How to Get Every Sound With a P90 guitar | Thomann

The sound guide series continues with a pickup you should definitely take a look at if you haven't already: Often confused for a humbucker, the P90 actually is a single coil pickup and - as Kris and Guillaume will prove - can do a lot!
Gear used: bit.ly/37NIxYC
Recorded in Presonus Studio One: bit.ly/S1Pro6
Recorded and mixed with Universal Audio: tho.mn/uadx1
Monitors optimised through Sonarworks: tho.mn/sonar
Interesting bits and pieces:
0:00 Intro Playing
0:29 What are we doing today?
2:00 Clean Sounds on a P90
3:38 The tonal options on a P90 guitar
4:24 Crunchy P90 Sounds - from Blues to Classic Rock
6:10 The right drive pedals for P90s
6:32 More gain! From Classic Rock to Punk and more
8:01 Fuzz? Fuzz!
9:37 Metal on a P90!
10:25 And that's why you should try a P90
Webshop: www.thomann.de
Facebook: / thomanninternational
Twitter: @thomann / thomann
Instagram: @thomann.music / thomann.music
Pinterest: / thomannde
Visit our blogs:
GER: www.thomann.de/blog/de/
ENG: www.thomann.de/blog/en/
FRA: www.thomann.de/blog/fr/
ESP: www.thomann.de/blog/es/
ITA: www.thomann.de/blog/it/
NED: www.thomann.de/blog/nl/
FIN: www.thomann.de/blog/fi/

[@123Ir0nman]

I love P90s! Can you do a video on comparing different brands of noiseless P90s?

[@t9620]

Thoughtful and intelligent review of what just might be my favorite pick-ups. Thanks very much!🙏🎸

[@angryoldpoop]

thank you i have a grote p90 lp (sunburst Epiphone special clone) coming fron Amazon in the mail this afternoon. This video has me pumped and excited for it. Thanks for showing the versatility of this pickup.

[@frantisca]

P90s are awesome. Punch, articulation, clearness: you have it all. I tried then on DC, SC, even Strats…! And they all sound good ⚡️👍🏻😎

[@chrisadamson2455]

You Guys are great p90s cut through any mix just awesome.

[@sperl42]

Damn! Kris! What a superb guitar player you are. And starting with the James intro you completely got me!

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Aww thanks so much Stefan! 🤩 I love this rendition of James. //Kris

[@guitarelaxed]

"James" was the least expected thing to hear from you and from a P90 Guitar. Liked it!

[@caprise-music6722]

Awesome! Love the p90. Can get some dirty dirty tones with it, but also some gorgeous clean tones.. it does it all

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Yes it really does! :) //Kris

[@opatheguitarist2197]

You two guys are my favorite on KZbin, always fun and entertaining.

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Aww man, thanks a lot! 💛 //Kris

[@lfsberaldo]

Hey guys, I´ve just found out this channel and it´s amazing!!! Thanks guys, I´ll have to dig plenty of time to watch all those videos!!

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Hey Luis, that's awesome! Welcome and enjoy the videos! 🙌 You're right, it will take a while to get through 6 years worth of videos. 😅 //Kris

[@TommyC-nj2rt]

Great demo guys.

[@boomerbassmeme]

Awesome Demo! Nice work guys! 😊👍

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Thanks so much buddy! //Kris

[@joermnyc]

If you can find one, Reverend sells the Jetstream 390, 3 P90s with a 5-way switch, trem, and their unique tone circuit… if you dial it in right you can get strat/tele and humbucker (with hum) tones. Edit: oh, and the body is korina.

[@isaacstanfield4743]

The Jetstream 390 is awesome.

[@dogfalcon]

Nice video! Congrats! You guys rock! Since I rediscovery P90's, they became my preference. People complain about the hum they produce. So do single coils and it's a matter of controlling with the volume pot. PhilX, James Jared Nichols... P90's can do everything. And they look so cool in some guitars. That's why some brands are including P90s options in their lines. Fender Noventa, Yamaha Revstar and Pacifica, Reverend...

[@maraviyoso8473]

Noise gates do exist 😉

[@reverbautopsy9093]

Easily my favorite pickup. Dynasonic/dearmonds are in a similar ballpark too.

[@petekinne2702]

Love the sounds, great playing, nice haircut.

[@umami0247]

P90 is my favorite pick up and yes it can do everything those others can do.

[@Jacobus-or6vf]

P90 - IS my fav pick up. George Thorogood, knows how to get every little nuance out of his P90 Gibsons.

[@elvillegas1211]

Great video ! P-90 are my favorite, and they're also so good on a fender-style guitar !

