New to P-90's... A little help?

R

Ransom

New member
What are my options with P-90's? If I am looking for a traditional humbucker sound... is this even an option? The guitar is a very clean Gibson ES-137, so I do not want to make any permanent changes. The pickups are stock and there is plenty of room underneath to replace with a stacked pu if desired.

OK... all of you want-a-be Dr. Jekyl's... give me your thoughts.
 
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Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

I don't know of any tradtitional humbucker sounding PAFs but there are some fantastic options for P-90's from SD.

The Antiquity line is fantastic, they are as good as it gets in reproducing original P-90 tone. The Vintage P-90-1 is extremly close as well and they sound great (I use a neck version). The Hots, SP90-2 are really good a are a juiced up traditional P-90, the Custom SP-90-3 is a flat out raw rocker, ceramic mag, anywhere from George Thorogood to serious Hard Rockin' without effort. They are a much higher output than the Ants or the Vintage, so are the Hots btw, and can be a bit noisy in certain places.

There are Stacked P-90's, Blue Guitar just wrote up a really good review of them here you should check out. They are humbucking but not PAF sounding. I know DiMarzio has some humcking P-90 options but I am not familiar with their products, sorry.
 
Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

The thing about P-90's is that they aren't like anything else. They are fatter than any single coil (even the most "overwound") and cut more than any HB.

It sounds to me like you really don't want P-90's. Both SD and that "other" company make stacked P-90's. But they may just be P-90's without the hum. Anyone trying to make hum cancelling P-90's would want to maintain the P-90ness of the pup? Is it the hum you don't like?
 
Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

Honestly... I have been a humbucker guy most of my life. I have a Kubicki Strat H/S/S that I use when I want a single tone. I know that it sounds odd, I've played for a long time... I've never played P-90's. I am getting a Gibson ES-137 Semi-Hollow from a friend at a price that I just can't say no to... and it has p-90's. I've never played it.

Please give me a short list of classic P-90 riffs, so that I can know what I am getting.

I was thinking about using this guitar as a multi-purpose instrument. HB's with split wiring an LR Baggs T-Bridge to get those acoustic-like tones. Maybe this would be a waste... I don't know. I have always LOVED the Semi-Hollow guitars. I once played an ES-137 with HB's and LOVED it.

I apprecite your insights. Be gentle.
 
Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

twoheadedboy,

AWESOME! Any chance of getting the same riff on HB's so we can A/B them?

Thanks again.
 
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Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

I guess you should play the guitar and check if you like the tone of the P-90 there. If so... then you could think if you would like a bit more of this or less of that or if you are satisfied with them. If you don't like them just think in find a P-90 sized humbucker.

Personaly, the only P-90 I've tried are the Vintage P-90 set in my Danelectro. They definitely rock!! I have a clip but it'snt as good as the twoheadedboy posted. Click on my signature if you are interested... first one on the list.
 
Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

P-90's?

Check out "Missisipi Queen", the last album from the Smashing Pumpkins, and a lot of early Who songs.

BTW, I think that P-90's rock. They can do anything from jazz, to country, to funk, to metal and everything in between.

Fatter than a strat and more cut than a PAF is a very nice thing. ;)
 
Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

Just about any Social Distortion is a P-90 sound, as well as early Black Sabbath.
 
Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

Same riff on HBs? Sure. I'm gonna be recording more with both in the future anyway. I'm waiting for my SG to come back from having a new nut installed, then I'll record a few clips. Look for them in tips and clips.
 
Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

IIRC American Idiot by Green Day was recorded using P-90's as well.
 
Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

If you're looking for a humbucker sound from a P90, I've only seen the one's mentioned above by Dimarzio. I have two SD P90s in my Tele Jr and I love them. I use to play nothing but humbuckers until I found this guitar. But the sweet cleans and raw distortion really made me see the light. P90's are great. I wouldn't change them for humbuckers, IMO.

I have thought about changing another guitar with P90's since I have two guitars with p90's, but there just aren't enough choices out there for me. Both of the Dimarzios are high output. I'd want something more like a SD 59 in a P90 size.
 
Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

TeleJr24 said:
If you're looking for a humbucker sound from a P90, I've only seen the one's mentioned above by Dimarzio. I have two SD P90s in my Tele Jr and I love them. I use to play nothing but humbuckers until I found this guitar. But the sweet cleans and raw distortion really made me see the light. P90's are great. I wouldn't change them for humbuckers, IMO.

I have thought about changing another guitar with P90's since I have two guitars with p90's, but there just aren't enough choices out there for me. Both of the Dimarzios are high output. I'd want something more like a SD 59 in a P90 size.
Click to expand...

I had two very similar guitars with dual P-90's in them... I had already bought the Gibson faded cherry LP Jr Special but was really knocked out by the PRS SE Soapbar II for $450 and couldn't pass it up. :( Well, it worked out really well putting the SD P-90 stacks in the Gibson so I get different sounds from both guitars, although there is some overlap. I'll go back and forth between the two guitars, and I can't decide which one I like better. Once you crank them up and go into overdrive, they can both get similar tones. One difference is that the P-90 stacked humbucker does seem to compress more than a regular P-90. But when your amp is cranked up you are getting some compression anyway.

P.S. So tell me more about your Tele Junior! Is that something like the Squire Tele Custom II?
 
Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

I have some slightly different P90 newbie questions. I have a guitar with three P90s in it, all of which are cheap and I want to upgrade them. I was looking for a rock sound and am not a vintage kinda guy--the less hum and the more output, the better. So, I went trolling on eBay and found a SP903n for the neck and a STK-P1 for the bridge. Well...I was told it was a P90 stack, but upon receiving it, it appears to have the sticker "2B" on the bottom, which would make it a Hot P90 and therefore a totally different animal. Also, this "stack" has a black main wire (the braided shielding is beneath that) with thin white and black wires running into it; I thought P90 Stacks had four conductors, but I'm not sure if they'd be visible.

Anybody got photos of the underside of a legit P90 Stack? I Googled but came up empty. What are the other ways to tell the difference between the regular SD P90s and a P90 Stack, visually? I think someone made a mistake and/or I got hosed.

Also, assuming I go with the Custom neck and Stack bridge...what flavor belongs in the middle in 3-pickup configuration? I know they're all voiced for neck or bridge, so I don't know which one would be most comfy in the middle.
 
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Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

Dan, welcome to the forum. I can't help you with that question. Never seen the bottoms of the stacks.

To the orginal poster, check out the P90's when you get them. You're likely to love them. If not, you can always drop a set of minihumbuckers into the P90 holes.
 
Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

I insalled a set of Phat Cats in to Brisks hollowbody last night and they are GREAT!!! That was my first kind of experience with a P-90 and I loved it. I heard so many famous rock songs out of them.
 
Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

Scott_F said:
Dan, welcome to the forum. I can't help you with that question. Never seen the bottoms of the stacks.
Click to expand...

Thanks all the same. I think the smart thing for me to do would be to take a photo of the pickup I have, post it, and see if anybody recognizes it. It might be another type of P90, and it might not even be a Seymour--the markings don't seem to match either the pre- or post-2002 system listed on the site. At this point it's a "P90 something" and the rest is a mystery. So...photo to come. :)
 
Re: New to P-90's... A little help?

Here's the mystery P90 pickup I'm talking about that I was sold as a Seymour P90 Stack for bridge. This sticker does not match Seymour's system, but at first I thought it might be a Hot P90 bridge. Anybody recognize this for what it really is? I'm stumped. Thanks.

p90mystery.jpg
 
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