Lollar Or Other P90 Suggestions??

[zozoe]

Greetings all~ While I'm thoroughly diggin' on my 2008 Custom 22 burst with 3 soaps & a whammy, I'm not totally swept away with the pickups, which are the stock SD's with
(i assume) PRS's typical magnet swap. While I'm not expecting any Fendery snap and/or quack (tho' not unheard of with past P90's I've had), I AM looking for that bolder, more distinctive P90 sound,, especially in the B+M & the B+N positions. (I love that PRS included that S-N-N magnetic orientaion to give you that bridge-neck Tele sound!!).....

I'm thinking of some Lollars with a stock wind(?).... The only other 'boutiquee' P90's I'm familiar with & currently own are some Fralins, noiseless for recording...
But this axe is made to rock & I'd like to hear some feedback (literally!) on some Lollars.... Those 50's wind & the Alnico poles sound sweet & closest to my olde '59 Special....
Thanks in advance~

 

[SinSir]

Wolfetone

 

[Greywolf]

I have 2 sets of Lollars ( '55 LP Special and Knaggs Kenai) and 3 of Duncan's P90's ( 2 McSoapies and a Triple) , The Lollars are a bit noisier , both have great tone. I have 2 sets of custom Lindy's , he's great to work with and nailed it.

 

[Gtrbldr]

Wolfetone

That would be my first port of call as well. He is great to work with and winds a mean (pun intended) P90.

Have a set in my McSoapy and that one is special, especially with the set mean/underwound mean Wolfe wound.

 

[Mike J.]

I put a set of Lollar P90's in my SG Special. I believe I bought the 50's wind for the bridge and I know for a fact I bought the Low Wind for the neck. The Lollar bridge has a bit more output than the stock Gibson pickup and doesn't sound as harsh as the stock pickup. I love how the high end has some muscle to it. (I hate when the high end sounds thin).

As far as the neck pickup...........i have a real problem with neck pickups be they humbuckers or P90's. They are always too boomey and don't have the clarity I'm after. They stock Gibson neck pickup was useless in my opinion. It dwarfed the bridge pickup. Way, way too much output.
While the Lollar neck pickup was a huge improvement, it still has a bit too much output and bass response for my liking. I'm seriously considering trying a Lindy Fralin neck pick with at least a 5% underwind that he offers. But I'm wondering if 5% less will be enough for me.

Trust me, I have tried every imaginable height adjustment with the pickup and with the pole pieces in an attempt to get rid of the boom.

 

[Gtrbldr]

I put a set of Lollar P90's in my SG Special. I believe I bought the 50's wind for the bridge and I know for a fact I bought the Low Wind for the neck. The Lollar bridge has a bit more output than the stock Gibson pickup and doesn't sound as harsh as the stock pickup. I love how the high end has some muscle to it. (I hate when the high end sounds thin).

As far as the neck pickup...........i have a real problem with neck pickups be they humbuckers or P90's. They are always too boomey and don't have the clarity I'm after. They stock Gibson neck pickup was useless in my opinion. It dwarfed the bridge pickup. Way, way too much output.
While the Lollar neck pickup was a huge improvement, it still has a bit too much output and bass response for my liking. I'm seriously considering trying a Lindy Fralin neck pick with at least a 5% underwind that he offers. But I'm wondering if 5% less will be enough for me.

Trust me, I have tried every imaginable height adjustment with the pickup and with the pole pieces in an attempt to get rid of the boom.

Underwinding helps and 5% is quite noticeable. Another trick is using an AlNiCo 5, also very noticable difference. My set of wolfetone mean-underwound mean (-5%) was a little boomy in the neck until I swapped out the alnico 2 as suggested by wolfe. Very happy camper with the results. Crisp, clear, still warm, but less mids and a lot less boomy

 

[SteveGlitch]

Tried the Lollar, Mojotone, Duncan's, Gibsons and Fender's in house P90's.

My favorites were Fender's MP90's which are severely underwound. Very different and unique tone.

My second favorites are the Seymour Duncan Antiquities.

 

[Mike J.]

Underwinding helps and 5% is quite noticeable. Another trick is using an AlNiCo 5, also very noticable difference. My set of wolfetone mean-underwound mean (-5%) was a little boomy in the neck until I swapped out the alnico 2 as suggested by wolfe. Very happy camper with the results. Crisp, clear, still warm, but less mids and a lot less boomy

Thanks for the suggestion. But I just checked Lollars site and (quote): Our Low/Standard/High Wind P-90 uses Alnico 5 magnets.

 

[Gtrbldr]

Thanks for the suggestion. But I just checked Lollars site and (quote): Our Low/Standard/High Wind P-90 uses Alnico 5 magnets.

Maybe it is the amp as well. I play with vox style amps: they are a little chimey by nature, so that added chime goes a looooooong wY

 

[Bogner]

I Have Really Enjoyed BKP In Some Of My P90 Guitars.

 

[Mike J.]

Maybe it is the amp as well. I play with vox style amps: they are a little chimey by nature, so that added chime goes a looooooong wY

Actually, I'm playing through a Pod Go at church. Hey, at my age (71) I need all the weight relief I can find!

