freefrog
Well-known member
Re: Do you find P90's to sound narrow compared....
What happens when we play a P90 instead of a “small” single coil?
We go from a low inductance transducer (typically 2 or 3 Henry for Fender) to a high inductance one – roughly 7 Henry for “normal” P90’s.
What does inductance do? It increases the perceived output level… and it lowers the “resonant peak” of the coil in the spectrum, reducing the overall bandwidth of the transducer (by rolling off the high frequencies beyond the resonant peak)…
Why can we feel a P90 as bigger souding than a Fender single coil?
Because its huge inductance makes it louder when it comes to fundamental frequencies. Something like 4 or 5db louder.
We can rise the inductance of a P90 thx to its mags and drag down its resonance even lower in the spectrum : that’s what happens when A5’s are swapped for a lower alnico grade.
Swapping its magnets can also extend the magnetic field of a P90: it gives a larger “reading window” under the strings and it widens the perceived bandwidth.
Now, it doesn’t make absurd the tittle of this topic: IF (and only if) we set a P90 and a Fender SC to produce the same output level, the P90 will actually exhibit a narrower bandwidth because of its (more than twice bigger) inductance.
To obtain the same narrowed sound from a passive SC of the Fender kind, we would have to play it through a very high capacitance cable.
FWIW.
Below is the "crude" response obtained from a P90 vs a Fender Strat pickup through an average cable – and with the same vol/tone pots values. It should illustrate what I try to share.
What happens when we play a P90 instead of a “small” single coil?
We go from a low inductance transducer (typically 2 or 3 Henry for Fender) to a high inductance one – roughly 7 Henry for “normal” P90’s.
What does inductance do? It increases the perceived output level… and it lowers the “resonant peak” of the coil in the spectrum, reducing the overall bandwidth of the transducer (by rolling off the high frequencies beyond the resonant peak)…
Why can we feel a P90 as bigger souding than a Fender single coil?
Because its huge inductance makes it louder when it comes to fundamental frequencies. Something like 4 or 5db louder.
We can rise the inductance of a P90 thx to its mags and drag down its resonance even lower in the spectrum : that’s what happens when A5’s are swapped for a lower alnico grade.
Swapping its magnets can also extend the magnetic field of a P90: it gives a larger “reading window” under the strings and it widens the perceived bandwidth.
Now, it doesn’t make absurd the tittle of this topic: IF (and only if) we set a P90 and a Fender SC to produce the same output level, the P90 will actually exhibit a narrower bandwidth because of its (more than twice bigger) inductance.
To obtain the same narrowed sound from a passive SC of the Fender kind, we would have to play it through a very high capacitance cable.
FWIW.
Below is the "crude" response obtained from a P90 vs a Fender Strat pickup through an average cable – and with the same vol/tone pots values. It should illustrate what I try to share.
