Black winter + ?

[Megadethgal]

Has anyone combined a Black Winter bridge with a Distortion neck pickup?

If yes how’d it sound in the combination position where both are used simultaneously?

Likewise has anyone used a Black Winter bridge with a Invader neck pickup?

If yes how’d it sound with both engaged at the same time?

 

[Megadethgal]

I also welcome if you have experience playing on either to make a informed guess as to how well either combination would work compared to the other as to which’d be better.

 

[Nsatke81]

The black winter neck pickup is really great...if you like the sound of the black winter li should check it out in the neck position too. I have this combo in my jackson kv-1 with a 5 way switch and it is a KILLER. Middle positions with both positions and coil splits are nice and glassy. Still a little high output for a truly great clean tone. Still, a very good sound.

I’ve always found that the distortion neck to be a lacking some character, but would probably be a fine match for the black winter as the black winters are a tweaked distortion pup.

The invader is a cool sound ive just never had any experience with the neck pickup.


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[Mincer]

The EQ of the BW bridge begs for a BW neck pickup- they are such a perfect set. I think, for me, the Distortion might be too bright in the neck, but I like slightly darker neck pickups, especially on 22 fret guitars.

 

[Nsatke81]

The EQ of the BW bridge begs for a BW neck pickup- they are such a perfect set. I think, for me, the Distortion might be too bright in the neck, but I like slightly darker neck pickups, especially on 22 fret guitars.

Duncan really hit on the BW set. It’s the most complete of the newer school metal offerings.


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[Iron1]

I have a Jackson SL2Q with a Distortion neck and like it just fine. I'm not a BW fan, but if I was, I'd agree with the others that you should go BW neck if that's what you have in the bridge.

 

[Megadethgal]

I already have Black Winter in the bridge and also the neck positions but I don’t like the sound I get when I select the neck only option with the winter neck. To me it sounds too bright thin tinny-ish when playing rhythm on neck. I love the bridge by itself or when both neck and bridge are played together but with neck played on its own…

 

[Demanic]

Have you tried playing with the height of the pickup and pole pieces?

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[Clint 55]

I already have Black Winter in the bridge and also the neck positions but I don’t like the sound I get when I select the neck only option with the winter neck. To me it sounds too bright thin tinny-ish when playing rhythm on neck. I love the bridge by itself or when both neck and bridge are played together but with neck played on its own…

It will mellow it out and reduce that tinniness if you swap an alnico mag in.

 

[Megadethgal]

I never even thought of pole heights or magnet swaps. Are either of those things easy to do? I’m not very adept at electrical stuff.

 

[Clint 55]

Yes, they're both easy to do. Lowering the poles mellows it. And adjusting the bass side of the pickup higher and the treble side lower will make it less trebly. Magnet swaps are easy. We can go into more detail about it if you want or you can check out tutorials on youtube. A standard A5 will reduce the clankiness inherent in the ceramic mags that are in there.

 

[Megadethgal]

Yes, they're both easy to do. Lowering the poles mellows it. And adjusting the bass side of the pickup higher and the treble side lower will make it less trebly. Magnet swaps are easy. We can go into more detail about it if you want or you can check out tutorials on youtube. A standard A5 will reduce the clankiness inherent in the ceramic mags that are in there.

Thanks for the information I guess I’m going to be watching some tutorials and if that’s not enough I’ll take you up on the going into more details offer. It’ll take a day or two of viewing videos to know if I’ll need more details.

 

[Clint 55]

Okie dokie!

 

[weepingminotaur]

I never even thought of pole heights or magnet swaps. Are either of those things easy to do? I’m not very adept at electrical stuff.

I am a complete electrical idiot and I will say that pole height is easy even for me. The Winters are very sensitive to pickup height, so just playing around with that aspect will pay big dividends. When I first got the Winter set, the bridge sounded too harsh and distorted, but a few adjustments to pickup and pole height fixed that.

The Winter set is really superb. They do everything I want in a guitar and then some.

 

[Mincer]

If the BW is bright or thin, I'd make sure it was installed correctly and both coils are working.

 

[AdrianSD]

I am a complete electrical idiot and I will say that pole height is easy even for me. The Winters are very sensitive to pickup height, so just playing around with that aspect will pay big dividends. When I first got the Winter set, the bridge sounded too harsh and distorted, but a few adjustments to pickup and pole height fixed that.

I have a BW bridge in my Jackson Dinky and it really is superb. In my case the sweet spot is having the pole pieces ever so slightly raised and the distance between the pole piece and string around 2.8 to 3 mm. If set higher it sounded harsh.

 

[beaubrummels]

I have a BW bridge in my Jackson Dinky and it really is superb. In my case the sweet spot is having the pole pieces ever so slightly raised and the distance between the pole piece and string around 2.8 to 3 mm. If set higher it sounded harsh.

+1. In my Jackson I swapped Full Shred, Screamin Demon, Custom, Custom 5, Custom Custom, Distortion, Slash, 59, Black Winter and stopped when I got to Black Winter. I may put the Distortion back at some point, as it did do a lot of 80s-90s songs perfectly, but the Black Winter by itself was covering everything the Custom family, Shred/Demon and Distortion was doing.

 

[Nsatke81]

+1. In my Jackson I swapped Full Shred, Screamin Demon, Custom, Custom 5, Custom Custom, Distortion, Slash, 59, Black Winter and stopped when I got to Black Winter. I may put the Distortion back at some point, as it did do a lot of 80s-90s songs perfectly, but the Black Winter by itself was covering everything the Custom family, Shred/Demon and Distortion was doing.

I tried everything in my jackson KV-1 korina...actives, passives, full shred, distortion, dimarzios. The black winter is THE set for that guitar. Adjusted right the neck pickup has this vocal midrange that can’t be beat for leads and overdubs. The bridge is just the perfect high gain type tone for that guitar too.


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[allstarrme]

The only way I could see the black winter neck being thin or bright is if was wired out of phase with itself. It’s the thickest beefiest neck pickup I have ever used, even when split it’s louder than most single coils and still full sounding.

The neck is easily the better pickup out of the pair. I can’t imagine an adjustment that would make it sound thin or tinny. Are you sure the wiring is correct? Both coils are on? The volume pot and switch for the neck are good?

 

[Megadethgal]

The only way I could see the black winter neck being thin or bright is if was wired out of phase with itself. It’s the thickest beefiest neck pickup I have ever used, even when split it’s louder than most single coils and still full sounding.

The neck is easily the better pickup out of the pair. I can’t imagine an adjustment that would make it sound thin or tinny. Are you sure the wiring is correct? Both coils are on? The volume pot and switch for the neck are good?

Honey? I don’t know.

I had a tech install them maybe 10years ago or so because I was afraid to f things up by trying to do it myself.

For the same reason I had a tech at the local shop do my coil splits for me about 5 years ago or so (don’t think the same tech did the split as the original installation of my Winters).

I m guessing the years part because it’s been such a long while since then that I’ve kinda forgot exactly when it was.

So find a different shop to double check it was done right then? Maybe?