Anyone have the SD Black Winter and Nazgul pickups yet?

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RJF

RJF

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I ordered a Black Winter bridge pup yesterday and am curious to see if anyone has them yet. It's supposed to be a clearer, tighter, and brighter pickup than it's cousin the Distortion, which is one of my favorite pickups. Some people are comparing the black winter to the BKP Painkiller?

How about the Nazgul? Anyone have it yet?

I really hope these two turn out great, because I think BKP and MCP are priced pretty steep, and used prices on those are still higher than SD pickups new. I have a MCP solution and it's great, but not that much better than a regular Distortion IMHO, which would be my motivation to run through some of these new Duncans!
 
I had a black winter for a minute. To me it's not as bright as a distortion, and the Duncan website lists it as having less high end.

It's a balanced pickup from top to bottom. I found it to have more output than I wanted and it was also pretty compressed. In the guitar I used it in I didn't find it vastly different from the old can power plus it replaced. So I sold the black winter.
 
Got the 7 string Nazgul in the bridge of a KM7.....hot but dry. Beefy, but controllable in high gain situations. Pairs well with the Sentient in the neck....really good especially for a 7 string....nice and tight, bass is pretty clear.
 
Someone did a demo on the Black Winters awhile back...I think it may have been Killertone?

Edit: Killertone and doombuggi both posted demos...I'd check with one of them
 
Holy crap! I had no idea that they were making a 6 string version of these. After hearing the Nazgul 7, I was hoping that there would be a 6 string version, but heard that it was a 7 exclusive.

The Nazgul is the next item on my to do list!
 
nwright":1lero88l said:
I had a black winter for a minute. To me it's not as bright as a distortion, and the Duncan website lists it as having less high end.
Click to expand...
Huh? Duncan says it has MORE high end than the regular distortion. I talked to someone at Duncan, they said it has a lot of characteristics in common with the Gibson T500, which has a ton of upper mids/highs. I really like the 500T that I have I might add.
 
6string40":1k59v1o4 said:
Someone did a demo on the Black Winters awhile back...I think it may have been Killertone?

Edit: Killertone and doombuggi both posted demos...I'd check with one of them
Click to expand...
I've read all that, listened to the demos, etc. Was hoping to stimulate some new convo on these as there really isn't much "forum discussion" on these two pickups, especially the Nazgul 6.
 
RJF":1375kmsk said:
6string40":1375kmsk said:
Someone did a demo on the Black Winters awhile back...I think it may have been Killertone?

Edit: Killertone and doombuggi both posted demos...I'd check with one of them
Click to expand...
I've read all that, listened to the demos, etc. Was hoping to stimulate some new convo on these as there really isn't much "forum discussion" on these two pickups, especially the Nazgul 6.
Click to expand...

I hear you...I was excited when they decided to release the Nazgul & Sentient in a 6...but yeah...no discussion on any of them yet. I was just suggesting you talk to one or both of those guys since they obviously had experience with the BWs.
 
I have BWs in an ESP/LTD eclipse. Took out the EMGs.

Balanced.they seemed a lil high endy in my first gig with them. But that was prolly my rig cuz its the first time i used that rig. (dSL on clean channel with a Suhr Riot as my gain.)

But id say they are pretty well balanced, now that i have my rig under control. Great for rhythms thats for sure.
 
Hmm. Apparently no one has a Nazgul 6 yet. I am going to order one then.
 
Nothing new to add but I also have nazgul/Sentinal in a 7 and have been pleased.
 
SD BW in my LP studio. Plenty of output and growl. Had to balance the screw pole pieces to get a little more clarity from the bass side and warmth from the treble. I've got to remind myself to limit the amount of pinch harmonics I throw out there as they are effortless with this pickup. Sounds better to my ear with lower tunings than standard.
 
Got the BW installed. Very similar to the Distortion, but yes, with a little more high end. I like it, and will likely buy a BW over a distortion now. On to the Nazgul next, but I need to find the right guitar to put it in. :confused:
 
Must have been my guitar then. The BW i had had less high end then the distortion that i had previously.

and I realize that the tone chart on their site might beopen to iinterpretation, but the bass/mid/treble for the black winter is 6/6/6, the distortion is 5/8/9. And my experience wwith both in the same exact guitar is similar. The bw had less mids and highs and more bass. It was much more balanced than the distortion which had more mids and highs. Both pickups were too compressed for my taste, the bw more so. If I was looking for a high output passive, I like them. But iI'm digging lower output right now.
 
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