P90's VS Humbuckers

[Benjy_26]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

May I ask why phat cats over P94s? I'm honestly ignorant here of the differences.

The Phat Cats sound very, very close to the P-90's in my late 60's Casino, they look great, are quiet (hum-wise) for a single coil, look dead stock from 5 feet away, and I refuse to pay the outrageous prices that Gibson charges for their replacement pickups. Also, I found the '94's to be a bit brittle and "hi-fi" compared to the PC's.

 

[theboatcandream]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

"hi-fi"?

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

"hi-fi"?

Not enough mids, snarl, juice, growl, you know, "hi-fi".

It's almost like an idealized P-90 sound, but without the rudeness that makes a P-90 a P-90. :newangel:

 

[theboatcandream]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

Oh. I dunno, side by side I found gibson P90s to sound dull compared to P94s. I kinda liked the difference.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

Keep in mind, Gibson is notorious for inconsitencies in the wind of their pickups.

This means that you might have heard a bad set of P-90's, a great set of P-94's, or both at the same time.

Also, the guitar the respective pickups were mounted in would make a big difference as well. :22:

 

[theboatcandream]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

Yeah, I've been guessing that it was an issue with the pots.

 

[Marty Horne]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

For a great example of P-90 tone check out " Mississippi Queen " by Mountain.

 

[The Owl]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

recently i have been in search of my "own" tone, i have never previously played P90's i play blues to metal(mostly metal-ish now) for mids lately i have been boosting them as opposed to scooping i have been boosting them to about 6(on a 1 to 10 knob) i will be buying a ProCo Rat and not sure of amp yet (please see the ProCo Rat, what amp thread) i am trying to decide between a Godin LG HMB or the LG P90 i am searching for a tone the is different then just the plain old high gain scooped mids, i still plan on using fairly high gain setting, the bands i like are iron maiden, iced earth, ozzy, black sabbath, etc and i again i do NOT want these artists tones, however i want to be able to play there songs, will P90's do it ? or should i stick with the traditional HMB? please help.. thanks

P-90's are a whole unique animal unto themselves. They don't have as high of output as humbuckers but are still more powerful than a typical Strat pickup.

Tonally, they can have a fairly pronounced mid-peak and in addition, you hear a bit more of the string brightness (almost like a Strat but with more beef) and in addition, P-90's tend to "snarl", which is great especially for blues and hard rock.

One of the best examples of a P-90 sound close to what you seem to be looking for can be found on Black Sabbath's "Volume 4" CD, Tony played an SG Special w/ P-90's on there and sounded amazing!

 

[theboatcandream]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

Don't forget Neil Young.

 

[big_black]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

...and Mike Ness.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

I put in a single coil on my G&L Skhawk which, from what I've gathered, was wound to be a p90 pickup. It growls like nobodys business. I'll be selling it though because I prefer the more full tone of humbuckers. P90s would be perfect for blues IMHO. They can get gritty (good for some, not my cup of tea). I wouldn't recommend them for smooth soloing or very high gain.

 

[Closed Eye]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

P-90's are a whole unique animal unto themselves. They don't have as high of output as humbuckers but are still more powerful than a typical Strat pickup.

Tonally, they can have a fairly pronounced mid-peak and in addition, you hear a bit more of the string brightness (almost like a Strat but with more beef) and in addition, P-90's tend to "snarl", which is great especially for blues and hard rock.

I just had a P-90 installed on my Strat...and I didn't like how it sounded in the Strat's bridge for the longest time until this past thanksgiving weeked.

The P-90s are just great pickups. A lot of output, but have a incredible clarity. I currently have two P-90 guitars (the Strat w/ an SD "modern" P-90 and a Yamaha w/ two stock P-90's) and they're just really, really great pickups.

 

[Kelsey]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

I second Benjy's suggestion -- the Phat Cats wil be a bit less noisy than standard P90s as well as more versatile if you feel the need to swap 'em for humbuckers. I can't compare them to P94s -- same class, but probably voiced a bit differently.

Also, keep in mind that some of the Godin LG's are 24-fret models, which will change the neck pup tone compared to the 22-fret models.

 

[SpeedDemon]

Re: P90's VS Humbuckers

well just got back from my local music shop...... played 2 rigs on a traynor amp(in my opinion that amp was disgusting) i played the goding freeway classic, it wasent to my liking... and the godin LG P90..... through the traynor it sounded O.K i will give it a second chance on a differnt amp next week.... last week i played the godin LG HMB through a tech 21 trademark and loved..... o well wait and see on the P90's even through the crappy amp they had lots of mid end bite that i liked.... we well see next week or maybe friday/saturday