in a mahogany body.

So what do you reckon, do you think the DD is a viable alternative to the BW, even in a bright tonewood, perhaps paired with the 59 in the neck? Or some other combo, or even a mod to my existing BWs (or pots/circuitry) to ameliorate the aforementioned harshness?

FWIW, my KM6 has Apocalypse pups in it and they sound incredible. The S540 that has the BW is mahogany. I'm not overly sure the wood makes nearly much difference as the pups, as my KM6 had Titans in it when I first got it and they were much darker/muddier than the Apocs. The same with the BW, the S540 has had otehr pups that don't have that bright/harsh/ice pickey thing the BW has.

As an update, I did lower the BW and re-tool the amp/pedal settings a fair bit and got a tone I like, but probably not enough to merit keeping it. Will probably replace it with a Fortitude or Elysian Trident II or some such...