Seymour DuncanBlack Winter Humbucker Pickup - Bridge

Seymour Duncan has made some of the very best aftermarket pickups for decades, and this is no exception. This pickup is a high output monster with an aggressive attack and a unique response in the midrange unlike any other pickup I've used (and that includes several dozen). I have it installed in a mahogany-bodied Les Paul, paired with a Seymour Duncan Jazz model neck pickup. Amp rig is a Marshall JVM410H/1960 Vintage cab. There are other pickups out there with more sheer output, but this pickup's power is very controllable with the tone and volume knobs. It can be a high-gain warhorse or you can roll back the volume a bit and get a sort of Billy Gibbons tone. Harmonics will jump off the guitar and it cleans up surprisingly well from what I can hear, although bridge pickups aren't great for cleans anyway.The sound is very big, and not just for black metal and such, as the name might suggest. It has other applications too, as I stated before. However, from what I have gathered through personal use, the Black Winter is truly at home with heavily muted distorted passages, high gain saturation, single note pedal tones, and aggressive solos alike. I can't say I would recommend this pickup for jazz or even blues, but for high gain music in any form, the Black Winter will deliver the goods with well-muscled tone that should satisfy any player in those genres.

Edit: I also installed these myself. Get a 10 dollar solder iron and solder kit, watch youtube, take your time, save 100 to 150 bucks. And you can do all of yours in the future. Easy.I put this in my Jackson Rhoads, along with the SD Nazgul bridge pickup. I use 11-52 strings. I am 29 years old. I play metal, metalcore, and hard rock. (Maiden, As I Lay Dying, MCR).This pickup can hold its own when paired with the Nazgul. It has a very dark feel when distorted with low and mid EQ boosts, and cleans up spectaularly for those quiet passages some metal/core songs need. There is no mud present here when distorted, and i play with low action.The treble strings ring out quite nicely when played in chord with the bass strings.Sweep picking is very, very clean and precise, given that you use proper muting tecnique when doing so. That was what i was most worried about, was lead passages, and this pickup delivers like Amazon on cookie sugar.I will admit that the Nazgul is pretty much for metal, unless you back down the volumn and or tone. But thats where this Black Winter comes in. It is quite versitile, as pertains to style.Keep in mind that this, nor any other pickup, is going to make you a better sounding guitarist, or even a better one in general. Befpre you buy, try pickups out at Guitar shops. And do not forget to log those practice hours, make those fingers bleed. And if you think you cannot play a certain part, that just means you havent practiced enough. Do it over and over again, and muscle memory will make you a beast. Happy playing.

I installed it and split the coil with push/pull tone pot. It’s a pretty high output pickup so I lowered it away from the strings 1/8 on high E and 3/16 on low E. It sound more balanced that way to me. The notes are very clear both clean and dirty. Matched with my Hot rails. Versatile now for sure. Heavy metal to classic blues and in between

I was looking to replace the stock HB-102s in my Schecter S-1 Elite. I was seriously considering some DiMarzio (use them in my Ibanez S series) until I came across these. These Black Winters give me I sound I've been looking for forever; Loud with loads of crunch, but every note is crisp, clear and distinct. There's such an even EQ with these that there's no muddiness from too much bass, but still thick enough for some crushing riffing all while still giving some ear-splitting lead tones. Running through a Line6 Spider, the tone I got was reminiscent of of the guitar tone from Metallica's Ride the Lightning or Megadeth's Rust In Peace albums. To top it off, for a high output pickup, the clean channel was CLEAN! I think I might just replace all of my pickups with these!

This thing should be the standard in Metal, Rock or those who like to use modulation heavily. I use this in the bridge and a SH-2 in the neck. It stands out, whether it's distortion and reverb city with leads over top. It even is god like with acoustic simulators. I mainly play Blackgaze and this pickup brings all the elements together superbly.Whether it's thrash, black metal, anything clean needing a humbucker this thing will deliver. If it doesn't sound the way you want in one guitar, try throwing it into another.I use a looper and a drum machine when I pick up my guitars and it's an amazing tool to add to the mix. I have no plans on changing using this as my bridge pickup of choice. The only people I can think of that would genuinely not fall in love with this pickup in the rock and world spectrum are those who have fallen in the active gimic world of pickups.

i was expecting extreme brutality but got a pleasant surprise. this pup is super clean no.1 and distortion is very smooth not at all what expected its warm in tone but has some bite to it. overall i really like this pup. to be honest I was expecting this pickup to be really mid focused but it has a tight punch in the low and the highs are not over bearing either. great pickup would get again!

I ordered a new neck pickup and im not sure i received a new neck pickup. The package was taped back up with scratches on the inside of the plastic view. The pickup had scratches and the end of the wires have been exposed due to what seems to be prior installation. The instructions that come with seymour duncan pickups were missing as well. The pickup sounds great though and is super hot...not sure if its a neck pickup though. Maybe its the bridge. I havent done enough research into discovering whether its bridge or neck yet.