In this review I am using a Holydiver neck model in a PRS SE Custom 24 that already has a Holydiver in the bridge. As regular users on here will already know, I'm a long time fan of the Holydiver bridge pickup but never really thought about the neck version. Comments about it being 'bright' and 'thin' tended to put me off. Instead, I've always paired the Holydiver bridge with an Emerald neck and it really is a magical combination. This begs an obvious question:
'If it's so magical, why did you change?'
Good question and the answer is more about chance than anything else. I ordered a Crawler set for my other PRS but while I liked the bridge a lot, the neck version didn't really light my fire as much. I was a bit disappointed because frankly, the more I play the Crawler bridge, the more I like it but after much deliberation I concluded that while the bridge Crawler had a distinctly modern edge to its vintage character, the neck Crawler was entirely vintage and I missed the 'cut' you tend to get with more modern pickups. After a lot of research I found myself increasingly drawn to the Holydiver neck but it struck me that such a modern neck pickup wouldn't sit well with a Crawler so I decided to move the Emerald in with the Crawler and use a Holydiver set in my other guitar. So far this has proved to be an inspired choice. The Emerald neck pickup is quite thick sounding so naturally sits well with the very thick sounding Crawler in the bridge. Both pickups are also very sweet and both strike a nice balance between vintage and modern. I think the difference lies in the fact that while both the Crawler and Emerald necks use AIV magnets, the Emerald uses a more modern wire and for me, that seems to make all the difference. The Holydiver bridge is often described as 'thick' but it's nothing like as thick as the Crawler, nor as dark and is also noticeably tighter so the thinner and brighter nature of the Holydiver neck seems to compliment the bridge perfectly. Clearly Tim has got it right again!
So, how does the Holydiver neck stack up to other great Bare Knuckle neck pickups like the Emerald and Cold Sweat? I couldn't honestly compare the Holydiver with the Emerald because they are very different pickups. The AIV magnet gives a smooth vintage tone to the Emerald while the Holydiver uses a more modern AV magnet and this is compounded by the use of more modern 42.5 polysol wire on the Holydiver. It is true that the Holydiver is both thinner and brighter than the Emerald but that isn't really such a bad thing because it's all relative. It may be thinner but it's not thin to the point where it has no presence and nor is it bright to the point of being piercing. When I assumed this in the past about the Holydiver neck, I was wrong. It actually has quite a lot in common with the Cold Sweat and Rebel Yell neck models as all three use AV magnets and all three use the same wire. I've never tried a Rebel Yell neck but I have owned a Cold Sweat neck pickup so I do feel I can draw some appropriate comparisons and conclusions.
Like the Cold Sweat, the Holydiver neck is fundamentally modern in its voicing and as such, copes well with modern styles from Classic Rock/Metal to shredding. Where it differs from the Cold Sweat neck is in terms of compression. The Cold Sweat has a slightly hotter wind whereas the Holydiver is almost vintage based on the DC resistance. I wouldn’t presume to suggest that this gives the Holydiver more of a PAF feel to it because I think both the magnet and wire suggest this wouldn’t be an entirely accurate description but the light wind does help to make it feel quite open compared to other neck pickups from the contemporary range and in this respect, you may notice a bit of a vintage vibe going on. The upshot of all this is that it is a very clear pickup with great cleans. While the Emerald cleans are warm and rich, the Holydiver cleans are more bright and jangly. They always seem to remind me of a Fender amp for some reason. I don’t think the cleans on the Emerald and Holydiver are better or worse than each other; they’re just different. However, I would say the cleans on the Holydiver are better than those on the Cold Sweat.
As I’ve already indicated, the Holydiver is possibly a bit brighter and thinner than the Cold Sweat and if I were to leave it at that, I’d be tempted to say that under distortion the Cold Sweat is better but as is often the case, there’s more to it than that. The Holydiver is a bit more precise than the Cold Sweat and will take shed loads of gain very well and as the gain is added, the sound seems to thicken. It’s difficult to explain but the Holydiver seems sweeter and more ‘musical’ than the Cold Sweat. There’s certainly something about it.
Downsides? Its brighter and thinner nature would mean I’d hesitate in using it in a bright Stratocaster but it will work very well in pretty much anything else and positively slay in a Les Paul. The only other possible negative I could mention is that for some, it may be a bit too much of a halfway-house between an open, vintage tone and modern styles. It’s not a problem for me, in fact, quite the reverse as I like this about the pickup but I can imagine that for some people, they may want either ‘vintage’ or ‘modern’ and not the ‘best of both’.
Looking back on the forum, it seems like the Holydiver neck was once a very popular option but in more recent times its popularity seems to have waned quite a bit, to the point where now it seems to be a bit of a forgotten hero. That’s a shame because frankly, it deserves better. If you’re after a neck humbucker that will give you good cleans that give a clear nod towards Fender style cleans and still be able to shred like a Cold Sweat with a distinct ‘musicality’ to its tone, you could do a lot worse than consider a Holydiver.
To sum up, it’s very like a Cold Sweat but a bit more open, a bit brighter and a bit thinner but equally, it offers better cleans and a sweeter musicality.
