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

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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.

gibsonexplorer.jpg
 
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.
 
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.

View attachment 47333

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
 
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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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!


Yeah man...are you referring to that...I dunno...FUZZ LIKE quality around the G-string area??

Kinda like you are using a fuzz face on 1 as a preamp and then going through your rig??

I don't know how to feel about that and I think we are talking about the same thing.

Sometimes it bugs me...other times I love the all out aggression of it all. I'm not sure what is going on there technically though.
 
Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

Yeah man...are you referring to that...I dunno...FUZZ LIKE quality around the G-string area??

Kinda like you are using a fuzz face on 1 as a preamp and then going through your rig??

I don't know how to feel about that and I think we are talking about the same thing.

Sometimes it bugs me...other times I love the all out aggression of it all. I'm not sure what is going on there technically though.

Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. Thanks for putting words on it.

I go back and forth on that too, depending on the mood. If it were a little smoother on top, but with the same crunch when chugging I would put the BWs in all my guitars.

But the cleans though, the cleans. Pure sex!
 
Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

Mesas need to be dialed with your eyes closed.

The bass starts where most amps end and the highs add gain.

Start with your mids around 12 o'clock and then adjust your highs and presence. Depending on what you are looking for, your bass should start at around 7 or 8 o'clock.

Also..if you have a rectifier, turn the master volume up to 12 o'clock and then adjust the volume of your various channels that way.
 
Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

I will say the Black Winter is one articulate S.O.B.

BXIqvkpIcAAqJmH.jpg


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

I can’t believe how articulate the Black Winter is. The tone is amazing great mids and the bass is piano like. The pickup takes to distortion beautifully, no matter how much gain I through at it the string separation is always clear. The touch response is out of this world. I am seriously thinking about ordering a covered version for my Les Paul Traditional.
 
Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

Mesas need to be dialed with your eyes closed.

The bass starts where most amps end and the highs add gain.

Start with your mids around 12 o'clock and then adjust your highs and presence. Depending on what you are looking for, your bass should start at around 7 or 8 o'clock.

Also..if you have a rectifier, turn the master volume up to 12 o'clock and then adjust the volume of your various channels that way.

That's how I dial my Recto in. One odd thing about it though, the presence control on the third channel works more like a second mid control than a normal presence control. I don't know if it's been modded or what.
 
Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

I will say the Black Winter is one articulate S.O.B.

BXIqvkpIcAAqJmH.jpg


BXI_NcUIIAAVHyy.jpg

I wish Dean still made those split tails. I have a black razor back but always wanted a Split tail with a floyd. Is it heavy for a mahogany body?
 
Re: Black Winter owner.... Feedback so far????

Is it heavy for a mahogany body?

It is surprisingly light, closer to a SGs feel than a Les Paul. Dean had to stop making these because Zack Wylde was under contract with Gibson when he had these built.
 
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