Bareknuckle Holy Diver vs. Motor City Angel Dust

[metalmaniac93]

Has anyone have compared these two pickups especially in an Alder/Maple Neck bolt style guitar.

 

[guillatool1]

I am interested in this answer also. bump for someone who would know.

 

[metalmaniac93]

Yes, me too!!! I have the BKP HolyDiver and was thinking of trying something different in another guitar and was looking to get the MC Angel Dust.

 

[jerrydyer]

this guy had an angel dust PU in his les paul

 

[luxxtone]

The Angel Dust has more attack and is a little less compressed. More in your face sounding, like most Motor City pickups are. Has a nice upper mid bark, similar to the Holy Diver. The Holy Diver may be a little thicker in the bottom, but less focused.

Again, as with any pickup, they will sound very different in different guitars....so you really need to try them to know how they'll work with your guitar and your rig. But these are the differences I noticed in our tester guitar at the shop.

 

[luxxtone]

Even though clips won't really tell you jack.....here's one of our guitars with an Angel Dust in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqHHUpmGptA

 

[ronjhoser]

Since you sell them, can we throw the Suhr Aldrich into this comparison? I have 2 out of the 3 and I'm curious about the Angel Dust...

The Angel Dust has more attack and is a little less compressed. More in your face sounding, like most Motor City pickups are. Has a nice upper mid bark, similar to the Holy Diver. The Holy Diver may be a little thicker in the bottom, but less focused.

Again, as with any pickup, they will sound very different in different guitars....so you really need to try them to know how they'll work with your guitar and your rig. But these are the differences I noticed in our tester guitar at the shop.

 

[luxxtone]

Since you sell them, can we throw the Suhr Aldrich into this comparison? I have 2 out of the 3 and I'm curious about the Angel Dust...

All 3 pickups are basically in the same ballpark. The Aldrich is hotter and a bit smoother in my opinion. The BKP and Motor City both clean up a little better and are more open. I honestly really like all 3 pickups!

 

[metalmaniac93]

Since you sell them, can we throw the Suhr Aldrich into this comparison? I have 2 out of the 3 and I'm curious about the Angel Dust...

All 3 pickups are basically in the same ballpark. The Aldrich is hotter and a bit smoother in my opinion. The BKP and Motor City both clean up a little better and are more open. I honestly really like all 3 pickups!

How does the BKP Nailbomb fit in? I like the Holy Divers, but want more of an open sound under high gain and either the Nailbomb's or Angel Dust might be the answer? It is going into an Alder Bolt with Wilkinson Trem.

 

[luxxtone]

The most open of them would probably be the Angel Dust. But the lower the output, generally the more open the pickup will be. So you may want to look into even lower output pickups if you're looking for a more open, less compressed tone through a high gain amp.

 

[metalmaniac93]

The most open of them would probably be the Angel Dust. But the lower the output, generally the more open the pickup will be. So you may want to look into even lower output pickups if you're looking for a more open, less compressed tone through a high gain amp.

So something like a MCP Detroiter would work? How about the BKP RY?

 

[luxxtone]

The Detroiter is very open, and much lower output with a super snarly P90-type mids. It's awesome, but not sure if that's what you want or not. Very different than all the others mentioned before. The Rebel Yell is cool too, very similar to the Aldrich but not quite as hot.

 

[metalmaniac93]

The Detroiter is very open, and much lower output with a super snarly P90-type mids. It's awesome, but not sure if that's what you want or not. Very different than all the others mentioned before. The Rebel Yell is cool too, very similar to the Aldrich but not quite as hot.

Jerry, how about the Black Iron or Afaywu?

 

[Variable]

Has anyone have compared these two pickups especially in an Alder/Maple Neck bolt style guitar.

I haven't compared the two, but I really did not like the BKP HD in my alder Suhr Pro S1. It had this weird cocked wah thing going on in that guitar (very thick, though). I ended up putting the Suhr SSV back in and put the BKP in my mahogany/maple top G&L Legacy. It kills in that guitar. That pickup sounded great split in both guitars due to it's thickness and slower attack.

