Coverband musician - One Guitar that does it all? - Mule, Riff Raff, HD BD?

[Yellowjacket]

I think he was being sarcastic and saying the vhii can sound big and it can ive heard some awesome thrash clips.

The crawler sound awesome from clips ive head but i have no direct experience. It will sound fuller than the vhii but the vhii has its own thing going on.

Its all just opinions its like asking which is better a hammer or a spanner?

The vhii bridge covers van halen tones and thrash at a push.  The neck is an underwound version of the bridge. Sounds a little single coilish but thick and full like a humbucker too its awesome in a super strat.

VHII neck sounds huge, thick, phat, and warm in my mahogany axe.  The cut in the top end really keeps it lively but it just roars, greases, and grimes all over the place in that guitar.  Even the split neck sounds warm in that guitar.

[Telerocker]

I was talking about how the VHII- and Crawler-bridgepickups compare. Not about neckpickups. And yes, a mahogany based guitar will give different results than alder/ash bolt-ons.

[Serratus]

I have an abraxas bridge too (as well as the HD and Crawler that I mentioned earlier) that I used for a year or so in my main guitar in a covers band. I prefer the abraxas to the crawler. As I said about the HD, I find more character to the abraxas than the crawler. It's like a hot thicker PAF.

Abraxas - lowest output of the three, nice open sound, lots of character while still being nicely balanced.
Crawler - Medium/hot output, very balanced through all frequencies (which to my taste made it a little bland compared to the others, although very smooth).
Holy Diver - Medium/hot output, slightly less open than the Abraxas with more low mids, very thick when you want it to be. Again, lots of character.

Obviously these are only my experiences and all three were in different guitars which will affect it, but hopefully gives you a bit more help in making your decision :)

Specifically comparing the HD and the Abraxas for my purposes, mostly clean coverband, slight gain, and occasional metal for when I'm jamming alone - How does the HD perform on cleans, crunch, volume-roll off, splits etc, compared to the abraxas?

In my opinion if you're more clean than dirty then probably the Abraxas would be a better choice. It'll still do dirty if you want but I would think that with the more open mids it would probably clean up and split 'better' than the HD.
With all the talk about VHII's - I like that too, but I found it quite an acquired taste because it's quite single-coil-like in character, for a humbucker.
Bear in mind that they all sound great, and all do clean and dirty well, and split well (imho) so it's just finding the one that's the most likely to suit you and your guitar :)

[Yellowjacket]

Ah, I think I get what you mean about 'single coil-ish'.  That's the same thing I'm discussing when I talk about the wide pick attack and the noise component in general.  It's not as 'smooth' as the Rebel Yell is but I find the 'single coil-esque' artifacts in the tone to be one of the most attractive aspects of the pickup.

[Cboysen]

Ah, I think I get what you mean about 'single coil-ish'.  That's the same thing I'm discussing when I talk about the wide pick attack and the noise component in general.  It's not as 'smooth' as the Rebel Yell is but I find the 'single coil-esque' artifacts in the tone to be one of the most attractive aspects of the pickup.

If I had a thick mahogany guitar like an old LP, I'd definitely throw a rebel yell or a VHII in it, or maybe a mule - But none of them would fair well in a bright guitar like mine I think, not for these purposes at least :) The Holy diver though would definitely sound amazing, and it'd probably be my number one choice if 80ies metal was the kind of music my band played, that or a miracle man - But that openness of both the mule and abraxas, is what really attracts my attention, and ultimately making the better choice for a more all-around guitar. At least that's what I've concluded :) 

[Telerocker]

I keep my suggestion standing: Abraxas or Crawler for this guitar/these purposes. You even be amazed how good the Crawler sounds clean.

[Yellowjacket]

Crawler set!!!   

[seancorker]

Ah, I think I get what you mean about 'single coil-ish'.  That's the same thing I'm discussing when I talk about the wide pick attack and the noise component in general.  It's not as 'smooth' as the Rebel Yell is but I find the 'single coil-esque' artifacts in the tone to be one of the most attractive aspects of the pickup.

If I had a thick mahogany guitar like an old LP, I'd definitely throw a rebel yell or a VHII in it, or maybe a mule - But none of them would fair well in a bright guitar like mine I think, not for these purposes at least :) The Holy diver though would definitely sound amazing, and it'd probably be my number one choice if 80ies metal was the kind of music my band played, that or a miracle man - But that openness of both the mule and abraxas, is what really attracts my attention, and ultimately making the better choice for a more all-around guitar. At least that's what I've concluded :)

I've primarily use alder/trem guitars and have tried Holydivers (hated them) and Crawlers. I loved the Crawlers and had them in a couple of guitars but find them too hot and chunky to be truly versatile. They work really well for rock blues but struggled when asked to play funk or motown and I wasn't hugely impressed with their saturated lead tone either.

The Holy Divers mojo is their liquid lead tone. If I could just use 'em for that I'd be happy but just didn't get on with them for dirty rhythm stuff.

[Telerocker]

Split the Crawler and combine it with a middle-singlecoil or a splitted neck and you're in funktown. I do a lot of modern dancestuff like Beyoncé, Rihanna etc and also a lot of old disco and funk. The Crawler/IT's in my strat can cover nearly everything. I have no problem getting great rhythm- and leadtones. For solo's  - Crawler full mode - you have to dial in your drivechannel properly, at least coming from another thinner sounding guitar. A little less mids, a bit more treble and a touch extra presence is what I do on my amps, since the Crawler has these thick mids. Talking my amps, cause some others amps might need extra mids to shine in the uppermids.

[seancorker]

Split the Crawler and combine it with a middle-singlecoil or a splitted neck and you're in funktown. I do a lot of modern dancestuff like Beyoncé, Rihanna etc and also a lot of old disco and funk. The Crawler/IT's in my strat can cover nearly everything. I have no problem getting great rhythm- and leadtones. For solo's  - Crawler full mode - you have to dial in your drivechannel properly, at least coming from another thinner sounding guitar. A little less mids, a bit more treble and a touch extra presence is what I do on my amps, since the Crawler has these thick mids. Talking my amps, cause some others amps might need extra mids to shine in the uppermids.

I did, the guitar is HSH. It was split with a slowhand.

[Duck2587]

The Mules really are extremely versatile.  It's got great cleans (I especially love the neck pickup fot cleans) but the bridge pickup can also be driven hard to give some great hard rock / metal tones (I don't know if he had his Mules back then, or even if they had been made, but Steve Stevens' tone on White Wedding exemplifies the sort of sound you van expect from driving a mule hard).

Hmm, sounds very nice indeed - Some say the Mules might not be 'beefy' enough for alder body - now this is mainly maple i'd assume, due to the neck-through construction, but otherwise, people seem to throw crawlers in most stratocasters and the likings. How would crawlers fair for this purpose and this guitar, compared to mules for example.

Mules will do great and will be beefy. I love the mules and I mostly play lead, metal and hard rock. Clear, musical, harmonically rich and can be naughty or nice. It really depends on your amp and speakers though. The crawlers are also very nice and versatile but in bolt on guitars more so. Personally, I feel the mules will give you a wider range of tones and the versatility will be there.   

[Telerocker]

How much I like (my) Mules, they are not really the first choice for the guitar of the OP. The Mule-bridge needs mahogany, not a neck-thru maple/alder wings.