Holydiver v Abraxas

[Sarkasis]

I've heard that these bridge pickups are similar. I was thinking about a pickup that had what I liked about the Holydiver that was just a little more relaxed, but now I can't decide.

Some people seem to like the Abraxas for metal, and there are lots of recommendations to be found for the Holydiver but I was hoping someone could give me a rundown on their differences, like in what cases someone might like the Abraxas more for the same applications, or what about it specifically might appeal. (Everyone seems to talk about the Abraxas just for blues and classic rock.)

I guess I'm just wondering how far I can push an Abraxas without feeling like I should have just gotten a hotter (or tighter) pickup. I've never had a PAF-loaded guitar so I'm not sure what to expect (so comparisons to the Mule don't really help me much).

[Telerocker]

You can play metal with nearly all BKP's. Plugged into a highgainamp the Abraxas will do that too , but it is usually not the first choice bec it is not the tightest one in the BKP-range. Where the Abraxas sounds like a hotrodded PAF, the HD is more (old school) metal. They both have some extra mids and in this respect they have some similarity. Different characters though. From the vintage(hot) categoryI think the Black Dog might be more suitable for metal. It's often used on downtuned axes.

In which guitar you want to install them?

[Sarkasis]

It's 5-piece maple/walnut neck-through body, mahogany wings, ebony fretboard 7 string. Not the lightest guitar but it seems pretty resonant.

I know A4 magnets are supposed to be less tight than A5 and most people like tightness for 7 strings, but my Holydiver in a similar guitar is tight enough that I could imagine liking a pickup that was a little looser. I just didn't want to go for another HD without considering other options.

[Telerocker]

Whats the natural voice of your guitar: dark, balanced, bright? Balanced or tending to bright, you could check out the BD. That will do nice in a sevenstring. If you favour the Abraxas, that will do too, but I have no experience with sevenstrings, so can't predict how tight it will be.
If it is dark I would install something brighter, like the VHII, which has some familiarity with the HD, though not compressed and very punchy. I have this pickup in an ash strat and it feels quite hot, nearly as hot as my Crawler.

[darkbluemurder]

I had both the Holydiver and Abraxas bridge models in the same guitar, (mahogany body strat style, maple neck w/ ebony board - very unforgiving dynamic guitar)  and they indeed shared some sound qualities as overall warmth and richness in the mids. I would say the differences are as follows:

Output: HD has a bit more and thus offers more compression, AB is a bit more open and dynamic
Bass: Both have about the same.
Tightness: HD has a bit more of it
Highs: AB takes the edge over the HD in this regard
Metal suitability: HD takes the edge even though I can do Sykes stuff with the AB easily

I guess that I will switch at some point to a Crawler for this guitar to mellow it a bit so then I can offer a direct comparison between all three pickups. But you should not wait until I get around to do that as that may take some time.

Cheers Stephan

['Ash' J. Williams]

Output: HD has a bit more and thus offers more compression, AB is a bit more open and dynamic
Bass: Both have about the same.
Tightness: HD has a bit more of it
Highs: AB takes the edge over the HD in this regard
Metal suitability: HD takes the edge even though I can do Sykes stuff with the AB easily

Cheers Stephan

+1
I have the HD and AB in differents mahogany superstrats and this sums it up pretty well.
Both are stellar for lead stuff.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I love my Holydiver so I can certainly understand why you'd be drawn to something similar. I'm probably going to go this route too so I have a particular interest in this thread. For me, I'm after a pickup that has the smooth fluid nature of the Holydiver but with a slightly more relaxed and mellow feel to it. I do like an element of compression, hence my love of the Holydiver, so I'm guessing I couldn't go too vintage. The Abraxas sounds ideal as it seems to be hot enough to give some compression while having the slightly softer and more mellow tone from the AIV magnet. It sounds like you're looking for something very similar so I'd agree that the Abraxas sounds perfect but sadly, as yet I can't base this on personal experience.

['Ash' J. Williams]

I love my Holydiver so I can certainly understand why you'd be drawn to something similar. I'm probably going to go this route too so I have a particular interest in this thread. For me, I'm after a pickup that has the smooth fluid nature of the Holydiver but with a slightly more relaxed and mellow feel to it. I do like an element of compression, hence my love of the Holydiver, so I'm guessing I couldn't go too vintage. The Abraxas sounds ideal as it seems to be hot enough to give some compression while having the slightly softer and more mellow tone from the AIV magnet. It sounds like you're looking for something very similar so I'd agree that the Abraxas sounds perfect but sadly, as yet I can't base this on personal experience.

Your reasoning makes sense and you should definitely try the Abraxas (own both, huge fan of the HD, love the Abraxas).