Black Winter question...

[BloodRose]

Yes, I HAVE read the 27 page thread on them and see the love and has my curiosity peaked..

Very few posts in that thread list what guitar/amp combo they use the Black Winters in. That is my question.
What guitar and amp are you running?

Im pretty satisfied with most of my guitars. There are a couple I may be curious to try a swap, but cant really afford to buy pickups unless Im pretty confident I can use them. (My Explorer is one )

Thank you!

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Black Winter question...

All mahogany body & neck Korean LTD Viper 301.

High gain madness through either a JVM/5150III/XXX/JSX/MT15 head, whichever strikes my mood that day/week.

 

[EmiAba]

Re: Black Winter question...

My Km-6 comes with a blackened black winter set as stock pickups. they are pretty different from the aftermarket ones, because customized as per Merrow requests. they have two allen screws rows instead of original slugs and screws like the full shred and a couple of cosmetic differences. I play them through an orange dark terror

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Black Winter question...

First off, don't put them in your Explorer unless you like that half cocked wah sound constantly going on. Personally, it irritates me. Brings out tubby low mids. So needless to say, they didn't stay in my Explorer.

That said, I've had mine in some other guitars and they sounded great with my BW set. Epiphone Les Paul Custom, Jackson JS King V (bolt on maple neck, alder body), and they're currently in my other import King V. I don't know where it was made, but it's a neck thru with basswood wings and a TOM bridge. My favorite guitar for the BWs thus far.

And as far as amps go, I've played them through the Splawn I used to have, my JVM, Vintage/Modern, Triple Rec, and my Helix using whatever model I felt like using at the time.

And those guys in the other thread that were saying that they don't do low gain stuff well were probably trying to use them the same way they use a PAF. That won't work. If I go to a lower gain setting and roll off the guitar volume, the BWs will do AC/DC all day long.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Black Winter question...

I have them in an all-mahogany PRS SE singlecut. Absolutely love them through my Krank Rev Jr., but through my Randall RD1H, I prefer the Distortion in my other guitar. I also used to have the bridge model in my basswood/maple RG570 (which now has the Distortion), but I swapped it out for variety's sake. It sounded good in that guitar too, though.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Black Winter question...

First off, don't put them in your Explorer unless you like that half cocked wah sound constantly going on. Personally, it irritates me. Brings out tubby low mids. So needless to say, they didn't stay in my Explorer.

That said, I've had mine in some other guitars and they sounded great with my BW set. Epiphone Les Paul Custom, Jackson JS King V (bolt on maple neck, alder body), and they're currently in my other import King V. I don't know where it was made, but it's a neck thru with basswood wings and a TOM bridge. My favorite guitar for the BWs thus far.

And as far as amps go, I've played them through the Splawn I used to have, my JVM, Vintage/Modern, Triple Rec, and my Helix using whatever model I felt like using at the time.

And those guys in the other thread that were saying that they don't do low gain stuff well were probably trying to use them the same way they use a PAF. That won't work. If I go to a lower gain setting and roll off the guitar volume, the BWs will do AC/DC all day long.

Thanks for the info! Especially Explorer specific. kinda surprises me they work in an LP since they dont in the explorer.. Guess its the maple top, but Epis mostly have a thin veneer, so I cant see it making too much difference. My Epi LP is also a candidate for some new pups..

Thanks everyone for the info!!

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Black Winter question...

Thanks for the info! Especially Explorer specific. kinda surprises me they work in an LP since they dont in the explorer.. Guess its the maple top, but Epis mostly have a thin veneer, so I cant see it making too much difference. My Epi LP is also a candidate for some new pups..

Thanks everyone for the info!!

The Explorer body shape is what throws the quirks into the tone. I remember reading that when EMG was working with James Hetfield on the Het Set, they had to revoice them because they were doing the same thing in the Explorers he tried the prototypes in.

As far as the Epi LP goes, it's an older Korean built one. I don't know if it's a veneer, but it was advertised as having a maple top when it was new (I bought it new). And it sounds like you'd expect a Les Paul to sound. In fact, it's the one in my avatar pic. That was the day I put in my Gibson 500T/496R set into it and moved the BW set to the bolt on King V.

 

[Dahla]

Re: Black Winter question...

Well, my 2009 Explorer has the BWs in it. The replaced the het set.

I have no cocked wah, or tubby low mids. If anything (I had the het set in this guitar for years), the BW are a little grainier and nastier on the very top, and a little rounder on the bottom. They have a little more harmonics too. Mine are a CS version though, since I wanted that look. I said it was going into an Explorer. Perhaps it’s slightly tweaked.

I LOVE the het set, but this guitar isn’t played every day (or month [emoji51]). I was worried about battery leaking, suddenly. (No easy battery access means screwing on and off the back control cover to reach the battery) And the BW are a wonderfully passive alternative for me.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Black Winter question...

Well, my 2009 Explorer has the BWs in it. The replaced the het set.

I have no cocked wah, or tubby low mids. If anything (I had the het set in this guitar for years), the BW are a little grainier and nastier on the very top, and a little rounder on the bottom. They have a little more harmonics too. Mine are a CS version though, since I wanted that look. I said it was going into an Explorer. Perhaps it’s slightly tweaked.

I LOVE the het set, but this guitar isn’t played every day (or month [emoji51]). I was worried about battery leaking, suddenly. (No easy battery access means screwing on and off the back control cover to reach the battery) And the BW are a wonderfully passive alternative for me.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No screws at all, just two slug coils? Interesting.

 

[Dahla]

Black Winter question...

No screws at all, just two slug coils? Interesting.

They are reversed. The screw coils are under the cover. I asked CS to slightly reduce the «fuzz on 1» high end in the bridge, but keep the overall tonality, and that they were going into a Gibson Explorer.

The bridge is slightly hotter than normal I think, somewhere between 17k and 18k. MJ delivered the goods. [emoji4]


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[80's_Metal]

Re: Black Winter question...

Using mine in a Dean Tyrant Bloodstorm

Mostly through a Peavey 6505 boosted.
Marshall cab with V30 and g12 t75's
Sometimes through Marshall AVT 150 with couple different dirt boxes.
Drop C. It slays, but I think it sounds better the more gain I push it through, it comes alive with the right distortion pedal.
Gets better and better IMHO

(I also had a heck of a time getting the right sound from my explorer, put a dozen different pups thru that beast, ended up with the Duncan designed invader looking distortion sounding set. ) Ymmv