Hopeless P90 lover

chillidoggy

The first decent guitar I ever had was a wine red 1969 SG Special with P90’s. It sounded bloody lovely, and I loved it to bits. Sadly, I started a job which meant I couldn’t guarantee to be off every Friday and Saturday nights, so gave up on playing, and sold it.

Many years later I bought an SG Standard, and converted it to P90’s, but as expected, never managed to reproduce that sound. A few weeks ago, I had Spotify on and it played “Faith Healer” by Sensational Alex Harvey Band. Zal Cleminson always had a great tone, using a similar 60’s SG, and now I’m gassing ‘cos I want that ‘69 Special back again. I went from ignorant to craving in the 7 minutes it took the track to play.

Yes, I know P90’s are noisy, but they just sound so good. Bollocks.

Jota

I was a tele player for years but I haven't played almost no other guitar since I got this SG Special last year.

I don't love the neck pickup but the bridge pickup is just fantastic.

Cranky

p90s are the best.  Minimal hum while you're not playing is a very small price to pay considering the tones to be gained.

That said, like most nostalgia, you might not ever get the tone that you remember.

grungebob

Yep a big P90 fan here too. 

dazzajl

The whole “P90s are too noisy” schtick is nonsense spouted by people who made the wrong choice and are trying to make themselves feel better. 

Go and get some P90s in your life right now. In an SG is great but they sound just as good in pretty much anything else too. 

chillidoggy

dazzajl said:

The whole “P90s are too noisy” schtick is nonsense spouted by people who made the wrong choice and are trying to make themselves feel better. 

Go and get some P90s in your life right now. In an SG is great but they sound just as good in pretty much anything else too. 

You’re spot on.

Sadly, I haven’t got anything I could drop a pair into right now, so it would have to be an outright purchase, and as I’m already trying to thin the stock, I’m not sure I could get it past the management monitoring system.

Reckon I’m gonna have to keep gassing for now and hope it passes.

Although........it wouldn’t be the first time me and our other guitarist have.....ahem.... told a little white lie when confronted with the, “Oh, yeah, so you’ll be telling me next that belongs to Bob”. Last year I had four Les Paul’s, two Charvels, a MesaBoogie combo and a Strat round here while his divorce was finalised.

TTBZ

I love P90s. Used to gig my LP with Bare Knuckle humbucker size ones all the time, never had any issues with excessive noise for that. The only thing stopping me going for them in my main guitar now is I'm playing heavier stuff with more gain these days which could end up being a bit noisier, and I prefer the tightness of a humbucker for metal. For anything lower gain I think P90s are unbeatable. So much nicer than a normal scooped twangy singlecoil.

Keefy

2 of my 8 electrics are P90-powered.

The best guitar I’ve ever had to walk away from (could no way afford it) was a 60s SG Special I played in Manson’s a couple of years ago. I feel the OP’s pain...

p90fool

I think they're shit.

PhilW1

I had gas for an SG and always wanted to try P90’s, was very tempted by the Gibson Pelham blue SG special but didn’t really want to fork out that much on a whim ,then I saw the Epiphone version at GG for £329 and took a punt...absolutely love it, better quality than my Tele Player, lovely finish no fret problems or buzzing and sounds great.

Might be worth you taking a look.

Also thought at that price I could maybe have a go at doing my own upgrades without worrying too much about cock-ups! Not sure I need too though.

DB1

p90fool said:

I think they're shit.

Then you're a fool.

DB1

Only two with P90's at the moment...

Jalapeno

The P90 Gas is strong here too at present - I too have a B&G 'Lil Sister, and an ES125 - but that Rivolta/Fano RB6 shape calls out to me, as does the neck p/u of a Deusenberg Starplayer (in Red Sparkle of course)

Moe_Zambeek

P90s - All the drawbacks of single coils combined with all the drawbacks of a humbucker

I do like them - have a pair of Bulldogs in my Probett and it sounds great - but in general I prefer Filtertrons for the inverse of the above statement.

Sassafras

The fatness of a Gibson with the clarity of a Fender.

Rowby1

P-90s are a relatively recent revelation to me. Two of my guitars have humbucker size 90s in them now and I love them. 

rze99

Love P90s. I have a few quotations with them. I used to have a 68 sg special back in the early 80s. 

Sold it to fund a new Strat. A few years ago I bought an SG Classic with P90s Excellent and not expensive. Sounded even better when I upgraded the harness. 

pjf

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFv9JheHNtT/

What do you make of these McNellys?

Edit - sorry, not aware of how to embed Instagram.

chris_john

Me too. I made a partcaster just so I could have some P90s.
https://ibb.co/DCQs7Zb

Cranky

Sassafras said:

The fatness of a Gibson with the clarity of a Fender.

This exactly

chris_john

My partcaster has an alder body, birdseye maple neck with ebony fretboard, and A500k pots.
The pickups are made by Tesla. Not that Tesla, but a Korean pickup maker. I swapped out the Alnico V magnets for A2.
There's plenty of bite, and lovely warm mids. I like to crank up the gain on the amp, and set the guitar volume to around 7 or 8. Sounds killer.