why aren't p90s everywhere?

[Reverse the Curse]

I've never actually played 'em, but everytime they come up around here you guys jump all over the topic and say they rule. So....

 

Howcome they aren't everywhere? From what I see, they are the minority of the three p'up types. Doesn't make any sense..

[Beatnik]

Very good question, let`s wait for the experts opinions

[musicalhair]

Maybe because they don't Quack?

[Lee Flier]

Well, P90's are not for everybody.

 

For those looking for a modern high-gain sound, they really are not good for that.

 

For those who want a really "twangy" sound like a Tele, that's hard to coax out of P90's although it can be approximated. It's tough to get a jangly Rickenbacker type sound too.

 

Some people don't like the fact that they are noisy, although most of us who play them every day have learned ways to get around it or just don't care cuz the tone is worth it.

 

They are somewhat finicky if you plan to use a lot of effects, or digital modeling. If you're going to use ANYthing digital with a P90-equipped guitar, you'd best get some kind of signal booster to go in front of it. The tone goes to hell in a hurry as soon as you start adding a lot of stuff to your signal chain, because the signal isn't as hot as most effects these days expect. And even if you do boost the signal, IMO it still sounds crappy. If you're going to use effects, you should stick with analog ones, and even a lot of those suck the tone out of a P90 real quick. Those who rely a lot on distortion boxes and other effects will probably not appreciate the subtlties of the P90 anyhow.

 

So, the holy grail of P90 tone does not come entirely without sacrifices. But if you can deal with those, and you can overcome the temptation to put cheap digital boxes into your rig, it's hard not to fall in love with P90's.

[Reverse the Curse]

wow, thanks lee. Some real great info there.

[Dave da Dude]

Originally posted by Cooper:

wow, thanks lee. Some real great info there.

As usual

 

All the pups / guitar combos have their own sound. The P-90, imho, is definitely one of the better ones. But, you'll still need the Strat.

 

I just luv 'em all

 

I've been tryin' to figure this out for the last year. For me, having a Strat, Godin LG P-90 and a semi-hollow w/ PAF style pups is Nirvana. Just a little more money and I can acheive inner peace.

 

Oh yeah, and I'd never give up my Martin D-18 acoustic w/ the sound hole pickup

[g.]

Entirely possible that the main reason is that standard PAF and Strat form-factor guitars have sold way more units. If P90 form factor would have been more popular it is entirely possible you'd see way more of them - and way more voicings/variety in that package would be available.

[Guitarzan]

my amp is digital, but yamaha was smart enough to include a trim pot on the input to set the input at the right level. this makes a big difference. i do however prefer mid to lower gain tones with my p90's.

mine are seymour duncan and fairly hot but they still have that special tone. not a high gain pickup for sure, but not anemic.

p90 pickups seem more musical to me, i can get some sweet bell tones as well as crunch. listen to Lee's band do "for love or money" and tell me you don't like that tone!

p90 = tone

[Guitarzan]

Originally posted by Cooper:

I've never actually played 'em, but everytime they come up around here you guys jump all over the topic and say they rule. So....

 

Howcome they aren't everywhere? From what I see, they are the minority of the three p'up types. Doesn't make any sense..

yes it does make sense. it is natural.

look at it this way. who is the best band you can think of right now...does they sell more records than Britney Spears?

better does not equal popular does it?

and better is all subjective anyway.

but those who love p90s love 'em alot.

 

me , i love 'em alot.

[Reverse the Curse]

look at it this way. who is the best band you can think of right now...does they sell more records than Britney Spears?

better does not equal popular does it?

Very good points.

[Guitarzan]

sorry for the bad grammar. i meant to say..Do they?..not does they? oops

[Dave da Dude]

Originally posted by WolfZan:

sorry for the bad grammar. i meant to say..Do they?..not does they? oops

That's okay. The grammar police were out havin' coffee and donuts

[Tedster]

Pickups are like crayons. It'd be boring if you only had red ones.

[HiRoller]

IMO P-90's are best for a vintage-y rock sound. They are really noisy and if you play near a computer monitor it will drive you crazy!

[Guitarzan]

Originally posted by Dave da Pumpkinhead:

Originally posted by Cooper:

wow, thanks lee. Some real great info there.

