Are all P90's created equal?

Hackmaster

Hackmaster

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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.

The Lollar humbuckers blew me away in my PRS.
No disappointment on that one at all.

So my question to you, the good folks of the tone rooms is, are P90's all pretty much the same?
If a boutique set doesn't sound any better than a run of the mill set, why bother?

Sure the Lollars have fiber bobbins like the old P90's did.
And the Arctec have plastic bobbins like all import pickups.
So one would think that there would be a difference in the manufacturing process and therefore the tone.
A better mousetrap, so to speak.

All other things were consistent, same 500k pots. Same .022 tone caps.

I'm befuddled.
 
How loud do you play? P90s need to be played really loud to get that P90 growl. They are single coils so don't drive the amp like hum buckers. I've owned a few P90 guitars, Gibson. Epiphone, and aftermarket. The guitar they are in can make quite a difference. The best ones I've heard are in My Epiphone '61 SG. The worst were in an Epiphone Riviera.
 
Kerry Brown said:
How loud do you play? P90s need to be played really loud to get that P90 growl. They are single coils so don't drive the amp like hum buckers. I've owned a few P90 guitars, Gibson. Epiphone, and aftermarket. The guitar they are in can make quite a difference. The best ones I've heard are in My Epiphone '61 SG. The worst were in an Epiphone Riviera.
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Thanks for the input Kerry, the amps have been consistent as well.
I've ran them thru a Deluxe Reverb, and a Mesa F30.
As well as a solid state Marshall.
The Lollars sound like P90's, just not an improvement over the other P90's.
My P90 Gibson Les Paul doublecut sounds the same to me as well.
I was expecting so much more from the Lollars.
I'm just wondering if there's no real room for improvement in the P90 design.
Or if the Lollar hype is just that. Advertising hype, and I drank the KoolAid...
 
Sounds like Lollar peed in your KoolAid. I noticed a big difference between the stock ceramic P-90s in my Agile AL2000 when I replaced them with Tyson Tone P-90s.
 
My own experience with P-90's is that the biggest variable is the output. Hot ones sound markedly different to vintage style ones that I have played (the hot ones not so great). Beyond that, you may be on to something, I can't tell a lot of difference between them. Humbuckers, though? Yeah, huge differences from make to make/model to model.
 
gball said:
My own experience with P-90's is that the biggest variable is the output. Hot ones sound markedly different to vintage style ones that I have played (the hot ones not so great). Beyond that, you may be on to something, I can't tell a lot of difference between them. Humbuckers, though? Yeah, huge differences from make to make/model to model.
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They're both Alnico 5 magnets.
Aside from the fiber vs plastic bobbins I'm thinking they're all pretty much the same.

Wav mentioned that he could tell a difference from ceramic P90's and Tyson. Not sure what magnets Tyson uses but I think both my P90's were so close in materials & construction, that there is no perceivable difference.

This has been an expensive lesson...
 
I've never owned a guitar with ceramic P-90's so I can't comment on the differences there. I'm not a ceramic hater though - some of the best pickups I have ever played had ceramic magnets and I outright prefer them in speakers. But I am also not much of a believer in things like the bobbin material making much/any difference either. At the end of the day a guitar pickup is a very simple inductor, and while some variables are going to make a difference (like wire gauge) some are not. The more I think about it the more I think you may be right about there just not being a huge difference between different P-90's.
 
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.

The Lollar humbuckers blew me away in my PRS.
No disappointment on that one at all.

So my question to you, the good folks of the tone rooms is, are P90's all pretty much the same?
If a boutique set doesn't sound any better than a run of the mill set, why bother?

Sure the Lollars have fiber bobbins like the old P90's did.
And the Arctec have plastic bobbins like all import pickups.
So one would think that there would be a difference in the manufacturing process and therefore the tone.
A better mousetrap, so to speak.

All other things were consistent, same 500k pots. Same .022 tone caps.

I'm befuddled.
Click to expand...

Don't feel bad...I have used Lollar, Frailin, Benson, Lawrence, same pots/caps and very different results...Not P-90's, but variations just the same. I've honestly found more consistent quality with less well known winders...
 
If your P-90s sound like they do on Kevy Nova's SG, your search is over. Leave well enough alone!


BTW, did Kevy ever sign up here? He was a staple over at ETSG.
 
I invited Kevy when we first opened up the doors here. i think he may have made a brief appearance, but have not seen him around here lately.
 
I know the best Dog ear ive tried was a Bare Knuckle at 9k ohms.Clear,Articulate and will take as much dirt as you want to throw at it. Only soap bar ive had is stock Gibson.
 
Try one of the Tyson Tone ones.Im gonna snag me one of his Broadcaster pups when i get monied up better.just started my new job.
 
Not spending another dime chasing the proverbial P90 tone dragon.
I'm done. Just going to enjoy what I have.
I bought into "the grass is greener on the otherside" BS.
I think I just had unreal expectations due to my previous Lollar experience.

Now I have 2 sets of perfectly good Artec alnico 5 P90's that I can stick in something.
Time to find me a couple of cheapo projects.
A triple P90 Strat comes to mind, even though I'm not a Strat fan. Been wanting to do one for a while.
 
JohnnyGoo said:
I know the best Dog ear ive tried was a Bare Knuckle at 9k ohms.Clear,Articulate and will take as much dirt as you want to throw at it. Only soap bar ive had is stock Gibson.
Click to expand...
I believe I KNOW that DOG ----and that bitch can HUNT!
love that pup ;)
 
FWIW, I have 3 brands of P90s into 4 guitars. I like them all. One of my Hamers has a set of Seymour Duncans: "Vintage" (Alnico 5) in the neck, "Custom" (Ceramic) for the bridge. Another Hamer has a set of Kinmans. A Gibson SG with stock Gibby's (Alnico 5). And a PGK SG Junior with a Kinman Nasty 90.

The Kinmans are extra special because of their unique Zero Hum technology. Otherwise, they sound like a, uhm... P90. I've recently been toying with the idea of trying some Wolfetone P90's (Alnico 2) in that Gibson SG. I do have a set of Wolfetone hummers in a EBMM Silhouette... and those are nice, too.

Also FWIW... Seymour Duncans Antiquity P90's are Alnico 2
 
Hackmaster said:
Not spending another dime chasing the proverbial P90 tone dragon.
I'm done. Just going to enjoy what I have.
I bought into "the grass is greener on the otherside" BS.
I think I just had unreal expectations due to my previous Lollar experience.

Now I have 2 sets of perfectly good Artec alnico 5 P90's that I can stick in something.
Time to find me a couple of cheapo projects.
A triple P90 Strat comes to mind, even though I'm not a Strat fan. Been wanting to do one for a while.
Click to expand...
How about a triple Tele?
 
WavMixer said:
How about a triple Tele?
Click to expand...
I have a Tele type husk here just waiting to be "hacked".
It's an old 60's Japanese beater. Could name it Godzilla...
DSC05754_zpsq25bsxqp.jpg
 
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