GFS Pickups Mean 90

Humbucker sized P-90. Metal casing, chrome.

I have these pickups in both positions of a Fender Jaguar Special, the HH stoptail one. Not exactly HH anymore. The previous tenants to the pickups routes were the stock humbuckers, Fender Dragsters. Hot ceramic humbuckers, sounds good for what they are, but I finally realized how I wanted to sound, and AlNiCo single coils are part of the equation.

The output is what I would expect of a big single coil: that is, big for a single coil. Definitely not as hot as the humbuckers I pulled out, but hot enough for me. They've very dynamic, so even at greater volumes they can stay clean with softer pick attack. Very transparent pickups as well. Pretty much exactly what you do is what comes out of the amp, if you know what I mean. Combine that with the dynamics and you've got some very sensitive pickups that will make you tighten up your technique if you've been going humbucker-only for a while. The string definition is good. It takes some work to muddy these up, even with gain added. You can really hear yourself play. Hope that's a good thing, huh?

With gain they start to growl. That's the best way I can describe it. I guess it's in the EQ, which I'll deal with later. Even more gain can net some pretty searing lead tones, if I do say so myself. These pickups can soar if you let them. Sort of gritty sounding, yet slicing. If humbuckers are broadswords and regular single coils are rapiers, these are knuckle dusters with knives affixed. MEAN, I suppose. They do hum, but it is very manageable, especially with the hum-cancelling middle position.

The neck pickup is softer in tone. With the treble up it can get bell-like, but not like a Strat or Telecaster. P-90s are to cathedrals as 'casters are to town churches. With treble rolled off the sound get very warm. These are some of the best jazz tones out of a solid body guitar I've heard. They're mellow, but still defined. No humbucker compression and muddiness. The neck/bridge blend is a more open sound that's good for rhythms of all kinds. Has a nice balance, but not what I'd choose for a lead sound. The bridge is SPICY. It growls and growls, but never really snaps or barks like a Telecaster or Stratocaster might. Still some good punch in the bridge, but that's not what P-90s are for.

The tone is humped. Lots of midrange in these pickups, and in P-90s as a rule. It really helps you hear yourself in a band situation, and personally I am a mids fan, but if for some reason you are the kind of person that immediately cranks down the mid knob, you should not think about purchasing Mean 90s. Shame on all you scoopers! There is a very strong bass response as well. I had to lower my big E pole pieces to balance it out. I'm a fan of it now, but be prepared for lots of low end. From what I hear this is a hallmark of GFS products. The treble is the weakest part of the EQ. These pickups are somewhat dark, but this too is a feature of P-90s. They aren't especially dark though, and get sort of a bright yet dark on the bridge pickup wide open. Add a little reverb and it's very spaghetti western. A nice balance overall, but don't expect tradition single coil brightness.

I play, for lack of a better term, latin funk rock jazz fusion. It sounds like a mess, I know, but it's what I do. For those of you also playing this, look no further for pickups. This genre and P-90s were made for each other. For rockers, P-90s love to rock. Mid-gain rock and P-90s are a great match. They can do blues, but blues isn't so much a tone as a state of playing. The only thing I wouldn't do with is play brutal metal. For one thing, they're single coils. For another, they start to sizzle at higher gain levels. Not good for a tight metal sound at all. Just get some hot humbuckers and be done with it.

I would replace these pickups if damaged. They were the sound in my head, I just didn't know it yet. I've only been playing three years, but that's just about long enough to know what I like. I'm sharp, and now I'm just going to keep on honing myself. What I like is basically what's in the previous section. The only thing I could complain about is the hum, but I don't use much gain most of the time. As far as humbucker sized P-90s go, I'd say choose this one. I don't have much experience in this field, but like I said, I know what I like. For me, it is perfect. The price was a determining factor because I am a student, but it was a lesson that throwing more money at something does not make it better. I am completely satisfied with the sound and playability of my Jaguar now, and have been for 6 months. No honeymoon raving here. I'd recommend them for what they are: great tools, regardless of price. They might not fit perfectly, but give them a try.

Passive Single coil p-90 in a humbucker shell, the output is about the output of a 51's humbucker.

I put this p-90 in a squier 51 in the bridge. The stock humbucker sounded good, but i was wondering what p-90's sound like. I have a gfs overwound single coil in the neck. I"m not sure if any artists are using it...

THe output is close to the stock 51's bridge humbucker. It is not as crunchy, more smooth. It has very good midrange, not as much treble as a strat pickup, and not as much treble as the 51's humbucker, but it has much more midrange than both of them. I'm using an Epiphone Valve Jr. amp for cleans, and a behringer Gm108 for distortion. I play Indie rock and Grunge mostly. This pickup is terrific for both. This pickup would probably not do too well for metal, because the pickup howls more than it crunches.

This pickup is perfect for the styles i play, i've been playing for about 3 years. This pickup does have some hum to it, but if you put a noisegate on it it is fine. Overall I'm very satisfied and if it was stolen I would try my best to replace it.

Humbucker sized Single Coil P-90

Installed in the bridge position an Epiphone Les Paul Classic Quilt Top. I decided to go with this pickup to get a little more tone from this otherwise fine guitar. I left the stock humbucker in the neck position.

Definitely not as hot as the humbuckers that came with the guitar, which were quite hot, but I would not expect a P-90 to be super hot. Plenty of signal to work with.
The tone is a nicely rounded, organic and well-defined. It is responsive to attack and reminds me of the P-90s I had in my Gibson many years ago.

I have been playing for over 30 years. I love this pickup and plan to go ahead and replace the neck position with another Mean 90.
Quite a bargain IMHO.

A p-90 in a humbucker body.

I put these in my 1992 epiphone (korean) les paul standard. I have been 'pimping' my guitar to help me decide if I want to upgrade to a Gibson or not. I originally tried a Gibson 498T and 490R to replace the stock epiphone pickup and the difference was incredible. I bought the mean 90s because I was curious about the p-90 sound. I am now selling the Gibson pickups and these mean 90s are the pickups I've been looking for.

They are surprisingly loud, and while they are not as metallic as the humbuckers I replaced there is a distinctive howl (the best way I can describe it). I can't say if they sound like p90s or not as I've never played the real things, but they sound great. A real vintage tone, lovely and smooth with a bit of a twang (like a strat) that I'm not used to hearing from my les paul. I play mainly classic rock and a bit of blues and they are perfect for it. Combined with my Vox AC30 custom classic I have found the tone I wanted. One downside is they are a bit noisy compared to what I'm used to (humbuckers) I would test them out before a gig just in case.

For the price these are fantastic, and if I didn't like them I could just bin them. I love them.

Single coil p-90 pickups, designed for a more vintage sound than the Dream 90, about 8k, the bridge is a bit hotter than the neck pickup

These replaced two duncan designed humbuckers in my schecter C-1 E/A, the hollow body version of the c-1. The reason I changed is because the duncans lacked detail, sounded very dark and flat. I thought brighter pickups would sound excellent, and the Mean 90's work well with the guitar. Before the mean 90s, the pickups were darker than the piezo bridge, and I used the piezo to add detail. Now, I use the piezo to add more of an acoustic presence - cleans sound great with the two used together.

Very articulate sound, bright(er) but not harsh, highs sound well rounded. Medium output, enough for Hard Rock, but because of hum, I would not recommend this pickup for straight up metal playing. Seems very well balanced, I originally thought that the highs were emphasized, but now I'm pretty sure it's the low mids (when I first installed this pickup, the difference was so dramatic that I had to wait for my ears to adjust). Works very well for just about any style, remains articulate even with high gain, but buzz is a problem when not playing. I play this through a vox Tonelab SE into a 10 watt practice amp, but I have had the chance to play it through a fender hot rod deluxe, great sound. The p-90s mix incredibly well with tube amps. I play alot of blues and rock, and I'm trying to learn my way about funk. This pickup works incredibly well for classic rock, blues, and even for those funky chord stabs (It's not as bright as one would expect, but it's so articulate you won't even notice). The only bad thing is that a pickup so articulate picks up everything, so there isn't much room for error. Overall, excellent pickup.

The thing that I like about this pickup is that it sounds like a really girthy single coil. It has the articulation of a single coil, but more mids and softer highs. Because of the cover, it's really well shielded, and 60-cycle hum is only noticeable under really high gain situations. Very responsive to tone controls, and mixes well with the piezo bridge of the schecter. For the materials used and the quality of the pickup, the price is absolutely incredible. The price is deceptive - I highly doubt that the seymour duncan phat cat sounds 45+ dollars better (per pickup) than the mean 90.