@z33993 the black winter but I ended up returning my LTD black metal because of some QC issues, it was like a barking demon that's how I would describe it.
@@NubsWithGuns i wouldn't count the need for battery as a con cause EMG battery life is a very long one, we're talking roughly 3000 hours. It's important to unplug the guitar while not using it tho, cause the pickup preamp powers up the moment the jack goes into the guitar.
BW is better in 90% of things than the emg and doesn’t require a battery. It has more tone variety in different distortion levels and tensions. Emg is great for metal tone.
@@Hmmm7512 but you can get that easily woth pedals and still have a better signal with Duncan's from my experience and no batteries or fading tone and inconsistency
Stop it with this batteries thing already, if you don't let your jack cord plugged when not playing you don't even have to change them every year most of the time. Having several guitars I don't even recall the last time I had to change one. That is on EMG, Fishmans are incredibly more consuming on batteries. The 81 does one thing well, but it does it so well that it's very hard to even match that. The BW is not that far but still not there, it won't cut the mix as well and be as tight as the 81. I love it too though and I mostly use the 57/66 set on my actives anyway but still, I couldn't see myself with at least one guitar loaded with an 81. That's like the JB, just because it's everywhere doesn't mean it's not amazing, quite the opposite.
Gonna order some black winters this week, Been running EMGs for 10 years now but i gotta say i'm bored of the active sound. It has punchy and sometimes a sterile sound but the BW have a fluid sound with alot of presence and note clarity. It's a no brainer.
@@zekkari27 Yeah , i run them on my jackson soloist. They're good for a ton of tones and for rhythm especially. I run fishman fluences on my 8 string for leads but i'm actually experimenting with SSH setups currently.
@@PochiPandalope Yep, they do pretty much everything you could ask for, only bad thing about them is that sometimes getting clean tones from certain amps can be a bit difficult 🤣
To be honest I prefer the EMG 81 in this one for the rhythms. BW has more low end that might be teasing when you just play yourself but in a band setting or in a mix it will be cut out. I prefer the solo type of sounds of the BW though.
Black Winter is probably my favorite passive pickup for Heavy Metal but the presence, cut, fullness and crunch you get from the EMG 81 still takes the W!
In some way 81X is like 81 trying to sound a little more passive and Black Winter is like Nazgul trying to sound a little more active but the thing at the end is kinda more complex.. In cleans 81 and Nazgul are more similar, more natural, clean and like ''acoustic'' but with 81 doing it in a kinda high distorted weird way. At high distortion BW and 81X are closer, they are more punchy, max boosted mids, rough and somehow ''plastic'' sound but 81 and Nazgul are similar in a dimension that they are more bassy. However Nazgul has it's own path at high distortion since its so max bass and full muddy at mids and highs so its not similar to the high distorted ''clean'' 81 and the crispy razor sharpness of BW and 81X..
Yeah listen to that note clarity in the BW. The 81 almost sounds buzzy in comparison. Good job pointing out maybe the most defining tones of the whole vid
It seems to be a trend for guitarist to hate on the EMG 81 pickups. Funny enough all the guitarist that actually matter and have legacy of great music use them almost exclusively.
🤷 I love both. I've got guitars with Black Winters, various emgs, Bare Knuckle, various Duncan's and the one that surprised me was the Duncan Metal active pickup. I bought it because it sounded gimmicky but I actually like it a lot😂 the only thing that would make it better is if they came out with a "Death Metal" active too.
@@tatteredhope911 With Seymour Duncan the original Blackouts are incredible. That's easily on my top 5 list. Black Winter are killer too. The pickups you mentioned, admittedly I've never heard but I am very curious to check them out. However on a side note there is a pickup called the Deathbucker (because you mentioned Death Metal pickups). They're passive they sound like high output active pickups. I was shocked how good true to active Metal pickups. Only they sound like they're a metal pickup on steroids. They're made by Lace BTW.
