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

[loversmoon]

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

not bad enough yet. I went with a dimarzio breed for the moment. However I am still very interested in this pup.

 

[Dahla]

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

No rush mate, I'm just blown away that you'd do this for me! I'm freakin out a bit:eyecrazy:

Ok Mr. Lord, I've done a little recording. The Marshall patch I had were a TSL with "Barry clover Mod". It's a little different with the gain staging, so I don't know if it's correct or not. At least it's an explorer with the BW's through a Marshall. I tried to think Slayer when I recorded this, but it's hard building a "song" in an hour. So it's a just jamming with myself, the drums are done fast and dirty using the Slayer preset in Superiour Drummer etc. You get the idea... :9:

I'd thought I'd throw in a solo at the end, but I dropped it... :dunno:

 

[Grindspine]

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

wonder what one of these bad boys would sound like in an alder strat?

I love how the distortion sounds in a maple neck/alder body guitar. I figure the black winter will respond similarly to those woods. In other words, it'll prolly sound great...

:angryfire

I am adding the angry fire face just because it should sound great, but also brutal and black metalish..

 

[Johnny the Kid]

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

No feedback so far. I believe they're wax potted.

 

[Dark Order Lord]

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

Ok Mr. Lord, I've done a little recording. The Marshall patch I had were a TSL with "Barry clover Mod". It's a little different with the gain staging, so I don't know if it's correct or not. At least it's an explorer with the BW's through a Marshall. I tried to think Slayer when I recorded this, but it's hard building a "song" in an hour. So it's a just jamming with myself, the drums are done fast and dirty using the Slayer preset in Superiour Drummer etc. You get the idea... :9:

I'd thought I'd throw in a solo at the end, but I dropped it... :dunno:

Cool dude thanks for that!!! My TSL has more attack than that, but heard the growl in the mids and I like like it alot! Thanks for going to all that trouble again!

 

[Evan Skopp]

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

We sent a set to one of the big "Metal Guitar Companies" to check out. Here's what they said:

We have tested the Black Winter set A/B’ing it with a JB/’59 set and a Custom Custom/Jazz set. It definitely has a unique voicing. The Neck pickup is the strong point of this set. It sounds so good it could be used for rhythm and lead. When clean the Neck really shines and chimes with low end as well. When dirty it blasts away with authority. It puts the ’59 and Jazz in its place for sure. We liked the clarity of the pickup no matter if the amp was cranked with distortion or nice and clean. The Bridge was a little uncontrollable with feedback not that it deterred us from crushing away at riffs. It has an aggressive tone that I can see why it is called the Black Winter. Maybe a little too aggressive for our liking but still an amazing pickup. Perfect for heavy rhythm. In all, they are a great set of pickups that are worthy of any metal guitar.

 

[Dark Order Lord]

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

We sent a set to one of the big "Metal Guitar Companies" to check out. Here's what they said:

Haha! I'm not surprized. I have a special trick that stops feedback on all my DD, PATB2 and my SD custom shop 'Tyrannotitan' humbuckers from feedbacking. I contruct and place a 'rubber foot' under the bridge humbucker. This means I can walk within a meter of my Marshall TSL and I get no pickup oscilation feedback.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

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

Well, today was payday and figured out how to juggle a couple bills to order a set. So I double checked to see if Musician's Friend started listing them on their site, but still couldn't find any BWs. So I went over to Zzounds.....and here's the annoying part. The page said that there was only one set left, so I went ahead and ordered it. I got an email confirming my order, but the site still says that there's 1 set left. :eek13: Lol.

So sooner or later I'll have a Black Winter set of my own........hopefully sooner. :eyecrazy:

 

[Lucy Diamond]

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

Greetings all,

I am new to the forum (long time lurker) and I was invited to join after a couple of posts on the Seymour Duncan Facebook page about my experience with the Black Winters.

