Seymour Duncan Phat Cats

Single coil/ humbucker size. Centered adjustable pole pieces. Old Gibson style braided ground wire and cloth covered hot lead. Bridge 9.0 ohms; neck 8.0 ohms. Passive.

Installed in a Reverend Daredevil to open up the sound. Stock Reverends were too dark for me. Replaced both bridge and neck.

Output seems slightly higher than Reverend stock. Use a Peavey blues tube class A. Very nice open somewhat glassy tone which is what I like. Nice deep bass but clear and ringy not muddy. Perfect for Classic Rock/ Pop/ Country or Blues. Good string definition. Very similar to Seymour's 59ers which I have in my Gibson Firebird. Maybe a tad stronger and more defined sounding.

I really like Seymour Duncan Pickups. Their sound is always dependable and predictable. Been playing for 30 years. Their basslines web site is great for diagrams too. Like the rest of us, just looking for my tone.

Single coil passive P-90

Installed into Gibson Les Paul Standard
Replacing original Gibson Pickups.
Original Gibson pickups sounded like absolute sh!t

Hot output, real nice clear sound. I installed them, and swapped the neck and bridge pickups because the neck pickup had a bit moor ooomph. Then I removed the metal covers and that completely opened up the sound. Fairly easy to remove the covers, but if you dont know what your doing then the pickup will fall to bits (they're not designed to be taken apart).

With the chrome covers on, they absolutely blew the original Gibson pickups away. Then after the covers were off they sounded better. I would rate the sound with the covers on as 10/10, and after the covers were removed then 11/10

I have since ordered another set for my Ibanez S series. I thought the pickups in it were good, but now they sound like crap. BUY THE PHAT-CAT PICKUPS! You will never look back.

Big Phat Single Coils!

Put these in a new Chinese Epiphone Les Paul, both pickups. Replacing worthless stock Epi pickups. But with a good set-up and these great pickups she's a mean machine . The guitar is heavy and feels like it's made of good solid wood; I feel this contributes to the richness of the tone.

Output is about that of a vintage humbucker. I've run this axe through vintage Traynors, a Peavey Ultra 60, a Vox Valvetronix, etc. and the tone is always rich and distinct. Lots of sweet, sweet mids, great top end "bite" and rich chunky lows. The great thing about P-90's is you can go from country twang to heavy metal and the tone always keeps up. LOVE the sound on these.

Definitely a good buy. These puppies turned a beginner's guitar to a serious tone-machine. And they look amazing. P-90's rule, especially in a nice heavy Les Paul. Might be a bit thin sounding in an SG or hollowbody, or I could be wrong. But they RULE in the Paul. After all, P-90s were the first pickups used on vintage LP's!

You know the specs - or should, after reading these reviews. :???)

Years ago I bought a tele with a Kramer neck and EVH Peavey humbuckers. I swapped out the pointy neck with a Warmoth neck made of solid Goncalo Alves hardwood - very pretty visually and toneful. So it looked like a Tele but roared like a brontosaurus. The guy in town who parted out these pickups wanted them back and tracked me down. Don't get me wrong, the EVHs are awesome, but not terrifically versatile. So being as the former player now owns a music store, he promised me he'd replace them with anything I liked for a swap. Even boutique pups. I had read some good reviews of the Phat Cats and put in my order. Needless to say, they impressed me.

These are slightly hot, but not overly so, and they really don't sound like P90s. I've had a P90 Les Paul Pro Deluxe and a Reverend Slingshot. I liked them somewhat but they both took a lot of effort to give the crisp, crunchy, fat tone I was looking for, something heavier than a Strat or Tele tone but not anything near the LP thud. Unfortunately, both these P90s were muddy at anything above 3 on the amp. But not so with the Phat Cats. Just got them the other day and spent two hours playing through a Swart Atomic Space Tone on the high output setting. These things are like really great Strat pickups but on steroids. Not noisy at all for single coils. Articulate at low volume, singing at higher volumes. Can wring Strat and Tele tones outta these with ease - great for individual and chordal finger tremelo. With the volume on 7, tone on 5 and Space (reverb) on 4 and the trem settings on 4, it becomes a guitarist's painters palette of tone. You can so many cool sounds on the bass pickup and the harmonic sparkles continue on down through the treble. Pinch harmonic city. I spent a lot of time adjusting the height - it sounded best with the bass lower and treble higher - otherwise, to my ears at least, the treble sound very similar when both pickups are set the same height.

