SD Black Winter Worship thread

[Boy_Narf]

anyone got an idea why my BWs sound like ass?
I installed them on a Solar baritone V and they have just 0 treble and attack and just extreme amounts of flubby bass. I have to crank my overdrives a lot to get a barely usable tone. Using a brand new set of .14-68 Daddario strings tuned to G# and I can't get this shit to sound acceptable in any way.
Could it be shitty potentiometers? My below average soldering skills? Just mind that the previous Duncan designed pups sounded like crap too but that didn't make me wonder that much.

What is the pot value?

I would suggest a 500k pot at least and lowering the bass side until the flub goes away, if you haven't already.

Oddly enough I didn't care for the BW in Drop C or lower, but love it in Drop D. It's very fuzzy in the low mids so perhaps it's not a good match for that guitar.

 

[Chri]

anyone got an idea why my BWs sound like ass?
I installed them on a Solar baritone V and they have just 0 treble and attack and just extreme amounts of flubby bass. I have to crank my overdrives a lot to get a barely usable tone. Using a brand new set of .14-68 Daddario strings tuned to G# and I can't get this shit to sound acceptable in any way.
Could it be shitty potentiometers? My below average soldering skills? Just mind that the previous Duncan designed pups sounded like crap too but that didn't make me wonder that much.

Go over all of your wiring from top to bottom. Sounds like something isn't connected properly somewhere in the line. Could be the pot(s) as well, since the Duncan Solars should at the very worst be decent sounding.

 

[Tisca]

Oddly enough, I find the ceramic WP to be very similar to the BW

Also, I’ve used the BW all the way down to drop F and love it.

I have both and I wouldn't say they are that similar but both of them are two of my favorite passives. I have BWs in several guitars but ceramic WP only in one so it's not a fair comparison. I would probably go for the WP in all if they weren't so much more expensive. The Alnico WP on the other hand is very unimpressive. Have one sitting at home.

anyone got an idea why my BWs sound like ass?
I installed them on a Solar baritone V and they have just 0 treble and attack and just extreme amounts of flubby bass. I have to crank my overdrives a lot to get a barely usable tone. Using a brand new set of .14-68 Daddario strings tuned to G# and I can't get this shit to sound acceptable in any way.
Could it be shitty potentiometers? My below average soldering skills? Just mind that the previous Duncan designed pups sounded like crap too but that didn't make me wonder that much.

Shoddy wiring likely. Disconnect all between pickup and jack to hear what it's supposed to sound like.

 

[FloridaRolf]

yeah I'm gonna do it all over. Good idea to bypass the pots, that one didn't come to my mind. Thank you guys

 

[jrn1308]

Just ordered a blacked out Black Winter, this should be a good fit for my LTD SD-2.

Gonna be my first pickup swap, so I'm a bit nervous... but it shouldn't be too hard, especially since it's a single pickup guitar.

 

[Chri]

Just ordered a blacked out Black Winter, this should be a good fit for my LTD SD-2.

Gonna be my first pickup swap, so I'm a bit nervous... but it shouldn't be too hard, especially since it's a single pickup guitar.

Just take pictures, draw a diagram and you'll be good to go. It's super easy once you understand everything. Taking the dive the first time is the "scariest" part.

 

[CanserDYI]

Just ordered a blacked out Black Winter, this should be a good fit for my LTD SD-2.

Gonna be my first pickup swap, so I'm a bit nervous... but it shouldn't be too hard, especially since it's a single pickup guitar.

Yeah it's not a huge worry. My biggest tip I can give is that solder is not glue and shouldn't be dripped on to the joint, you heat the joint, and put the solder to the hot components and it will flow.

 

[Boy_Narf]

The last few times I tried to solder a pickup I burned out the pot and be sure not to hold the iron on the pot for too long that's all I can suggest. Now I just pay a local tech 40 bucks to do it.

 

[jrn1308]

Ok, taking pictures, ne careful with the solder and be careful in general with the soldering iron. The Black Winter should arrive tomorrow, I just have to buy the soldering iron. Last time I worked with a soldering iron was at woodwork/metalwork class back in school 24 years ago... luckily my wife assembled speaker for a couple of years as a job and she should know how to solder properly. If all fails I'll take it to a tech. But I think I'll manage it to get it working by myself by the weekend.

