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What's wrong with P-90 pickups?

 
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GGG



Joined: 30 Apr 2005
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 5:22 am    Post subject: What's wrong with P-90 pickups? Reply with quote

Can anyone tell me why so few pro guitarists use this type of pickups?
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alexkhan



Joined: 10 Sep 2004
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Location: Chino, CA

PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 8:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's a good question. I think it's the fact that it sits somewhere in between the tonality of a humbucker and a single-coil and most great classic sounds were created with one or the other. I think another thing that works against the P90 is that it's essentially a single-coil (so has the hum) and is on the hot side in regards to output, so you get more noise.

I love the sound of the P90, but it seems best suited for only certain musical applications: low-to-medium gain type of sounds for blues, blues-rock and other more roots-oriented stuff. It doesn't have the chime and the sparkle of classic Strat or Tele type of single-coils and it doesn't have the beefiness and the low noise of the Les Paul type of humbuckers.
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GGG



Joined: 30 Apr 2005
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sun May 01, 2005 2:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ed, Very Happy the guys at thorn guitar forum are absolutely in love with P-90 pickups, please allow me to quote one of the guys who explained why he loves P-90s so much, " ......I dug singlecoils for the percussive bell tones you could get but they always seemed a little piercing in my hands. Humbuckers seemed thicker in the right areas and more forgiving. The first time I played a guitar with P90s it sounded to me like someone just took a wet blanket off of the amp. For the first time I felt like I was getting a full spectrum of sound. The highs were crisp and the lows were rich and defined like a singlecoil but the mids were there and punchy, more like a humbucker. One thing worth noting is they are certainly less forgiving of mistakes and technique than humbuckers are. They pick up on much of the nuances of one's playing for better or worse. From then on humbucker's always seemed to have a mushier sound to me. I still dig that humbucker sound now and I have a couple guitars with 'buckers in them, but I can't get over the sound of the soapbar. I tend to like them wound a little on the hotter side like the SDs PRS uses or the Rios in my Thorn. I know Jato got a different set by someone else in his Thorn and he's swearing by those. I think part of the joy of P90s is their ability to go from clean to mean in an authoratative manor. I never liked the clean tones of a humbucker. My ears hear that muffled, mushy, compression. The P90 rings clear because it IS a singlecoil but it has a fatter tone with a thicker sounding midrange punch. The cleans are amazingly lush. When slightly overdriven it gives a very musical breakup and thick overdrive yields a wonderfully rich creamy tone harmonically alive and yet with great definition....." Very Happy
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alexkhan



Joined: 10 Sep 2004
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Location: Chino, CA

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2005 4:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree. I had a Thorn Standard guitar with a pair of Harmonic Design P90's and that was extremely sweet. I even had Guthrie try it out in January and he had a hard time putting it down. I think if P90 type of pickups can be made without the single-coil noise, they could become very popular. They have a sound that is very unique and combines the best of the Strat single-coil and the Les Paul humbuckers.
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shredrulez
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PostPosted: Sat May 07, 2005 5:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i've tried guitars with p90s and they sound good, but they just sound rootsy - great for that kind of music and sound, but kinda limited imho...
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