I previously posted here about a bad experience trying VHIIs in an Ernie Ball Music Man Axis guitar with Floyd Rose trem. I found the tone to be very thin and sterile in that guitar.
After taking up a lot of Ben's time trying to figure out an alternative choice, I eventually went with his recommendation of Holy Divers, which I originally had specifically avoided in order to go with a lower output pickup. My goals in replacing the pickups had been to tighten up the low end, improve cut and improve note definition with distortion. I thought the VHII clips online were a lot closer to the sound in my head than the Holy Divers.
Anyway, I am happy to report that Ben was bang on with his recommendation. The Holy Divers deliver on all counts and are a great replacement pickup for anyone with an Axis who is looking for a change. There is one area where they aren't quite as nice as the original pickups (IMO), specifically, when you try to clean up a distorted amp by turning down the guitar volume. I think the original DiMarzios sound sweeter in that context. However, for distorted tones, the Holy Divers are excellent. I suspect that they might also be good in other naturally bright-sounding guitars.