[@Quinceps]

What amp are you using with your P90s?

[@elvillegas1211]

Marshall JMP 50W, or my DSM&Humboldt Simplifier DLX. I had a Vox AC15 before. Everything is good with P90 !

[@Quinceps]

@@elvillegas1211 I got the Gibson SG Special recently, and I'm still turning around among the many amp possibilities in the market with sore hands ready to play lol

[@sackorobert]

We need proof on that Black metal part though😉

[@myisleofview]

Check out my band "Ewiges Fristen". Recorded most of the guitars of "Freigeist" on a Fender Tele with P90s.

[@sackorobert]

Thank you sir, that sounds nice and clear.

[@PavleTheSlayer]

Every guitar can play BM 😂

[@davidjairala69]

Just forget everything you know about mic'ing and mixing and you're good 😂

[@Barry101er]

What a great board

[@erenmalcok85]

I recommend Seymour Duncan Phat Cat for those who have a humbucker guitar and want to wear a P90. I put it on my very successful prs se guitar and the result is amazing shine and volume.

[@johnjames2626]

Have '63 firebird with 3 P90s. Love the neck , but not the rest. Grew up on Sabbath with SG overwound P90 sound. They are great for anything but high gain with precision.

[@gfy937]

With a pedalboard like that even my toaster would sound good.

[@kmichaelp4508]

Good job Bill & Kris

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Thanks K! We really appreciate it! //Kris

[@armandoivanjimenez1245]

Excelent job

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Thanks so much! //Kris

[@PooNinja]

From metal to jazz and techno spaz P90s got the tonez that shakes ya bones. D20🤘🏽REVV rules🤘🏽

[@blessedheavyelements8544]

Hey Guys! Good to see you two together in another video. Missed ya. Best Regards and Best Wishes!

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Thanks buddy! It's always a blast making videos together with my brother G. //Kris

[@stefanbo3620]

I am waiting to get a second hand revstar w p90ies... I tried one and it was ace, just not in the position to get a new one just yet

[@arnaud3825]

P90, that’s Life!!👍

[@mattwilliams3104]

Just got my first P90 guitar (Yamaha revstar) and boy do I love how it sounds. However, I’ve only had a telecaster so it’s a weird transition to finding the right tones and my current amp doesn’t have much headroom

[@thelovacluka]

what amp you got?

[@zaddash2830]

Nice guitar

[@joeblankenship377]

Been thinking about getting a tele with humbuckers, but I might grab a p90 epiphone instead. I much prefer single coils for clean sounds.

[@ristofly5720]

Great show. I was wondering what P90 pickups you were using, DCR value and brand name. What would be better than brand name is if you can roughly compare it to one of the SD P90 pickups, that way I can relate to something known. Plus all my guitars have SD pickups. Gettin ready to change the stock pickups, as I’m getting an older Epiphone gold top. This will be my 1st P90 guitar. Price is not an issue as getting the right base tone range. Each one of my guitars are setup for different styles of music. I play from blues to doom metal. The P90 will give me another tone option between a Les Paul and a Stratocaster. Thanks for any thoughts you can offer.

[@boobooau]

If you like P90s, you are OK with Hungaro-French dynamic duo this is a real treat :)

[@lineboss58]

Hey guys these guitars come fitted with tone controls, they can have a huge impact on the tone more so than humbuckers.

[@CargoShorts7]

Thanks so much for this video man! I recently ventured out of strat/tele land and got an SG Special in pelham blue, although I'm having some trouble figuring out the axe and taming the P90s. The pups kind of threw me for a loop with their unique tonal qualities. They sound really cool, but I can't seem to figure out how to get them to sound more full. I know P90s are known for their boosted mids frequencies and having that "in your face" kinda vibe, which I dig, but mine sound almost kind of "narrow" or as if there's a big bump in the midrange, but not a lot of full/roundness in the bottom end. Maybe it's me? Any further tips on dialing in the tones on these beasts? Thanks!

[@maraviyoso8473]

First of all, SG's are bright guitars per se. They don't sound like a Les Paul. Second, which amp and/or pedals are you using?

[@giangiangian666]

Will you guys make another episode with jazzmaster pickup?

[@joelortiz2281]

I agree that P90 are the most versatile sounding pick up. But if you play anything more than a mild overdrive, they can get very noisy very fast. That being said, I am not affiliated in anyway with Seymour Duncan, but I have found that their P90 silencers are the best sounding Noiseless P90. My main guitar is equipped with these and I play in a top 40 cover band that covers everything from rock to country and funk

[@SamAdvenMedia]

Hey, i remember this channel from like 10 years ago. You had a tube screamer review with i think a Mesa amp and the video started with you chilling, drinking coffee or something and then got into the review and had some sick tones! What video was that?

