Tonerider Rebel 90 or GFS Mean 90?

[jshaffer20]

I'm looking to get a hum sized P90 for the bridge of my Agile Al2000 and have been looking at these two. I dont want to spend much money so both of these seem like a good option. Anybody tried both of these? The reviews of the Rebel 90 seem a little better than the Mean 90. I cant for the life of me find a good video of either of these on youtube. I play hardrock stuff with lots of riffing and I like the single coil clarity of the P90's. All of the videos I have seen are of jazz and blues. Any suggestions?

[billybilly]

I haven't tried those two but recently did some research and went with the kent armstrongs (I got mine for 40 new). They are pretty good and I did consider the two fore-mentioned in your post. Here was my review;

 

 

I have installed this pickup in a Schecter Solo 6 custom neck. It has an ebony board with mahogany neck and body. Body has maple cap. The guitar itself is inherently bright, probably due to the ebony board. The bridge pickup is a Duncan custom custom which splits

[coolcat2]

I have the Tonerider Rebel 90 in the neck of my PRS SE and it is a great pickup. I don't have experience with the GFS Mean 90 but I have used other GFS pickups before. However, none of my guitars have any of the GFS pickups anymore because they sounded too sterile to me. Some people love them, but I couldn't. My PRS SE also has a bass contour knob like the Reverend guitars which is nice b/c you can definitely get close to a single coil sound and a humbucker. This is were I got the bass contour knob. http://stanhinesleypickups.com/passive_controls.htm

[mrbrown49]

I have a set of mean 90s. They sounded pretty darn good, but not as gritty as a true p90 (from what I've heard Jay say about them the construction is a bit different). I'd say they lye somewhere btw a fat strat pup and a true p90 tone wise. They have the p90 vibe with a bit less hair.

 

I later swapped them out for some bg h90s and the bg's had much more of the p90 bark and grit.

 

They are pretty versatile set though. They'll do nice cleans and smooth OD.

[jshaffer20]

 

I have a set of mean 90s. They sounded pretty darn good, but not as gritty as a true p90 (from what I've heard Jay say about them the construction is a bit different). I'd say they lye somewhere btw a fat strat pup and a true p90 tone wise. They have the p90 vibe with a bit less hair. I later swapped them out for some bg h90s and the bg's had much more of the p90 bark and grit. They are pretty versatile set though. They'll do nice cleans and smooth OD.

 

 

Cool. Did you ever try them with higher gain?

[mrbrown49]

 

Cool. Did you ever try them with higher gain?

 

 

I don't play metal or anything like that, but I've used them for high gain lead stuff and they sounded really nice. They were pretty quite for single coils too. Still more noise than HBs, shield your cavities if noise is a big problem for you, and they hum cancel in the middle position.

[serolF]

My situation is similar to yours except I needed a new neck pickup. Went to youtube and didn't find many videos showcasing the Mean 90 with heavy gain. However, I went ahead and bought 'em and it should be here by Thursday. When I get it installed I'll post a vid or sound clips.

[Boddumblues]

Hi!

Had one laying around for a little while, while going through options.

I put it in a Tokai ALS48, a bright guitar that had a set of Wilde L500's (XL & R) in it.

The Wildes didn't shine in this guitar and my previous Giovanni GVH-1's did, But the neck position wasn't quite there. I have had many pickups through there. The rebel 90 is a very good fit. The tonal clarity is what I was looking for, it is there! The volume match is spot on. The noise is much lower than expected. The cover makes the match to the open bridge humbucker work in (my estimation). The dynamics are more lively than the humbucker, which compresses pleasantly, so i'll have to sweeten my touch when playing clean, but when the gain is on it is just what the doctor ordered. I would love to try the same pickup in a humbucking design regarding the compression, it gives you more freedom to pick harder, but this is nitpicking :-) It's probably not possible to retain the tone and clarity in a humbucking design.

I will recommend this pickup highly.

 

[kayd_mon]

Zombie thread, I know, but I have an Epi SG with Dream 90s, and I have a video using that guitar in a jam. I've posted it here before, but I can post it again if anyone is interested. They do quite well with gain, I'd say.

[humbuckerstrat]

 

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kayd_mon wrote:

 

Zombie thread, I know, but I have an Epi SG with Dream 90s, and I have a video using that guitar in a jam. I've posted it here before, but I can post it again if anyone is interested. They do quite well with gain, I'd say.

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Yeah, I think the Dream 90s would do better with gain than the Means because they have ceramic magnets (I think).

[Piing]

Hi. Zombie rescue again.... 😁

I bought a second hand Harmonic Design Z90 neck for a very good price. I've installed it on a Schecter Solo II Custom

Now I want to buy a P90 companion for the bridge, but I cannot afford a new Z90 ($120 + Shipping to Thailand + TAX & Import duty)

I am considering a Tonerider Rebel R90. What do you think?

What other alternatives would you consider? It has to be bucker mount