 

[jrn1308]

Pickup change went well. Especially considering it was my first change including a pot and a jack change. The soldering is far from beautiful but everything works as intended, no grounding issues whatsoever. The only thing I didn't know that a CTS pot is a different size than the one that comes stock. So I had to drill a bit and also I have to order a new knob.

Really happy with the black winter, so much better than the blackout. I just have to experiment a bit with the height of the black winter. But after a bit of playing around I already think of changing the EMGs in my Arrow to the black winter. Really awesome pickup.

 

[FILTHnFEAR]

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Pickup change went well. Especially considering it was my first change including a pot and a jack change. The soldering is far from beautiful but everything works as intended, no grounding issues whatsoever. The only thing I didn't know that a CTS pot is a different size than the one that comes stock. So I had to drill a bit and also I have to order a new knob.

Really happy with the black winter, so much better than the blackout. I just have to experiment a bit with the height of the black winter. But after a bit of playing around I already think of changing the EMGs in my Arrow to the black winter. Really awesome pickup.

I have the 7 string version in my baritone Viper. Pickup is super aggressive but does surprisingly well at cleans, especially with the vol knob dialed back. I was concerned when I got the guitar that it might be a one trick pony and not great for cleans, but that definitely wasn't the case.

Dope axe, btw.

 

[Boy_Narf]

I have the 7 string version in my baritone Viper. Pickup is super aggressive but does surprisingly well at cleans, especially with the vol knob dialed back. I was concerned when I got the guitar that it might be a one trick pony and not great for cleans, but that definitely wasn't the case.

Dope axe, btw.

I agree about the cleans. Somehow the pickup gets more chimey as you roll down the volume. Super versatile!

 

[FloridaRolf]

well, my BWs sounded like ass because of a sort of broken cable, which my EMGs compensated fairly well.
Sorry for doubting the Black Winters
The BWs have a lot of twang going on but without weird pick scratching, it's soo good.

 

[Chri]

well, my BWs sounded like ass because of a sort of broken cable, which my EMGs compensated fairly well.
Sorry for doubting the Black Winters
The BWs have a lot of twang going on but without weird pick scratching, it's soo good.

You are forgiven.

 

[Tisca]

Are Black Winters not very suitable for Evertune guitars or is this just coincidence?
I have several guitars with BWs but the ones with Evertune, the BWs sound too shrill/trebly and lack body.
I don't have enough data to back this up but so far it seems the case. Anyone else noticed the same?

 

[MAJ Meadows SF]

Been off this thread (and forum) for a while, so just wanted to chime back in saying this is still my fav passive pickup. I’m debating trying another couple of custom versions, starting with a BW/Custom hybrid and BW/JB hybrid. Not sure if anyone has attempted that, and should be interesting.

 

[Romeo Knight]

Late to the game but here's my Jackson Dinky Pro with orange Black Winters.

 

[Chri]

Are Black Winters not very suitable for Evertune guitars or is this just coincidence?
I have several guitars with BWs but the ones with Evertune, the BWs sound too shrill/trebly and lack body.
I don't have enough data to back this up but so far it seems the case. Anyone else noticed the same?

Sounds like a wiring issue. I can’t imagine the ET affecting anything that drastically. Double check everything in your electronics cavity.

 

[Steadybeheady]

Are Black Winters not very suitable for Evertune guitars or is this just coincidence?
I have several guitars with BWs but the ones with Evertune, the BWs sound too shrill/trebly and lack body.
I don't have enough data to back this up but so far it seems the case. Anyone else noticed the same?

I have only used one guitar with the BWs and that is my Solar with Evertune, without foam under the pickup so it is sitting rather low comparatively. It is my favourite sounding guitar out of others with Fishman, Blackout, EMG, Nazgûl..

 

[Tisca]

Sounds like a wiring issue. I can’t imagine the ET affecting anything that drastically. Double check everything in your electronics cavity.

Doubt it's wiring.
I just remembered same thing happened with EMG 57/66 set in another Solar with Evertune. Similar thinness issues. Through some gear it's more noticeable than other. Both pickups I have in multiple guitars.