[@caprise-music6722]

Wow.. That sounds like a video I want to watch!

[@martonjancsak]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnu0oKGPmcilaac ?

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Hey man, that's crazy! That is an old video on my own YT channel, not on this one. :) The "drinking coffee episode" is now blocked by YT though because I dared to use 10 seconds of Beatles in the background somewhere in the video. Haha! Here's the Screamer + Mesa video (it's very "vintage" though, be warned, haha): kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZiqn4qrm6idqdE Cheers //Kris

[@sirpamplemousse9797]

Seriously noone is mentioning this gorgeous Maybach guitar?.) Its basically a custom shop relic for 1/3 price of Gibson CS! Gonna order just like this one, only with a 60s neck.)

[@RubbelisPro]

I actually like the noise you get from p90s, with some gain and distortion it's just one more overtone. Really hairy pickups, love em. I have wilkinson p90s in my les paul style guitar.

[@justinkline1294]

I also don't get the objection to p90s are too noisy. That hum is just what they sound like -- it's their character. Part and parcel.

[@HeWhoComes]

i love E minor too im sorry i had too

[@Drunken_Hamster]

335 with P90's the ultimate versatile guitar?

[@adammada5227]

was searching p90 the gun but this came up, watched anyway

[@juui6200]

Do you have some experiance with the Lollar Novel 90?

[@pharmerdavid1432]

Whenever I switch to P-90 from humbucker guitars, it always sounds better, likely because of the wider frequency range - more highs and lows?

[@dt9r]

my Les Paul special with p90 is the most versatile guitar I have

[@monarakudumbiya957]

Not sure of what I heard as fuzz for these picksups. Perhaps it was the pedal used.

[@PoppaWheelies]

I’ve got the itch! The itch for more cowbel… uh p90’s

[@fei-fun2856]

How to set the height to this pick ups?

[@shaadydog1]

So maybe I missed it but what pickups are they, and where can i find the specs?

[@jeppej4265]

Thanks guys, good stuff as always! Have add that Kris reminds me of the meme "whats up fellow youths" =) Keep up the good work!

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Haha, I can see why. 😂 Well I guess I just love flannels and caps. I might even wear them when I'm 60... 😅 //Kris

[@choadcityusa]

how do they sound with really fast palm muted chug?

[@lauhyuuga]

What song is the metal riff from at 9:43? It's awesome!

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Thanks a lot! It's an own riff I wrote for a metal band I had a few years ago. Glad to hear that you like it! //Kris

[@markbass354]

YAY

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

🙌 Cheers Mark! //Kris

[@BoyAditya]

10:10 don't forget that death metal/grindcore band, like Carcass, use p90 (Gibson jr) back in the day.

[@stanislavkarev3625]

what melody on the clean sound 2:24 did he play? spinning in my head and i cant remember... it makes me mad!

[@zrewou6007]

Vulture by John Mayer

[@rickhill6277]

What Guitar are you guys using?

[@Mullewarp]

It's a Maybach.

[@ipuya]

What guitar is that?

[@Steven_SK]

There's an idea! ;)

[@AndyNyle]

every time a thought of router enters my mind i watch this video

[@Quinceps]

Hi everyone, what amps are you using with your P90s?

[@amadesauza]

What pedal does he use for the metal part?

[@damiankacprzak6211]

p-90 🤘🤘

[@Anjohl]

P90's can be a bit rebellious... you have to rein them in!

[@ltaylor2238]

which model guitar is this?

[@BrazenNL]

Pat Metheny. Respect.

[@miner49er79]

Where's Julia ,,,I'm going thru Julia withdrawl ??

[@markflores2475]

What guitar brand are they playing. It’s not a Gibson or Epiphone?

[@Mullewarp]

It's a Maybach.

[@markflores2475]

@@Mullewarp thanks

[@Gatecreeper69]

What am I missing, where’s the doom part

[@johntchb]

I usually don't care but telling us what pots and caps were in this would of been good.

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Hey, we didn't open the cavity but I bet those are 500k pots and a fitting cap (.022). This guitar sounded exactly how a P90 loaded single cut should, that's why I'm pretty sure about this. Cheers //Kris

[@rickardmoller7824]

Never understood the difference between p90 and singlecoil?

