Another Dave P90 thread: Post youtube vids please

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Oct 08, 2013 3:46 pm

Just a quicky - can anyone post me youtube vids that you think show what a P90 'should' sound like to your ears, especially any that show the bridge/neck differences? Don't mind if this is concert footage or demos or whatever.

I ask because I have a really limited experience with p90's and am half way down the epic quest that is finding the elusive 'sweets spot' (BARF) that gets these fuckers to be AWESOME. Apparently they are notorious for being bitches to set right.....

GIMME VIDS!

George · Post by **George** » Tue Oct 08, 2013 3:47 pm

the buzzcocks albums

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 12:35 am

LP Junior > dimed Twin Reverb

[youtube][/youtube]

LP Special (bridge position) > dimed Superlead

[youtube][/youtube]

LP Goldtop (middle position) > Twin Reverb

[youtube][/youtube]

I don't find them elusive or difficult, there's just a lot of different P90s out there now. If you're chasing a Gibson P90 sound Gibson pickups are worth buying, and you can get them used for not too much.
A GFS P90 I have is a wondeful pickup but it doesn't get that "snotty" thing from the first two vids whereas my Gibson one does it without me even trying, and the two pickups are in virtually identical guitars. I quite often hear Gibson P90s being referred to as "more abrasive" than many other P90s on offer out there, even really nice ones that chase the Gibson vibe such as Duncan Antiquities.

I also find P90s to be the #1 pickup to be using through a single channel of a tube amp set to a dirty tone and cleaning up/chasing different tones with your onboard guitar controls, that's the best thing about them to me. If I had a 3-channel amp and a bunch of dirtboxes or whatever I'd almost always prefer to use a humbuckered Les Paul or a Tele because I don't need to squeeze any extra mileage out of the pickups, but with a Junior I prefer to just set a nice amp sound and run with it, maybe incorporating a booster to get a touch more gain out of the amp for more balls-to-wall moments.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 2:10 pm

[youtube][/youtube]
[youtube][/youtube]

[youtube][/youtube]

Fakir Mustache · Post by **Fakir Mustache** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 5:11 pm

probably unpopular here, but this:
[youtube][/youtube]

this too:
[youtube][/youtube]

George · Post by **George** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 8:25 pm

kind of makes me want to get a 2p90 guitar of some sort

melody maker or something, rout for a jaguar trem. you know, that kind of thing

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 8:57 pm

my les paul has a p90 and a burstbucker but i rarely play it and when i do it's never clean..I used it in my cover of spirit in the sky to get the "beeps" and ended up playing most of the song with it. The solos that are in the same song were played with it also but fuzzy. The rhythm parts are real trebley and that was my tele. I hope you listen to it dave. I don't think it's a real good example of what a p90 sounds like but that's what it was..

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 10:22 pm

Sorry to interrupt...

robert(original) wrote: [youtube][/youtube]

Remember you posting this back in the day... does James have a band ? Would really like to buy some of his music...

EDIT: Union Pulse, just read the youtube description. I'm on it !! Thanks

cheers
O

Freddy V-C · Post by **Freddy V-C** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 10:27 pm

My Warlock has a P90 in the bridge, and I'll probably use it next time I record guitars because I'm LOVING how it sounds at the moment. Will poast links if/when this happens.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Thu Oct 10, 2013 1:44 am

yeah, union pulse has... 5 albums or so.... currently james is in new york, and has been there for.... 3-4 months, just doing solo stuff. he is a good friend from the early 90s when i lived in sparta wis. he's a good dude, and a great songwriter, but he writes too much about the ladies. imo

Post by **Doog** » Thu Oct 10, 2013 6:59 am

You amp will have 1000% (yeah, I said it) more to do with any elusive "sweet spot" you need to set the pickup height to, Dave.

C'mon Dave, I thought you were beyond snake oil? Just play the fucking thing

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Oct 10, 2013 7:34 am

Major thanks for the videos chaps, loved them all.

Paul - loved the toenz from the Dolls there. By strange coincidence the night before I started reading the first Wild Cards novel (a series of books overseen by George "Game of throanz" Martin) and it starts off with the main protagonist called 'Jetboy' who ends up having a fire-fight high over New York. Jetboy by the Dolls goes:

Whoso fly up in th' sky
Faster than any boy could ever describe
Whos got that love so deep
And everything alive

(I said)
Jet Boys fly
Jet Boys gone
Jet Boy stole my baby

Flyin around New York City so high
Like he was my baby

I can only imagine the writer was a Dolls fan and had read the lyrics to their Jetboy. I'd never heard the tune until you posted. GRINDING sounds and a tremendously helpful poast, thank you.

Robert, again thanks for the vids, great stuff. Do MOAR VIDS! Your friend is a talented writer too!

Doog - ahahahah I know it's why I put sweet spot in ironic apostrophes. It really isn't an elusive quest for ultimate brown sound or whatever it's my bemusement at finding it so hard to get both pickups in a place where they work best for my ears. The odd thing being is that I've fiddled with a hundred pickups in the past and it's normally a five min job, but these seem to have more margins for going muddy or very 'wasps in a tin'. Just seems to behave a bit differently to normal singles to hums.

I finally got the Bridge pickup (the main problem) to where I want it, however I managed to fudge up the neck one a bit so more tweaking tonight.