@@danadane2501 ok soooo I should warn ya..."good" is a subjective sort of thing, and those Duncan Metal pickups have a stupid fucking amount of gain. I mean stupid amount of gain. Like they make the clean channel on my Mesa mark IV distort heavily. I had to really turn the gain down a shit ton. I double up on the batteries or use a 24volt mod thingy on all my guitars with EMGs in them and those won't even do what the SD Metal pickup does gain wise. There is a little jumper thing on the back of the pickup you can engage or disengage for more or slightly less gain or mod your guitar an throw a mini switch on top of the guitar to do the job of the jumper on the back. Seriously crazy in the gain department. But I do like them un-jumpered, but comes in handy when ya need that extra insane amount of gain, like when I go to my buddies house and they don't have a "metal" enough sounding amp because I'm too lazy to drag my set up over to their house. I've been curious about those Deathbuckers ya area talking about because they don't produce a bunch of gain because of the physical limitations of the design but have a step up transformer under the magnets to get a signal strong enough for the amp to amplify them, an I've been wary of spending the $ on them because I was afraid they wouldn't keep up gain wise with my other pickups. Over the years I've been turning down the gain on things. I mean I really like the Ragnaroks, SD BWs, EMGs, and War Pigs, but I really like the lower gain sounds of the Nazguls and Painkillers I've got. The level of clarity that the Bare Knuckle pickups have is awesome, they will really point out your weaknesses and not cover anything up like an EMG will. I know they are expensive pickups but so worth it, I don't have any children is how I afford them. Im still curious about those Deathbuckers though
Good video and comparison 👌. For the life of me I just can't seem to get emg's to sound right, to damn "clanky" sounding. But the Black Winters are awesome, and not one trick ponies either. Some damn good clean sounds.
Weird, mine are by far my favorite pickup. With the help of some good tone production, they great with clean and distortion. My skills are amateur but I have decent enough ears. I've even simulated the guitar out of the electronic DAW mix and ran generic profiles. Everytime I turn my guitar build back on into the mix, it's a better sound. Mine are actually the Blackened Black Winter Pickups but that means nothing outside of asthetic I would guess. Hope you work out the sound. I would experiment with your string selection maybe.
You can try to adjust the pickup height, that can make a lot of difference, if they keep sounding strange tho make sure they're installed correctly. I had a pair of SH6s being installed on my guitar and they sounded really strange, like pretty low output and messy. Turns out the luthier did an awesome job at installing them the wrong way. Black Winters are supposed to sound tighter than most Seymour Duncan passive pickups (except the Invader and the Distortion maybe) so if you mean they sound like they lack bass or warmth then maybe they're not really your style of pickup and you could try a JB/Jazz or JB/59 set which are more balanced EQ wise.
That was weird, since the Black Winter is a passive pickup I expected to hear a huge difference in terms of dynamics, overtones, the low end response but to be honest it doesn't sound that different from the EMG 81. It has a wee bit more detailed mid-range and a bit better dynamics but I can bet the EMG 81X or even a EMG 81 with 18 volt mod will sound more or less similar to the Black Winter.
By itself the bw sounds decent if not muddy under distortion. Cleans are great. The 81 needs some help for clean tone but under distortion the 81 is leagues better in the mix which is what you want on stage. Let the bass guitar do its job.
They're definitely modeled after 81s in my opinion. They cloned the tone in a passive pickup and did a pretty damn good job. They sound a lot better than their active blackouts, that's for damn sure.
EMG 81 is tighter and has more mids, which creates a better guitar growl. Unfortunately, this demo doesn't show it clearly. I have both pickups, and I think that EMG 81 is better.
Any chance you have done this but for the neck position? If not, maybe you can give me a recommendation from your experience with both. I have a Black Winter bridge and was considering what to get for the neck. I know the B.W. neck pup is the obvious choice. But I don't have much spending cash right now and I can get a used EMG 81 a lot cheaper. So since I am putting this in a Agile LP copy, I can have separate controls for the active and passive pups...
