P90 Ignorance

[Senor Skanky]

Yo,
Does anyone here play guitars with P90 pickups? If so what do you think of them and what music do you play with them? How bad is the hum/noise?

I've enver tried a P90 pickup'd guitar, and always wondered what the deal was.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: P90 Ignorance

I have an S/G special that has P-90's in it and I love it... Its a nice change from full on strat single coils or the beef of humbuckers... I love the way they sound under gain... fat and overdriven... not compressed... I've actually played almost everything with them... blues, jazz, metal... but I think they shine best in more of a loose distorted punk sound... think something like Social Distortion...

 

[ex-250]

Re: P90 Ignorance

i really want a P-90 in the neck of one of my guitars, and id get a phat cat but it would look really goofy since the guitar has black hardware and my bridge pickup is uncovered. i really want a phat cat with a black cover.....i might end up custom ordering it. cause i love the duncan vintage P90 tone, its just what im looking for. the rio grande bastard is a humsized P90 with a black cover, but i really want the duncan's tone

 

[poopsmith921]

Re: P90 Ignorance

p90's are great. They are nice and phat sounding, yet retain a lot of clarity. The p90s ive played have about the same hum as single coils

 

[danglybanger]

Re: P90 Ignorance

I LOVE P-90s. Growly and clear.

P90s to me seem to make much more noise than normal single coils. The worst on a PRS SE2 Soapbar, I played a Gibson melody maker that made much less noise but still quite a bit.

Just use some kind of noise reducer is my suggestion... I fell in love with P90s after playing that Melody maker, and found that most of STPs Tiny Music was recorded with a Les Paul Special, and he uses the Special to play interstate love song live... good stuff I really think they're great for most types
slade

 

[Senor Skanky]

Re: P90 Ignorance

I LOVE P-90s. Growly and clear.

P90s to me seem to make much more noise than normal single coils. The worst on a PRS SE2 Soapbar

Do you think the Soapbar would benefit from different P90s, say a Duncan replacements? I saw these new Soapbar 2s and they look gorgeous.

 

[theboatcandream]

Re: P90 Ignorance

GOOD P90s are fuller and middier than single coils yet have more clarity than humbuckers. With gain, they tend to be rude, growly, and even nasal.

 

[Aceman]

Re: P90 Ignorance

P-90'a are awesome! Bigger and bolder than the most overwound strat, yet clearer than almost any bucker. The are just, well, p-90's. I agree with the guy who said jazz to rock and everywhere in between. Think of them as the "12 string" of pickups. It's just a different (very different) sound. Both bucker and single, yet neither. This probably wasn't helpul....

However - on a hum note: I have a Gibson with P-100's. Basically a p-90 with an extra coil to keep the noise down. DiMArzio makes a bunch of "stacked" single coils. I don't particularly dig the tone of these particular pups, but they are quiet and very p-90-ish. I generally rock out so my amp is making more noise than any pup. Plus I'm not recording. If you need absolute quiet from the pup, I don't think you'll like them. But otherwise they are very cool.

I play a lot of Stevie Ray stuff on them and some big old fat blues. But Also clasic rock, and as I said, some clean Jazz.

 

[danglybanger]

Re: P90 Ignorance

Do you think the Soapbar would benefit from different P90s, say a Duncan replacements? I saw these new Soapbar 2s and they look gorgeous.

The Soapbar IIs seemed to be hit or miss... I tried one at GC in butterscotch that was a good guitar, but noisy pickups. I tried a red one a week later at GC that was a mediocre guitar with noisy pickups.

In other words... if you get a good one you'll probably want to change the pickups now I know why everyone complains about PRS P90s.

slade

 

[big_black]

Re: P90 Ignorance

Since I found P-90s, I've never wanted anyother kind of single coil. They are clear and warm when clean, and raw and growling with gain. They don't "fart out" like Fender singles do under gain. If you like ash as a tone wood, look into an Ernie Ball Axis. The P-90 Axis' have a "silent circuit" built in to virtually eliminate noise. I can put mine through a DS-1, fully cranked, and the hum I get is not more than with my humbucker guitars. This allows you to really push those pickups. They can take as much gain as any humbucker I've found.

 

[strat_master]

Re: P90 Ignorance

as for artist billie joe armostrong from green day uses a lp junior with p90's and his tone is pretty sweet and mean.

 

[Curly]

Re: P90 Ignorance

I haven't set up my Hamer Gold Top for slide, but the P90s in it beg for that

turn down, play clean - crank it, and they're fat and juicy

 

[stevie_d13]

Re: P90 Ignorance

ive got les paul jr with just the one p90 at the bridge. an its awsome!! I play dirty rock'n'roll an its perfect. it provides smooth, creamy, overdrive an you just need to roll the volume back an it cleans up beautifuly, it can produce pretty much any sound you want it to just by messing with the pot's. P90's are increbible virsatile pup's that can do anything you want them to!!!!

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: P90 Ignorance

I've got two P90 guitars

A Gibson 64 330 with the original pups

An 02/03 Godin LG P90

The original Gibson ones sound nice. The bridge is thick and cutting but not shrill and the neck is full. They sound great combined as well.

My godin came with the Duncan Neck and Bridge Custom models. They have ceramic magnets and are fat, warm, and thick. The ceramic magnet gives it that aggressive edge.

Alot of guys here go with a vintage neck and custom bridge.

Luke

 

[theboatcandream]

Re: P90 Ignorance

I've got two P90 guitars

A Gibson 64 330 with the original pups

An 02/03 Godin LG P90

The original Gibson ones sound nice. The bridge is thick and cutting but not shrill and the neck is full. They sound great combined as well.

My godin came with the Duncan Neck and Bridge Custom models. They have ceramic magnets and are fat, warm, and thick. The ceramic magnet gives it that aggressive edge.

Alot of guys here go with a vintage neck and custom bridge.

Luke

The P90s in your Godin are not Custom models. They are custom made for Godin. They are unique to godin guiars.

 

[theboatcandream]

Re: P90 Ignorance

I've got two P90 guitars

A Gibson 64 330 with the original pups

An 02/03 Godin LG P90

The original Gibson ones sound nice. The bridge is thick and cutting but not shrill and the neck is full. They sound great combined as well.

My godin came with the Duncan Neck and Bridge Custom models. They have ceramic magnets and are fat, warm, and thick. The ceramic magnet gives it that aggressive edge.

Alot of guys here go with a vintage neck and custom bridge.

Luke

The P90s in your Godin are not Custom models. They are custom made for Godin. They are unique to godin guitars. At least, that's my understanding.

 

[dani]

Re: P90 Ignorance

Alot of guys here go with a vintage neck and custom bridge.

its actually a vintage neck and custom neck in the bridge (courtesy of scott f). either can be rwrp for hum cancelling in the middle position.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: P90 Ignorance

The P90s in your Godin are not Custom models. They are custom made for Godin. They are unique to godin guitars. At least, that's my understanding.

When I took them out and started a thread aobut it on the old forum Scott I was told that they were two custom models. It was also stated that the Godin catalog was misleading stating that it was equipped with "2 Seymour Duncan Custom P90's"

A custom neck in bridge...and all this time I thought it was actually a custom bridge. crazy

Luke

 

[Hellion]

Re: P90 Ignorance

P90s are awesome pickups. They sound good in just about any guitar you care to mention.

 

[Pig_Charmer]

Re: P90 Ignorance

Seymour Duncan makes a stacked p-90 I put one in my melody maker and sounds exactly like the p-90 minus the hum.