stratguy23
New member
I haven't seen many reviews for these P90s, so I figured I'd post one here.
SP90-3n Custom neck seems to be a fairly popular *bridge* choice here, but I don't see many folks going all in with the highest output SD P90 in the bridge.
Host guitar is a PRS SE Soapbar II - one of the best bang-for-the-buck production import guitars ever made. As many will attest, the stock P90s are very good (I've heard they're in fact OEM made by SD - can anyone confirm?); the stock bridge P90 in particular is a thing of beauty, with amazing snarl. I just wanted to try something even more aggressive.
It may seem odd to pair the lowest output SD P90 neck with the highest output SD P90 bridge, but those were the two P90s whose sound clips appealed the most to me. With both pickups, I thought I was getting some nice twangy tones. Boy, was I wrong! But pleasantly so! I guess my hands/rig are nothing at all like whatever SD used to make the clips.
SP90-3b may be the most aggressive pickup I've ever played. I'm including all sorts of fire breathers like EMG 81 and Invader in that assessment. It's not the most stereotypically aggressive pickup (i.e., marketed for metal), but in reality it is a mean sonofa*****. Scott Henderson said that single coils sound bigger than humbuckers, and for this pickup I'd have to agree. The combination of big ceramic magnets, hot wind, and P90 noise make this quite a weapon. It has a pronounced top end spike that reminds me a lot of the Pearly Gates bridge. The mids are surprisingly scooped, and the low end is tight but not especially chunky. I found myself wishing for a little more chunk, but if I had a true high gain amp like a 6505, I could get there with no problem.
Given this EQ signature, I bet this pickup would sound fantastic in downtuned metal applications.
This pickup is really, really loud. Sometimes I find myself wishing it weren't so full-on all the time, but most of the time I appreciate how in-your-face it is. You can do "Mississippi Queen" with this pickup, but because of the mid scoop, it will have a modern clarity to it. If you want to cut through a mix JB/498T/81-style, this pickup will do it.
Because of how ceramic it is (very), I find I have to attack it differently than other ceramic pickups. Someone commented here once on how ceramic pickups take on an alnico-like sag with hard enough pick attack, and I'd say that's true for pickups like the Custom and Distortion. However, SP90-3b is an armor-plated SOB, so a hard pick attack will just reflect back at you in an un-musical way. I find I have to soften my pick attack and get "inside" the pickup. Once I do, I can dig the stereotypical P90 "juice" out of it - and, man, is it sweet. I love this pickup. You learn how to wield it, and you feel like you have the biggest gun in the room.
Antiquity neck is another matter. Surprisingly, it matches up just fine volume-wise with the Custom bridge (just have to get your pickup heights right). Tonally, it's a bit of a mismatch, as it's very warm, and the Custom bridge is very bright (think 490R/498T type of mismatch). That said, its tone is so good that I don't mind the difference. It's exactly how you want an A2 neck P90 to be - thick, warm, juicy, musical. The experience felt a bit like the APS-1 Strat neck pickup (also A2), so if you like that pickup but want the P90 version, here you go.
I can see Antiquity P90 neck doing really well in a brighter guitar. Next place I want to try it is in a Strat with a maple board.
Looking at the SD EQ charts, I'm guessing a better tonal match for the Custom bridge might be the SP90-1 Vintage. And a better bridge match for the Antiquity neck might be the SP90-2 Hot. So I see myself giving those a go, but I'm pretty happy with what I have for now.
SP90-3n Custom neck seems to be a fairly popular *bridge* choice here, but I don't see many folks going all in with the highest output SD P90 in the bridge.
Host guitar is a PRS SE Soapbar II - one of the best bang-for-the-buck production import guitars ever made. As many will attest, the stock P90s are very good (I've heard they're in fact OEM made by SD - can anyone confirm?); the stock bridge P90 in particular is a thing of beauty, with amazing snarl. I just wanted to try something even more aggressive.
It may seem odd to pair the lowest output SD P90 neck with the highest output SD P90 bridge, but those were the two P90s whose sound clips appealed the most to me. With both pickups, I thought I was getting some nice twangy tones. Boy, was I wrong! But pleasantly so! I guess my hands/rig are nothing at all like whatever SD used to make the clips.
SP90-3b may be the most aggressive pickup I've ever played. I'm including all sorts of fire breathers like EMG 81 and Invader in that assessment. It's not the most stereotypically aggressive pickup (i.e., marketed for metal), but in reality it is a mean sonofa*****. Scott Henderson said that single coils sound bigger than humbuckers, and for this pickup I'd have to agree. The combination of big ceramic magnets, hot wind, and P90 noise make this quite a weapon. It has a pronounced top end spike that reminds me a lot of the Pearly Gates bridge. The mids are surprisingly scooped, and the low end is tight but not especially chunky. I found myself wishing for a little more chunk, but if I had a true high gain amp like a 6505, I could get there with no problem.
Given this EQ signature, I bet this pickup would sound fantastic in downtuned metal applications.
This pickup is really, really loud. Sometimes I find myself wishing it weren't so full-on all the time, but most of the time I appreciate how in-your-face it is. You can do "Mississippi Queen" with this pickup, but because of the mid scoop, it will have a modern clarity to it. If you want to cut through a mix JB/498T/81-style, this pickup will do it.
Because of how ceramic it is (very), I find I have to attack it differently than other ceramic pickups. Someone commented here once on how ceramic pickups take on an alnico-like sag with hard enough pick attack, and I'd say that's true for pickups like the Custom and Distortion. However, SP90-3b is an armor-plated SOB, so a hard pick attack will just reflect back at you in an un-musical way. I find I have to soften my pick attack and get "inside" the pickup. Once I do, I can dig the stereotypical P90 "juice" out of it - and, man, is it sweet. I love this pickup. You learn how to wield it, and you feel like you have the biggest gun in the room.
Antiquity neck is another matter. Surprisingly, it matches up just fine volume-wise with the Custom bridge (just have to get your pickup heights right). Tonally, it's a bit of a mismatch, as it's very warm, and the Custom bridge is very bright (think 490R/498T type of mismatch). That said, its tone is so good that I don't mind the difference. It's exactly how you want an A2 neck P90 to be - thick, warm, juicy, musical. The experience felt a bit like the APS-1 Strat neck pickup (also A2), so if you like that pickup but want the P90 version, here you go.
I can see Antiquity P90 neck doing really well in a brighter guitar. Next place I want to try it is in a Strat with a maple board.
Looking at the SD EQ charts, I'm guessing a better tonal match for the Custom bridge might be the SP90-1 Vintage. And a better bridge match for the Antiquity neck might be the SP90-2 Hot. So I see myself giving those a go, but I'm pretty happy with what I have for now.
