Swapping P90s for different P90s?

SixStringSage

I have one guitar with P90s, it's an Epiphone Pro Goldtop '56. I don't use this guitar a lot but I had it at rehearsal last night and loved the tones it was getting, which led to me thinking perhaps the guitar deserves an upgrade.

It's currently all stock, and I think is probably 8 years old. What I'm wondering is whether there's much benefit to upgrading the internals and if I'll see much difference from changing the P90s to non-Epiphone ones - or not?

Jonathangus

SixStringSage said:

I had it at rehearsal last night and loved the tones it was getting

So why do you want to change it?

lovestrat74

SixStringSage said:

I have one guitar with P90s, it's an Epiphone Pro Goldtop '56. I don't use this guitar a lot but I had it at rehearsal last night and loved the tones it was getting, which led to me thinking perhaps the guitar deserves an upgrade.

It's currently all stock, and I think is probably 8 years old. What I'm wondering is whether there's much benefit to upgrading the internals and if I'll see much difference from changing the P90s to non-Epiphone ones - or not?

I think you've answered your own question there. How usable are the vol and tone? Maybe swap these out. I have one and swapped out both, but only because I can't help myself. It was absolutely fine stock.

SixStringSage

Jonathangus said:

SixStringSage said:

I had it at rehearsal last night and loved the tones it was getting

So why do you want to change it?

A good question. I don't know that I "want" to change it, rather it's the only guitar I've ever had with P90s so don't have experience to know how it compares to others and my experience with Epiphones has often been they benefit from better quality components.

lovestrat74 said:

SixStringSage said:

I have one guitar with P90s, it's an Epiphone Pro Goldtop '56. I don't use this guitar a lot but I had it at rehearsal last night and loved the tones it was getting, which led to me thinking perhaps the guitar deserves an upgrade.

It's currently all stock, and I think is probably 8 years old. What I'm wondering is whether there's much benefit to upgrading the internals and if I'll see much difference from changing the P90s to non-Epiphone ones - or not?

I think you've answered your own question there. How usable are the vol and tone? Maybe swap these out. I have one and swapped out both, but only because I can't help myself. It was absolutely fine stock.

Not as responsive as I'd like, but that might be down to amp. I was playing through a Boss Katana which is fairly responsive, but I have found my Marshall SC20 to be better at that, so I'll need to put the guitar through that amp to get a more definitive answer. 

Rowby1

If it ain’t broke….

I’ve changed pickups on about half the guitars I own but only because the previous pickups weren’t bringing out the best of what the guitar had to offer. Example would be my Eastman T386, acoustically it was bright, open and lively sounding. Plugged in the stock Kent Armstrong pickups made it sound a bit flat, lifeless and dull. Pickup swap sorted it. 

If you “loved the tones” don’t mess with it.

SixStringSage

Rowby1 said:

If it ain’t broke….

I’ve changed pickups on about half the guitars I own but only because the previous pickups weren’t bringing out the best of what the guitar had to offer. Example would be my Eastman T386, acoustically it was bright, open and lively sounding. Plugged in the stock Kent Armstrong pickups made it sound a bit flat, lifeless and dull. Pickup swap sorted it. 

If you “loved the tones” don’t mess with it.

yeah I'm not big on swapping pickups out of habit, all but one of my guitars has stock pickups. But I'm wondering about the pots as well, not just the pickups 

noisepolluter

SixStringSage said:

Rowby1 said:

If it ain’t broke….

I’ve changed pickups on about half the guitars I own but only because the previous pickups weren’t bringing out the best of what the guitar had to offer. Example would be my Eastman T386, acoustically it was bright, open and lively sounding. Plugged in the stock Kent Armstrong pickups made it sound a bit flat, lifeless and dull. Pickup swap sorted it. 

If you “loved the tones” don’t mess with it.

yeah I'm not big on swapping pickups out of habit, all but one of my guitars has stock pickups. But I'm wondering about the pots as well, not just the pickups 

Do you know what the volume pot values are? If they’re 300k you could try 500k ones for a bit more sparkle 

rossi

I always find Tonerider P90,s  a huge improvement over the Chinese or even American stock ones.

Funkfingers

It is simplicity to alter the sounds of a P90 by swapping the bar magnets to a different formulation.

Last year, one of the Alegree website clearance section offerings was almost what I wanted APART from being A5 rather than A2. Its was a quick screwdriver job to change over.

AFAIK, the Epi Pro pickups have A2 bar magnets. The neck pickup could be made brighter by changing to A4 or A5. The bridge pickup could by made grittier by changing to unoriented A5. In your position, I would alter one or the other but not both.

You may be correct to think that the pots are knocking some high end off the stock pickups. It is equally possible that the bridge and/or tailpiece are sucking away treble.

SixStringSage said:

lovestrat74 said:

How usable are the vol and tone?

Not as responsive as I'd like but that might be down to amp. I was playing through a Boss Katana which is fairly responsive but I have found my Marshall SC20 to be better at that

P90s into saturated valve amplification for the win. Always. Roll back the guitar's volume pots for cleaner tones.

500k is the nominal pot value but it is possible to obtain pots of slightly higher or lower values to suit the respective pickup positions. @sixstringsupplies may be able to advise. They even have ready-assembled wiring harnesses.

paulmapp8306

P90s are no different to SCs or HBs.   Swapping them for different ones can change things drastically - both in tone and response.

Lollars, tom Andersons, Fralins, Bare Knuckle, Mojo (UK) and Mojotone (US) are all great options.   they will all be upgrades on the Epis - will pretty certainly respond to pick dynamics substantially better BUT they will also change the tone.

if you like what your getting, and are happy with the pick dynamics, you maybe shouldnt swap them.  If you ant to play around - then grab some.

Id highly recommend contacting Mojo, cheaper than most (Oil City are another to try) and if you explain what you have, what you like and what yo might like to change they can guide you to the best options.  

Asa has been mentioned - swapping magnets can change things too. I do this quite often with Humbuckers actually.  I prefer A2s.  For P90s I like A3s for lower gain and A5s for higher gain.

uncledick

Not as responsive as I'd like, but that might be down to amp. I was playing through a Boss Katana which is fairly responsive, but I have found my Marshall SC20 to be better at that, so I'll need to put the guitar through that amp to get a more definitive answer. 

Treat yourself to a decent amp and then think about pickups & pots.  I have Oil City Jin-Gos in my McCarty Standard and my CE22.  Just fabulous.   They never go mushy and you can use the volume and tone knobs to great effect.