Ah yes, the P90, the venerable old single coil pickup from Gibson. Just the ugly, old noisy stepsister to the PAF’s or an ultimate tone machine all it’s own? It’s time to revisit the P90’s from the fifties as well as find out what the boutique pickup winders like Lollar, Tyson, RC and Sanford Magnetics have to offer and how they compare. Noisy, greasy and emotional: We love ’em, are you ready?
After watching this I know I won’t change my Gibson versions of the P90. I thought the boutique pups were overdriven & higher output type of pickups. But the newer P90 gibsons also sounded juicy, in comparison to the 50’s versions, likely due to higher output on the 1998 CS model. The 2012 LP Tribute ’60’s I have is more similar in output to the CS model. Those Lollars were the most like the 50’s versions, though. The Tysons and Sanfords were real good, but not different enough to make a change. It seems like they are all trying to make a better mousetrap…I suppose. I’ll stay with the noisy and ballsy versions I have.
How did you keep these tests so quiet, after all they are single coils?
As always, the individual tastes of the player are the important element. As we mention in the Jason Lollar Show and others, this is about the guitar/amp combination and how you play so you could have 100 players with the same pickups in the same guitar and amp and everyone will (or will not) find what they’re looking for. This is the reason we don’t endorse any pickups. Without sitting there with the player to hear what they hear we can only offer what we can on the demos which is how we play and what we hear. Hope that helps. The noise is usually under control but we edit the Pro Tools tracks to remove buzzing in-between playing when the volume control is up because it’s annoying. D&P