Best P-90s

[blueman335]

Re: Best P-90s

Very cool-Im really into the sound of these things lately. Its weird because Ive always thought of them as a mellow-bassy blues-only tone, but in reality these things sound like all-out midsy rock and roll.

They have warmth from the windings, output from twin magnets, and that open sound of a single coil. Not bassy or overly mellow. More treble & clarity than a HB. There's no reason why HB's should have such dominance in today's guitar market.

 

[alex1fly]

Re: Best P-90s

I use the PRS SE soapbars in the PRS guitar and the neck position of my strat. It sounds fantastic in both guitars, stratty or thick depending on the tone knob. fwiw the prs has a 500k tone and the strat has a 250k tone. a5/a5 is what i have in the strat, a5/a3 is what i have in the prs - the a3 gives it some extra sparkle on the top end. to increase clarity w/ these pups i raise the polepieces above the cover and lower the pup. doesn't get much more clear in my experience.

 

[ES350]

Re: Best P-90s

For the money, the stock USA Gibson is hard to beat...the SD Vintage is a little too brittle for me, never sounded quite right (and I have 40's-50's P90s in about 5 guitars for a reference). The PRS stuff is terrible, an unusable earbleeder. Lollar and Fralin have their own takes on the theme, but for 2-3X the dough of a used Gibson set. The Fralin is probably closer to a real vintage PU 90 than most...

 

[phil_104]

Re: Best P-90s

I use the PRS SE soapbars in the PRS guitar and the neck position of my strat. It sounds fantastic in both guitars, stratty or thick depending on the tone knob. fwiw the prs has a 500k tone and the strat has a 250k tone. a5/a5 is what i have in the strat, a5/a3 is what i have in the prs - the a3 gives it some extra sparkle on the top end. to increase clarity w/ these pups i raise the polepieces above the cover and lower the pup. doesn't get much more clear in my experience.

Yeah, PRS soapbars hit the spot for me. A old friend of mine who I havn't seen in a while had a PRS McCarthy Soapbar back in the day he used for rock and blues. The sound from that guitar was unbelievable.

 

[alex1fly]

Re: Best P-90s

The PRS stuff is terrible, an unusable earbleeder.

American PRS or PRS SE? And do you mean in comparison to your real-deal P 90s? Mine sound rad... though I have played another SE Soapbar that sounded completely dead, due to the height setup of the pickups...

 

[alex1fly]

Re: Best P-90s

Yeah, PRS soapbars hit the spot for me. A old friend of mine who I havn't seen in a while had a PRS McCarthy Soapbar back in the day he used for rock and blues. The sound from that guitar was unbelievable.

On my SE, I've gotten great results from swapping an a3 into the neck and an a8 into the bridge. It helped balance the sound between the two positions and get more out of each individually.

 

[Stratman]

Re: Best P-90s

For the money, the stock USA Gibson is hard to beat...the SD Vintage is a little too brittle for me, never sounded quite right (and I have 40's-50's P90s in about 5 guitars for a reference). The PRS stuff is terrible, an unusable earbleeder. Lollar and Fralin have their own takes on the theme, but for 2-3X the dough of a used Gibson set. The Fralin is probably closer to a real vintage PU 90 than most...

So EXACTLY how many do you actually have?

 

[sosomething]

Re: Best P-90s

They have warmth from the windings, output from twin magnets, and that open sound of a single coil. Not bassy or overly mellow. More treble & clarity than a HB. There's no reason why HB's should have such dominance in today's guitar market.

I COMPLETELY AGREE with this.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Best P-90s

I'm not a huge fan of P-90's but I do like the Duncan Alnico 2 Antiquity which has more mids and a pluckier, chewier tone than most other P-90's. And I like the way Lindy Fralin winds P90's as well. Lew

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Best P-90s

They have warmth from the windings, output from twin magnets, and that open sound of a single coil. Not bassy or overly mellow. More treble & clarity than a HB. There's no reason why HB's should have such dominance in today's guitar market.

they're only so dominant because the average buyer is thinking more in terms of what will be quiet under distortion when in reality they probably don't need that much distortion to begin with:scratchch

 

[Gunny47]

Re: Best P-90s

I tried a lot of P90s believe it or not (even though I do not own any P90 guitars). An old bandmate of mine (drummer) his father was a guitar collector and he was a P90 guy. Great people really, I kinda regret that I cut off ties with them, but the kid got annoying and I moved onto bigger and better things I guess. Anyway, he let me play all his vintage LPs. He had an original '54 Goldtop with a few mods, a '59 LP Singlecut Special, a double cut special from the 50s (I forget which year exactly) and a '57 LP Junior. Plus he has a few reissue Juniors with different pickups in it.

My favorite had to be the original Gibson pickup from the 50s (kinda obviously) but the close second was the Fralin. I really liked that. He had antiquity and Lollar too, which were cool. I think the Fralin was the best though. All great, but if I had a P90 axe, I'd put in Fralins, my opinion.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Best P-90s

P-90: Fatter than the fattest single coil strat pickup, cuts thorugh way better than any humbucker. Ahhhhh.

as has been said - Gibson does this right. I also like the duncan Vintage. Also like the PRS. Gosh darn, almost any P-90!

