Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

[mi_canuck]

Tried the Black Winter. Brushed up on my sloppy soldering skills too lol. Played it for an hour. Tried to like it. But hated it. Took it back out and put the TB-6 Distortion back in. Much fuller and balanced in comparison. Still not perfect, but will do for now.

The Black Winter was tight. Very toight. Like a Toiger. Almost too much?? It had a sort of a brittleness, some quackiness that I couldn't dial out. Hard to describe. The tight chugs were great, but everything else was not. I was in E-standard. (The BW must truly only be ideal for extended range or super down-tuned guitars???, although I had heard it was killer in a 6-string from some local dudes). The single note highs were meh as well.

Compared it back also to my other guitar that has a Custom 5, just to make sure I wasn't just hearing things. That is probably my favorite pickup. So I'm kind of disappointed that the Black Winter didn't do it for me, based on all the love and hype for it. I thought of the Nazgul but if it's similar, then I won't bother. Per SD's charts, it has a tiny bit less mids?? Still more than others...

I have a Full Shred that I may put some fillisters in instead of the hexes, and try out. I had taken it out of my other guitar for the Custom 5. The Full Shred sucked - lacked any low end and was kind of muffled, yet very bright. But I've heard with a screw swap it changes its tone. Tames the highs and adds some lows... so ????

I'm not super thrilled with the Distortion, but it's still pretty good. I'm wondering if maybe ceramic magnets just aren't to my liking. Maybe an Alternative 8? Maybe a Pegasus? Mainly for Thrash type tones.

 

[weepingminotaur]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

If your favorite pickup is the Custom 5, I understand why the Black Winter doesn't float your boat. Custom 5 is very scooped; the Winter has lots of mids. But also, playing around with pickup height and pole piece adjustments will do great things for your sound with the Winters. As pickups, they do require IMO some tweaking to get the tone you want. But once you do, boy, there are so many great tones to be had. I have the Winters in a six-string Les Paul tuned to E standard, and they sound great. They're not really like the Nazgul at all, though, and for me, one hour of playing wouldn't be enough to come to a definitive opinion.

 

[Peteshreds]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

I had a Black Winter set in an RRT-5 Jackson Rhoads and found the character of the midrange to be a bit mushy, as it were. I had a bit more luck backing the bridge pickup away from the strings some, but ultimately replaced the combo with a Duncan Distortion Mayhem set. Still plenty tight and didn't seem to gob the tone with mids and gain. Could be my ear's preference for a bit more of a mid scoop, but the DD set did right by me.

 

[mi_canuck]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

I may give it another try. Thanks for the feedback.

Any experience with the Nazgul?

I've listened to the Keith Merrow Seymour vid like a hundred times (that riff is catchy ) but he's so downtuned that what he demoes doesn't always translate (although it helped me decide on trying the Custom 5).

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

The Black Winter is a little middier, edgier and stiff than the regular Distortion. Very sensitive to height adjustments, though...if you didn't spend some time tweaking it, you probably weren't making the most of it. If you did, then it just might not be the best fit for your application. No pickup works in every guitar/rig.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

What guitar/amp is this going into?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

Yeah, the BW isn't for everyone, but certainly not for the person who likes the Custom 5- they really are opposites. If the swap gets you closer to what you know you like, I consider it successful.

 

[mi_canuck]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

What guitar/amp is this going into?

Jackson Soloist SL3 (ie HSS) Mahogany body, maple neck, ebony fretboard. Into either a Mesa Mark V:25 combo w/ 1x12 Thiele extension cab, or a mini JCM800 (20w) w/ 2x12. I have both.

The guitar with a Custom 5 is a Charvel DK24, alder body, baked maple neck and fret board (not a slab neck, has separate fretboard).

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

I never use ceramic. The novelty of the aggressive highs can just be created somewhere else. But the cons are it sounds brittle and synthetic. Try double thick alnico magnets. It fills them out, adds lows, and counteracts any brittleness or shrillness. Some ceramic pups sound great with alnico, such as the Distortion.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

I liked the BW better than the Distortion, but I love both. But you're right, it does have some upper-mid clang that's very unique to that pickup. It works great on downtuned Les Paul-type guitars.

 

[bigcupholder]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

IMO the aggressive bite of the Distortion is perfect for thrash tones. If you had said hard rock or doom or even prog metal, I could totally see wanting to avoid that. But everyone has different tastes and that's a good thing. Maybe you like alnico 5 or more scooped pickups better. FWIW I'm a big fan of both the Distortion and Custom 5, although for different use cases. The regular ceramic Custom is still a little scooped but more aggressive than the Custom 5 - maybe try that?

I haven't tried the Pegasus but spec wise it looks like a good candidate for you if you don't want to just get another Custom 5.

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

You won't like the Alt8, much spongier than a ceramic pickup with soft high. But strongly recommend you to look at the PA-TB 2, the Parallel Axis version of the Distortion.

 

[weepingminotaur]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

I may give it another try. Thanks for the feedback.

Any experience with the Nazgul?

I've listened to the Keith Merrow Seymour vid like a hundred times (that riff is catchy ) but he's so downtuned that what he demoes doesn't always translate (although it helped me decide on trying the Custom 5).

Ha, yeah, that vid is awesome. I too have listened to it more times than I care to count.

I love the Nazgul, have it in a Schecter tuned to E flat. It's a great, if one-dimensional pickup IMO. What it does, it does really well. I really like the note definition it gives you when riffing on the bottom strings. It's got an upper-mid spike that doesn't appeal to some (though I really like it). Clean, it is not great to my ears -- brittle, ice-picky, etc. and betraying its ceramic origin. But if you've got the Naz in a guitar, you're not there for the cleans.

 

[mi_canuck]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

You won't like the Alt8, much spongier than a ceramic pickup with soft high. But strongly recommend you to look at the PA-TB 2, the Parallel Axis version of the Distortion.

Thanks for the suggestion. Never even considered the Parallel Axis but will look into it!

 

[nexion218]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

Definitely play around with it's height! I have a set in an X series Soloist. I started pretty close to the strings, the bass was so haevy/much, that the speakers were literaly farting. Backed it off to like 4-5 mm from the strings and it is a very pleasing, dry and tight sound under heavy distrortion. And I actually like the neck too. But like others have said: it might just not be your cup of tea.

 

[mi_canuck]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

You won't like the Alt8, much spongier than a ceramic pickup with soft high. But strongly recommend you to look at the PA-TB 2, the Parallel Axis version of the Distortion.

I have a 3rd guitar (Charvel San Dimas) with a JB in it, that I have setup for drop D. Was thinking of an Alternative 8 for that one (to replaced the JB, which I'm meh on at best). I do like the dynamics of the JB though, but that's about it.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

What do you want to improve on over the JB?

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

That rig you mentioned is definitely on the mid heavy side already, so it makes sense that you'd like the C5 and not the Black Winter.

 

[mi_canuck]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

Does anyone have experience with the Omega? Or is it awfully 'trebly' ? Hard to tell how accurate those charts are on the SD site. Although it doesn't look they make it in a trembucker spacing.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Tried a Black Winter - to replace a Distortion...

I currently have Distortions in a Jackson V, A Jackson DX10, a Dean Cadillac, and a Les Paul. Some are Duncan Designed, some USA. Love them all.

I want to like the Black Winter - but all descriptions of it say that it is either too similar to a distortion, or different in all the wrong ways for me.