Winter rails

Latest in the Seymour Duncan rails lineup - Black Winter. Yes, it's touted to be the fodder of those who are into metal music & beyond. The surprise - the neck version is actually adept to other applications & this include clean applications. No kidding. 

Pic: Seymour Duncan

Bleakest winter

I've been re-stringing guitars everyday. This was done on Saturday- my Ibanez S1620FB. It's one of my best S-Series & it's also another one I got for a bargain. Despite being a Prestige model, certain special editions/ regional exclusives don't come with a hard case. 

The current SD pickups in there are the Black Winter humbuckers. There used to be Teslas but I had a feeling the BWs would be awesome & they are above my expectations in terms of high gain/ intense distortion applications. Thus far, I'm of the opinion the Alpha/ Omega are on par with the BWs in this aspect, the former pair being less crunchy & smoother in the bottom end. These are by no means PAF-like in terms of subtleties but the BW in the neck position can rival the Sentient/ Jazz in terms of clarity & single note separation- rather surprising.

This guitar was fitted with a set of Cleartone 9s, seen here in its new packaging (now available at Davis GMC). 

It's the week before 🎄

ESP/LTD 2018

ESP has released their LTD lineup for 2018. I will be highlighting selected models which are arguably 'different' from the 2017 range. 

Starting things off, we have the Black Metal series featuring guitars with, what else, an all black feature (less the frets). On this note (no pun intended), LTD has joined Ibanez's Iron Label range in generating models which are not placed under a clearly defined tier (Standard? Deluxe? Special edition? What??). However, the manufacturer promised a 'premium' construction for these models & all instruments feature only a single bridge pickup which is a Seymour Duncan Black Winter.

The other 2 members of this family are pictured above- an FR bridge equipped M & a 7-string Viper. Judging from the features, I'd say these will be in the Deluxe price bracket with very limited appeal to the heavy metal proponents based on the colour scheme & artistic limitations. 

Sub-winter

The lone pickup in my MM SUB1 guitar is a Seymour Duncan Black Winter. Why was this pickup chosen? I would first address the guitar concerns. The SUB1 is a rather hefty instrument & naturally manifests a bass-inclined tone. With the default pickups, the overall tone wasn't strong in any particular frequency. It's as if the pickups were there to neutralize any particular accentuation of  certain frequencies. The Black Winter is by default partial to midrange, something like what you'd hear coming from a JB but without the slicing treble response. It was conceived to serve the twisted metal dimension in the first place, so menacing distortion is its thing, my kind of pickup in such an application. What it did to the SUB1 is important to me. It brought out the lower midrange accentuation typical of the fusion between such a pickup & an instrument of this weight threshold. Marvellous!

Poll: Next gen Duncans

Hey, everyone. Thanks for taking part in the recent Seymour Duncan poll. Well, the results aren't surprising. The Black Winter & Nazgul received a fair bit of fanfare because these two are the most featured pickups (by the manufacturer) in the mean time. Thanks to Keith Merrow, the Nazgul is a proven performer, every bit competent when distortion comes to play. It's a very versatile pickup in this aspect. The Black Winter is a surprise package to say the least. Despite being touted to be mean, this humbucker is giving the Nazgul a run for its worth in terms of versatility- every bit competent in terms of distortion & a little extremity in the mix. In fact, Seymour Duncan is currently pushing it for its versatility & not the dark & doom vibe it was conceived under. In terms of control, the Black Winter can be overbearing if one isn't careful with one's overall tone so that's the 'danger' right there- the possibility of losing control. From personal experience, this is true at higher amp volume.

The Pegasus & Sentient are not to be overlooked in this aspect. The former is the geek member in this bunch; it's not averse to drive but if one needs to draw blood, the Black Winter & Nazgul do it better so it takes a back seat. For prog applications, the Pegasus is ace. Also, if one isn't interested in extras in terms of punch, the Pegasus is recommended. That leaves us with the Sentient. This one, ladies & gentlemen, is the spectre of the '59 & Jazz but moving on in a driven direction. I absolutely love this pickup in the neck, it might just be my next fav humbucker in there. It gives that saturation & transparency of a clean performer but once drive/distortion kicks in, the Sentient holds its own.

There you have it, the next gen Duncans in a nutshell. I'm thankful that these are made available in the 6-string version as they started out as 7-string models (less the Black Winter).

It's the end of August, a turn of the season awaits. The final lap of the year is here. That's how time flies.

Seymour Duncan: The next wave

Nazgul, Sentient, Pegasus, Black Winter- these are the next-gen pickups by Seymour Duncan in the passive front. Less the Black Winter, they were initially meant for 7-string guitars & therefore appealed to a limited player base. However, the manufacturer (wisely) developed these in a 6-string format & they were made available this year. These are now in stock at Davis GMC.

Targetting the distortion fiends, these humbuckers have limited applications for clean-loving tone purists. They have a singular objective to manifest drive & distortion in loads but let me point out the fact that the Pegasus & Sentient models have something for those of us who hunger for good distortion or drive tones without treading the metal turf. The Pegasus is able to deliver some of the smoothest drive tones for fusion applications & the Sentient is an impressive performer in the neck position, for both clean & driven modes.

These are my personal take on them. In any case, I have not finished checking them out & have them fitted into 2 guitars so far; one fixed bridge model & another sporting a locking whammy bridge. Along the way I got distracted by the Perpetual Burn model but that's another episode for another day, not to be included here to avoid confusion.

Winter's yield

Yes, I got my set last Friday but have not decided which guitar it should go into. The Black Winter humbucker may be the manufacturer's most vile distortion-type pickup to date but specs-wise, it's not a total departure from Duncan's Distortion model. I like that assurance :-)

Check the Black Winter ($200- calibrated pair) out at Davis GMC + a whole other range of fresh Duncan  pieces.