Tell me about your P90s!

[mistermullens]

I'm going freakin' crazy over my Casino. The P90s sound sooooo good, and they never cease to amaze me at how much ground they can cover. My Casino still has the stock pups, and I'm not interested in changing them. I am, however interested in hearing your opinions on your favorite P90s, what guitar you have them in, and what type of music you play. Thanks!!!

[Telenator]

I really like the Suhr P90s in my Suhr semi-hollow mahogany guitar. If you can believe it, some guy custom ordered this guitar and then let it go a year later. I got a great deal on it and the guitar just plain howls!

[Tdot]

I only have one (really, just 1 P90 pickup), but I love it.



It's the previous version of the Gibson Melody Maker. If I had known, I would have coughed up the extra $200 for a Casino over my Dot (but that seamed like a lot $ for the difference a few years ago).

[JimiBryant]

the P-90 is probably my favorite pickup of all time.

I took the mini-buckers out of my early 70's Les Paul Deluxe
and replaced 'em with P-90s - and that guitar is a killer-diller!

I've had several SG Juniors with P-90s, always good as well.

I wanna get a pair of Lollar's P-90s for my Les Paul whenever
I get around to it, but the Gibson P-90s that came out of a '70
ES-330 in there really don't sound bad at all!

[Tim Armstrong]

I got an Indonesia-made $99 Epi LP Junior last year (MF was blowing them out), and spent another hundred on tuners, an adjustable bridge, and, yep, a better P-90 (got the pickup and bridge from GFS).

Right now, it's my favorite guitar (at least, it's getting most of the playing time)!



Cheers, Tim

[JayFreddy]

I could write a poem about P90s, I love 'em that much! I love the warm, in-between overdrive tones you can get, especially when you ride the volume knob. A P90 in the bridge is great for slide work, and a neck P90 into a clean tube amp is the very definition of fat jazz guitar tone. With heavy distortion, P90s are famously noisy, but they can make some amazing noise... Roll back the tone knobs for massive thickness, yet they still sing... Yup, awesome pickups!

[aunchaki]

Adding a neck P-90 was the first guitar mod I did to my BSB Affinity. I love the high output -- it can really drive the amp nicely and complements the vintage bridge. I had to lower the P-90 quite a bit (almost flush with the pickguard) to get a good balance. I use it for blues and anything that needs a little crunch.

[roadkillbill]

This '59 LP Special was my only guitar for years, and the bridge p90 was and still is the perfect example of my ideal lead tone, which I'd describe as assertive without being overbearing... Here's a quick clip:

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=5902788

or: http://soundclick.com/share?songid=5877141



I also have an Epi jr w/ a p90, not the newer '57 set neck, but the older one w/a bolt on neck..I've heard a lot of people say this little dog eared p90 needs to be replaced, but I think it sounds fine--I use it for slide exclusively.

[mistermullens]

Great looking guitars, everyone! Can't wait to get home so I can listen to those sound clips. I unfortunately can't listen to them at work. I'm starting to think that P90s can do everything!



Nice work on this one, aunchaki. The bridge looks great. Which P90 did you install?

[tjalla]

The P90s in my '67 ES-330 kick butt in a major way. Everything from hip & jazzy in the neck (but with more liveliness than a 'bucker), T-Bone Walker/Chordal Jangle in between to tele-rivaling twang in the bridge. From what I understand these P90s are the same as those in the Epiphone Casinos, and are slightly different from Gibson P90s of the same era. I played a '59 ES-225 (I think it was) and it was quite a different animal.

[aunchaki]

Originally Posted by mistermullens

Nice work on this one, aunchaki. The bridge looks great. Which P90 did you install?

The bridge is the popular Wilkinson Compensated. The pickup is the plain old Vintage Soapbar. Everything, including the pickguard came from GFS.