 

[luxxtone]

The Detroiter is very open, and much lower output with a super snarly P90-type mids. It's awesome, but not sure if that's what you want or not. Very different than all the others mentioned before. The Rebel Yell is cool too, very similar to the Aldrich but not quite as hot.

Jerry, how about the Black Iron or Afaywu?

The Black Iron is basically an Angel Dust with an A2 magnet. So if gives it more of a vintage feel and bounce to the notes while still being hot, around 14k. Little bit softer attack, and has a lot of mids....which some people really like, and some don't

The Afwayu is just gigantic sounding, mean, with huge low mids and low end. It's around 16k, A5 magnet and just sounds like a wall of sound. It's pretty dark, so it doesn't work well in dark guitars. But it shines in brighter guitars for big low end with a nice dry attack and surprisingly less compressed than you would think.

 

[metalmaniac93]

Jerry, thanks!!! I went with underwound Afwayu's for the Alder Bodied Bolt!!! Just got them in and will have them installed later this week.

 

[metalmaniac93]

The Detroiter is very open, and much lower output with a super snarly P90-type mids. It's awesome, but not sure if that's what you want or not. Very different than all the others mentioned before. The Rebel Yell is cool too, very similar to the Aldrich but not quite as hot.

Jerry, how about the Black Iron or Afaywu?

The Black Iron is basically an Angel Dust with an A2 magnet. So if gives it more of a vintage feel and bounce to the notes while still being hot, around 14k. Little bit softer attack, and has a lot of mids....which some people really like, and some don't

The Afwayu is just gigantic sounding, mean, with huge low mids and low end. It's around 16k, A5 magnet and just sounds like a wall of sound. It's pretty dark, so it doesn't work well in dark guitars. But it shines in brighter guitars for big low end with a nice dry attack and surprisingly less compressed than you would think.

Jerry, I ordered the an underwound Afaywu and all I can I can say is wow!!!! It does sound like a wall of sound with huge lows/low mids. I found it somewhat dark in my Alder/Maple Neck Bolt, but less dark than the Holy Diver. As you said, it does not seem as compressed as you would think for a 16K pickup. The neck pickup is also nice. Thumbs up to MCP.

 

[ronjhoser]

The Detroiter is very open, and much lower output with a super snarly P90-type mids. It's awesome, but not sure if that's what you want or not. Very different than all the others mentioned before. The Rebel Yell is cool too, very similar to the Aldrich but not quite as hot.

OK,
Got the Aldrich fired up in my ash body/mahogany neck Tele. It is more articulate than the Holy Diver and more linear/balanced sounding, both are traits that I like. It is probably a bit too hot, though. If the Rebel Yell is similar, but not as hot... how does the RY compare to the MCP Angel Dust and does Suhr have a contender in that range? Seems like the SSH+ would still be pretty hot, but the numbers can be deceiving. The SSH is not hot enough for me, so I am narrowing it down quickly.

 

[ericsabbath]

The Detroiter is very open, and much lower output with a super snarly P90-type mids. It's awesome, but not sure if that's what you want or not. Very different than all the others mentioned before. The Rebel Yell is cool too, very similar to the Aldrich but not quite as hot.

OK,
Got the Aldrich fired up in my ash body/mahogany neck Tele. It is more articulate than the Holy Diver and more linear/balanced sounding, both are traits that I like. It is probably a bit too hot, though. If the Rebel Yell is similar, but not as hot... how does the RY compare to the MCP Angel Dust and does Suhr have a contender in that range? Seems like the SSH+ would still be pretty hot, but the numbers can be deceiving. The SSH is not hot enough for me, so I am narrowing it down quickly.

the alnico miracle man (usually a neck model) sounds great in the bridge and it's more around the aldrich ballpark than the rebel yell
sounds very fat and articulate, but not as center/upper mid focused as the holy diver and rebel yell and not as high output and aggressive as the afwayu