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P90's - overdrive only pickups?


Morgancolgrave

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Guest Farnsbarns

Is it just me, or are p90's best suited to playing with gain? From mild to mad, they sound are unique. But clean.... They're just uninspiring for me.

 

Just you then! :D

 

That's OK though [thumbup]

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Morgancolgrave - Sounds to me like you may not own a guitar with P90s.

 

My 2011 LP 60s Tribute provides a nice articulate deep and rich tone when playing on clean to mild blusy crunch amp settings.

 

PWRMac - you get over the noise quickly. They're really only noisy when you stop playing and in a band setting, you can just roll back your volune or step on your tuner pedal in between songs. I got over the noisyness quickly and people always compliment the tone of my 60's tribute. Never heard a negative comment about the noise.

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1407720688[/url]' post='1551628']

Morgancolgrave - Sounds to me like you may not own a guitar with P90s.

 

My 2011 LP 60s Tribute provides a nice articulate deep and rich tone when playing on clean to mild blusy crunch amp settings.

 

PWRMac - you get over the noise quickly. They're really only noisy when you stop playing and in a band setting, you can just roll back your volune or step on your tuner pedal in between songs. I got over the noisyness quickly and people always compliment the tone of my 60's tribute. Never heard a negative comment about the noise.

 

Good to know, I play with as decent amount of gain, so it was always a concern of mine, but lately I have been G.A.S. ing for a lp junior special.

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My little TV Yellow LP Special, has P-90's, and it's actually pretty quiet,

as P-90's go. Even with the amp cranked to "tube overdrive heaven!" HOWEVER,

use any pedal, for overdrive, and it gets noisy! So, I try to stay away from

pedals, and use only the amps natural overdrive. I actually prefer that tone,

anyway. But, that's just Me! [smile]

 

CB

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  • 2 weeks later...

The best way I've heard anyone describe the difference between single coil P90's and humbuckers is; a side-by-side comparison; the humbuckers is like listening to the P90's thru a wall and the P90's in the same room... With the noise canceling of the humbuckers you get a slightly (very subtle) muffled quality from them that affects the tone in that way. The volume can obviously be compensated and often the humbuckers have more stable top-end potential, but they muffle some of the sound quality.

 

P90's are simply dreamy to me tonally. Very airy without the quality that almost seems to hold back the sound in a humbucker. I love them!

 

But I love both, and there's no question of the classic British and American tones of humbuckers in a Les Paul too... (especially speaking of the Holy Grail of Peter Green)

 

The actually have more of a tendency to feedback and squeal and the 60-cycle hum is omni-present at almost all times turned up beyond bedroom levels...

 

But it was always that tightrope-walk ballet of gain and volume where you dance on the edge of a feedback implosion that is the sublime tone and makes for a righteous sound and some of the most classic British tone ever...

 

In this classive recording of a live performance Danny Kirwan of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac is playing his '56 Les Paul with P90's and Peter is playing his '59 Standard with PAF humbuckers and the presence and stinging bite of the P90's is quite clear in comparison...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yq-Fw7C26Y

 

 

I have guitars with both and they both fulfill different moods and desires for different tones/sounds at different times...

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I just with they weren't so damn noisy....

I hear this about P90s all the time, and I don't understand it.

I've played guitars w/P90s (I also use guitars with hb's) for years and years, I gig with them, I practice with them, sometimes, I even use a SS amp. I never get this 'Noisy' thing everyone talkes about.

Some of the places we play are an electrical nightmare, voltages are all over the place, crappy grounding, bad dimmers, neon signs, un-regulated generators, boat docks, et al. I've never once had to put down a P90 guitar for a hb one because of noise.

Now sure, if your gain is maxed, and you use pedals maxed, or, if you stand right next to your amp, you will get noise.

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I hear this about P90s all the time, and I don't understand it.

I've played guitars w/P90s (I also use guitars with hb's) for years and years, I gig with them, I practice with them, I never get this 'Noisy' thing everyone talkes about.

Some of the places we play are an electrical nightmare, voltages are all over the place, crappy grounding, bad dimmers, neon signs, un-regulated generators, boat docks, et al. I've never once had to put down a P90 guitar for a hb one because of noise.

Now sure, if your gain is maxed, and you use pedals maxed, or, if you stand right next to your amp, you will get noise.

 

I mean I play with what I would consider a very distorted sound, but by no means modern high gain, more of a highly overdriven, dare i say 80's metal type distortion??? No OD pedals in front, or anything like that. and when you add metal type distortion (not saturated modern metal), I have always experienced a hum issue. I don't know, maybe I will have to revisit, because the last time I seriously sat down with a P90 git was years ago. The last one I played was only for a few min at my local GC just to check out the new melody maker series.

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