Classic P90 tones

[markb]

Okay, I'm taking advantage of the topic to post this (again)

OK, Elvis covers Nick Lowe. So far, so good :AOK: . But where's the P90 content? JM pickups and P90s, while being similar in construction, sound quite different.

 

[just strum]

OK, Elvis covers Nick Lowe. So far, so good :AOK: . But where's the P90 content? JM pickups and P90s, while being similar in construction, sound quite different.

I thought he had P90's in that guitar.

Sorry. Hey, how about that Elvis Costello!!!

 

[Brian Krashpad]

OK, Elvis covers Nick Lowe. So far, so good :AOK: . But where's the P90 content? JM pickups and P90s, while being similar in construction, sound quite different.

D'oh! Twice in one thread!

Mark (just strum), see my post #8 on p. 1.

Common mistake, apparently even more common than I thought.

Btw, Nick Lowe is the sh*t.

In a good way. And I like Dave Edmunds even better. Don't get me started on Rockpile.

 

[ZMAN]

I m thinkin about getting a P90 style guitar but i heard so much comments sayin that these PUs are extremely noisy .. Hum ???

I might have been the one to comment on the noisey pickups. You have to realize I am a nut about 60 cycle hum. Up to now I have done everything in my power to get rid of it. But I realize now that the P90s aren't as bad as I thought. There were a couple of issues with my set up and pedal board and I was using a fairly high gain amp. Through my 65 deluxe and my Blues Junior special edition the P90s are really nice.
I had a bad cable and the Wah pedal's wall wart was plugged into my auxilliary power on my board. Once I fixed those it cleaned up real well.
I really like the tone from my Vintage V100 with the Wilkinson stacked P90s.
I also have an original 68 SG with P90s and it sound amazing.

 

[Blaze]

They are single coils, so they hum. But then so do Strats and Teles. It just depends how much hum bugs you. You can get a 2 P-90 guitar with one pickup reverse-wound/reverse polarity, and with such a guitar, playing in the middle position (both pickups on) will cancel the hum, just like the 2 and 4 positions on most Strats.

Almost 1 bar out 2 where i 'm playin have bad electric circuits and Strats are noisy as hell,i guess that the P90 havin more powerfull output would drive people crazy..

Wondering how these GFS Dream 90 could sound
http://store.guitarfetish.com/dr90husip90c.html

The GFS Dream 180 have pretty good reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric+Guitar+Pickup/product/GFS+Pickups/Dream+180/10/1

Need Clips

 

[wingsdad]

...Hey, post away. ...

Well, then , I'll turn to the Beatles for some favorite examples of classic P-90 tones. I'll qualify my identification of who's playing and using what as coming from reading different accounts of the recording sessions by George Martin, Geoff Emerick, and Andy Babiuk...and also, from having covered a couple of these songs using a Gibson ES330 and Fender Deluxe Reverb, Tremolux or Bandmaster in HS, and later, in a band 25 years ago, with a Tele, Strat or Les Paul, and finding it impossible at that time to get the exact replica tones.

This one's my favorite:
Beatles-The End-Solo
It opens with McCartney, Harrison & Lennon together setting up Ringo's (only ever) drum solo, then at about 0:37 in, they get back to the guitars, until the solos crack open at around 0:54. because 'The End' was McCartney's song, his Casino opens w/ 2 bars, then comes Harrison for 2 bars (not sure, but I've read he used 'Lucy', his red LP from Clapton that was origninally Rick Derringer's), and then Lennon on his Casino, with a raunchier tone. Then they repeat the 2-bars each sequence unitl Lennon wraps it up at around 1:30.

I'll turn to Lennon again for this one, with his Casino...note the Fender Deluxe Reverb and other Fender amps...Harrison w/ Lucy:
Beatles-Revolution

It's Harrison's song, but the guitar solo in 'Taxman' is McCartney on his Casino:
Beatles-Taxman

Revolver was loaded with Casinos, as they'd all just gotten them. The opening hook inspired by Roy Orbison, 'Oh, Pretty Woman'...again, Mac & Lennon on Casinos. Although this clip shows them playing different guitars, and Harrison on the intro w/ a 335 in various performances, what they played in the studio was what they actually preferred, especially since McCartney overdubbed most of his guitar work after usually laying down his bass on the first takes, and Harrison was constantly GASsing. But once he got his Casino, Lennon put his Rick 325 in mothballs:
Beatles-Day Tripper

Your comments about pots are what led me to the idea of adding a tone control. My concern with going with less than 500K pots is that I've heard the series humbucker sound described as somewhat dark, so it's a balancing act.

:thwap: Forgot about that humbucker! Oh, yeah, a 500K tone pot for that would brighten it up considerably. I don't know what cap would be best, though.