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Tone question about P90s


bmoncbus

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I'm interested in the tonal qualities of the offset being played here. I'm trying to figure out if this is just the sound of his P90s or if there's more going on here, aside from the obvious delay anyway. I have a Gibson DC special with P90s and I cannot get anywhere near the clear, upper range I'm hearing. Any ideas? Thanks!

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It's a bit "stratty" in that it sounds like a pickup combination that includes the middle - maybe even all three.

 

Combine that with the robust single coil sound of the P90s and a "Jazz Chorus" type of clean amplification with some delay.

 

The playing is nice and sparse too.

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So I've got a CIJ JM with Novaks in it JM-90 in the bridge, JM-V the neck. I also have a Dillion JM-59 (Jaguar body shape, strat-type bridge, JM scale length + true P90s). I also have a LP 60s Tribute Special that has P90s

 

That guitar sound is closer to the the middle position on my Dillion than any sound on my Jazzmaster, even the middle position. Definitely not a single P90 type sound. I'm not sure if middle position of my Dillion is in series or parallel, but the sound is really similar. Neck sounds on any of those guitars seem like they'd be a little too bass heavy/thick for that sound.

 

If you look at the switches on the top he's got all 3 on. I'm assuming each is an on-off for each pickup.

 

I also think the scale length comes into play here as part of the sound.

 

BTW... thanks for posting that, I kinda like em.

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BTW... thanks for posting that, I kinda like em.

smiley-happy

 

Thanks for the info guys!

 

It's hard to say without a shared vocabulary about guitar tone what exactly I mean - but it sounds as though the metallic element of the strings is more pronounced than I hear on any of my current electrics. There's fullness of a certain higher mid-frequency I just cannot replicate. By the way, this is the guitar he's playing. The pickups are made in house.

 

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From the builder's website you linked to:

 

P90 Neck: 6,2K, Middle: 6,7K Bridge: 8,0K alnico5

 

For P90's, the specs seem a bit on the low side - maybe they're intentionally under-wound a bit? If so, that would tend to make them a bit lower in output and a bit brighter than other P90s.

 

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The winding specs Phil found should have a lot to due with that sound.

For me, there are two other (obvious) things to consider:

 

a) I'd look at the first stage of the amp they've use for the guitar.

I bet it has a ton of clean head room, perhaps 12AU7's in it rather than a 12ax7.

Or if its straight into a modeler, then I'd look to a attack-enveloped pieze emu that can perk up the highs on emphasized notes.

 

b) The echo/reverb algorithm (in which-ever digital effect they use) sounds like it is adding a fair amount of one and two octave-up on later repeats...it gives (to me) "that angelic wash" effect and if you continue to play in that key/sync it can sound like some additional high content on the unecho'd dry signal. This is very subjective tho: I can put on critical "golden ears" and think I hear that stuff, but then I get sucked into the overall sound when I sit back and just listen for entertainment. BTW, I definitely do NOT have golden ears, I just talk like I do.

 

 

 

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Very good points about the amp and the delay / verb Doc... I suspect the brightness is resulting from a combination of various factors. From the best I can tell (~2:02 / 3:41), they're using a pencil condenser mic on the electric guitar amp, which would also tend to accentuate the highs more than a ribbon or moving coil dynamic microphone.

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fatter single coil sound with more output from my experience. but i believe them still hum maybe even louder than regular size single coils. i havent tried a p90 pickup in 25 years or something. i first and last tried them on a les paul dc junior. man that was a long time ago.

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