Distortion vs Nazgul VS Black Winter

[RedHarlow]

Re: Distortion vs Nazgul VS Black Winter

Hi everyone i am back after a while, i need help with my pickups..

I got a ESP Eclipse with a Black Winter in bridge position and a ESP Forest GT with a sh6 Distortion in bridge position. Here's my problem : i need to decide which pickup will be in my ESP TE B7 (she actually have ugly actives) i don't know what to choose between the Black Winter or Distortion.. i love them both

The Black Winter as described by the Seymour Duncan website is désigned for maximum ouput, and he sound like " over saturated " also his treble response is different he sound tighter, more accurate (more mids) punchier than the Distortion

The Distortion sound less focused but i love his tone, even if his treble response can sound harsh or fuzzy sometimes i love it

I don't use a lot of Distortion, my rectifier gain is on 5/10 and i boost it with a maxon 808X

So i love the black winter for the tightness and heavier feeling in chords and stuff but i love the Distortion tone/treble response..

What should i do ? The Eclipse is shorter scale and mahogany neck the forest is maple neck and long scale maye that explain a bit of the darker sound.. i don't know..

Please help

 

[dave74]

Re: Distortion vs Nazgul VS Black Winter

Hi everyone i am back after a while, i need help with my pickups..

I got a ESP Eclipse with a Black Winter in bridge position and a ESP Forest GT with a sh6 Distortion in bridge position. Here's my problem : i need to decide which pickup will be in my ESP TE B7 (she actually have ugly actives) i don't know what to choose between the Black Winter or Distortion.. i love them both

The Black Winter as described by the Seymour Duncan website is désigned for maximum ouput, and he sound like " over saturated " also his treble response is different he sound tighter, more accurate (more mids) punchier than the Distortion

The Distortion sound less focused but i love his tone, even if his treble response can sound harsh or fuzzy sometimes i love it

I don't use a lot of Distortion, my rectifier gain is on 5/10 and i boost it with a maxon 808X
So i love the black winter for the tightness and heavier feeling in chords and stuff but i love the Distortion tone/treble response..

What should i do ? The Eclipse is shorter sale and mahogany neck the forest is maple neck and long scale maye that explain a bit of the darker sound.. i don't know..

Please help

The BW would probably be even punchier with more focus if it were in the Forest.
The Distortion would likely be less focused in the Eclipse than it is now.
So the differences that you have noticed between the two pickups would even be more pronounced if you were to swap the pickups between guitars.

What are the specs of the guitar you're asking about? I see a few different TE models. (maple,alder,rosewood, baritone-7?)

 

[RedHarlow]

Re: Distortion vs Nazgul VS Black Winter

The BW would probably be even punchier with more focus if it were in the Forest.
The Distortion would likely be less focused in the Eclipse than it is now.
So the differences that you have noticed between the two pickups would even be more pronounced if you were to swap the pickups between guitars.

What are the specs of the guitar you're asking about? I see a few different TE models. (maple,alder,rosewood, baritone-7?)

Yeah i tried a sh6 Distortion on the Eclipse once, i didn't liked it, the Eclipse got more bass/low mids while the Forest is more defined/better in low tuning

For the ESP TE B7 i was asking for the Baritone 7 String one in black satin, she's full of Alder and maple neck with ebony fretboard so she's gonna be close to the Forest or even more defined i think

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Distortion vs Nazgul VS Black Winter

Custom 5 if you want treble cut and aggressive attack. Great growl and tight lows with high gain too.

 

[RedHarlow]

Re: Distortion vs Nazgul VS Black Winter

Well i already got a custom 5 in a ESP Hellion II and i am not really convinced at all.. i've tought he was a muddy and undefined pickup (well that's a midscooped pickup, i am not really surprise) for metal the custom Sh5 would be better suited i think (but again it's between the Distortion and the Black Winter here) but thanks for your suggestion it could have been a great alternative pickup

Again i love the black winter for the tightness and heavier feeling in chords and stuff but i love the Distortion tone/treble response.. feel lost

 

[Ironbird666]

Re: Distortion vs Nazgul VS Black Winter

Well i already got a custom 5 in a ESP Hellion II and i am not really convinced at all.. i've tought he was a muddy and undefined pickup (well that's a midscooped pickup, i am not really surprise) for metal the custom Sh5 would be better suited i think (but again it's between the Distortion and the Black Winter here) but thanks for your suggestion it could have been a great alternative pickup

Again i love the black winter for the tightness and heavier feeling in chords and stuff but i love the Distortion tone/treble response.. feel lost

Why not install the Distortion so you can have a guitar with each pickup in it? This way you can play with a certain sound depending on your mood. I have guitars with the BW, DD, Nazgul, and Custom all so I can play with a different tone depending on what I want to hear that day.

You could also just swap a ceramic magnet into your custom, making it a SH-5. I dig the custom for heavy music.

On a side note, I've never thought the BW had more treble than the DD. It's more balanced tonally. More clarity? Yes. Brighter, nah, not in my experience.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[RedHarlow]

Re: Distortion vs Nazgul VS Black Winter

Actually this is a great idea, i actually discovered that my Dual Rec loop Channel was making my sound bad and muddy while the fx loop is on, i am still surprised by that
I need to compare both guitars again this time with the loop off.

What you said about the Black is right, you got more clarity but he isn't brighter

I love his clarity but I love the Distortion treble..

I will compare them again to decide which pickup is going on the ESP TE B7

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Distortion vs Nazgul VS Black Winter

I honestly wouldn't say the Black Winter is brighter, but I wouldn't say it's darker either. To me, the Black Winter has more bite while the Distortion has more sizzle. The Distortion has more bass, though, so it's looser and slightly less defined. I still hear the Distortion as still being tight and defined, though, just not as much as the BW.

Also, I wouldn't say the Custom is between the Black Winter and the Distortion. I'd say the Distortion is somewhere between the Custom and the Black Winter, rather. I hear the Custom as having even more sizzle up top and boominess down low than the Distortion.

 

[dave74]

Re: Distortion vs Nazgul VS Black Winter

I honestly wouldn't say the Black Winter is brighter, but I wouldn't say it's darker either. To me, the Black Winter has more bite while the Distortion has more sizzle. The Distortion has more bass, though, so it's looser and slightly less defined. I still hear the Distortion as still being tight and defined, though, just not as much as the BW.

Also, I wouldn't say the Custom is between the Black Winter and the Distortion. I'd say the Distortion is somewhere between the Custom and the Black Winter, rather. I hear the Custom as having even more sizzle up top and boominess down low than the Distortion.

That's exactly how I hear it also. We must have good ears. lol

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Distortion vs Nazgul VS Black Winter

Agreed, well stated by Rex Rocker

 

[Blk Stallion]

Re: Distortion vs Nazgul VS Black Winter

I have an Ibanez 7 string loaded with the black winter set. Sounds great. Add a clean boost to get tighter low end but even without a boost sounds great. A bit more mid range than I was expecting but a slight eq on the amp and I was ready to go. Hope this helps!