As usual

 

All the pups / guitar combos have their own sound. The P-90, imho, is definitely one of the better ones. But, you'll still need the Strat.

 

I just luv 'em all

 

I've been tryin' to figure this out for the last year. For me, having a Strat, Godin LG P-90 and a semi-hollow w/ PAF style pups is Nirvana. Just a little more money and I can acheive inner peace.

 

Oh yeah, and I'd never give up my Martin D-18 acoustic w/ the sound hole pickup

Dave i missed something, did you buy the lg sp90?

i thought you tried one out but i didn't know you had bought it yet. got any pics?

[Reverse the Curse]

Pickups are like crayons. It'd be boring if you only had red ones.

But everyone has their color preferances, and they are just that, preferances.

[Beatnik]

p-90 topic1

p-90 topic2

[Dave da Dude]

WolfZan,

Dave i missed something, did you buy the lg sp90?

No

Just sayin' what imho are the perfect ones to have

 

quote by the Dave the Pumpkinhead Just a little more money and I can acheive inner peace.

Unfortunately I do NOT have the money

 

Cooper,

But everyone their color preferances, and they are just that, preferances.

Of course. But the world would be boring, imho, if the color of everyting was blue

No matter how much I like blue

 

I have an acoustic 6-string, 12-string, a Strat and am now *hot* for the P-90's, especially the hot P-90 Seymour Duncan's on the Godin LG

[Guitarzan]

i hope you get the sp90 loaded Lg. i am so in love with this guitar (no hiding that eh?). oh my the canadian said "EH"

[webe123]

Originally posted by Lee Flier:

Well, P90's are not for everybody.

 

For those looking for a modern high-gain sound, they really are not good for that.

 

For those who want a really "twangy" sound like a Tele, that's hard to coax out of P90's although it can be approximated. It's tough to get a jangly Rickenbacker type sound too.

 

Some people don't like the fact that they are noisy, although most of us who play them every day have learned ways to get around it or just don't care cuz the tone is worth it.

 

They are somewhat finicky if you plan to use a lot of effects, or digital modeling. If you're going to use ANYthing digital with a P90-equipped guitar, you'd best get some kind of signal booster to go in front of it. The tone goes to hell in a hurry as soon as you start adding a lot of stuff to your signal chain, because the signal isn't as hot as most effects these days expect. And even if you do boost the signal, IMO it still sounds crappy. If you're going to use effects, you should stick with analog ones, and even a lot of those suck the tone out of a P90 real quick. Those who rely a lot on distortion boxes and other effects will probably not appreciate the subtlties of the P90 anyhow.

 

So, the holy grail of P90 tone does not come entirely without sacrifices. But if you can deal with those, and you can overcome the temptation to put cheap digital boxes into your rig, it's hard not to fall in love with P90's.

Lee, I can see what you are saying. But my PRS Mcarty soapbar with P-90s plays GREAT through my Line 6 Flextone 3 modeling amp! I have absolutely no problems on patches that have a lot of effects. Matter of fact, my seymour duncan pickups are so hot, I have to worry about having too much signal...not too little signal going through my amp. So I guess it could be the pickups as far as modeling amps go. With me, though, I have absolutely no problems.

[Hound Dog]

I sometimes think I would like to have a P-90 equiped explorer, but then I think about the tones it might conjur up and I get a little scared. It might just sound so rude and nasty that I wouldn't be able to play in public.

[Guitarzan]

yeah rude and nasty baby! and soft and sweet.

oh yeah. go ahead play dirty.

[PBBPaul]

I know I've repeated this a few times but my favorite guitar is my '65 Gibson ES330 thin hollow body with P90s and a Bigsby. It has this incredible woody sound that's just a bit growly; no matter how clean you play it.

 

Here\'s a silly little tune that I played that guitar on. If I remember right, I recorded this straight through my Blues DeVille set super clean with an SM-57.

 

And here's me playing it at a little festival last summer during one of its rare outings.

http://home.centurytel.net/pontiacblues/Paul330.jpg

[Mike Gug]

My Reverend with 2 P-90's will ship at the end of the month. Premium Slingshot with a Bigsby. Oh BABY!

 

[Philip OKeefe]

Originally posted by HiRoller:

IMO P-90's are best for a vintage-y rock sound. They are really noisy and if you play near a computer monitor it will drive you crazy!