Would get them again. They are very very versatile - and I like that the neck pickup NEVER GETS MUDDY at any volume. They seem reasonably priced for such good tone. They are different from any other pickup I've played - I like the fact I have something special in my Tele to play, considering it's a total FrankenTele. Have a bunch of Strats, a custom Girl Brand Tele by Gary Larson, a Tokai Love Rock (actually a 1980 Reborn Old - a killer Les Paul by any name), an old Guild jazzer and a few good acoustics. I don't care what guitars look like, the amount of flame, curl, or bling - they can be scratched and funky looking - all I care about is that they sound great through a good tube amp.

A Single Coil Pickup. Specifically, it is a P90. Passive.

I installed these in a 1989 Les Paul standard, neck and bridge. I am replacing the original humbuckers. Reason for changing the pickup: I mostly use single coil pickups and humbuckers lack bite and clarity.

The output level is medium at best. Like a single coil.
I won't bore you with the list of amps and effects I use, it's boring to read.
Very well balanced.
I play mostly Blues, Soul, R&B, Funk, some Blues-Rock

I give these a 9 because the only thing I would change is maybe the bridge pickup could be a little hotter. The neck pickup over powers the bridge pickup a little.

With that said....

These are phenominal. I took them outta the box only 8 hours ago and put them in my Les Paul. They are surprisingly quiet for passive non-humbucking pickups. I like to use alot of compression which can cause even more 60-Cycle hum than drive sometimes, or certainly make it worse once you add gain. My first crappy guitar had some horrible P90's in them, and they used to squeal like hell all the time. That was almost 30 years ago, and quite honestly, I have had an aversion of P90's since then (even my therapist couldn't seem to rid me of this un-relenting P90 anxiety : - ) When you use them together, they are 100% hum-cancelling... NICE!

What a relief! these babies are reasonable quiet (sure, when you add alot of gain, there is hum, but at low to moderate gain settings, it aint too bad!)

These pickups are outstanding. The neck pickup has a massive sound. Great bit and clarity. The bridge pickup also has a nice bit. I am VERY happy with these pickups. Not only would I replace them if they were stolen, but I'm gonna grab another set for my Tele that is routed for humbuckers. I'm that happy with these. I will write another review after I've had them for a while and used them on stage, but at first glance, these are first class pickups. And, at literally half the price of Fralins, they are an incredible value. I have't used P90's for 20 years, so I can attest to how they compare to classic P90 pickups, but as someone who uses totally hum-cancelling pickups all the time (i.e. Dimarzio Virtual Vintage and Duncan mini humbuckers, etc...) I am VERY pleased with the tone and minimal 60-cycle hum of these pickups. If you play Blues, you will really be impressed with these. Classic Rock or Rock and Roll, a perfect match. OUTSTANDING!

P-90 style

I have a Ibanez Les Paul Copy that I bought new in 1977. I was ready for a change. I since added a strat middle pickup and also a Dimarzio humbucker with 3 way switching for the bridge pick up. The original pickups were were super 70's Ibanez humbuckers. They were good sounding. The body and neck is mahogony. It's the best made copy I ever played and still looks and plays well.

