Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

R

Robbocopy

Member
I've been wanting a 2 x P90 guitar for a long time, but then I thought I could throw in a pair of "humbucker shaped " P90s in one of my Les Paul. (Which means that I don't have sneak in yet another guitar case through the front door....)

But are they any good? I.e. do they sound like the good old P90s of the 50s and 60s or do I have to get a guitar routed for the real thing?

Any recommendations?

/R
 
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Re: Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

also dmzo bluesbucker and it has a noise canceling coil- seach last weeks posts as someone disected one and you can see how it is made-
 
Re: Are there any good "humbucker shapedd " P90s?

Re: Are there any good "humbucker shapedd " P90s?

Sabina MacDonald said:
Seymour Duncan Phat Cats.
Click to expand...

Since I like SD and have several of their humbuckers I am of cource very interested in the Phat Cats, but their specs are completely different to their other P90s. Different magnets, different "Tone guide/Eq" etc.

That's why I wonder if anyone has any experience with them.

/R
 
Re: Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

zionstrat said:
also dmzo bluesbucker and it has a noise canceling coil- seach last weeks posts as someone disected one and you can see how it is made-
Click to expand...

Well noise cancelling means humbucker, but I am looking for a single coil P90 style pickup sounding as close as possible to a normal sized P90.

/R
 
Re: Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

I tried a Phat Cat neck. I liked its tone so I ordered the bridge version to go with it. Compared to "real" P-90s, I have a set of Sky (Kent Armstrong-licensed) P-90's that I think are actually quite good. I tried both pup types in the same guitar (alder body, maple neck, RW fretboard, Strat-style).

Overall, the Sky pups sounded a tad cleaner; the Phat Cat was a little dirtier (more upper midrange). But I didn't do a real A/B test, so please take this with a grain of salt.
 
Re: Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

Gibson also do 'p94's, which they claim sound almost exactly like their p90s; dunno about your side of the pond but in britain they are quite tricky to get a hol dof/
 
Re: Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

OK,

Thanks for responses. Mayby I should check out the P94s instead then?

But hasn't anyone here compared the Phat Cats with any of the SD Soapbars?

/R
 
Re: Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

Seymour will stick a P-90 in a humbucker cover I do believe. I've heard both good and bad things about the KA P90's.
 
Re: Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

^^ +1 to the bastard n fat bastard, im pretty sure matt bellamy of muse uses one in one of the manson guitars..
 
Re: Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

Dimarzio makes the Bluesbucker which is supposed to sound like a P-90.
 
Re: Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

ranalli said:
Dimarzio makes the Bluesbucker which is supposed to sound like a P-90.
Click to expand...
It's rather a P90-ish sound: it's more modern and has a clearer midrange. What's more, many of the newer production Bluesbuckers are unfortunately a little bit nasal-sounding.

Although such an option isn't listed on their website, Tim at Bare Knuckle also makes humbucker-sized P90's for the regular humbucker price.
 
Re: Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

Peterku said:
It's rather a P90-ish sound: it's more modern and has a clearer midrange. What's more, many of the newer production Bluesbuckers are unfortunately a little bit nasal-sounding.

Although such an option isn't listed on their website, Tim at Bare Knuckle also makes humbucker-sized P90's for the regular humbucker price.
Click to expand...


You compared the new ones to the old ones and the newer ones are nasally??


That's weird....have you called Dimarzio?
 
Re: Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

i have a phat cat in the bridge of a custom shop washburn but for all practical purposes it might as well be a sg. it sounds great!!! very p90 like, does it sound exactly like a '56 lp jr no, but it gets as close as anything ive heard. ive tried the dimarzios and gibsons and didnt like em. tried the harmonic design z90 and they were really nice but i like the phat cat better, a little richer in the mids. id consider spending more time with the z90 if i didnt like the phat cat so much
 
Re: Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

I bought one and it may sound crazy but I think the neck Phat Cat is overwound at 8k (officially 7.98k), a little muddy to my ear. It has a lot more lows and low-mids than you would think a single coil pu could have so I figured it could lose a few turns without sounding wimpy.

So I had MJ rewind it for me at 7.0k and was I ever right. What a killer neck pu -- the mud is completely gone without losing any of the warmth. I really think they ought to produce one at 7k or so and call it the Jazz Cat, it sounds THAT GOOD...
 
Re: Are there any good "humbucker shaped " P90s?

ranalli said:
You compared the new ones to the old ones and the newer ones are nasally??
Click to expand...
No. I have a tech friend who's been buying, using and installing a lot of different pickups for years, mostly DiMarzio's, and when I complained him that my Bluesbucker "lacks something", he answered that the Bluesbucker was one of the models that had been getting a little bit inconsistent lately, and he'd found quite some among the ones he tried in the past years that were even nasal.
 
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