Jazzfiend101
New member
Of course it can be done, but is it the best option for me? Hey guys, I've got some questions regarding this relatively new pickup that SeyDunc has given us, the Black Winter! It looks to me like it's the most metal thing to have come out since I don't know when. The ye-olde-english font, the WWII graphics, it all screams heavy metal to my ears, but the problem I'm getting is that the few youtube reviews I've seen on it seem to be down tuned all the way to the depths of Hell!
I get that these things are marketed towards the blackest of the Scandinavian metalcore freaks out there, but I'm a bit of a rule breaker. I tend to be the guy who wants to use something for the opposite purposes of why it was invented in the first place. I play in a cover band that does mostly hard rock stuff. We play Guns N Roses stuff, Metallica, and even our Lady Gaga covers are pretty heavy. I had initially started out using lower output pickups like the Pearly Gates and I just never bonded well with that one, or the Alnico 2 Pro bridge. I want a bit more output so I can dial my distortion on my Orange Dark Terror down a bit. I'm running that 15w bad boy through two 1x12 Orange cabs with V30s installed in them.
The guitar in question is an Epiphone Les Paul Custom and it currently has the JB/Jazz neck combo in it. It's a great set, no lie, but I've got 3 Les Pauls, one with a set of 59s (which suprisingly rock super hard from anything to blues to Master of Puppets I'm satisfied with that set) then I have another Les Paul with an Alnico 2 Pro neck which is awesome, and a Pearly Gates in the bridge which I have decided isn't my cup of cake at all. I'd had plans to actually return the JB from the white Les Paul Custom to its other brother and original owner which now has the Pearly Gates, and the PG will probably be going in the dresser drawer for some time (I'm a hoarder).
Initially I was shopping to find just one replacement bridge for the Pearly Gates until I decided I would just stick the JB (which sounded better in that guitar than the white Custom, in my opinion) to its original owner and just get a whole new set of pickups for the white Custom, follow? I decided I wanted a guitar that would go all out balls to the wall hard rock/metal, a real killer sound with cutting leads and good looks to boot. I went through my options: there is always the EMGs of which there are only 100 I have to choose from. I'm a big Zakk Wylde fan so I already know that will work. But I have to be super difficult before I'm satisfied. I checked out the Blackouts and they seem to only just slightly outperform the EMGs (lets not start an EMG/Blackout argument here, I have decided that the Blackouts are better to my ears) and then I started looking at Distortion, but meh, and then there is the Full Shred which is also a meh. I got the idea in my head to stick a set of Invaders in the Les Paul but I had everyone but my mother who all said, "NO BILLY DOn'T DO IT! IT'LL SOUND LIKE MUD!" so I steered clear of it. But that massive high output was so intriguing.
Now, the Black Winters seem to have a fairly balanced EQ running at 6/6/6 (could it be any more evil) with an output to match the Invader. So, already I'm wondering two things, could it work with a Les Paul tuned to Eflat standard tuning, and would that neck pickup clean up well enough to make a decent clean sound (Orange Dark Terror is a single channel and I use my neck pups to generate my clean sound coupled with a BOSS super chorus for added sparkle and it works great for my tastes). I'm trying to believe that the flat eq with the Black Winters would basically just add a helluva lot more output to a guitar that already has a similarly rated output with a JB. While I am shooting for versatility, it isn't beyond me to split those coils for more tonal variety. I know if I stick these pickups in yes I'm limiting me options, but that's sorta why I have two other guitars with lower out put pickups. Also, I've come to the conclusion that with enough distortion even the lowest of output pickups can provide a decent hard rock sound. That's what Slash told me. So I'm guessing in order to compensate all I'd have to do in between songs/switching guitars I'd just have to knock the gain down a level or two.
So, thoughts? Discuss!
I get that these things are marketed towards the blackest of the Scandinavian metalcore freaks out there, but I'm a bit of a rule breaker. I tend to be the guy who wants to use something for the opposite purposes of why it was invented in the first place. I play in a cover band that does mostly hard rock stuff. We play Guns N Roses stuff, Metallica, and even our Lady Gaga covers are pretty heavy. I had initially started out using lower output pickups like the Pearly Gates and I just never bonded well with that one, or the Alnico 2 Pro bridge. I want a bit more output so I can dial my distortion on my Orange Dark Terror down a bit. I'm running that 15w bad boy through two 1x12 Orange cabs with V30s installed in them.
The guitar in question is an Epiphone Les Paul Custom and it currently has the JB/Jazz neck combo in it. It's a great set, no lie, but I've got 3 Les Pauls, one with a set of 59s (which suprisingly rock super hard from anything to blues to Master of Puppets I'm satisfied with that set) then I have another Les Paul with an Alnico 2 Pro neck which is awesome, and a Pearly Gates in the bridge which I have decided isn't my cup of cake at all. I'd had plans to actually return the JB from the white Les Paul Custom to its other brother and original owner which now has the Pearly Gates, and the PG will probably be going in the dresser drawer for some time (I'm a hoarder).
Initially I was shopping to find just one replacement bridge for the Pearly Gates until I decided I would just stick the JB (which sounded better in that guitar than the white Custom, in my opinion) to its original owner and just get a whole new set of pickups for the white Custom, follow? I decided I wanted a guitar that would go all out balls to the wall hard rock/metal, a real killer sound with cutting leads and good looks to boot. I went through my options: there is always the EMGs of which there are only 100 I have to choose from. I'm a big Zakk Wylde fan so I already know that will work. But I have to be super difficult before I'm satisfied. I checked out the Blackouts and they seem to only just slightly outperform the EMGs (lets not start an EMG/Blackout argument here, I have decided that the Blackouts are better to my ears) and then I started looking at Distortion, but meh, and then there is the Full Shred which is also a meh. I got the idea in my head to stick a set of Invaders in the Les Paul but I had everyone but my mother who all said, "NO BILLY DOn'T DO IT! IT'LL SOUND LIKE MUD!" so I steered clear of it. But that massive high output was so intriguing.
Now, the Black Winters seem to have a fairly balanced EQ running at 6/6/6 (could it be any more evil) with an output to match the Invader. So, already I'm wondering two things, could it work with a Les Paul tuned to Eflat standard tuning, and would that neck pickup clean up well enough to make a decent clean sound (Orange Dark Terror is a single channel and I use my neck pups to generate my clean sound coupled with a BOSS super chorus for added sparkle and it works great for my tastes). I'm trying to believe that the flat eq with the Black Winters would basically just add a helluva lot more output to a guitar that already has a similarly rated output with a JB. While I am shooting for versatility, it isn't beyond me to split those coils for more tonal variety. I know if I stick these pickups in yes I'm limiting me options, but that's sorta why I have two other guitars with lower out put pickups. Also, I've come to the conclusion that with enough distortion even the lowest of output pickups can provide a decent hard rock sound. That's what Slash told me. So I'm guessing in order to compensate all I'd have to do in between songs/switching guitars I'd just have to knock the gain down a level or two.
So, thoughts? Discuss!