Correction: If you play near a standard CRT, the noise and buzz will drive you crazy... that's one of the reasons I got an LCD monitor... they don't have that problem, and I can play my Casino (with dog eared P90's, natch ) right next to it if I want and I don't get that interference.

 

I don't worry about the noise too much - like a Strat, that's part of the "sound". As Lee said, the great tone more than compensates for the noise that comes along with it. Of course, certain guitars sound better for certain things than others, and pups are a part of all that. Different guitars and pups = different tonal options. I don't play out "live" very much, but I do need a wide range of different tones in the studio. That's why I have a Strat, and a Tele, and a Les Paul, and a Casino, and a Ric, and a... you get the idea.

[chedrob]

They are somewhat finicky if you plan to use a lot of effects, or digital modeling. If you're going to use ANYthing digital with a P90-equipped guitar, you'd best get some kind of signal booster to go in front of it. The tone goes to hell in a hurry as soon as you start adding a lot of stuff to your signal chain, because the signal isn't as hot as most effects these days expect. And even if you do boost the signal, IMO it still sounds crappy

Recently I have had the pleasure of using a friend's ES-295 reissue (1993 I believe) in my studio and for some live stuff. This guitar sounds absolutely wonderful through an old Princeton Reverb with a Jensen Alnico speaker.

 

The guitar really shines, however, through a Yamaha DG-80. The pure and wonderful tone coming out of the guitar, combined with the versatility of the DG-80, covers just about any style of music you would want to play.

 

When I buy a Les Paul, it will probably have P90's.

[Bbach1]

Originally posted by PBBPaul:

I know I've repeated this a few times but my favorite guitar is my '65 Gibson ES330 thin hollow body with P90s and a Bigsby. It has this incredible woody sound that's just a bit growly; no matter how clean you play it.

 

Here\'s a silly little tune that I played that guitar on. If I remember right, I recorded this straight through my Blues DeVille set super clean with an SM-57.

 

And here's me playing it at a little festival last summer during one of its rare outings.

http://home.centurytel.net/pontiacblues/Paul330.jpg

Hey PBBPaul, I liked your silly little tune. Good playin man.

[PBBPaul]

Thank you very much. I appreciate it. The guitar sound is what really makes the tune happen for me.

[fantasticsound]

One thing that is been left unsaid is Gibson became known for the smooth distortion and quiet performance of their humbuckers and began steering people away from P-90's. As far as the company was concerned, the humbucker was their future. For a long time they were the only company making the P-90.

 

Meanwhile, Fender stuck to single coil pickups for some time on most of their guitars, making Strats and Teles the guitars for single coil p'ups.

 

As the 1970's progressed and recording technology became focused on the "dead" studio sound, humbuckers were heavily favored for distortion because they were quiet. A dead studio and a close mic'd instrument really tend to accentuate any noise in the system.

 

The Eddie Van Halen hit in the late 1970's and every kid with an electric guitar seemed to want a compressed, smooth, heavy distortion sound. All through the 1980's most guitarists who played that sound wanted some kind of high output humbucker. Kramer, Jackson, Charvel, Peavey and many others obliged. Fender, too. They still sold plenty of single coil Strats, but many of them now had humbuckers in the bridge position.

 

It wasn't until the 1990's that distortion with more dynamics began to really come back into vogue. All of a sudden people seemed to rediscover P-90's. The P-100 experiment (stacked humbucking pickups that were supposed to sound like P-90's) largely failed, and in the late 1990's P-90's began to be offered on more Gibson models and companies like Seymour Duncan and others began selling more units of their P-90 style p'ups. Godin, among others, embraced the P-90 on some of their stock models and now we're here.

 

Humbuckers are still great for really heavy distortion, but if you like to have more dynamics to your timbre, you want to check out single coils from both Fender and Gibson. The palette of sounds, as Lee suggested, is far more varied than humbuckers will give you but they require more coaxing to get exactly what you want.

[Guitarzan]

very true. one thing i notice is some people equate distortion with tone.

tone is musical, clean or distorted.

i hate reviews of pickups based on how extreme they can go. thats not tone, tone is more than that.

thats why i love my p90s. they have tone.