P90 pick ups...
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DPaulCustom
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http://www.vanzandtpu.com/newproducts.html
Don't have a p90 SG, but a quick search turned up the page above.
Don't have a p90 SG, but a quick search turned up the page above.
DrBGood
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Oh ... bootique prices too !
deci belle
New Member
The ones I was looking at for my p90 SG are the slightly hotter than normal mini-humbuckers that Lollar sells— (6.1k~ 7.4k) they drop into a p90 rout. The clips sound pretty cool …ya, bootique prices~ but they cover articulate AND raunch.
The ones that came with my epi SG are actually usable(!), but at 9.5k, are not so versatile.
The ones that came with my epi SG are actually usable(!), but at 9.5k, are not so versatile.
DrBGood
Well-Known Member
Epiphone P90s at 9.5k ?
deci belle
New Member
DrBGood said: "Epiphone P90s at 9.5k ?"
Yes, both my 2011 epi CS '61 SG Spl p90s measure between 9.4k and 9.5k. I wish they would have been around 8k or so… I was looking at the Lollar mini + Firebird HBs as well as their 50s-wind p90s. Those three pickup sets are all between 6.1k and 7.4k. I also looked at the Wolfetone 8k "Mean" soapbar. But I ended up getting something completely different for my SG.
Yes, both my 2011 epi CS '61 SG Spl p90s measure between 9.4k and 9.5k. I wish they would have been around 8k or so… I was looking at the Lollar mini + Firebird HBs as well as their 50s-wind p90s. Those three pickup sets are all between 6.1k and 7.4k. I also looked at the Wolfetone 8k "Mean" soapbar. But I ended up getting something completely different for my SG.
DrBGood
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Wow, mine seem much tamer. My Tyson Tone Wraptails are 7.3k and 8.2k and sound way raunchier than the Epi.
bwotw
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Not an SG, but I have a LP Junior with a Wolftone Meaner P90 (http://www.wolfetone.com/meaner.html) and it's probably my best sounding guitar. With the volume at 10, it's fat and rocking. When turned down, it has a tele-like jangle, it almost twangs. Great pickup.
Alnico II with a heavier wind (9k), Dont know how it compares to the Van Zandt price-wise...
Alnico II with a heavier wind (9k), Dont know how it compares to the Van Zandt price-wise...
deci belle
New Member
Dang— you guys' pickups sound a lot better than mine! Bwotw's p90s are A2. Mine are A5.
Maybe A2 magnets impart a more open (looser) tone with good rumble at higher volumes compared to A5? The epi p90s I have are pretty one-dimensional. I know there are a lot of variables (including pickup height), but I'm just starting to learn about pickups, really.
Through a clean Tweed Super, the epi's articulation is much improved— but not so much through a brown Deluxe, so a lot of that depends on the amp too. Having 9.4k on the neck with A5 magnets doesn't seem to be helping! The bridge pup, at about the same dc resistance, isn't so overbearing as the neck pup.
Do DrB's Tyson p90s have A2 magnets as well?
Maybe A2 magnets impart a more open (looser) tone with good rumble at higher volumes compared to A5? The epi p90s I have are pretty one-dimensional. I know there are a lot of variables (including pickup height), but I'm just starting to learn about pickups, really.
Through a clean Tweed Super, the epi's articulation is much improved— but not so much through a brown Deluxe, so a lot of that depends on the amp too. Having 9.4k on the neck with A5 magnets doesn't seem to be helping! The bridge pup, at about the same dc resistance, isn't so overbearing as the neck pup.
Do DrB's Tyson p90s have A2 magnets as well?
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DPaulCustom
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I think the newer epi p90s have alnico mags, but all the ones I've seen are fitted with ceramic mags.
A magnet swap is cheap, & easy, but with the wind in the 9k area, it might not be the answer you're looking for.
9k isn't too bad for a bridge p90, but at the neck, that's a bit much for my taste.
