Holy crap! This pickup slays!

[80's_Metal]

Performed some surgery today, yanked the Dean Tyrant pickup out of the Dean today.
Installed my first Black Winter.

I was skeptical at best, how could anything be as good as, much less an improvement on, my beloved SH6.... Right?

I was blown away!

This pickup is flat amazing! I should have jumped on the bandwagon earlier.....

Horns up high! I love it!

 

[Demanic]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

I've wanted a set for years. Just can't afford 'em.

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[Mr. B]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

I put the Black Winter Bridge in a friends guitar, and was not expecting to like it at all. Didn't think it would be my thing. It blew me away. Way more versatile than I thought it would be. I keep thinking about yanking the pickups out of my Jackson and putting a set in.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

Can't wait to hear how it sounds through the new amp.

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[80's_Metal]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

I've wanted a set for years. Just can't afford 'em.

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Stole it!

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

Did you not like the Tyrant? I've been wanting to try one for ages.

But yeah. At frist, I wasn't 100% sold on my Black Winter set, but I've grown to love them. To me, the Black Winters are to the Distortion Mayhem set like the WLH's are to the '59 set. Killer pickups.

BTW, did you get the sticker with yours? Does anyone know why it says "NO MORE"? NO MORE what?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

The BW is remarkable to me because it does so many things well. You did good.

 

[80's_Metal]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

Did you not like the Tyrant? I've been wanting to try one for ages.

But yeah. At frist, I wasn't 100% sold on my Black Winter set, but I've grown to love them. To me, the Black Winters are to the Distortion Mayhem set like the WLH's are to the '59 set. Killer pickups.

BTW, did you get the sticker with yours? Does anyone know why it says "NO MORE"? NO MORE what?

no sticker! Dang it I friggin LOVE stickers too!!!!
It's brand new..... maybe I need to pull the box apart and look....

Edit: There WAS a sticker in there! whooohooooo!!!

 

[80's_Metal]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

Did you not like the Tyrant? I've been wanting to try one for ages.

But yeah. At frist, I wasn't 100% sold on my Black Winter set, but I've grown to love them. To me, the Black Winters are to the Distortion Mayhem set like the WLH's are to the '59 set. Killer pickups.

BTW, did you get the sticker with yours? Does anyone know why it says "NO MORE"? NO MORE what?

I like it, and it looks killer, it's just not a Duncan.
I'll mail my Tyrant pickup to you for $60
What say you?

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

Been my new favorite too ever since installing it!

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

I like it, and it looks killer, it's just not a Duncan.
I'll mail my Tyrant pickup to you for $60
What say you?

I'd love to take it, but I don't have any more guitars to put it in, and I'm in Mexico.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

I keep hearing great things about them and that they are WAY more than what the ads pidgeon hole them as..

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

Does anyone know why it says "NO MORE"? NO MORE what?

The quote should be “You ask yourself, ‘How much more black could this be?’ and the answer is ‘None. None more black.’” - ‘Nigel Tufnel’ from the movie Spinal Tap

I didn’t bond with my black winters, but now I need to try them again. Maybe even, dare I say it, swap magnets in them. They are very flat and even, almost like an active pickup, IME so far. That’s why I didn’t get on with them. I wanted some EQ bump or character. I had to change my amps significantly compared to other pickups. I’ll have to give them another shot.

 

[pinto79]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

I put one in a guitar I built, Mahogany/Maple body, Maple/Purpleheart neck... Single Black Winter and a lone volume control. It's angry and beautiful.

 

[STLMTLHD79]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

I had a set in an Ibanez Prestige RG 1620X. I didnt bond with it all that well but with that said, i didnt own it for very long. I want to give the pickup another try in a different guitar. I just bought a pair and i plan to put the bridge pickup in the new Charvel Model 1888 i just ordered. Looking forward to the results!

If anybody wants a neck BW, let me know.

 

[6stringerguy]

Holy crap! This pickup slays!

I had a set of blackened winters in a KM-6 and they kicked ass but had to help my family out so had to sell it.
Looking at buying another guitar to find those puppies into.
Just wondering which, looking at the Solar stuff

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

The quote should be “You ask yourself, ‘How much more black could this be?’ and the answer is ‘None. None more black.’” - ‘Nigel Tufnel’ from the movie Spinal Tap

I didn’t bond with my black winters, but now I need to try them again. Maybe even, dare I say it, swap magnets in them. They are very flat and even, almost like an active pickup, IME so far. That’s why I didn’t get on with them. I wanted some EQ bump or character. I had to change my amps significantly compared to other pickups. I’ll have to give them another shot.

Oh, lol. It's that.

I must admit, at first, I didn't bond with them either. In fact, I was very disappointed at first. I agree, they do have some active-like traits like a tight, controlled low-end and very even clean mids. The more I played them, the more I liked them, though. Compared to a Distortion, the mids are more even. They seem to have more bite and less sizzle/fizz, and they're tighter and less boomy. I still think they're pretty mid-focused, especially compared to the WLH I replaced with them, though. They definitely have an EQ bump to my ears. It's just that the mids are very even. To me, they're more mid-focused than the Distortion, even, but without the low-mid stuffiness and super emphatic upper-mid spike of the JB.

Give them another chance. You might change your mind like I did.

 

[LesStrat]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

no sticker! Dang it I friggin LOVE stickers too!!!!
It's brand new..... maybe I need to pull the box apart and look....

Edit: There WAS a sticker in there! whooohooooo!!!

Put it on the guitar!

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Holy crap! This pickup slays!

I like the BW because it seems to have the right amount of lows, mids and highs. I don't like an overabundance e of any of those frequencies in a pickup.

I switch back and forth steadily between my active pick up guitars and my black winter equipped guitar.
To me, the BW has very little in common with any of my active pickups. Different feel, different sound, different response, different output...

With my actives I can actually raise the gain and it'll get closer to the output of the black winter but won't overload or cloud the signal.... Because in my opinion active pickups do a better job keeping the gain sounding clear at high levels than passives do. They also handle the noise associated with that better. If I were to then play my black winter at that raised gain setting it would be too much for the pup.

Part of the reason why so many people think actives sound sterile is because of what I mentioned above.
They plug in a guitar with active pickups while using their typical or comfortable gain settings which leaves the pickup feeling cold or sterile. Then when you add a notch or two more gain they really warm up and start to match the feel and output of their favorite passive.
I'm not really a fan of active humbuckers with low or mid gain applications for that reason. They really need some increased output and gain to shine and perform at their fullest.