 

[Micah]

Re: Best P-90s

They have warmth from the windings, output from twin magnets, and that open sound of a single coil. Not bassy or overly mellow. More treble & clarity than a HB. There's no reason why HB's should have such dominance in today's guitar market.

Agreed!

 

[WoodyTone]

Re: Best P-90s

Thanks a bunch guys.

Blueman/Alex -- cool, thanks.

Wattage -- Dumb Q, but how do you raise/lower P-90 pickups?

And does anyone know whether Epi P90s are either a) the same as Gibbys or b) A5s? I surfed and couldn't find any info.

Otherwise, let me get this straight: Gibby P90s, which are A5s, are better than SD P90s? Tough to believe but I guess it could happen.

Great stuf, guys. Keep it coming!

 

[blueman335]

Re: Best P-90s

And does anyone know whether Epi P90s are either a) the same as Gibbys or b) A5s? I surfed and couldn't find any info.

Otherwise, let me get this straight: Gibby P90s, which are A5s, are better than SD P90s?

With any P-90/Phat Cat/P-94 type PU, you can do a lot to change the EQ with magnets. I don't like bridge or neck Phat Cats with the stock A2's, but since I've replaced all those, I've wound up with a total of 10 Phat Cats in various combinations now (HS, HSH, and SS). You have a lot of tone and output flexibility with twin magnets. I'm of the opinion now that you could probably get any P-90 to sound the way you want by swapping magnets.

 

[Huntermb]

Re: Best P-90s

Blueman what do you change the magnets in the Phatcats/P-94s to? I've got a PC bridge and a P-94 neck that I wouldn't mind doing some experimenting with (hmmm...good excuse to get a guitar to put them in).

Also does anyone know what model of Duncan p-90's come stock in the Godin LGP-90? I've played a few of those and really like the sound.

 

[Wattage]

Re: Best P-90s

.

Wattage -- Dumb Q, but how do you raise/lower P-90 pickups?

And does anyone know whether Epi P90s are either a) the same as Gibbys or b) A5s? I surfed and couldn't find any info.

Otherwise, let me get this straight: Gibby P90s, which are A5s, are better than SD P90s? Tough to believe but I guess it could happen.

Well to raise or lower it there are two phillips head screws between the 4/5 and the 2/3 strings that you can tighten down to lower it. If it doesn't go Epi may have used a wooden spacer and have it down tight. You can shave that down a bit or switch to springs. I don't know if Epi has threaded inserts for the screws to go into?

The Epi pups are made overseas so they are a different wind than the Gibsons but their P-90's weren't bad, a little overwound from what I remember.

I prefer SDs P-90's over the Gibsons but probably because I am so used to the voicing of Seymour's pups. I really love the SP90-3 Custom which is a very hot ceramic wind, sounds like a juiced George Thorgood Bad to the Bone type of thing, not for everyone though. It was my main pickup for years but it can get a little noisy so sheild well if you ever use it.

Gibson makes and has pretty much always made an excellent P-90 and I am sure you can find them for a song on eBay. It is worth trying them to know what they are all about. Kind of thing you really need to find where your head is with the tone. P-90's can be pretty versatile and even some of the "crappy" ones can sound great. I would probably do a good rewire of the Epi with 500k pots and .022 caps before I changed the stock pups, it might open that thing right up.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Best P-90s

Yeah, PRS soapbars hit the spot for me. A old friend of mine who I havn't seen in a while had a PRS McCarthy Soapbar back in the day he used for rock and blues. The sound from that guitar was unbelievable.

SE or PRS U.S.?

PRS U.S. guitars use Seymour Duncan Soapbars.

PRS SEs use P-90ties that are a little smaller (major paint when you want to upgrade) and sound good clean buy way too muddy for any distorted work.

 

[ES350]

Re: Best P-90s

I have 7 P90 guitars, ranging from an early 50's ES350 to a 2002 R6 (refit with a '50s harness and pickups)...I used to buy every vintage P90, P13, and wiring harness I could find for anywhere from 5-20 bucks a pop back in the late 80's when everybody wanted a JB and a Floyd. So, I prolly have about 10 loose ones left laying around...not for sale. My first good guitar (1974) was a '55 Special and I was hooked on P90's after that.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Best P-90s

Blueman what do you change the magnets in the Phatcats/P-94s to? I've got a PC bridge and a P-94 neck that I wouldn't mind doing some experimenting with (hmmm...good excuse to get a guitar to put them in).

Take off the cover; if it has a metal cover you'll probably need to cut the two blobs of solder (I use a dremel). The 2 magnets are between the base plate and coil. Pull one out halfway & check orientation (sides attract). Put the over back on, and resolder if it's metal. Only takes minutes.