Compare Holy diver to the cold sweat.

[csharp]

How do they differ in sound?

[dheim]

How do they differ in sound?

too much for my ability to describe it clearly... :)

CS is muuuuch brighter than HD (i'm talking abouth the bridge pickup), with comparable tightness (at least this is my impression), good but not extreme... HD has got much more pronounced low-mids, while the CS is focused on highs (not harsh or overly bright but certainly less smooth than the HD's). bottom end is reasonably powerful but not too prominent. the HD has got fatter lows, anyway.
they're more or less similar in output but in the right guitar the HD sounds more aggressive.

the neck sounds even more different; CS is creamy and middy, HD is more scooped and has an almost acoustic tone on cleans...
both are very articulate on leads, but the CS is a real champion in that... clear, articulate AND warm.

[MintySG]

I play lots of high-gain stuff and my cold sweat amazes me every time i plug it in. it sounds great!

[csharp]

Thanks guys. Sounds like the Cold sweat is for me.

[Zaned]

I don't own the HD (I've only heard it in clips), but I do own the CS and know it very well.

They're quite different; HD is Alnico V and the CS is ceramic. HD pushes more mids, whereas the CS has it's mids more neutral. HD has a warmer top end, CS is much sharper (but not harsh).

The CS is an absolute beast in a warm and middy guitar; it's thick and articulate aggression with the CS. I own a maple topped alder strat, which happens to be quite bright and has a slight scoop in the mid mids (maple top does that); I definitely wouldn't put the CS in it. But if I wanted to replace the NB, the HD would work wonderfully in that guitar. Actually, I just might do that at some point, just to satisfy my curiosity :)

-Zaned

[Antag]

They're quite different; HD is Alnico V and the CS is ceramic. HD pushes more mids, whereas the CS has it's mids more neutral. HD has a warmer top end, CS is much sharper (but not harsh).

The CS is an absolute beast in a warm and middy guitar; it's thick and articulate aggression with the CS. I own a maple topped alder strat, which happens to be quite bright and has a slight scoop in the mid mids (maple top does that); I definitely wouldn't put the CS in it. But if I wanted to replace the NB, the HD would work wonderfully in that guitar.

+1 to all this.

The Holy Diver is an absolute beast in an alder bodied guitar - particularly the light ones that lack a little low end & are quiet bright.  It just gives it all that midrange "chunk" that such a guitar is missing.  It can work in a warm mahogany guitar, as long as it's not an overly bassy one (I'm always wary of recommending it in Les Pauls for this reason).

FWIW, I'm really enjoying the old-spec ceramic Holy Diver in my Feline at the moment.  It's sort of halfway between the current HD & the CS - it has a lot of the midrange push of the HD, but with the ceramic tightness & defined top end of the CS.

[ericsabbath]

cs = darrell
hd = cantrell

that's how awesome they are xD