A magnet swap is cheap, & easy, but with the wind in the 9k area, it might not be the answer you're looking for.
9k isn't too bad for a bridge p90, but at the neck, that's a bit much for my taste.
The two control knobs nearest the selector switch can attenuate the signal strength effectively. The other two can attenuate annoying frequencies. I find these controls very helpful in attaining the sound I desire at any given time.
Dave_Death
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My Bare Knuckle P-90 reads at 15.9K 
deci belle
New Member
My OEM p90s are coming out asap.
Ya, the Stormy Monday sounds like what it is— the HBs I ordered to go into the SG I mentioned are in transit. They are airy, articulate, with good power— maybe cooler-toned than the Stormy Mondays(?), but also offering big harmonic content. I'll have to hog out the p90 routs though.
Normal HB mounting rings will basically disappear into the rout I have to make to fit the Lollar Senn set. It has very thin and wide coils, A5 magnets, with a tone parameter able to convey Gold-foils without the lo-fi mush. Single-coil voiced (with a higher resonant frequency), but it's an HB. The height adjustment screws are at the outer ends of the one-piece shiny covers. There is no ring.
I hope both work out, but any other PUP will mount in whatever Senn rout I opt out of by using a larger pick-guard template (I'd base the pick-guard on a jr motif to mount a better soapbar sized pup at the neck or bridge pickup location). That would be easy enough, but since I bought my first SG around 1975, I've never been able to embrace the latter "bat-wing" pick-guard arrangement. I get what is advantageous about it, though.
I could even use a 7.4k Senn neck at the bridge and find a lower-power p90, mini-HB, Firebird or even a Stormy Monday or a Lollar El Rayo and mount that in the neck via pick-guard.
I never had a p90 rig before, and it's not working out that way initially so far on this one— dang!
If the pup blocks-up that thing the amp is deliberately tweaked to impart, I'm cutting myself out of a lot of what the amp has been designed to offer (50s~60s tube-amps). It's just that the neck pup on my SG is too hot to do anything but rumble— almost. I love that sound, but not ALL the time!!
My stock 9.5k p90 epi SG sounds very good at 5 (both volumes) with the guitar tone-pots staggered and plugged into a late tweed Tremolux— and you might say that anything would. You might be right, but the 18w(?) 5G9 circuit isn't very loud to begin with because of its single gain-stage and AY7/6072 preamp tube— so my seemingly hot neck pup's signal can't get into very much trouble there, even though that late tweed Tremolux, with its (new for Fender 20w amps in 1960) long-tail pair phase-inverter. That's the same circuit originally introduced in the 1958 tweed Twins and Bassmans. That could be one reason why the 1960 Tremolux is sometimes referred to as the low-powered Bassman.
So I totally agree with Biddlin's pot-wrangling prowess— I'm an avowed knob twister, myself!
Ya, the Stormy Monday sounds like what it is— the HBs I ordered to go into the SG I mentioned are in transit. They are airy, articulate, with good power— maybe cooler-toned than the Stormy Mondays(?), but also offering big harmonic content. I'll have to hog out the p90 routs though.
Normal HB mounting rings will basically disappear into the rout I have to make to fit the Lollar Senn set. It has very thin and wide coils, A5 magnets, with a tone parameter able to convey Gold-foils without the lo-fi mush. Single-coil voiced (with a higher resonant frequency), but it's an HB. The height adjustment screws are at the outer ends of the one-piece shiny covers. There is no ring.
I hope both work out, but any other PUP will mount in whatever Senn rout I opt out of by using a larger pick-guard template (I'd base the pick-guard on a jr motif to mount a better soapbar sized pup at the neck or bridge pickup location). That would be easy enough, but since I bought my first SG around 1975, I've never been able to embrace the latter "bat-wing" pick-guard arrangement. I get what is advantageous about it, though.
I could even use a 7.4k Senn neck at the bridge and find a lower-power p90, mini-HB, Firebird or even a Stormy Monday or a Lollar El Rayo and mount that in the neck via pick-guard.
