So I finally got a Holydiver 7 put in my BRJ Hesperian

[kmanick]

and I have finally found tonal bliss with this guitar.

I can't believe more 7 stringers don't use it.

I've gone thru a Crunchlab, an AfterMath and a JB 7 and

 the HD sounds like a tighter, meaner, warmer, fuller,

 more balanced version of the JB.  Basically it sounds like a way better Verison of a JB

The bottom end is surprisingly plenty tight (typical BK) yet I still have a great singing articulate lead tone.

My Rico is really bright (especially for an all mahogany guitar) and this thing is just a perfect fit for it.

I think I'm even going to order the matching neck pickup to go with it

and dump the Liquifire.

gotta thank Zimbloth for  hooking me up with this.

He's da man!

[ericsabbath]

glad you like it, brother

the holy diver is a true masterpiece

[dani]

sweet! always wanted to try the hd in my spanish cedar 7. how does it compare to the aftermath especially in the tightness department?

[kmanick]

So far my initial impressions after a few hours of jamming on it.

Aftermath:

much more pronounced mid to high mids

tighter bottom end than the HD(although not by that much)

Very agressive and Percussive pick attack.

A very pissed off in your face sounding pickup.

The first thing I noticed about it was how much sonic space it takes up. It's kind of hard to describe but it's very "big" sounding.

A ton of mids but not "honkish" or "boxy" mids.

In a darker guitar I would probably really love this pickup.

 

HolyDiver:

more pronounced low mids, much smoother top end,

still an agresive sounding pick up but in a much different way than the

Aftrmath, it's not as "pissed off" sounding like the AM is, to my ears (in this guitar anyway) it's a bit more of a "polite" pickup.

A Great singing lead tone (which I guess it's what it's known for ).

This is also a "fat" sounding pickup, but it's not in you face fat it's more

like a thicker "fuller" fat, but still really defined and articulate.

 

With the aftermath I found playing single not runs on the lower strings

sounded amazing, but when I got to the higher strings I got a bit of that

ceramic "clack" that I hate in bright guitars. Saturate it with gain and

you're probably Ok , but I don't play like that.

 

The Holydiver also sounds great on single note runs , but it stays thicker and warmer sounding all the way up on the higher strings.

The HD is a lead players dream pickup (for sure) that can also stay tight

enough for probably anything but the craziest death metal or the Djentiest Djent.

It's probably a little too "open" sounding for really technical machine gun

type rhythm playing (which I suck at so no problem with that here )

 

I love the old 80's JB's and the HD really does nail the "JB on steroids"

thing as advertised. It doesn't sound 80's at all though, it just sounds ............well ................................f'n great!

Next up I want to try one of the Wolftone JB rewinds so I can compare the 2.

I bet they sound very similar.

[Emperoff]

Is it actually tighter than the JB? It seems that there is no clear agreement on that between its users...

The HolyDiver is one of the contenders of my Bernie Rico Jr as well, with the Nailbomb and the Rebel Yell as well. Did you tried the Rebel Yell on this guitar?

[kmanick]

I think it's defeintely tighter than the JB. It doesn't have the low B flub (which I found to be very minor anyway)
that the JB 7 has.
I have a Rebel yell in my Rg7 CT.
the RY is much brighter and more upper mid focused than the HD is.
I really like it in my CT but it's not what I was after  for my BRJ. The HD is  much darker and low mid pronounced.
I hear it like this
HD more like a Petrucci type of sound think   more like "The Dark Eternal Night", Constant Motion
RY  more like Arch Enemy or like the  Loomis solo CD.
the RB is very tight (I was actually surprised), but the HD is plenty tight enough for my needs.

[Slartibartfarst42]

So glad you like it. I really love mine and I recognise all of the comments you made. Best pickup Bare Knuckle make in my opinion, at least in my guitar.

[rsf1977]

hey kmanick I totally agree on your opinions on the aftermath. The low strings are great the high strings have that clack you cant get rid of, hence aftermath went bye bye. I felt the Holy Diver sounded really great it didn't sit right for me in the mids I just couldn't get it to blend into the mix enough it was always out front and for me that wasn't cool. But I could see how a lot of players would love that. And single note lines sound huge. The holy diver is a really nice pup

[JMP2203]

hey kmanick I totally agree on your opinions on the aftermath. The low strings are great the high strings have that clack you cant get rid of, hence aftermath went bye bye. I felt the Holy Diver sounded really great it didn't sit right for me in the mids I just couldn't get it to blend into the mix enough it was always out front and for me that wasn't cool. But I could see how a lot of players would love that. And single note lines sound huge. The holy diver is a really nice pup

so what are you using now?

[rsf1977]

well.... for now i'm back to the stock pickup, until I get a custom pup I am in the process of ordering. So still haven't got the right one yet. I mean even if i had the right one i'm sure i'd still be looking for something better. But the aftermath and holy diver weren't for me although both are fine pickups and they both have their place

[kmanick]

I think the guitar and rig rally make a much bigger differnce with BK pickups than other brands.
for 7 stringers so I've gone down these roads

Carvin DC727 all mahogany /maple top/maple board
Loved the Nailbomb/ColdSweat combo I had in it.
Extremely versatile combo.

Ibanez 7620 (3 of them)
MiracleMan in the bridge of these basswood babies is a match made in heaven, especially thru a Recto.

Ibanez Rg7CT had a Painkiller and a Coldsweat in the bridge before I settled on the Rebel Yell. the RY is much warmer than the CS/PK and is a great match in this guitar (like a tighter punchier Nailbomb)
If I didn't already have this in the CT I would've gone this route with the BRJ, I really like the 7 string version of this bridge pickup.
and of course all of the nonsense I've gone thru with the BRJ.
it's funny , I normally don't like Ceramic bridge pickups but I really like the Miracleman. I've only tried it in Basswood, but I'd love to hear it in a Mahogany beast.

[dani]

thanks for the comparison kmanick.

you are making me buy the hd now especially after getting a sustianiac in the neck.

need the bridge pickup to do it all. gorgeous full cleans, chunky tight rhythm and a sweet lead tone.

[kmanick]

well.... for now i'm back to the stock pickup, until I get a custom pup I am in the process of ordering. So still haven't got the right one yet. I mean even if i had the right one i'm sure i'd still be looking for something better. But the aftermath and holy diver weren't for me although both are fine pickups and they both have their place

Have you thought about a MiraclMan?
tonally pretty similar to the HD but with a much more scooped midrange.
I haven't tried it in mahgany but in basswood it's my go-to bridge pickup.

[rsf1977]

I think the Miracle man is the last pickup i'm considering trying in my RGD from bareknuckles. I'm pretty sure I don't like ceramic pickups at this point, since everyone i've ever had i've gotten rid of, but i'm always open to being proven wrong.

[ericsabbath]

Have you thought about a MiraclMan?
tonally pretty similar to the HD but with a much more scooped midrange.

not really
the miracle man also has a lot more bass and treble than the diver and a very different texture
I did straight swaps back and forth in a couple les pauls

the aftermath is actually hella lot closer to the holy diver... really close voicing
the grainy texture, much greater output and scratchy picking response make a ton of difference, though