Understanding the love for P90s

NelsonP

This has been posted before but skip to 4.20.

Whether you like the music or not...THAT TONE!

p90fool

dindude said:

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.

Rumbled, dammit!

TTBZ

gringopig said:

springhead said:

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

Yes, I can really hear the distinctive upper mid-range character of the P90 in that clip! Quite a subtle difference but unmistakable.

Yes, well sarcasm aside, I didn't really hear much 'pickup'; more of a massively distorted amplifier and/or fuzzbox. That pickup could literally have been anything! 

I just cannot understand the logic of demoing a pickup like that. It's bizarre. All you are hearing is the overdriven amplifier.

For those of us who primarily play with that sort of overdriven tone, a clean demo is also useless I thought that sounded awesome even through the camera mic it was recorded with. 

markj

I’ve got a Les Paul tribute with Wolftone P90’s easily nails Gilmours tone on that solo.

gringopig

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SlopeSoarer

NelsonP said:

This has been posted before but skip to 4.20.

Whether you like the music or not...THAT TONE!

Yep, that's right up my street: )

Thanks for all the input... I've got GAS: )

NelsonP

So, I can also thoroughly recommend one of these....

https://www.dawsons.co.uk/dawsons-co-uk-gibson-2019-les-paul-junior-tribute-dc-electric-guitar?prod=207314&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4-XlBRDuARIsAK96p3BeicXjWVAPq3Nsm6SQLTNffSCCfNZwXmR-L2AfmQvsk3kyU-tToQgaAjCFEALw_wcB

Or, if you want a single cut jr then they should be out soon. Will be more money though I'd expect.

Reverend sensei 290 or jr worth a look too? 

Neil

NelsonP said:

So, I can also thoroughly recommend one of these....

https://www.dawsons.co.uk/dawsons-co-uk-gibson-2019-les-paul-junior-tribute-dc-electric-guitar?prod=207314&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4-XlBRDuARIsAK96p3BeicXjWVAPq3Nsm6SQLTNffSCCfNZwXmR-L2AfmQvsk3kyU-tToQgaAjCFEALw_wcB

Or, if you want a single cut jr then they should be out soon. Will be more money though I'd expect.

Reverend sensei 290 or jr worth a look too? 

I love a Special but can't get over that scratchplate. 

P90's are my favourite pickup and have often thought about trading my humbucking Standard for a lovely TV yellow DC  Special.

shrinkwrap

If P90s are halfway betwwen single coils and humbuckers, where are Filtertrons?
(not trying to make a clever arse joke!)

SlopeSoarer

Neil said:

NelsonP said:

So, I can also thoroughly recommend one of these....

https://www.dawsons.co.uk/dawsons-co-uk-gibson-2019-les-paul-junior-tribute-dc-electric-guitar?prod=207314&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4-XlBRDuARIsAK96p3BeicXjWVAPq3Nsm6SQLTNffSCCfNZwXmR-L2AfmQvsk3kyU-tToQgaAjCFEALw_wcB

Or, if you want a single cut jr then they should be out soon. Will be more money though I'd expect.

Reverend sensei 290 or jr worth a look too? 

I love a Special but can't get over that scratchplate. 

P90's are my favourite pickup and have often thought about trading my humbucking Standard for a lovely TV yellow DC  Special.

Yep I'm with you about that scratchplate, just doesn't do it for me.

Moltisanti

TTBZ

Think that's just convinced me to try P90s in the SG again  

Staying on the Sabbath covers theme...

OilCityPickups

shrinkwrap said:

If P90s are halfway betwwen single coils and humbuckers, where are Filtertrons?
(not trying to make a clever arse joke!)

Filtertrons are a bit of a special case ... if you are talking classic output ones ... they have a very low wind so max out at about 4.5 to 5k DCR ... but have a huge magnet which ups their power a bit for such a low power bucker. Tonally they have more in common with single coil pickups than with Gibson style humbuckers ... some would describe it as a sort hum free Tele pickup with a woody overtone that actually takes drive very well. 

TTBZ

Where do wide range Fender humbuckers fit on the pickup spectrum - just like a bright/clear humbucker or more of a P90 thing?

tone1

I love my P90 Navigator. It does clean stuff really well and barks when you dig in...

https://i.imgur.com/611QaYR.jpg

OilCityPickups

TTBZ said:

Where do wide range Fender humbuckers fit on the pickup spectrum - just like a bright/clear humbucker or more of a P90 thing?

Wide ranges are pretty much what it says on the tin .... a much wider range than a conventional bucker ... however that's only really applicable to 'proper' WRs ... not many of the Fender reissues that don't have individual pole magnets.  

RandallFlagg

Moltisanti said:

That's a great tone Phil X is getting from that Jr.

thegummy

Inspired by this thread I played my p90 guitar last night and it really is great.

When I switched to the humbuckers though, they definitely had more "meat" and "chunkiness".

merciful-evans

Confession: I don't understand the love for P90s.

All the way back to Mick Abrahams (Blodwyn Pig). Loved Micks playing but his P90s equipped Gibson SG, always sounded muddy.

I did have a set on a Epi Casino Coupe that didn't seem too bad; maybe because its a hollowbody? Though when I tried out a bunch of 2015 Gibson LP DC Specials (really wanting to like them), the sound defeated me again.

My loss. No indictment of anybody else's taste.

OilCityPickups

thegummy said:

Inspired by this thread I played my p90 guitar last night and it really is great.

When I switched to the humbuckers though, they definitely had more "meat" and "chunkiness".

I think the chunkiness depends very much on the flavour of P90: they can be made with alnico 5, alnico 4, alnico 3 and alnico 2 ... also winding levels varies considerably between makers, and that makes a big difference with the P90 design. My own are roughly 7.6k neck and 8k bridge for an alnico 5 model, but Gibson themselves back in the 50s varied hugely between around 7.8k for the bridge, right up to 9k! As they did with their humbuckers, a lot of the time they just filled the bobbin till it looked full ... and one operator's 'full' was another operator's 'needs a few more turns'.