Quick P-90 question

[Greg_L]

I've never owned or played anything with P-90's. I saw a cool old-school Les Paul double-cut TV model today with P-90's in it that really caught my eye. I didn't get to play it though. Do those pickups typically hum and buzz and squeal like Strat single-coils do?

[Lt. Bob]

Man, I so want to know that very thing. And if they do, will shielding the git take care of it?

[travelin travis]

Originally Posted by Greg_L

I've never owned or played anything with P-90's. I saw a cool old-school Les Paul double-cut TV model today with P-90's in it that really caught my eye. I didn't get to play it though. Do those pickups typically hum and buzz and squeal like Strat single-coils do?

yes they can hum and buzz but i've never really noticed any decent p90's to be squealy (i don't use gobs of gain). i guess your amp gain, volume, environment would decide that. p90's are like the best of both worlds to me. they can do hard hitting rock n roll but with a nice clarity and good string separation. they can get raunchy too. just play the thing and see what you think. compare it to a humbucker loaded guitar and a strat style with singles too so's you know what you're dealing with.

[Big Kenny]

One of the guitar players in our band just grabbed one and while it was noisier than his Strat, it was fine in the mix. It sounds very nice and it is much lighter than any of our LP's.

[tdukex]

I'm no electric guit expert--mainly an acoustic guit guy, and I don't play live gigs, but I've never noticed any buzz or squeal from the Seymore Duncan SP-90s in my Godin LG. I play through either a Johnson J-Station or an Epi Valve Junior.

[Greg_L]

Originally Posted by tdukex

I'm no electric guit expert--mainly an acoustic guit guy, and I don't play live gigs, but I've never noticed any buzz or squeal from the Seymore Duncan SP-90s in my Godin LG. I play through either a Johnson J-Station or an Epi Valve Junior.

Do you crank the gain?

[metalj]

Here is a sound sample of a P-90 pickup. The first 2:17 is a PRS SE soapbar II going through a Hughes and Kettner Duotone 100 watt head. The cab has celestian V25's in them. One sm57 center of the cone, no effects, no eq, no bells or whistles just pure tube tone. A smidge of compression to bring up the volume of the track.

I start out with low gain settings, use palm muting and ringing out chords, then just play the same thing each time turning the gain up little more on the amp.

I guess if I had one word to describe a P-90 it would be "ROBUST", or "PUNCHY", or "JANGLEY". OK thats 3 words. Great for leads and chords and insanely full sounding on a clean amp setting.

This was a one taker. The second half which is more metal sounding is a Duncan JB humbucker with the amps gain setting close to maxing out so at least you can hear a difference in sounds between two pickups.

hope this helps.

http://www.metaljohnson.com/HKduotonedry.mp3

[andydeedpoll]

Originally Posted by metalj

Here is a sound sample of a P-90 pickup. The first 2:17 is a PRS SE soapbar II going through a Hughes and Kettner Duotone 100 watt head. The cab has celestian V25's in them. One sm57 center of the cone, no effects, no eq, no bells or whistles just pure tube tone. A smidge of compression to bring up the volume of the track.

I start out with low gain settings, use palm muting and ringing out chords, then just play the same thing each time turning the gain up little more on the amp.

I guess if I had one word to describe a P-90 it would be "ROBUST", or "PUNCHY", or "JANGLEY". OK thats 3 words. Great for leads and chords and insanely full sounding on a clean amp setting.

This was a one taker. The second half which is more metal sounding is a Duncan JB humbucker with the amps gain setting close to maxing out so at least you can hear a difference in sounds between two pickups.

hope this helps.

http://www.metaljohnson.com/HKduotonedry.mp3

awesome samples i've been thinking about replacing one of the pickups in my squire tele (my only guitar) with a P90 - i was thinking about changing the humbucker in the bridge to a P90 and keeping the humbucker in the neck as it is... i find i don't use the bridge pickup hardly at all, and it's just a bit of a waste. is this a mix of neck and bridge P90, or just one? if so, which one?

thanks again!

Andrew.

[metalj]

Originally Posted by andydeedpoll

awesome samples i've been thinking about replacing one of the pickups in my squire tele (my only guitar) with a P90 - i was thinking about changing the humbucker in the bridge to a P90 and keeping the humbucker in the neck as it is... i find i don't use the bridge pickup hardly at all, and it's just a bit of a waste. is this a mix of neck and bridge P90, or just one? if so, which one?

thanks again!

Andrew.

It was all in the bridge position. The guitar also is very light wieght and is very lively and resonant if that matters. A more solid or heavy guitar i think would produce slightly different tone, but P-90s will still give you that ring and clarity you just dont get from any other pickup. They also seem to be very interactive with an amps gain structure.

They give you lots of gain options just by rolling your volume knob back and forth. I can start a song with my volume knob on like2 while still holding tone and volume then build the dynamics leading up to a chorus and then crank it to 10, let it rip then roll it back down for the next verse. lots of options ive never really experience as well with other pickups. A little harder to get squeals and pinch harmonics, but very reactive to any pick movement.