[mistermullens]

Originally Posted by roadkillbill

This '59 LP Special was my only guitar for years, and the bridge p90 was and still is the perfect example of my ideal lead tone, which I'd describe as assertive without being overbearing... Here's a quick clip:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/song...songID=5902788

(there's also this in Twanger Central: http://www.tdpri.com/forum/twanger-c...-its-p90s.html)



I also have an Epi jr w/ a p90, not the newer '57 set neck, but the older one w/a bolt on neck..I've heard a lot of people say this little dog eared p90 needs to be replaced, but I think it sounds fine--I use it for slide exclusively.

Bill, I really enjoyed the tunes. Thanks for the links!! What was your setup? What amp/effects did you use?

[roadkillbill]

Thanks so much for the kind remarks, Jonathon...really glad you liked 'em..

The setup is very simple....the LP through a Behringer Blue Devil, with some overdrive and delay (on board effects), the same guitar w/octaver for bass (I've since bought a real bass!), and a yamaha keyboard's 'drum machine'. Each track is miked straight into my soundcard, and the software is an old version of Cakewalk guitar tracks. Same setup for vocals ..another Blue Devil, (they were cheap so I bought two) w/delay and octaver..

[rand z]

i picked up one of these a year or two ago with sd p-90's. there's a nice growl to em... nice double cutaway lightweight guitar for blues/jazz or slide.


http://www.zzounds.com/item--FEN262300

imho.

rand z tropicalsoul.net

[e-merlin]

I'm also a P-90 lover! I have three guitars with 'em.

My first is an Ampeg AMG-1 with Seymour Duncan (not Duncan Designed) P-90s. Very smooth and creamy. Gibsonesque, if you will.

I also have an MIM Tele that I modified with a P-90 neck pickup of unknown origin and a DiMarzio PRE-B1 in the bridge. It's got a great Tele tone but hotter in the bridge position, and a really nice P-90 tone in the neck. It's a great Rock and Roll guitar.

My third, and probably favorite, is a Peavey Firenza with two P-90s. This guitar has the most rude sounding P-90s I've ever heard! It spits, it snarles, it does everything my Teles don't and does it well. You P-90 lovers need to find one of these and give it a roll. Unfortunately, Peavey hasn't made them for about three years.

[JayFreddy]

Originally Posted by e-merlin

My third, and probably favorite, is a Peavey Firenza with two P-90s.

+1

I have 5 of these now... (yes, I'm a hoarder! lol) My wife helped me look up the factory in Japan where Gotoh sourced the Firenza soapbars for Peavey, Kaihatsu Music Shokai, and I spoke to the owner. It's a small shop that he basically runs out of his house. Nice guy, and he was very happy that someone in the US had heard of his work!

He told me that Gotoh sell the same pickup in an aftermarket configuration with braided wire and a pretty box, it's called the "Gotoh V90", "Virtual 90" or something like that, and they sell for $80 each.

They are worlds better than the cheapo copy P90's that you see in many import guitars. The KMS V90 is in the same league as the Gibson P90 or Duncan replacements, but with a hint more alnico sparkle.

[roadkillbill]

Can you or e-merlin post a picture of the Firenza? The only ones I found on the web were HSS...if that's even the same guitar.. Thanks.

Bill

[Telenator]

This is a little project guitar I whipped up last year which features Seymour Duncan Hot P90's in Ric-type toaster covers. Warm, rich sound!

[Tim Armstrong]

Originally Posted by roadkillbill

I also have an Epi jr w/ a p90, not the newer '57 set neck, but the older one w/a bolt on neck..I've heard a lot of people say this little dog eared p90 needs to be replaced, but I think it sounds fine--I use it for slide exclusively.

In my experience, the MIK Epi Juniors are absolutely fine as-is, while the late-model MII (Indonesia) Juniors benefit from a pickup swap...

Cheers, Tim

[roadkillbill]

Tim, I think mine is Indonesian..Normally it wouldn't take much to start me on a replacement pickup search, but I'm satisfied with this one...for slide. It's just raunchy enough, softened a little with the tone rolled off a hair, and it never fails to cut through a mix assertively..whatever failings it may have, it's not weak..

I bought this guitar at a yard sale for $50 w/gig bag, which may account for some of the satisfaction. And maybe the Indonesian pickup winder was just having a good day when he wound mine

Bill