[@faustohernandez3434]

It's a wider single coil with alnico bar magnets and adjustable pole pieces, a single coil on steroids basically

[@Mullewarp]

They also have a higher output than standard Fender Strat or Tele singlecoils. Around 8-9 Kohm. And when you are interested in the differences between the several pickup types. Lookup a KZbin channel called DylanTalksTone. He has several videos explaining all that stuff.

[@Alfredo78666]

Don't break this duet, Mr. Thomann

[@stewarttomkinson3356]

Lefthanded please

[@metalwizard5502]

Wowwww 👀👀👏🏻👏🏻💀🔥🎸👊🏻💥🍺🤟🏻

[@istvandejesus]

Man. One day if the Lord wiling. I’ll own one of does guitars.

[@alejulul2379]

I have p90s on a reverend guitar. it's a little meh. Seems to quack at high volume.

[@countblue]

The real question is. Why is that so? Why are P90s so characterful? And still versatile. How can a pickup at the same time be both? It should be a contradiction. But it isnt. I am at the moment the proud owner of one P90 equipped guitar HB SC-460GT and I am gonna wire another one HB DC-580 with some LGA 90 from Roswell which are P90 in a Humbucker casing.

[@joermnyc]

It’s got more wire windings than Fender single-coil pickups (with the covers off, Jazzmaster pickups look similar, but then you see from the side they are really thin). So dialing back the volume is more responsive. Plus they are like PAF humbuckers, the pole piece screws touch a bar magnet on the bottom, but they don’t noise cancel (unless you find double-coil versions (like P-100s) but some purists think the tone is different… Lindy Fralin seems to have solved this, but they are boutique pickups (quite expensive.))

[@nielsosper]

It should be a Sativa ..

[@fredmarquis1105]

Nice p90 tasty taste :) mmmmh

[@Twirlyhead]

Paired with a .022uF tone cap I achieve a nice strat-like rhythm sound.

[@TheMrMRsmoke]

That pickguard looks a little long

[@abaija]

👍🇦🇹👌🎯😁🧐👌🤠🧞🧞

[@matthiaspinkert9622]

..,wieso nicht direkt in den Amp? Wenn ihr das Signal durch das Pedalboard schickt,ist das doch nicht objektiv,oder? Das ist auch bei P90 unnötig..,sie werden unterschätzt. Der Humbucker ist eine Weiterentwicklung des P90 aus den 40er Jahren und es ging in erster Linie darum ,das Brummen und Feedback zu bekämpfen. Der P90 ist so dynamisch und hat wesentlich mehr Output,so das er wahnsinnig flexibel ist. Wer das verstanden hat,wird ihn immer gerne nutzen..,ich würde sogar sagen..,es geht plötzlich die Sonne auf ☀️

[@attilacsaba]

:) 😈🤘👌

[@Bigubus]

I think they use too much pedals, this episodes is more like "how to get every sound with pedals". Guitar character is totaly obscured

[@otherfish]

The whole point is showing the versatility of the guitar with p'90s - the "character" of the guitar can change based on how you use it and what you run it through - note during the fuzz section the neck pickup with volume back to 8 for the slide and then the bridge at 10 for heavy fuzz... to each their own but it's cool to see how so many sounds can be had.

[@johnbrown4568]

Click bait… these two lads seem to be one or perhaps two trick ponies.

[@SpezlvomAnneNr1]

My P90 Gibson LP special sounds brighter, shriller than my mexican Tele

[@wolters1953]

Looks more like a demonstration of pedals . Dump the pedals and try again : demonstrate the different sounds of a P90 without the pedals , if you can....

[@inzailings]

Alot of you tubers do this. You need to demonstrate pickups or guitars clean without reverb, without delay, and no pedals. This is the only way to checkout pickups or guitars.

[@drdoom8793]

They're showing you real life applications, not giving you an in-depth comparison of P90 pickups. Sounds like you're looking for a different video entirely, friend

[@drdoom8793]

​@@inzailingsOR you test the guitar how you're going to utilize it 🙄

[@wolters1953]

@@drdoom8793 What I'm looking for is not the issue here , is it ? . Calling me "friend" is "meta language" : an inversion showing hostility . Very common amongst the simple minded . In stead of the equally common hostile reaction I will have patience with you and try to explain , seeing you have not understood my comment . Pedals are used to change the sound , right ? So when demonstrating a pickup "to get every sound with a P90 guitar" ( guitar should be pickup) , using a pedal or pedals , we are not hearing the pickup itself but the sound of the pickup that has been changed by a pedal or pedals . That makes the demonstation worthless , stupid even . Can you understand that ?

[@ERMAV]

Yes let’s do a demo of a bunch of different sounds, many of which require pedals, and do it without the pedals. Great idea