Good ol' Black winter vs Nazgul vs Pegasus

[ParadoxV]

Hi guys,

I'm stuck between the 3 pickups, what would be the best in a Basswood body, Maple neck and fret with a floyd?

Looking for note clarity, tightness & aggression, the ability to cut through the mix, a great clean and soloing tone?

Aka what sounds the best out of the 3 in your experiences/opinion?

 

[El Supremo]

Re: Good ol' Black winter vs Nazgul vs Pegasus

Sounds like you basically want it all, and I know the Black Winter has it all. Can't speak for the Nazgul and Pegasus, but you can find some info on that comparison if you find the Black Winter thread (somewhere at the end of said thread).

 

[ParadoxV]

Re: Good ol' Black winter vs Nazgul vs Pegasus

LOL, pretty much I suppose.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?262447-Black-Winter-owner-Feedback-so-far

Looking through this thread has leaned me towards the ends of the Black winter, but then Emailing Duncan they suggested a Nazgul in the bridge?

I mean how was your experience with the BW's?

 

[omg81]

Re: Good ol' Black winter vs Nazgul vs Pegasus

The BW is cutting, no denying that. Somewhat more balanced than the Distortion, and in contrast to that one it has some pretty good cleans.

 

[ParadoxV]

Re: Good ol' Black winter vs Nazgul vs Pegasus

I guess the general consensus are Black winters, Defo worth a try after I had Invaders in the guitar beforehand.

 

[LazNovak]

Re: Good ol' Black winter vs Nazgul vs Pegasus

There is a LOT of love here for the Black Winter. I've never tried either but I'm going for the Nazgul for my next swap.

NAZGÛL

Take your guitar to the center of the earth! By combining a large ceramic magnet with custom winding specs, the Nazgûl offers the perfect blend of note articulation, saturation and one of the most brutal “chugs” you’ll ever hear from a humbucker. It has incredible harmonic content across all frequency ranges, and an insanely tight bass response. The Nazgûl has a seriously aggressive high gain sound that is lively, yet completely controllable.

BLACK WINTER

The Black Winter pickup is a savagely high output passive humbucker built for extreme metal, and uses three large ceramic magnets to ensure maximum output and sustain in all high gain situations. The custom overwound coil design delivers incredible clarity in the mids and highs, while the low end stays controlled and focused. The Black Winter is designed to handle any tuning, no matter how low you go, and its voicing allows for aggressive sounding palm mutes, fluid sounding tremolo picking, and searing lead tones. The 7 and 8 string versions are built to handle the extended low range notes with ease.

 

[ParadoxV]

Re: Good ol' Black winter vs Nazgul vs Pegasus

I gathered by all the posts acclaiming the Black Winters, Gonna go down the route of the Black Winter Trembuckers, what made you go for the Nazgul though ?

 

[LazNovak]

Re: Good ol' Black winter vs Nazgul vs Pegasus

I gathered by all the posts acclaiming the Black Winters, Gonna go down the route of the Black Winter Trembuckers, what made you go for the Nazgul though ?

I'll probably put Black Winters in another guitar but my Charvel is getting the Nazgul. I use a modded 1987 JCM 800 and I think that the Nazgul will really push the amp nicely. If I had a mega high gain amp I would probably go another route. Brutal chugs sounds good too lol!

 

[omg81]

Re: Good ol' Black winter vs Nazgul vs Pegasus

They way I understand it, the Nazgul is made mostly for modern death metal stuff, very bottom/chug-heavy. Maybe Meshuggah and stuff. Don't know if it's good for clean or leads.

To me, the Pegasus seems to go more in the heavy rock direction, bass-heavy and loud, but not too aggressive so it doesn't push the guitar too much to the fore. Just my impression. Seems to be lower on mids, which I don't like, because for all the cutting I need lots of mids.

In contrast, the Black Winter is very bright sounding. The Nazgul seems to have a lower-string focus, I'd guess they sell lots of 7- and 8-strings. Probably best if you want thunder. By aiming for black metal, the BW is the opposite, as that genre is typically dominated by mids and highs and depends more on the upper strings. That gives them an almost acoustic quality compared to most high output pickups. The mids really cut through, which makes them interesting for more traditional soloists (dare I say Gary Moore). Generally, it seems a bit on the conservative side to me, compared to the others it still has a little bit of vintage humbucker vibe. That all is probably why even non-extreme-metal players seem to like them.

edit: here's a nice demo that shows how nice and friendly the BW can be.

 

[koshikas]

Re: Good ol' Black winter vs Nazgul vs Pegasus

I'm stuck between the 3 pickups, what would be the best in a Basswood body, Maple neck and fret with a floyd?

all 3 of them

Looking for note clarity, tightness & aggression, the ability to cut through the mix, a great clean and soloing tone?

for best note clarity i'll vote pegasus; for tightness and aggression nazgul, ability to cut throught the mix; all 3, a great clean soloing tone; best being pegasus, followed by BW (i feel they are very compressed though)

To me, the Pegasus seems to go more in the heavy rock direction, bass-heavy and loud, but not too aggressive so it doesn't push the guitar too much to the fore. Just my impression. Seems to be lower on mids, which I don't like, because for all the cutting I need lots of mids.

i totally agree that out of the three mentioned here, pegasus is the least aggressive. however, your impression of it (bass heavy with low mids) was probably due to the pickup being backed off far from the strings, which I admit is how it sounds then. from personal experience, the sweetspot i've found was when the pickup was raised closer to the strings, which makes up for the lack of mids while still keeping the lows and mids from muddying the sound.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Good ol' Black winter vs Nazgul vs Pegasus

If you want it all like you said, the Black Winter is the one. I think you will hit most (all) of your marks with that pickup though the others sound great too.

 

[ParadoxV]

Re: Good ol' Black winter vs Nazgul vs Pegasus

Interesting, there defo is alot of love for the BW's on the forum.

Guess that'll be replacing my Invaderrrrrr.

Thanks for the info and opinions.

 

[omg81]

Re: Good ol' Black winter vs Nazgul vs Pegasus

Interesting, there defo is alot of love for the BW's on the forum.

When googling it, it seems to receive universal praise... it's not too shabby.