Recommend me a humbucker: looking for clarity, I love p90s

ragamuffin

ragamuffin

New member
Hi there, I'm planning to build a humbucker guitar and wondering which ones you might recommend me. My main guitar has two p90s and I love the clarity/articulation of them. I'd like the humbuckers to be articulate, not too dark, and probably on the lower output/vintage-y side of things. I recently played a Fender Meteora with the "player series" A2 humbuckers and liked the sound fairly well. I was thinking something like the Seth Lovers or Jazz or maybe the Saturday Night Specials might be my sort of thing, but what would you humbucker experts recommend? I am looking for as actual humbuckers and not h-sized p90s. Thanks!
 
Re: Recommend me a humbucker: looking for clarity, I love p90s

Seth lovers would be an excellent choice. Sat Night Specials are pretty hotter on the PAF end of things.
59's are great too.
 
Re: Recommend me a humbucker: looking for clarity, I love p90s

Based on your description, I'd suggest Antiquities, which are about as vintage output as you can get. They are Alnico II, and sound great as long as you don't use a ton of preamp gain at super high volume, as they are unpotted.
 
Re: Recommend me a humbucker: looking for clarity, I love p90s

Seths are great pickups - very clear and detailed sounding with low output.
 
Re: Recommend me a humbucker: looking for clarity, I love p90s

Agreed...Seths or Antiquities. Can't go wrong with either one!
 
Re: Recommend me a humbucker: looking for clarity, I love p90s

If you're looking for a humbucker that sounds like a P-90, maybe checkout Railhammer Cleancuts or Neuvo 90s, or Lindy Fralin offers the P-92 or a hum-canceling P-90 in a humbucker case. In the SD line, the P-Rails offers an actual P-90 coil, and it retains a lot of that tonality in either series or parallel wiring.
 
Re: Recommend me a humbucker: looking for clarity, I love p90s

Seth
P-Rails
Jazz
Demon
StagMag (wired in parallel)
 
Re: Recommend me a humbucker: looking for clarity, I love p90s

Thanks guys! I'll probably end up going with the Seths. How would something like 59's swapped to A2 or A4 compare to the Seths?
 
Re: Recommend me a humbucker: looking for clarity, I love p90s

'59s are potted with a bit of a drop in mids and get a great Jimmy Page sound. I'd figure the A2 would get it in a similar ballpark to the Seth . . . but they'll always be potted, so a bit less touch sensitive.
 
Re: Recommend me a humbucker: looking for clarity, I love p90s

ragamuffin said:
Thanks guys! I'll probably end up going with the Seths. How would something like 59's swapped to A2 or A4 compare to the Seths?
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I really liked 59 A4 in my Epi Dot. The bridge has this 3D quality that I love, and the neck stays nice and clear without the booming lows that the A5s had. I've also got a A4 59n in my Les Paul with a 59/Custom, and it sounds awesome for low gain/clean parts.

As for A2s, I tried A2 59s and Seths back to back in a Les Paul, and they're very similar. Playing alone at home you can definitely tell the Seths are a little more clear and open (probably mostly due to being unpotted), but in a band mix I think you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. Certainly the average bar crowd would have no idea which was which.
 
Re: Recommend me a humbucker: looking for clarity, I love p90s

Yes, the Seths sound open and more touch-sensitive due to it being unpotted. Not great at every style, especially heavy ones, or really super-loud volumes.
 
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