As a EMG guy i gotta say Duncan has more crunch punch and pleasant clarity. With Distortion they are more close Duncan winning slightly. I've just played so much with EMGHZ/81/61/85 EMGALX and some other EMG type pickups that I've surrounded myself with the tone. Seymour is great brand with reason.
Whenever I’m eating my fried chicken, the black winter comes to mind.. then when I’m head banging, the terrifying sound of the EMG 81 gives me the energy to jump..
That’s what I’m hearing also, but as an “old head” I can’t speak intelligently on the type of music for which this pickup was designed. I just want something punchy, tight and balanced for aggressive classic rock tones, and I think the BW is exactly the sound I want.
@@stevesheroan4131 Both models are generally used for playing metal. Now, black winter is designed for a slightly more classic black, doom or death metal sound, like from the 90's. I'm also looking to equip my guitar with a black winter, in my case to venture into black metal... Although first I must learn to play hahaha
@@felipemaulen9070 I’m certain the BW will serve you well once you learn to play, lol. As a loooooooooong time player I can tell you that often something that’s designed for one genre works really well for a completely different genre, depending on the guitar and signal chain. That’s what I’m hoping to benefit from with my BW install, if the guy I gave it to ever gets it installed. I’ve been waiting a week!
Just put BWs in my Shredzilla. Jerking them right back out and going back to my DiMarzios. The Black Winters are probably the worst pick I've ever heard. It brings out horrible frequency's in my 800 and Kraken. Sorry Seymour but these really do suck!
"Sorry Seymour but these really do suck!" like one of the most loved pickups out there now. Btw the fact that you went from those to the JB means that they were not your type of pickups in the first place. The JB is a alnico low mid EQ based pickup, the BW is a ceramic high mid EQ based pickup which is more suited for using lower tunings than E standard thus making much more similar to an SH6.
This the exact comparison i was looking for before chosing two differen models
which you end up going with?
@z33993 the black winter but I ended up returning my LTD black metal because of some QC issues, it was like a barking demon that's how I would describe it.
Been waiting for this for a while . THANKS A MILLION!
I prefer black winter, better sound, more solid with good mid frequencies and high and low frequencies are balanced
@@NubsWithGuns i wouldn't count the need for battery as a con cause EMG battery life is a very long one, we're talking roughly 3000 hours. It's important to unplug the guitar while not using it tho, cause the pickup preamp powers up the moment the jack goes into the guitar.
but the dimebucker…
this is exactly what i was looking for! thank you so much!!!!
BW is better in 90% of things than the emg and doesn’t require a battery. It has more tone variety in different distortion levels and tensions. Emg is great for metal tone.
Emg metal tone gets boring and sounds too digital
@@roflswamp6 it does but that's the sound for certain metal tones for the mechanical math metal feel
@@Hmmm7512 but you can get that easily woth pedals and still have a better signal with Duncan's from my experience and no batteries or fading tone and inconsistency
Stop it with this batteries thing already, if you don't let your jack cord plugged when not playing you don't even have to change them every year most of the time. Having several guitars I don't even recall the last time I had to change one. That is on EMG, Fishmans are incredibly more consuming on batteries. The 81 does one thing well, but it does it so well that it's very hard to even match that. The BW is not that far but still not there, it won't cut the mix as well and be as tight as the 81. I love it too though and I mostly use the 57/66 set on my actives anyway but still, I couldn't see myself with at least one guitar loaded with an 81. That's like the JB, just because it's everywhere doesn't mean it's not amazing, quite the opposite.
@@the_hippykiller22 A voice of reason. Well said.
Gonna order some black winters this week, Been running EMGs for 10 years now but i gotta say i'm bored of the active sound. It has punchy and sometimes a sterile sound but the BW have a fluid sound with alot of presence and note clarity. It's a no brainer.
Did you order and did you like them? I got black winters for my main guitar, and I think I'm not gonna get any other pick ups anymore 😂
@@zekkari27 Yeah , i run them on my jackson soloist. They're good for a ton of tones and for rhythm especially. I run fishman fluences on my 8 string for leads but i'm actually experimenting with SSH setups currently.
