Holydiver vs Crawler - comparisons

[herbychimp]

Hi - had my HD in the bridge of my hardtailed strat for a few weeks. Have tweaked p.up height and it is an awesome humbucker. The weird thing is that it has made me realise that voicing wise, it it much more modern sounding than most of the stuff we play. Whatever happens I will keep the HD and look to own a more shredtastic / metal guitar that suits that sort of situation. As it is I really need something that can handle chunky riffs and fat leads and has a more vintage voice. The Crawler + IT set might be just the ticket but I trying to get a few more audio clues before I go changing things again. Does the Crawler lose out much to the HD in terms of presence? For a tonal comparison is there a SD / DiMarzio model which is in anyway similar?

[Telerocker]

I have this set in my swampashstrat and it does exactly what you describe. The more vintagesounding Crawler can growl, has thick warm mids and a rounded but not dull topend. Great in bolt-on-guitars. Splits great with the IT's. If you like a little less compression have a look at the Abraxas-bridge. This one sounds a bit more open then a Crawler, you could say it's a less powerfull Crawler or a hotrodded Mule.  :)

[BigB]

Never tried the HD so I can't compare, but the Crawler bridge is surely not lacking when it comes to presence. It's indeed rather fat and warm, yet still sharp and cutting (in a good way).

[Telerocker]

Never tried the HD so I can't compare, but the Crawler bridge is surely not lacking when it comes to presence. It's indeed rather fat and warm, yet still sharp and cutting (in a good way).

You describe it well. I can really dial in the amount of treble with my amp, but even when it's cutting the Crawler never gets harsh or thin. That's what I mean with 'rounded'. Very pleasant pickup to play all sorts of styles. And this one cleans up great too. I use the vol.knob on my guitar quite a lot. With a good tubeamp you have a lot of sounds by just playing with the vol.knob.

[ericsabbath]

what you need is the black dog
it's as chunky as the diver, but a lot warmer and more 70ish sounding

[herbychimp]

Thanks for all the advice and tonal description. The Crawler sounds like a strong contender for what I am seeking. If anybody could give me relative comparison with a Duncan p.up that would be useful as I think that the JB / HD link is useful, though the HD is (IMHO) so much more musical and less honky.

[ShredHeadJHJ]

There are two that really interest me. Would the Crawler huge and aggressive sounding in a Les Paul, but not too saturated sounding? I need some thickness, and only plan on buying one set of pups :)

[Telerocker]

The HD is more agressive sounding. Crawler growls, but in a sweeter way.

[Slartibartfarst42]

The Crawler was another one I was seriously considering instead of the Holydiver as it clearly has a lot of the qualities that make the Holydiver so attractive. The main thing that pushed me away from the Crawler was that whenever anyone talks about 80s Metal, Whitesnake, Dio, Doug Aldrich etc. it's always the Holydiver they mention and never the Crawler. I'd be really interested to read a review that compares it to the Holydiver when you get it.