Favorite humbucker sized p-90?

ledvedder

New member
I have a Fender HH Tele that I'd like to put P90's in. I have GFS Mean 90's, but they're too boomy. What do you guys like?

This is the guitar that I have, https://shop.fender.com/en-US/electric-guitars/telecaster/player-telecaster-hh/0145232513.html
186bbc426d75f3aca16bd4aee3b6ce83.jpg


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I don't think any humbucker size pickups that claim to sound like a P90 actually do sound exactly like a P90.

They all sound like something different.

The Phatcat is as good as any but apparently it's not possible to get the exact sound of a P90 without a P90 coil.
 
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Love my P-Rails the P-90 tone is more than serviceable and in the humbucking mode, I get a great high output tone. For me, it is the best of both worlds.
 
I don't want to have to modify my guitar for all of the switching.

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You could use a push-pull to go P90/single or P90/Humbucker. That would be a pretty clean install.

I put covers on mine

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Well, the Phat Cat is a logical choice here, but really, my favorite is a P-Rail, which gives you a great P90 coil with a few bonus sounds.

Phat Cats ship with A2 magnets which are great for an early 50s P-90 sound, but not what comes to mind when most of us think "P-90". To get a more typical P-90 sound, the magnets need to be swapped to dual A5s or A4/A5. I heard of another member also removing 500-1000 turns from the neck Phat Cat which greatly improved output balance with the bridge.

If you're looking for a great sound out of the box, the Fralin humbucker sized P-90s are really good but a bit expensive. I'm with Mincer and Securb that the P-Rail is the best humbucker sized P-90 at a more reasonable price point. If you only want to use the P-90 coil, the other coil wires could be either taped off or grounded when wiring it up.
 
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+1 on the P-Rail. It's a more authentic P-90 tone than the Phat Cat is, let alone the Mean 90 which is significantly overwound. If getting 'the' P-90 tone is what you want, using a P-Rail and just wiring it only as a P-90 is going to get you there better than anything else.

That said, my personal favourite is the Irongear Alchemist 90, which is a lighter take on the Phat Cat formula. The neck model is only wound to 5.3k (+/- .1k), which is low even by P-90 standards. I actually use the bridge model in neck positions, since that's wound up to 7.5k; still lighter than a Phat Cat neck, but doesn't get drowned out by bridge humbuckers the way the neck Alchemist 90 does. If you go for either of them, just bear in mind Irongear's pickups are made with 'Fender phase', so they're inherently out-of-phase with Seymour Duncan pickups and most other manufacturers. To get them back in-phase with other pickups you need to switch the hot and ground wires of one of the two pickups, or physically flip the magnets over.

That said, the Mean 90 you have is specifically made to be extra-hot, so it's no surprise it's "booming", especially if you have it near the strings. That's a hot wind + double A5 magnets for you. You'll be able to get rid of some of the low-end just by lowering the pickup from the strings, so try that first before you go spending money on new pickups. In relation to that, any of the three pickups I've mentioned (P-Rail, Phat Cat, Alchemist 90) will be less bassy than the Mean 90.
 
I have a Fender HH Tele that I'd like to put P90's in. I have GFS Mean 90's, but they're too boomy. What do you guys like?

This is the guitar that I have, https://shop.fender.com/en-US/electric-guitars/telecaster/player-telecaster-hh/0145232513.html
186bbc426d75f3aca16bd4aee3b6ce83.jpg


Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

Excessive bass isn't a good reason to swap pickups IMO, unless you've exhausted all your other options or just want to try some other pickups.

Can you do a low cut before your amp to reduce the boominess? This is a great trick for cleaning up the low end. Careful though, once you start running an EQ pedal before your amp you'll never want to go without one again. Works wonders. Many pedals have low end controls, not just EQ pedals. I have a Rat clone that tightens up the lows.

Also +1 to lowering the pickups, take them down until they're about as low as they can go and then adjust from there. Up the amp gain if you feel like they're too weak, or raise just the polepieces if you feel like you lose too much high end. Use your ears instead of your eyes. Some hotter pickups sound fantastic when they're reeeeeallll low.
 
Excessive bass isn't a good reason to swap pickups IMO, unless you've exhausted all your other options or just want to try some other pickups.

Can you do a low cut before your amp to reduce the boominess? This is a great trick for cleaning up the low end. Careful though, once you start running an EQ pedal before your amp you'll never want to go without one again. Works wonders. Many pedals have low end controls, not just EQ pedals. I have a Rat clone that tightens up the lows.

Also +1 to lowering the pickups, take them down until they're about as low as they can go and then adjust from there. Up the amp gain if you feel like they're too weak, or raise just the polepieces if you feel like you lose too much high end. Use your ears instead of your eyes. Some hotter pickups sound fantastic when they're reeeeeallll low.

A Boss Graphic EQ pedal can be an enormous help too. I've never needed one but stellar studio guys like Brent Mason use one.

.
 
A Boss Graphic EQ pedal can be an enormous help too. I've never needed one but stellar studio guys like Brent Mason use one.

.

I've been using a no-name, made in China cheapie 10-band EQ pedal at the beginning of my chain. Worlds of difference being able to shape the incoming signal before it hits the amp... particularly with taming the low end.
 
I've been using a no-name, made in China cheapie 10-band EQ pedal at the beginning of my chain. Worlds of difference being able to shape the incoming signal before it hits the amp... particularly with taming the low end.

Funny I use a no-name Chinese EQ at the end of the chain. I like to tame some of the high-end frequencies modulation effects sometimes add.
 
I have sevral guitars with Mean 90s in them and Imlove that pup. But as you say, it can be boomy or mid heavy. I've recently (in the past few years) been using the GFS Dream 90 and it cures that "problem". It's not boomy at all but has a great P-90 tone and at a VERY reasonable price. I think you'd really like what you hear from the Dream 90.

I am also a big fan of the P-Rails (regular neck version, not the hot version with A8 magnets). In addition to the fantastic P-90 tone it's got a great parallel tone.
 
Any love for the Phat Cat ?

If the Phatcat hadn't been marketed as a P90 in a humbucker size, I would have liked it better.

It has alnico 2 magnets. Did the original P90's have alnico 2 magnets? I always thought the alnico 2 magnets were part of the reason a Phatcat doesn't sound like a P90 to me.

In any case, I expected it to sound like a P90 and it didn't.

If it had been marketed as "a new single coil sound in a humbucker size!" so that I had no expectations I would probably have accepted it for what it is and liked it better.
 
If the Phatcat hadn't been marketed as a P90 in a humbucker size, I would have liked it better.

It has alnico 2 magnets. Did the original P90's have alnico 2 magnets? I always thought the alnico 2 magnets were part of the reason a Phatcat doesn't sound like a P90 to me.

In any case, I expected it to sound like a P90 and it didn't.

If it had been marketed as "a new single coil sound in a humbucker size!" so that I had no expectations I would probably have accepted it for what it is and liked it better.

How did it sound?
 
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