@@PochiPandalope Yep, they do pretty much everything you could ask for, only bad thing about them is that sometimes getting clean tones from certain amps can be a bit difficult 🤣
@@PochiPandalope Maybe I actually have to try lower my pickup a bit, or have you had the same problem?
I would go for the black winter, every single time.
To be honest I prefer the EMG 81 in this one for the rhythms. BW has more low end that might be teasing when you just play yourself but in a band setting or in a mix it will be cut out. I prefer the solo type of sounds of the BW though.
Black Winter is probably my favorite passive pickup for Heavy Metal but the presence, cut, fullness and crunch you get from the EMG 81 still takes the W!
Black Winter by far! Can't wait for my LTD Eclipse BM!!
I think this are May two favourite humbuckers
EMG!
81 seems to have more central mids (500-1500) and the BW sounds like a JB but focused in the upper mids around 5k-ish
Both are very articulate maybe emg bit more but did not expect bw to be that close
In some way 81X is like 81 trying to sound a little more passive and Black Winter is like Nazgul trying to sound a little more active but the thing at the end is kinda more complex.. In cleans 81 and Nazgul are more similar, more natural, clean and like ''acoustic'' but with 81 doing it in a kinda high distorted weird way. At high distortion BW and 81X are closer, they are more punchy, max boosted mids, rough and somehow ''plastic'' sound but 81 and Nazgul are similar in a dimension that they are more bassy. However Nazgul has it's own path at high distortion since its so max bass and full muddy at mids and highs so its not similar to the high distorted ''clean'' 81 and the crispy razor sharpness of BW and 81X..
Emg 81 for me.
I love the BW but gotta go with the EMG 81 on this one. So clear clean and just as brutal under gain.
4:18
YES! my favorite part!
Yeah listen to that note clarity in the BW. The 81 almost sounds buzzy in comparison. Good job pointing out maybe the most defining tones of the whole vid
I think black winter more dry and emg is wet. Black winter more toward 2000 metal, while emg more toward 80/90 metal.
It seems to be a trend for guitarist to hate on the EMG 81 pickups. Funny enough all the guitarist that actually matter and have legacy of great music use them almost exclusively.
🤷 I love both. I've got guitars with Black Winters, various emgs, Bare Knuckle, various Duncan's and the one that surprised me was the Duncan Metal active pickup. I bought it because it sounded gimmicky but I actually like it a lot😂 the only thing that would make it better is if they came out with a "Death Metal" active too.
@@tatteredhope911 With Seymour Duncan the original Blackouts are incredible. That's easily on my top 5 list. Black Winter are killer too. The pickups you mentioned, admittedly I've never heard but I am very curious to check them out. However on a side note there is a pickup called the Deathbucker (because you mentioned Death Metal pickups). They're passive they sound like high output active pickups. I was shocked how good true to active Metal pickups. Only they sound like they're a metal pickup on steroids. They're made by Lace BTW.
@@danadane2501 ok soooo I should warn ya..."good" is a subjective sort of thing, and those Duncan Metal pickups have a stupid fucking amount of gain. I mean stupid amount of gain. Like they make the clean channel on my Mesa mark IV distort heavily. I had to really turn the gain down a shit ton. I double up on the batteries or use a 24volt mod thingy on all my guitars with EMGs in them and those won't even do what the SD Metal pickup does gain wise. There is a little jumper thing on the back of the pickup you can engage or disengage for more or slightly less gain or mod your guitar an throw a mini switch on top of the guitar to do the job of the jumper on the back. Seriously crazy in the gain department. But I do like them un-jumpered, but comes in handy when ya need that extra insane amount of gain, like when I go to my buddies house and they don't have a "metal" enough sounding amp because I'm too lazy to drag my set up over to their house. I've been curious about those Deathbuckers ya area talking about because they don't produce a bunch of gain because of the physical limitations of the design but have a step up transformer under the magnets to get a signal strong enough for the amp to amplify them, an I've been wary of spending the $ on them because I was afraid they wouldn't keep up gain wise with my other pickups. Over the years I've been turning down the gain on things. I mean I really like the Ragnaroks, SD BWs, EMGs, and War Pigs, but I really like the lower gain sounds of the Nazguls and Painkillers I've got. The level of clarity that the Bare Knuckle pickups have is awesome, they will really point out your weaknesses and not cover anything up like an EMG will. I know they are expensive pickups but so worth it, I don't have any children is how I afford them. Im still curious about those Deathbuckers though
Good video and comparison 👌. For the life of me I just can't seem to get emg's to sound right, to damn "clanky" sounding. But the Black Winters are awesome, and not one trick ponies either. Some damn good clean sounds.