I never had a p90 rig before, and it's not working out that way initially so far on this one— dang!
"The two control knobs nearest the selector switch can attenuate the signal strength effectively. The other two can attenuate annoying frequencies. I find these controls very helpful in attaining the sound I desire at any given time." —Biddlin
Otherwise, what Biddlin said— absolutely~ if you've got the right pickups. But I gotta have a source-signal with at least a subjective level of headroom and a smooth extended frequency-range (if possible), however-colored by the chosen essential nature of the pup actually driving the amp. I can always get a gainier feel cranking the guitar (or amp) tone-pots with loose, vintage-style 20~40w amp circuits; or even stooping to use a bootique transparent OD pedal carefully.
If the pup blocks-up that thing the amp is deliberately tweaked to impart, I'm cutting myself out of a lot of what the amp has been designed to offer (50s~60s tube-amps). It's just that the neck pup on my SG is too hot to do anything but rumble— almost. I love that sound, but not ALL the time!!
My stock 9.5k p90 epi SG sounds very good at 5 (both volumes) with the guitar tone-pots staggered and plugged into a late tweed Tremolux— and you might say that anything would. You might be right, but the 18w(?) 5G9 circuit isn't very loud to begin with because of its single gain-stage and AY7/6072 preamp tube— so my seemingly hot neck pup's signal can't get into very much trouble there, even though that late tweed Tremolux, with its (new for Fender 20w amps in 1960) long-tail pair phase-inverter. That's the same circuit originally introduced in the 1958 tweed Twins and Bassmans. That could be one reason why the 1960 Tremolux is sometimes referred to as the low-powered Bassman.
So I totally agree with Biddlin's pot-wrangling prowess— I'm an avowed knob twister, myself!
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Wraptail
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Hi deci belle,
3 diff sets are available.
Two of them use A2s for the bridge pickup and A4s for the neck. The low-wind set uses A3s in the neck & A4 in the bridge.
Cheers,
Bobby Tyson
DrBGood
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Thanks for clearing that up Bobby.
deci belle
New Member
Bobby wrote:
Wow— please describe what the different magnet types impart to those p90 coils in generality; what changes between the two neck pickups' (low-wind A3 + the other two with A4) magnets?
I'm guessing that one of the A2/A4 sets is hotter, so please compare the other one with the low-wind set like it would be in an SG.
I'd like to hear about that somehow!
3 diff sets are available.
Two of them use A2s for the bridge pickup and A4s for the neck. The low-wind set uses A3s in the neck & A4 in the bridge.
Two of them use A2s for the bridge pickup and A4s for the neck. The low-wind set uses A3s in the neck & A4 in the bridge.
Wow— please describe what the different magnet types impart to those p90 coils in generality; what changes between the two neck pickups' (low-wind A3 + the other two with A4) magnets?
I'm guessing that one of the A2/A4 sets is hotter, so please compare the other one with the low-wind set like it would be in an SG.
I'd like to hear about that somehow!
deci belle
New Member
DPaul said:
Yes, it's really a thing…
"9k isn't too bad for a bridge p90, but at the neck, that's a bit much for my taste."
Yes, it's really a thing…
DCCable
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P90s are pretty much like HBs as far as magnet types go. In ascending order AIII AII AIV AV & AVIII is how the flux densities go, all other things being equal like magnet size. So the lower flux density magnets do not have the initial punch, or attack that the higher flux density magnets have. The lower flux density magnets have more of a flute or singing quality, if you will.
In HBs my favorite is an AII in the neck and a AIV or a short magent AV ( like in the 61 PAF) in the bridge.
Incidentally Gibson used AIIs in their P90s up until about mid 1956 and AVs afterward I have been lead to understand.
In HBs my favorite is an AII in the neck and a AIV or a short magent AV ( like in the 61 PAF) in the bridge.
Incidentally Gibson used AIIs in their P90s up until about mid 1956 and AVs afterward I have been lead to understand.
