So hey BKP guys, i've had my Holy Diver set in my guitar for 2 days now and I guess ill share my thoughts.
So the first thing I noticed when I plugged in and started jamming was that to me, other pickups (duncan, EMGs, etc) have a certain sound to them, especially when they are wound hot, were the notes in a chord sort of smear together in a way and mask the original guitars sound especially when using a lot of distortion. Now some pickups I have used, like the duncan distortion still sounded great but what I noticed with the holy diver is that its basically the opposite of ^^^^
It sounds so clear and dynamic, and makes some chords I would play before that just had ringing everywhere and noise, sound way better than before, it sounds more open, and musical.
Now about the Holy diver, from the description on the site and what i've heard on this site is that its a dark pickup, see to me the sound from playing chords is much brighter than say with an EMG 81, but I definitely hear the "low mids" when palm muting, which sound decently tight. Also many of you guys describe the bridge pickups lead sound as "fluid" and I would like for someone to describe for me what you mean by that. I've read that the bridge actually sounds smooth, almost like a neck pickup but to me it has a lot of top end and really sounds nothing like the neck pickup, hell even the 81 had a smoother lead tone and less top end.
I think the best thing about these pickups is that they can do brutal metal as well as the best cleans from any pickup I've ever used.
I'm pretty confident that I would enjoy a different set of bare knuckles though, as i'm looking for a tighter bottom, and more grind on the bridge pickup, and the neck pickup sound AMAZING, but the cleans could be maybe a little brighter or glassier, and the leads to be more clear, tighter and more modern voiced. Any ideas? I'm going to keep these pickups in this guitar, but when I get a serious job i'm going to save for my dream guitar and I want it to be perfect :D