Lewguitar
New member
More a matter of how it didn't sound. I wanted to be able to get a Leslie West "Mississippi Queen" sound out of it and couldn't. I wanted the sound of of a 1959 or 60 Gibson Les Paul Jr and it didn't have that.
Favorite humbucker sized p-90?
- Thread starter ledvedder
- Start date
More a matter of how it didn't sound. I wanted to be able to get a Leslie West "Mississippi Queen" sound out of it and couldn't. I wanted the sound of of a 1959 or 60 Gibson Les Paul Jr and it didn't have that.
Big Flannel
New member
What guitar did you put it in, if you don't mind me asking? I'm always looking to add more variety to the collection (I have a gold top with p90s so I'm not all that worried about "traditional" tones since I have that covered). I'm just wondering what could be expected from one or how it sounds.
Lewguitar
New member
A Hamer Sunburst if I remember right. One of those that looks like a '60 double cutaway Les Paul Jr. or Special but with a flamed top.
Big Flannel
New member
It's hard to believe that guitar could sound bad lol. How did the Phatcat sound in it?
beaubrummels
Well-known member
I used a PhatCat set once, in a Les Paul Studio. Was the perfect PAF sound, especially the neck. The problem was the bridge was too weak and the neck was too hot so it was difficult to get them to balance, and being single coils, they were noisy. But the sound was perfect, to me.
Artie
Peaveyologist
I had them in my Iceman. In the middle position, they had a nice Stratty quack. But either, by themselves, were uninspiring. The set was replaced by GFS Dream 90's, which are still in there.
I'd love to see them re-engineer the Phat Cats. (Just put half of the P-Rail under the cover.)
I'd love to see them re-engineer the Phat Cats. (Just put half of the P-Rail under the cover.)
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Lewguitar
New member
That was kind of my experience in the Hamer Sunburst. The Phatcats sounded good. Just not the sound I was hoping for. They were weaker than I expected and more like a Stratty sounding P90 than a 50's P90 like Leslie West used and which were also in the real 50's Les Paul Jr's I owned. I used to love 50's Les Paul Jr's and Specials. They were my main guitar in the late 60's and early 70's.
Try the Dream 90. If it's not exactly what you want (which I think it is), then you haven't lost much...if I remember correctly they are less than $30. That is my favorite hummer-sized P-90. I wanted a bit more oomph in one of my guitars with the Dream 90 so I put one A8 and the original A5 in it and it sounds awesome. All my other guitars with Dream 90s are stock with the A5s.
Bill Dennis
New member
When I hear "P90", I think of "Mississippi Queen" and classic Billy Squier tracks. Most probably were not even done with P90's but that is the sounds I associate with it..
Lewguitar
New member
First I want to say that the Phatcat is a cool pickup with its own sound. And marketing it as a P90 in a humbucker size is good marketing even though it doesn't sound exactly like a 1959 P90.
The Mississippi Queen sound is definitely a P90. But it's a P90 played through a great amp and by a great player with a great touch, picking technique and finger vibrato.
Leslie West gets a very similar tone these days using a humbucker through a Blackstar amp!
But here's the original track with Leslie playing a late 50's Les Paul Jr. with a single bridge P90 through a German made Stramp amp. The Stramp was a German made Marshall clone from what I've read
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Artie
Peaveyologist
That's one of those songs that you have to listen to when you have the house to yourself, and you can really crank it.
BTW, when I did have my Phat Cats, I contemplated foregoing the 3-way, and just hard wiring them in parallel with a master vol/tone. It would be a sweet sound that wouldn't be any weirder than a single-humbucker axe. Maybe not P-90-ish per se. But still a nice sound.
Ace Flibble
New member
Most (not all) 50s Gibson and Epiphone P-90s are A3 or A5, or sometimes even a mixture of both. (I forget where, but I once saw a teardown of an old P-90 which had two A3 magnets stacked on top of each other on one side and an A5 on the other; quality control was not really A Thing in the 50s.) I assume SD went for A2 in the Phat Cat because A2 is much cheaper/easier to get hold of than A3, or at least it was when they designed that pickup, and the difference between A2 and A3 really isn't that dramatic, especially when you have two of them as in a P-90. But I do think most people think of the A5 as being the P-90 tone, anyway.
Lewguitar
New member
I assumed SD went with Alnico 2 to fatten up the mids of the Phatcat.
dystrust
Well-known member
AFAIK most early 50s P90s use Alnico II magnets, except for a brief period in '52-'53 where they used 3/16" thick A3 magnets according to ThroBak anyway. Later 50s P90s are usually A4 or A5 until the switch to short A5s as with humbuckers in the early 60s.
The Phat Cat was originally an OEM design for the Hamer Newport semi-hollow in the late 90s or early 2000s. They weren't available individually until a few years later.
Lewguitar
New member
You're probably right about the magnets. A4 or A5 in the 59 era P90. Tom Holmes found purchase orders when he worked for Gibson and A4 is what Gibson ordered mostly for P90 and Humbucking pickups. Tom is convinced that most 59 Les Pauls used A4 and that's what he uses.
I've never removed the cover from a Phatcat. What's inside? Is it a P90 with the bobbin made shorter on each end and empty space on both of the long sides or what?
In other words, what does the bobbin look like?
Ace Flibble
New member
This old Reverb listing shows a pair of Phat Cats with the covers taken off, allegedly. I've never taken the cover off of an actual SD Phat Cat to be sure that's what's under there, however I have taken the covers off some other hum-sized P-90s and usually it is something along those lines. Some very cheap 'hum-90s' just use a Strat or Tele neck bobbin, but most do use a fatter bobbin that is not modified from or found in any other type of pickup.
Here's one of my own—this one's a Creamery pickup—that is without its cover, since I kept swapping the mags back and forth and couldn't be bothered to put the cover back on:
Here's one of my own—this one's a Creamery pickup—that is without its cover, since I kept swapping the mags back and forth and couldn't be bothered to put the cover back on:
allstarrme
New member
I’ve really been meaning to get a bare knuckle Mississippi queen hsp90 set. Bare knuckles has never steered me wrong and those seem like the ones to get.
I just need a new guitar to put them in.
I just need a new guitar to put them in.
They will actually build those for you.