Tech Specs:
Gibson Explorer Pro with all mahogany body.
CTS Pots wired Bridge Volume, Neck Volume and Neck Tone.
Jensen .022 Paper in oil Capacitor

Playing Experiences:

Clean - These pickups are beautifully snappy in all the right ways. Considering they were designed for the freaking Black Metal community, they are superb clean pickups. I played clean through the Green Channel of my Mesa Roadking and my Stiletto and everything I needed was there. They were funky, they were chimey, they were articulate as a pickup could be and I went from Gershwin's Summertime, to The Chilipepper's Higher Ground and then to The Ventures Surfin and Spying and they sounded great.

Getting Dirty - The yellow and orange channels of my Boogie LOVED these pickups. The Winters are responsive to the volume and tone controls and there is a particular....almost cocked wah presence that channels your inner Iommi. At this point, an overdrive is just gilding the lily but when I use my Maxon OD820 there is only minor amp hum. Man...everything just works.


This is why you came here - Ladies and Gentlemen, the Red Channel of the Mesa/ Boogie Roadking was BORN to sleep with Black Winters. Absolutely everything you can think of is "picked up". Single note runs are beautifully and musically searing with a usable top end that is not "ice pickish" Tremolo style speed picking on the low strings is so clear, it is like you are playing slow. Pick scrapes on the unwound strings become freakishly clear.

Overall, the Black Winters possess their own tone. People seem to want to compare them to Distortions, but distortions are much much cleaner and don't have the same completely dialed in tightness which to me makes them a different animal all together.

There is a purr underneath the distortion...almost like you are using a fuzz on 1 which adds to the crazyness and makes everything tighter and it is because of this that you can pretty much start using your overdrive as a doorstop especially at high volumes.

If anyone has any specific questions, please don't hesitate to pm me. I don't do any YouTube videos because they are seldom accurate.

So that is my big 1st post here.

Take care all.

Play on.

Never stop.

~LD

 

[Dark Order Lord]

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

We sent a set to one of the big "Metal Guitar Companies" to check out. Here's what they said:

Evan, could you get Scott Ian or Kerry king to try Black Winter bridge?????

 

[Dahla]

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

There is a purr underneath the distortion...almost like you are using a fuzz on 1 which adds to the crazyness and makes everything tighter and it is because of this that you can pretty much start using your overdrive as a doorstop especially at high volumes.

I agree, and it's totally awesome when it comes to riffage. But when playing on the higher strings, it's a little rough (especially the G string). There is no smoothness, good or bad as that may be.

 

[Lucy Diamond]

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

Okay,

TEST #2: The Mesa/ Boogie Blue Angel (4 EL84 mode + heavy reverb)

I can't get over the Swiss Army Knife Qualities of these pickups.

I rolled the volume off to about 7 and I get whatever clean, jazzy, funky, sexy, alluring, slutty, bell-like sound I want!?!?!

I've used an alnico 5 in my neck position for decades now and I can't get over how the triple ceramic magnet yields every clean sound that has been in my head but not quite there.

The Black Winters track cleans so tightly.

That's pretty much all I have to say today. I figured if any of my amps could find a flaw, it would be the Blue Angel.

More to come from the land of the BLACK WINTER.

~LD

 

[Edgecrusher]

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

TEST #2: The Mesa/ Boogie Blue Angel (4 6v6 mode + heavy reverb)



~LD

How did you get 4 6v6's in your Blue Angel? The one I used to have only had 2 with 4 EL84's

 

[Lucy Diamond]

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

How did you get 4 6v6's in your Blue Angel? The one I used to have only had 2 with 4 EL84's

It's quite a simple mod really. You just type in the wrong information and then there you have it. :naughty:

4 EL84's it is my friend. Thank you.

~LD


EDIT: For all other readers, it is important to realize that the point of my post was not about the tubes, but that I played these "Black Metal" pickups through a very bluesy and jazzy and extremely responsive amplifier and the Black Winters still sounded like they were home. If any amp (at least in my collection) is going to reveal an inherent $h!ttiness in a pickup, it is going to be The Blue Angel.