I got some black winter pickups and they sound real tinny and clanky
Weird, mine are by far my favorite pickup. With the help of some good tone production, they great with clean and distortion. My skills are amateur but I have decent enough ears.
I've even simulated the guitar out of the electronic DAW mix and ran generic profiles. Everytime I turn my guitar build back on into the mix, it's a better sound. Mine are actually the Blackened Black Winter Pickups but that means nothing outside of asthetic I would guess. Hope you work out the sound. I would experiment with your string selection maybe.
You can try to adjust the pickup height, that can make a lot of difference, if they keep sounding strange tho make sure they're installed correctly.
I had a pair of SH6s being installed on my guitar and they sounded really strange, like pretty low output and messy. Turns out the luthier did an awesome job at installing them the wrong way.
Black Winters are supposed to sound tighter than most Seymour Duncan passive pickups (except the Invader and the Distortion maybe) so if you mean they sound like they lack bass or warmth then maybe they're not really your style of pickup and you could try a JB/Jazz or JB/59 set which are more balanced EQ wise.
That was weird, since the Black Winter is a passive pickup I expected to hear a huge difference in terms of dynamics, overtones, the low end response but to be honest it doesn't sound that different from the EMG 81. It has a wee bit more detailed mid-range and a bit better dynamics but I can bet the EMG 81X or even a EMG 81 with 18 volt mod will sound more or less similar to the Black Winter.
By itself the bw sounds decent if not muddy under distortion. Cleans are great. The 81 needs some help for clean tone but under distortion the 81 is leagues better in the mix which is what you want on stage. Let the bass guitar do its job.
What is the riff you are playing around 1:22 in? I've heard it before but can't seem to place it.
Would you consider doing a comparison between the Seymour Duncan Invader and the EMG 81?
Seymour Duncan Invader SH-8 will arrive on this channel soon. It's scheduled in two months aprox, :)
@@mikestamper okay, cool, I'll make sure to turn on notifications
Ok there crazy close , it’s almost like the BW was based on the emg81… maybe it was and I missed that 😅
Seymour Duncan on clean is better. EMG is better with Gain. Both are amazing
Me owning the Emg's 81/85 n playing with them Seymour duncan black winter sounds more depth in tone and emg 81 it brighter n sustainable
Is it just me or were the black winters made to sound like EMG 81s?
Sorry, it's just you.
@@axisofadvance666 nah, they really sound very similar
They're definitely modeled after 81s in my opinion. They cloned the tone in a passive pickup and did a pretty damn good job. They sound a lot better than their active blackouts, that's for damn sure.
They sound very close. SD did a damned good job.
EMG for Chugs 100% and Black Winter for everything else.
Please do review dimarzio fusion edge compare to Seymour Duncan livewire Dave mustaine/ EMG 81
EMG 81 is tighter and has more mids, which creates a better guitar growl. Unfortunately, this demo doesn't show it clearly. I have both pickups, and I think that EMG 81 is better.
EMG 81 is King of Metal!
3:30 vs 3:42
Any chance you have done this but for the neck position? If not, maybe you can give me a recommendation from your experience with both.
I have a Black Winter bridge and was considering what to get for the neck. I know the B.W. neck pup is the obvious choice. But I don't have much spending cash right now and I can get a used EMG 81 a lot cheaper. So since I am putting this in a Agile LP copy, I can have separate controls for the active and passive pups...