When you get down to it I really shouldn't be so picky. Don't know if you're familiar with the Pod Go so just in case: in each preset there are 4 Snapshots. Because I want an equal balance of things, snp 1 is for the bridge pickup, snp 2, middle position, snp 3, neck and 4, ambient swells.
As long as you use the same amp, cab and effects in the preset you can tailor each snapshot to your liking. As a result I get a pretty darned good balance of everything when going to and from each pickup selection. Each pickup or combination sounds as they should in thier respective positions without any excess of anything, like too much bass from the neck pickup.

But I'm still a bit envious when I see players on YouTube demoing pickups. They'll go from one position ro the next (clean or overdriven) and everything always sounds so balanced. Maybe YouTube compresses things to the hilt which is why things always sound so balanced.

 

[Gtrbldr]

Well, if I am 71 I hope I will still be playing in church as well . And I am well versed with helix and how snapshots work. I actually play through a kemper with profiles from a Mesa TA15 Top Boost channel. A sound you can easily imitate with the Machless CH1 in the POD go (chime department).

And snapshots are really cool. Great invention for the gigging musiscian!

 

[Eseffinga]

Love Wolfetones always. I also am very fond of the Tyson Tone p90s. Just check and make sure they can ship in short order. They had a period during Covid when they were too backed up to deliver. But they too sound super vintagey and have that rawness.

Itching to try some Sunbear pickups from the UK. A pal tells the they are great.

If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, Rewind and Ellis make sets that’ll set you back a pretty penny.

 

[ViperDoc]

ONAMAC WINDERY.

MORE HERE:

 

[Mike J.]

Well, if I am 71 I hope I will still be playing in church as well . And I am well versed with helix and how snapshots work. I actually play through a kemper with profiles from a Mesa TA15 Top Boost channel. A sound you can easily imitate with the Machless CH1 in the POD go (chime department).

And snapshots are really cool. Great invention for the gigging musiscian!

Yeah, the Pod has been a life (and a back!) saver for me.

I've tried the Matchless amp models within the Pod and even tried some from Worship Tutorials. I dunno, I find those models to be too thin on the top end for me. Maybe it's the Pod, maybe it's the way the amp models are created and maybe it's me. I even tried the Pods Marshall models and tried some from WT's as well. Some are too dark, some are too flubby and some are way to bright. Again, maybe it's me.

I'm using a Fender Twin model with a 2x12 from WT's. Full, rich and the high end has some muscle to it. With some tweaking it makes a pretty good platform for the pedals within the Pod as well as when using external pedals. Still looking for the right external OD pedal. I'm close but not quite there.

 

[Mark Ray]

I like hot pickups. Anyone on here should know that by now with my obsession of Dragon 1's.

I'm having a singlecut Junior built here locally, and selected a Lollar 50's hot wind dogear.

Hopefully it pleases me.

 

[RonHal]

Not a reply about P90s per say. Muddy bass pickups? This is a easy "fix". I have not tried this so I cannot say it works or is usable.

Mod Squad: Muddy sounding neck pickup? - Guitar Pickups, Bass Pickups, Pedals

Muddy sounding neck pickup? Try Seymour’s quick tech fix By Seymour Duncan Tech Guru Scott Miller People often call and ask how to fix a muddy sounding neck pickup. Some years ago, Seymour taught me a cool trick to fix this exact problem. If you connect a .047 capacitor in series (directly...

www.seymourduncan.com

Taming Muddy Sounding Pickups

MANY of us, myself included, have had issues with pickups that just plain sound muddy, and even after adjusting pickup height and pole pieces it's still not acceptable. Well I found an article and thought I would share this. I'm going to try this on my G400 this weekend as my bridge pup just isn'...

forum.gibson.com

Warm up that iron!

 

[SinSir]

Not a reply about P90s per say. Muddy bass pickups? This is a easy "fix". I have not tried this so I cannot say it works or is usable.

It works!

 

[SteveGlitch]

Actually, I'm playing through a Pod Go at church. Hey, at my age (71) I need all the weight relief I can find!

I'm not 71 but I was at that stage a few years ago, I went from a Helix to a Pod Go and the Pod Go became my go-to for a couple years simply because it is so light and portable. However, I've been going back to analog lately and I definitely notice the change in the sound going from amazing digital models to average analog circuitry (the average analog circuitry still just sounds better to me). Also, I found the Helix and Pod Go both limiting (to me). But yeah it's been a pain sometimes to transport.

I have hard flight cases for all my pedalboards, because I believe in protection, so the case for the Pod Go weighs maybe 5 times what the unit does. For an analog pedalboard that's the same weight of a Pod Go, that averages at around 15-20 pounds, with the case it becomes 20-25 pounds. So you can imagine, my big board weighs around 65 pounds, luckily it has wheels

Of course when I want to be lazy, I will take my Pod Go to practice. When I don't want to deal with bulkiness of bigger or even medium sized analog boards.

 

[Smolder]

Gibson P90’s are still very good pickups. Wooly, they vary somewhat, but are pretty consistent with those from the 70’s. I love the Lollars… reg and staple. More clear, more polite if you will. The low winds didn’t do much for me.

If you come across Reverend P90’s, they are as good as any I’ve played.