Members Killress Posted November 5, 2009 Members Share Posted November 5, 2009 Does anyone have any clips or videos comparing the tones you can get from them? I've never had the oppurtunity to use a guitar with P90s. I know they're technically Single Coils, but you can't really get the 'single coil tone' with P90s, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted November 5, 2009 Members Share Posted November 5, 2009 You get the same note-to-note definition and clarity, plus the same snap, you would get out of a Fender-style single coil, because there is no other coil to mix it with and muddy it up. And, vintage spec'ed, they can sound plenty bright and clean. They really are single coil in nature, just with a lot of mids that give it an overall fat tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lukeswall Posted November 5, 2009 Members Share Posted November 5, 2009 you can ONLY get single coil tones from P90s, but they won't be traditional Fender-y single coil tones. they sound beefier and middier. much more aggressive. the good ones also have this "clang" to the attack that sounds awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Killress Posted November 6, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 Anyone have any examples of this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MichaelSaulnier Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 Yup... Mountain... "Mississippi Queen" qFhM1XZsh6o Love me some P-90 rock tone! M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 [YOUTUBE]GgJTGVFbTbw[/YOUTUBE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 The Who's Live At Leeds is probably one of the best examples of what they can do. On the other hand, they sound almost like a piano when clean through a good amp. P90s work exceptionally well with Vox amps. Listen to John Lennon and George Harrison playing Casinos through AC30s. Yowza. That's probably some of my favorite P90 sounds right there. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MichaelSaulnier Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 The guitar sounds from WHO - Live at Leeds are considered a pretty good representation of the P-90 tone... This is a weird vid, but you get some idea of the tone of Pete's SG with P-90's. gbKSjfAIWQ0 Here's just a recording of "I'm Free" from the same show. Great guitar sounds! wjH8_y5JWnY I Can't Explain from Live at Leeds... sound only. fU9OC1ySvXY M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MichaelSaulnier Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 Here's Get Back and Don't Let Me Down from the famous Beatles Rooftop Concert... John's rockin his Casino with P-90's nT6325bmcsQ I miss that guy... M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PlinytheWelder Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 Well, I just got my first P90 guitar and it's got it! I'll do a NGD when I get some pics, but I let the cat out of the bag in the stack thread.... FWIW another classic P90 tone comes from Martin Barre of Jethro Tull Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Killress Posted November 6, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 Well, I just got my first P90 guitar and it's got it! I'll do a NGD when I get some pics, but I let the cat out of the bag in the stack thread.... FWIW another classic P90 tone comes from Martin Barre of Jethro Tull I'm thinking of getting one of the GFS jazzmaster copies, or a MIM Jazzmaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 I'm thinking of getting one of the GFS jazzmaster copies, or a MIM Jazzmaster. Well, the Fender Jazzmaster pickups are NOT P-90's, made different and sound different. Instead of the big double bar magnets the P-90 has, the Jazzmaster PU uses magnetic pole pieces, like a Strat or Tele single coil and uses a different wire gauge. As a result the Jazzmaster PU is much closer to Strat in tone, think surf music. Don't know what the GFS will use, i think Jay said real JM-style PU's would be another 6 months away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Killress Posted November 6, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 Well, the Fender Jazzmaster pickups are NOT P-90's, made different and sound different. Instead of the big double bar magnets the P-90 has, the Jazzmaster PU uses magnetic pole pieces, like a Strat or Tele single coil and uses a different wire gauge. As a result the Jazzmaster PU is much closer to Strat in tone, think surf music. Don't know what the GFS will use, i think Jay said real JM-style PU's would be another 6 months away. :oh... Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 p90s are just way fatter. you won't get that tinny little sound out of them. it's practically night and day. I'd actually say if this is a line between the sound of a single coil and humbucker SC -------------------------------- HB I'd put the p90 sound about here: SC -------------------p90---------- HB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 :oh... Thanks In the '50's and '60's, every builder respected each others proprietary designs. Fender never copied Gibson's pickup designs,... nor did Valco (Supro/Airline), DeArmond, Gretsch, Danelectro, even Teisco. All of these companies had PU's that were proprietary in size (you couldn't easily swap from one to another). And all sounded very different. In the '70's, the aftermarket builders like Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio's pretty much standardized the Gibson humbucker and Strat single coil and the landscape changed fast (partly because of the introduction of clones in the '70's). This gentrified the PU market, all those unique PU's and unique tones died off. A few exceptions are Jazzmaster, Tele, P-90 and (later revived) Dano lipstick PU's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 Here's Get Back and Don't Let Me Down from the famous Beatles Rooftop Concert... John's rockin his Casino with P-90's I miss that guy... M Me too. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 Anyone have any examples of this?here's my BGs. Pretty rough and low quality, but maybe it'll help. [YOUTUBE]rxAMbuQEFu0[/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]j6V0X01y7EU[/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]4ez0RrWvu_s[/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]eoaEorXrX30[/YOUTUBE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Armchair Bronco Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 Mustn't forget about Greg Sage & The Wipers. Here's "Doom Town" from their 1983 album "Over the Edge" (with a pair of P90's on the cover). Sage played a black SG Special with twin P90's for his entire career. The amp used on this album was allegedly an Ampeg Gemini I G-12. [YOUTUBE]h0CCH3QekEw[/YOUTUBE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Willyguitar Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 p90s are just way fatter. you won't get that tinny little sound out of them. it's practically night and day.I'd actually say if this is a line between the sound of a single coil and humbuckerSC -------------------------------- HBI'd put the p90 sound about here:SC -------------------p90---------- HB Yes - I'd agree with that. They are almost more in the HB ball park in many ways. Let's put it this way, you can get a Les Paul Special or LP Junior to do a good impression of a Les Paul Standard, but that would never really happen with a Fender single coil... and I think it's mostly down to the nature of the pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted November 6, 2009 Moderators Share Posted November 6, 2009 you can get a Les Paul Special or LP Junior to do a good impression of a Les Paul Standard, but that would never really happen with a Fender single coil... and I think it's mostly down to the nature of the pickups. But can you get the LP Standard to sound like it's P90'd cousin? Hmmm, if you want a neck P90 sound you can pick up a Strat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members No Soul Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 But can you get the LP Standard to sound like it's P90'd cousin? a very good point. Its usually easier to take a bright sound and fatten it up, than to take a dark sound and brighten it up. Obviously, with standard passive guitar tone controls this is the case, but even so in the recording world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Willyguitar Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 But can you get the LP Standard to sound like it's P90'd cousin?Hmmm, if you want a neck P90 sound you can pick up a Strat I know Dave Gilmour supposedly did his Brick in the Wall solo on a strat neck pup live sometimes, but on a P90 in the studio... but I still don't think they generally sound much alike. And certainly, you can't get that deep, gruff and yet biting bridge pickup sound on a normal strat in the same way. Here are a couple of vids trying to illustrate my point about the bridge P90... with the best guitar Gibson makes (i reckon) or has ever made: [YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted November 6, 2009 Moderators Share Posted November 6, 2009 And certainly, you can't get that deep, gruff and yet biting bridge pickup sound on a normal strat in the same way. You can with the correct pickup, things like steel poles, 1/4lbers etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Willyguitar Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 You can with the correct pickup, things like steel poles, 1/4lbers etc Well, I put one of the supposedly best and most expensive P90 style telecaster pickups in a cv telecaster (Harmonic Design) bridge position, and it didn't sound anything like a real P90 in a Les Paul Junior or Special. Maybe the strat bridge construction might bring it a bit closer... but somehow I doubt it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 Well, I put one of the supposedly best and most expensive P90 style telecaster pickups in a cv telecaster (Harmonic Design) bridge position, and it didn't sound anything like a real P90 in a Les Paul Junior or Special. Maybe the strat bridge construction might bring it a bit closer... but somehow I doubt it. The steel pole PU's are nice PU's but they are more like Fender/P-90 hybrids in tone. None really cop to the P-90 tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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