As a EMG guy i gotta say Duncan has more crunch punch and pleasant clarity.
With Distortion they are more close Duncan winning slightly.
I've just played so much with EMGHZ/81/61/85 EMGALX and some other EMG type pickups that I've surrounded myself with the tone.
Seymour is great brand with reason.
1 million times black winter. I have just replaced the emg pickups from my ESP with two black winters.
What model ESP you got? What pots did you go with?
@@SuperDeadRooster ESP LTD 1001FH. what is pots?
Pots means potentiometers you poser.
Are you still enjoying the BW on that guitar?
@@lillehammerexperimental Very much! Why?
Seymour Duncan BLACK WINTER WINNER!
The 81 is the purest 80s metal and shred sound, nothing even comes close in my opinion
3:06
3:18
3:31
3:43
Black winter for clean guitar tones. Emg for distorted, less fizz to eq out in the mixing stage with emg..
EMG 81 sounds clearer, the SD BW sounds a bit muffled.
it looks like From 3:37 to 3:42 the Black Winter sound is compressed in a narrow exit and want to explode outwards.
I is much more compressed and more powerful.
81 for me
The battery is a deal breaker for me! Only passive pick ups. If you can't get a tone you like from the BW. Try playing disco .
Whenever I’m eating my fried chicken, the black winter comes to mind.. then when I’m head banging, the terrifying sound of the EMG 81 gives me the energy to jump..
The emg is more clear with gain
In short, it is like a conversation between a normal tone of voice person (black winter) and a person with a nasal tone of voice (emg)
That’s what I’m hearing also, but as an “old head” I can’t speak intelligently on the type of music for which this pickup was designed. I just want something punchy, tight and balanced for aggressive classic rock tones, and I think the BW is exactly the sound I want.
@@stevesheroan4131 Both models are generally used for playing metal. Now, black winter is designed for a slightly more classic black, doom or death metal sound, like from the 90's.
I'm also looking to equip my guitar with a black winter, in my case to venture into black metal... Although first I must learn to play hahaha
@@felipemaulen9070 I’m certain the BW will serve you well once you learn to play, lol. As a loooooooooong time player I can tell you that often something that’s designed for one genre works really well for a completely different genre, depending on the guitar and signal chain. That’s what I’m hoping to benefit from with my BW install, if the guy I gave it to ever gets it installed. I’ve been waiting a week!
these are very very close during the dirty parts
81 blows away the BW distorted. BW slightly better while clean. I'd love a BW vs. Super Distortion(Dimarzio DP100) comparison
SEYMOUR DUNCAN
YEAHHHHHHH
>.
sdbm
I wish you could change the playing up a bit
The whole point is not to change it so we can have an even ground for the most objective comparison possible.
Black winter by a mile.
Emg sound better with a clean tone the Seymour sounds better with distortion
Too close
Enough w/ the Black Winters already.
They are one the best metal pickups ever
@@xiyx9748 facts
And the cleans are so tasty
Lol at everyone who thinks theyre very similar...they arent 🤣 not even close
Just put BWs in my Shredzilla. Jerking them right back out and going back to my DiMarzios. The Black Winters are probably the worst pick I've ever heard. It brings out horrible frequency's in my 800 and Kraken. Sorry Seymour but these really do suck!
I made the same mistake with my LP BW are the worst sounding pups I've ever heard in a LP there worse than eBay pups. I'm out $130 I'm pissed off.
@@frankhall7005 popped a JB in over the weekend, could not be happier!
"Sorry Seymour but these really do suck!" like one of the most loved pickups out there now. Btw the fact that you went from those to the JB means that they were not your type of pickups in the first place. The JB is a alnico low mid EQ based pickup, the BW is a ceramic high mid EQ based pickup which is more suited for using lower tunings than E standard thus making much more similar to an SH6.
For a passiv humbucker: The Seymour is very much better!!
EMG!