Are all P90's created equal?

eSGEe said:
doesnt 8-15 different pedals in a signal chain create as much or MORE hum than P90 guitar plugged into a tube amp?
Click to expand...


Tony M. said:
Smitty and Dave would know
the answer to this question..
Click to expand...

Since I have a single coil guitar and a board with 10 pedals by which I can make a comparison, I'll venture an answer.

In most cases, all those pedals do not create the same amount of noise as the hum from a single coil. Now, there are some caveats to that statement. First, noise in the signal chain will be greatly reduced if you use an isolated power supply, such as the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power, or something similar. Second, noise in the signal chain is most noticeable when using multiple, high-gain distortion or drive pedals cascaded into each other. In cases like that, yes, you can get noise that can approach the level of hum from single coils. Other types of pedals really don't contribute much noise when in use.

However, just having the pedals on the board doesn't make a lot of noise. I never have them all running at the same time! (I did try that once, just to see what it sounded like, though - it's pretty wild!) Usually, I'll have only one or two active at the same time - at the most three.

Keep in mind, I'm not saying there is absolutely no noise when the pedals are in use. In most cases, however, it's just very minor and is much less than single coil hum.
 
interesting thanks for the insight Schmitlap ol chum..

I dont know --- I never have had a bunch of pedals-- I have 2
Behringer Tube Overdrive and a Holy Grail Echo ----thats it---

through my Panama or the little sexyt they are very quiet ---through the Marshall Clean channel again quiet ---through the Marshall gain channel ---there is sizzle ---depending on knob settings perhaps I am hearing feedback not hum....

The Bare Knuckles P90-- is actually very well behaved (it is British after all) on low volume settings very little hum for a big ol P90 and if you set the tone right almost none at all certainly no more than a Tele or Strat on 1 pup and way less than a Peavey BLADE pup from the 80s (but open the taps and the KNUCKLES hit hard) The NEw Les Paul P90 is very well behaved--- not bad hum at al--- and sounds great.

TO me the hum is just a bi product of the good tone that comes--- they are old fashioned ---possibly archaic--
I will sum it up like this :

I own a Fuel injected 132 hp Triple Cylinder Rocket of a Motorcycle ---and I can ride it well---in most all terrain and get there FAST--but every now and then--- I prefer to ride my bicycle............just because.

THAT is what P90's are to me
 
More musings...

The idea of hum from single coils (P-90s or Strat-type) didn't use to bother me. I just figured the sound was drowned out once you started playing. And, in all honesty, that is largely true.

But, very recently, I began to think about it a little more. You see, we speak of single coils producing a hum, but the only reason they do that is because they are picking up electrical interference from the surrounding area. Actually, humbuckers do the same, but due to a principle called, "Common Mode Rejection" the two coils of the humbucker largely cancel the interference out - the more closely matched the coils are, the better the rejection. Anyway, that electrical interference is nearly always the result of some electrical device in the vicinity of the guitar - a large transformer, light ballasts, etc. In the US, that interference (hence, the hum) will usually be 60 Hz, as that is the frequency of alternating current we use here.

Now, if you look at the chart at the link below to see the frequency correlation of musical notes, you'll see that 60 Hz falls between a first octave Bb/A# and a B natural. The Bb/A# is 58.27 Hz and a B Natural is 61.735 Hz. So, depending on how loud the hum is, if you had a 60 Hz sound in the background while playing a song, it would be dissonant and sound like something is going on that is out of tune. The real-world significance of this will differ from venue to venue and song to song.

Table of Musical Notes and Their Frequencies and Wavelengths

The problem for me is that I really like the sound of good single coils - P-90s and Strat-type. So, the quest to limit hum (you'll never fully eliminate it) is something that I'm starting to take more seriously.
 
Last edited:
What options have you deemed good FOR eliminating hum, but of course not sacrificing tone?
 
Shielding with conductive paint, including the pickup cavities and control cavity, with a ground wire. That's what I did on my SG Junior with the Bare Knuckle Stockholm P-90, and it helped a lot with hum
 
Question regarding using the middle position on a 2 P90 guitar with hum cancelling / reverse wound P90 pickups.
If you are trying to minimize hum and use the middle position, can you effectively use the volume knobs to get just the bridge or neck pickup tone?
I played with this a little but realized it would be hard to manage changes during songs, and rolling one or the other to zero shunts the whole signal to ground.
Is this practical? I would guess not since I have not run across it discussed as a common practice.
 
Hackmaster said:
Just spent $300 on a trio of Lollar P90's for my triple P90 SG.
I was expecting a night & day difference.
Much to my disappointment they don't sound any better to my ears than the Artec Alnico5
P90's that came out of there.
Click to expand...
Almost always the case with all aftermarket "upgrades."
 
jtcnj said:
Question regarding using the middle position on a 2 P90 guitar with hum cancelling / reverse wound P90 pickups.
If you are trying to minimize hum and use the middle position, can you effectively use the volume knobs to get just the bridge or neck pickup tone?
I played with this a little but realized it would be hard to manage changes during songs, and rolling one or the other to zero shunts the whole signal to ground.
Is this practical? I would guess not since I have not run across it discussed as a common practice.
Click to expand...
No, use the selector switch for that. However, I use the technique you describe to get different levels of drive and tonal variation.
 
Hackmaster said:
So my question to you, the good folks of the tone rooms is, are P90's all pretty much the same?
Click to expand...
No and yes. I have dogear Epiphone P-90s, two varieties of Gibson P-90s and a set of humbucker sized 90s from a guy in Oregon. The Epis are the "hottest" output in the crowd and can be noisy, but they also tame down with a slight down twist of the volume knobs. the handwounds from Oregon are almost as hot, much brighter, good dirty, but don't get "mellow' just bland. The tradition Gibson P-90 neck pickup on my N-225 is the same as the ones I had in my 1955 ES-225 a little thin sounding compared to a humbucker straight into the amp, but roll on a little bass and crank the amp and you get a bark and growl the humbuckers dream about. The slug P-90s in my 2014 Melody Makers are just a little bit brighter cleans and a little deeper lows.
I have heard all manner of aftermarket P-90s, Lollars and BKs (Half Note 90s are about as close to real Gibson 50's sound as I've heard. I also like the Nantucket 90 in bridge slots.) and in the end, I don't hear much difference in the pickups' sound, but since they all work on the same principles and get their wire from the same sources, why would there be much?
 
Biddlin said:
Because they were so damned expensive?
Click to expand...
That is a big part of it.
I don't mind paying for quality, but when the expensive "quality" doesn't better the existing standard, the disappointment comes into play.
Had a very positive experience with Lollar humbuckers.
I suppose I expected this to be the same outcome.

You live, you learn and you pay your dues...
 
Biddlin said:
I don't hear much difference in the pickups' sound, but since they all work on the same principles and get their wire from the same sources, why would there be much?
Click to expand...
It cost me $300 to find this out. :confused:
They're still quality pickups, but so is just about every other major brand.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top