Understanding the love for P90s

SlopeSoarer

I keep fancying a P90 based guitar but haven't got around to trying/getting one. There seems to be a lot of love for them (P90s) but they seem to be considerably out numbered by humbucker and single coils.

Can you recommend some good P90 based music to listen to?

Whose P90s are recommended?

Funkfingers

SlopeSoarer said:

Who's P90s are recommended?

Indeed, they are. Listen to Live At Leeds
Frank Sampedro of Crazy Horse
Frank Zappa - Roxy And Elsewhere, Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar
George Thorogood - Bad To The Bone
Mountain (Leslie West)
Eric Stewart of 10cc often used a Gibson LP Junior
Some early Mike Oldfield is SG Junior
Andy Summers - Green Chimneys, Peggy's Blue Skylight

SlopeSoarer

Funkfingers said:

SlopeSoarer said:

Who's P90s are recommended?

Indeed, they are. Listen to Live At Leeds
Frank Sampedro of Crazy Horse
Frank Zappa - Roxy And Elsewhere, Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar
George Thorogood - Bad To The Bone
Mountain (Leslie West)
Eric Stewart of 10cc often used a Gibson LP Junior
Some early Mike Oldfield is SG Junior
Andy Summers - Green Chimneys, Peggy's Blue Skylight

Spotify is being tuned in as we speak: )

Jonathangus

Green Day - American Idiot

Early Black Sabbath

springhead

Have a look at @ivisonGuitars Made In UK thread. He's just posted this clip which has a P90 from @oilcityPickups  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgRfafjUQqU

zepp76

Charlie Starr from Blackberry Smoke uses P90 loaded Les Paul juniors, have a listen to any of their albums and rejoice!

dindude

Whilst offsets are for people with beards who are (knowingly) cool. Guitars with P90's are for people with Beards who aren't at all cool. Still sound good though.

All you need to know really.

PonchoGreg

Santana's Soul Sacrifice at Woodstock was what made me pay attention to p90s. Powerful hallucinogens sold separately.

Whitecat

Gilmour - check out “5AM” off Rattle That Lock... the lead is all his 56 Les Paul...

springhead

Or Gilmour again - Another Brick In The Wall solo.  P90 goldtop and it's for sale too! 

HAL9000

Just recently bought a Yamaha PAC611H which has a Seymour Duncan P90 at the neck. Very warm articulate sounding pickup with quite a bit of snarl when needed. Very pleased indeed with it.

HAL9000

Also, check out...

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/146036/best-p90-tones#latest

thegummy

Their sound is often described as in between a fender single coil and a humbucker.

That may explain them being comparatively less popular; people might want one or the other rather than a middle ground.

It's also in the zeitgeist that Gibson = humbucker.

I got some because I have 2 les Pauls and wanted something different to avoid redundancy. Was surprised how much I liked them. Can't really intellectualise a specific reason, they just sound good.

Blob

Check out Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real, as well as the Andertons Sound like Green Day by busting the bank.

RandallFlagg

Have a listen to the Chapman ML3 Traditional Semi Hollow in this video, it has P90s and they sound great. There are a little hotter than vintage P90s but I think they sound great and Zach Comtois has some nice bluesy licks there:

57Deluxe

Gold Top P90s - get past the shouty beginning and luxuriate in a Prog classic...

RandallFlagg

I now have 2 P90 guitars and they are different to Fender single coils and humbuckers. The cleans are warm and lovely and driven they can be snarly. Things can get a little thin and spiky if you're not careful but with the mids up and treble rolled back they have a different character to a driven humbucker, less compressed, big bold and hard hitting.

bacchanalian

I sold a Les Paul special last year that I probably should have kept as I am after something with P90s again.
I think with them being single coils they sound a bit less restrained than a humbucker and more likely to interact with the amp at lower volumes. Nice harmonic overtones.
Yesterday, I tried a mint 2018 Les Paul Classic, gold top with P90s, which would have been a purchase if not for the 60s neck.
Bonus R6 vibe as well. 

FastEddie

Just sold a Gibson P90 Tribute. Loved the tone of the stock PUPs.
Bought a Martyn Booth Special with BKP P90's. They have been built just for Martyn. They sound epic. 

I'm more P90 and single coil so don't have a humbucker guitar.

A good set of P90's with sound really sweet, full, and growl when you prod them. 

My experience is limited but I've never heard bad tones from either of these guitars. I used a Cornell Romany as my amp.

Teyeplayer

bacchanalian said:

I sold a Les Paul special last year that I probably should have kept as I am after something with P90s again.
I think with them being single coils they sound a bit less restrained than a humbucker and more likely to interact with the amp at lower volumes. Nice harmonic overtones.
Yesterday, I tried a mint 2018 Les Paul Classic, gold top with P90s, which would have been a purchase if not for the 60s neck.
Bonus R6 vibe as well. 

You can fix that you know, I’ve an lp special in the classifieds.

RandallFlagg

These Doug & Pat videos tell a lot about P90s in Gibsons: