Gibson P-90

single coil. These run just about 8.0 ohms plus or minus a little. I have 6 of them in various guitars. All bought used and all run very close to being the same. Single coil clean with balls and grit. Hands down the best pickup ever made...and one of the first! Not "airy", if you need the "ether" in church band...this aint it! If you want the grit in the local bar... this is it!

Mexi Strat, ES225, ES335 others

Until recently I had 16 guitars. I've been selling out. My #1 is a Mexi strat with all P90's in it. (always select a guitar without pluggin it in! if it resonates like hell....and if you like the neck....that's the one.) I threw away the mexi electronics and put the P90's in with a custom pickguard. all of a sudden my $190 guitar became my #1 and has been for 2.5 years. I also have them in a '57 Gibson es 225. I have put one in the neck of my ES335 and it is great. I have a high end strat that now sells for $2000 new..it just sits with those start wtyle single coils.

I'd have to get another if stolen. Ihave also tried a Fralin P90 and a Lollar P90 in the neck position. The Gibson is superior, not mushy, cuts through the mix with the band. BLus, Rock and quiet articulate chording are great. Great mid's for power chords.

Big fat single coil pickup that looks like a humbucker. Dunno about impedance. Passive, of course.

It came along with my Les Paul studio gem model. They're in both neck and bridge positions. I haven't changed anything about it.

This is the absolute best set of pickups I've had the fortune to come across. The tone is clear, the notes are well defined and crisp not unlike single coils, and at the same time, there's that fat juicy feel to the tone like a humbucker but without the muddiness and boomy sound.

Use it clean and the neck pickup is the absolute perfect match for jazz. Add a little dirt, and you will get hard rocking tones to die for. There's just the right amount of raunch and rawness which sadly most humbuckers lack.

Dang, this sounds great even on a small 15 watt bedroom amp. It truly blows away the competition on our gigging 50 watt marshall stack.

These pickups are perfect for what they are designed, jazz and hard rock. As long as you don't try to play Mark Knopfler or SRV or Hendrix with this, you will get the best possible rock tones you've ever heard. I love it without any reservations.

Pickup features: BIG Single Coil
Impedence or other specs: 8.4

Model of guitar or bass: Gibson Les Paul Special
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Gibson P-100
Other pickups on guitar: Gibson P-100
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Rock, Rock Blues, Rock Funk
Reason for pickup change: Looking for more "In Your FACE" tone. Wanted my tone to be raw and real, not smooth and creamy. I don't use reverb to add to my raw tone. The Gibson P-100 wasen't bad, I just wanted MORE.

Perceived output level: Hot but not too hot, solid, not wimpy at all.
Tone: Middy providing the backbone of the tone, good tight low end response without farting on ya. Highs could be a bit louder but I'm not complaining.
Sonic evaluation: I use a Peavey Classic 30 with a extension cab. This pickup is without a doubt the best sounding pup I've ever heard. Kind of tone that says "Look how big my balls are". The bass response is tight and not muddy, mids are balanced. The treble side might be a tad weak, I'll raise my screws a bit to compensate, not a problem. Tone cleans up with the volume. I run with my guitar volume cranked up all the time to max out everything on the guitar and use the amp for volume. Balls out, glowing tubes and heavy hands basically.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Rock, Funk, Blues

Comments: I'm keeping my eyes open for another vintage P-90. Why not? I've been playing about 10 years and there is nothing worse than a wimpy pickup. If you want wimpy, don't get a vintage Gibson P-90. I chose the vintage 68 model based solely on the hype of the tone. It payed off and I couldn't be happier. This pickup is perfection. This is definitely the tone I have craved all playing life. Damn, why couldn't it have been when I was actually gigging. I wouldn't have spend all that time looking at my setup and wondering "it just doesn't sound right". I'll probably buy other less expensive P-90 just to compare to mine. I have a feeling I will only be happy with a vintage pup. Maybe not though.

Pickup features: Passive single coil.
Impedence or other specs: Didn't measure impedance. I would guess somewhere between 7 an 8 ohms. ?

Model of guitar or bass: Gibson Les Paul Special
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Gibson P-100
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: ???
You musical style(s): all over the place
Reason for pickup change: I'm mostly a clean player. The P-100's sounded good distorted, but cruddy clean.

Perceived output level: about equal to stock p-100's
Tone: Balanced.
Sonic evaluation: The P-90's are SOOOOOOO much nicer than the p-100's for clean sound. This is my first set of P-90's. I'm starting to see what all the fuss is about. I use a 77 Fender Vibrolux Reverb. With this guitar/amp combo, I'm getting a great early Who sound. Who would have thought that a cheap little $500 Les Paul special could sound so good. It almost sounds better than my ES-135 with classic 57's.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play a rock mish-mash of everything, but especially love the early kinks and who sounds. This guitar is a perfect match for that now.

Comments: If I bought another guitar with p-100's, I would instantly replace them with these p-90's. Like Tony the Tiger says, They're Great.

Pickup features: Single Coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Gibson Les Paul Fadded Dubel Cut
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Came on guitar from factory
Other pickups on guitar: also P-90s
Artists using this pickup: Santana, Tonny of Sabbath
You musical style(s): Classical,folk,NWOBHM,Thrash/Speed Metal
Reason for pickup change: Came on guitar

Perceived output level: This monster will walk over Fender single coils and most humbucking pickups! Hi and hot.
Tone: Vintage, Sounds warm and well ballanced when played clean.Almost a crying shame to distort.Bridge possation has a killer bite to it,but not over trebly and thing it still is well balanced. Neck possation is warm and will go very low in tone.
Sonic evaluation: Well my guitar is a 2003 Les Paul fadded dubel cut. My distorter is a Ibanez SM7 Smashbox, and my amp is a 1973 AIMS Dual Twelve tube amp. Play it clean and it sounds bonito, butiful. When distorted you can kick some major ass. For a single coil it dosent hum that bad when you get away from the amp, the distorter makes more noise.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Mostly now doing lead work in a metalband with this Les Paul, if you can work the hum out this pick up will give you a great metal sound. You could do almost any style with it.

Comments: If this guitar disapered, i go back and get one just like it eith the same P-90s on it, you just cant beat the damd things. My other guitar is a 1963 Gibson Les Paul Melody Maker with its factory single coil, i just never have gotten into the arch top humbucking stuff. This is probly the best single coil pick up ever. I wish it didnt hum when i stuck it up to amp speakers for feedback, somtimes when hooked right into a PA it will get feed back. I am very very hapy withh the sound it gives, and i have to say you just cant beat a Gibson single coil on a slab bodyed Les Paul.

Pickup features: Single coil, BIG single coil
Impedence or other specs: High 7's

Model of guitar or bass: Custom: Jazzmaster body of black limba, mahogany neck, rosewood fb
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: na
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: Most recently, (2003) Neil Young on "Greendale"
You musical style(s): Greasy jazz, blues, rockabilly, classic rock
Reason for pickup change: This was going to be a P-90 guitar from the the beginning

Perceived output level: A lot more than the single coils in my MIM 50's Strat and MIM '69 Tele Reissue
Tone: Defintely more bassy and mid-rangey. In my setup, it reminds me of a tenor sax.
Sonic evaluation: I play this guitar most often through a Blues Jr which loves any single guitar I plug into it. I really like to blend both the neck and bridge and have a volume pot for each (with a single tone pot). The tone is full of harmonics and overtones. In my setup, the sustain is remarkable. MMMmm!!!
The neck alone is very jazzy when the amp is in clean settings. Finger-picking with the amp in clean setting and rolling back the treble about half-way it does a very acceptable impersonation of a hollow body jazzer.
Increasing the gain and and the P-90's become very sensitive to pick attack. I like to blend the neck and the bridge and digging in with the pick drives a little grit into the sound. More gain means the grit turns into a growl. The cool part is that more growl does not mean more mud! To my ear, the upper frequency harmonics and and overtones become even more complex the harder I push the P-90's. Great big crunchy chords. Single notes get nasty. Again, it reminds of a tenor sax player who's flooring it.
I use the bridge alone mainly when I play a little slide. My favorite combination is to roll back the tone, finger-pick with a brass slide. I set the Blues Jr. fairly clean then engage the Fat button.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: For the stuff I like to play, the P-90's are everthing I hoped they would be.

Comments: I'm a fan! I prefer single coil tone to humbucker so I bring a strong bias to this review. Gibson got it right when they designed the P-90 and I'm glad to hear them these days in what seems to be a bit of a resurgeance in therr popularity.
The single coil moise is something that I've gotten used to it and it's really part of my sound these days. While the P-90's do hum, I took great care to sheild the pick-up and control cavities. The reuslt is much ess hum than my Strat or Tele.
I love my Strat and Tele for how they sound but the P-90's come closest to the tone that's been in my head for a long time.

Pickup features: Passive single coil pickups, not dog-eared
Impedence or other specs: 8.5KOhms

Model of guitar or bass: Gibson ES-137P
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: none
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Blues. rock, jazz
Reason for pickup change: n/a

Perceived output level: Sharp and clear without being shrill; more clean-edged than the smoother sounding Gibson '57 Classic humbucker, but about the same volume level
Tone: P-90's are a clear sounding pickup, though not bell-like like '57 Classic humbucks. P-90's are very blanced and sound good on all 3 pickup selector settings.
Sonic evaluation: I am using a Sunn T50C tube combo with a Zoom GFX-4 mutli-FX pedal. I have a Gibson ES-135LE (with '57 Classic humbucks) that I was thrilled with for blues/rock. I had always wanted to make the LE a jaz box and so searched for a replacement rock/blues guitar - the ES-137P with P-90's.
The P-90's on the ES-137 beat the ES-135LE for blues/rock. They exude a better balanced blend of upper mids and highs than do the '57 Classics and thereby seem to cut better and sound better with a pedal.
Naked, P-90's are not quite as clear sounding to me as '57 Classics. With lots of effects, they almost seem clearer though than 57's.
P-90's are very meaty - certainly every bit as an equivalent humbucker like the '57. They aren't razor-edged like Strat pickups, but they do deliver more bite in the upper frequency range than do '57 Classic humbucks. Even so, P-90's sound good to me for jazz, too with the tone control rolled back a bit - as good as '57 Classics.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:

Comments: This is the first time I have had Gibson P-90s' but not the first time for single coils. Up until these P-90's, I had abanoned singlecoils as too edgey and shrill. Now, I winder why I waited so long to try P-90's.

Pickup features: Single Coil (Passive)
Impedence or other specs: Soap bar, not dog ear cover, true to vintage impedance and output

Model of guitar or bass: Stratocaster (now the "Soapcaster")
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: stock strat bridge
Other pickups on guitar: strat single coil at neck, strat single coil in middle
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): retro, blues, surf, Jazz, New Wave
Reason for pickup change: The stock strat pickup sounded to thin and tin-like to be left in. I rarely used it by itself, and I didn't care much for it in combination with the middle pickup. The Gibson P-90 is much fuller sounding, and also can give a smooth sound when my Line 6 POD is set to Black Face or clean. It gives a nice bluesish growl and crunch when mixed with some light overdrive or bluesy amps.

Perceived output level: more than the old stock strat, but not so much as hotrodded pickups and modern humbuckers
Tone: stronger mid and stronger bass than the old strat, more balanced than the stock
Sonic evaluation: Line 6 Pod with the "Soapcaster" lined into a Fender

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play retro type music from the 50s-80s much of it original, requiring a pickup that can do many sounds

Comments: I like the Pickup much better than the original stock strat bridge pickup. The sound is fuller and more vintage(ish), but isn't as fat or powerful as a humbucker. I also wanted a truly unique sounding instrument, which the pickup delivered. If lost or destroyed, I'd be very unhappy as the guitar is a custom item now that the P-90 is in. The only minor complaint is that it isn't quite as clean sounding as I'd like it to be. However, with help from the Pod I can avoid this problem fairly well. I would however, like to add a Jazzmaster pickup and the floating trem bridge onto the guitar. That would be icing on the cake. However, I really do love the "Soapcaster" as it doesn't sound like anything I've played before.

Pickup features: single coil
Impedence or other specs: got me

Model of guitar or bass: Les Paul Jr. (homemade)
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: n/a
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: everybody, it's legendary
You musical style(s): rock, y'allternative
Reason for pickup change: no change--just put it in at birth

Perceived output level: bluesy, crunchy, smooth. Depends on volume and amp setting
Tone: ballsy crunch, chiming clean, mellow blues
Sonic evaluation: Mahogany body Les Paul Jr. clone through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Occasionally through a tube screamer.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play rock and country, blues, folk, y'allternative

Comments: This is exactly as I wanted it. I couldn't be happier with the way this guitar turned out. The pickup is amazing. There is a reason this thing has been around since your grandpa was teething. Any style imaginable is easy for this pickup to handle. Clean it is a smooth and clear messenger of blues and ballad. Distorted it is a crunchy block of Keith Richards-inspired rock madness. A no-nonsense pickup that you can't go wrong with unless you are only into heavy metal. And if you are I'm sure you're not reading a P-90 review.

Pickup features: passive
Impedence or other specs: 9k ohms

Model of guitar or bass: 1955 Harmony deep body archtop ( Like an es 350)
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Old De-Armonds which were missing from guitar
Other pickups on guitar: -
Artists using this pickup: T-Bone Walker(ages ago) BB King (1050's) Freddie King
You musical style(s): Blues, rockabilly, jazz
Reason for pickup change: The guitar I had bought was pick-upless

Perceived output level: VERY good for jazz and blues. Very hot pickup. Powerful, consistent.
Tone: Not a lot of treble here. Middy and Bassey
Sonic evaluation: 1955 Harmony archtop with '59 Bassman re-issue, reverb tank, Danecho delay pedal.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: For Blues, Jazz, Rockabilly, these pickups work amazingly well.

Comments: These pickups are like the Holy grail. They're nothing short of Fantastic. I'd hate to have to part with them.