And my original post has been edited to show that I used 4 EL84's.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

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

It's quite a simple mod really. You just type in the wrong information and then there you have it. :naughty:

4 EL84's it is my friend. Thank you.

~LD


EDIT: For all other readers, it is important to realize that the point of my post was not about the tubes, but that I played these "Black Metal" pickups through a very bluesy and jazzy and extremely responsive amplifier and the Black Winters still sounded like they were home. If any amp (at least in my collection) is going to reveal an inherent $h!ttiness in a pickup, it is going to be The Blue Angel.

And my original post has been edited to show that I used 4 EL84's.

Hmm, sounds like my BW set is going to be a lot of fun in front of my Blues Jr with a dirt box pushing it.

 

[Lucy Diamond]

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

Hmm, sounds like my BW set is going to be a lot of fun in front of my Blues Jr with a dirt box pushing it.

No joke man,

I will try my set with my Champ tonight. It won't be exactly the same as your junior but I think the reaction to the pickups might be in the same zip code.

Now I'm psyched to get home and try this!!!

 

[vinta9e]

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

Well, you know uh, it just happens that we like to pigeonhole high output pickups into strictly metal applications.
It's nice to know you don't make it a dogma. :fing2:

 

[Gone_Shootin]

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

Well, you know uh, it just happens that we like to pigeonhole high output pickups into strictly metal applications.
It's nice to know you don't make it a dogma. :fing2:

There's no doubt pickups will surprise you. I used to run a Dimebucker in my Les Paul and it would twang like a mofo when split (my LP has push/pull volume pots).

 

[Lucy Diamond]

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

There's no doubt pickups will surprise you. I used to run a Dimebucker in my Les Paul and it would twang like a mofo when split (my LP has push/pull volume pots).

The original design for the Dimebucker is beyond sick. The L500XL is an amazing bridge pickup. (I've never used one in the neck.)

I fell asleep at a quarter to 8 last night, so I never got a chance to try out my Black Winter through the Fender Champ combination. :smash:


I'll get on it because I'm totally curious.

 

[Lucy Diamond]

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

BLACK WINTER SESSIONS: Part III: The Handwired Fender Champ

Eeep. Wow. Okay.

This is gonna be a little predictable to the vets and I had fun trying out this odd couple combination.

So here we have it, this week's ultimate freak on a leash pickup paired with a standby tone generator with decades of history.

Amp on high volume from 12 o'clock to max:
When the Winters were turned down about half way the amp was clean...not chimey at all...very full. It was usable but wouldn't be my first choice for a lot of things and I must say, The Cult's Edie intro sounded very nice with this pairing.

Whoa...when I cranked the Winter's volume, $h!t just got outta hand. :lmao: The Champ took on a whole "running on the ragged edge" dying Fuzz pedal vibe that was not 100% useful but still realy cool. Think High on Fire or Sleep. It needed some production to be REALLY good, and it is definitely something I will revisit. Let's put it this way; the intro to High on Fire's Snakes For the Divine was nasaly and lackluster but the riffing part sounded awesome so I would call the pairing of Cranked Black Winters into a cranked '57 Fender Champ a rhythm only pairing.
[Personal note: There are no longer any traces of dust on the amp]

AMP VOLUME AT 3:

Here we go!!! With the Winters cranked, I got a great (above standard) humbucker through a Fender tone that was very clean and reminded me of playing through my Blues Deluxe (which needs repair )

I got pretty good surf tones with the bridge pickup and everything else was a thick funk vibe when I needed it to be and the intro to Edie sounded better here.

Turning the volume on the pickups down at this point just made everything really quiet and excellent for practice and nothing really recordable.

Now, clearly, this is not an intended pairing. The Black Winters were most likely not designed with a 5watt hand wired '57 Champ in mind.
The purpose of this exercise was to force me out of this seemingly endless honeymoon phase I'm in with The Black Winters and it didn't work.
I STILL think these pickups can do anything and can be dialed in to sound good anywhere. (For the pedantic crowd, let's not get crazy...I'm not trying them with an acoustic amp :barf

I'm feeling a Marshall session coming on next.
My JCM 2000 needs new tubes and gets no sound whatsoever, so it is going to be the Winters and a 1988 2204 (JCM 800 50watt for the non-geeks)

See you next time.


~LD