I just tested this pup out on the neck position running it thru my Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue. I have an american ash strat and a hollow body Guild Starfire III to compare to. The output of the phat cat at level 2 on my amp, for the strat I had to go to 2 3/4. The Guild's HB was about the same as the phat cat. So it was a lot hotter than I expected. The phat cat made the Fender strat sound thin. When I turned on my center strat pickup, the guitar sounded like a strat on steroids. From playing over 30 years, I never heard a such a dynamic sound from the Phat Cat. My whole neck is a sweet spot! What others have said about this pickup's clearity and definition, is true.
I now have a monster guitar that is well balanced. I own a Real Tube 901 and a boss ME 50, The Phat Cat can bark and crunch well even with a lot of distortion. I was at first reluctent to go with a single coil, but this one is very quiet. Much fuller than I expected.
To be fair the Guild's HB is a little deeper sounding but the tightness of the Phat Cat is amazing. I can hear every note on every string very clear and solid also the slitest touch of the string.
I play many styles from rock to blues to some jazz, no metal. I was able to get a powerful chugging sound on some low bar chords that I never could get before.

I would pay 5 times more if i had to to get another one.
After 30 years of playing, I've gone thru some equipment, I now own a couple of Deluxes the 3 electric's mentioned above, a Clide Mc Coy waw, boss loop station, Me-50, Real Tube 901.

Read on what the other have said then do what I did.

P-90 Style Single coils

I took an Epiphone Special II plywood Korean made entry level boat paddle & made it sound like a real guitar. I took out both Epi humbuckers & replaced them with the Phat Cats. I soldered them in place just the way the humbuckers came out. I didn't even look at the size of the pots, just stuck them in.

Output may not be as loud as some but that is what the volume knob is for on the amp. I plugged it into my Rivera Clubster with no other effects.
On the clean channel it is warm & mellow with a nice bite when you attack the strings. Great Jazzy sound, roll off some bass, pull the bright switch & do a little chickin' pickin'. Through the Gain channel its Leslie West, Billy Gibbons, Clapton. These pick-ups SCREAM. I have transformed the little Epi into a monster. I walk by my G&L Comanche & Legacy to play this guitar. If you are reading these reviews to decide if you should buy these pick-ups or not, the answer is you should.

I compared these to the Gibson P94's. They sounded almost as good as the Phat Cats, & the Cats are cheaper. Before I did guitar sugery on the Epi I was looking at purchasing a Les Paul of some description with Soapbars. I have the sound I was looking for at a $1500 price savings. I would like to have seen a little better installation information inside the box but even with half a mind I was able to get them working.

single coil/neck

1969 tele neck position[was routed for humbucker when I got it years ago]u know the KR thing/I don't think it works well as HM does not blend well with bridge pu....so I had the tele stock, but, tele neck pu's are pretty marginal...used it mainly for hum cancelling in middle position[rwrp].

FAT output but nuanced; Fender 60's amps; no effects; all styles; all positions. IT JUST WORKS.

Lots[yup lots] of gear but I just seem to go for this tele. playing over 40 years. P90's are great but I can no longer bear the noise. Humbuckers kind of overwelm me in most situations, strats are too thin but I have always lover the design. Life without a good tele is unthinkable....and this pu respects the tele. Don't cut up an old tele but get a warmoth body or something decent and try this set up...great hum cancelling middle sound and single pu sounds that are balanced. Feels like they were made 4 each other...no crowding out on the sonic spectrum. a keeper setup. PS have an sg with 2 Phat Cats and the tele set up is much better.

Single coil, passive, set of two, one of which is reverse wound/reverse polarity to cancel hum when both pickups are on together.

Gibson Les Paul Studio, neck and bridge. Replaced stock gibsons (which supposedly are 490R and 498T but Gibson doesn't mark their pickups so...?) I was looking for pickups that were less compressed sounding and less mushy than the stock Gibsons.

Output is moderate (they seem louder, and definitely more dynamic than the stock p/u's). I play through a Laney VC30 212 with Celestion speakers (EL84 power tubes). The thing I love the most about these is their dynamics - when I play soft on the distortion channel of the amp they're amost clean, but play hard and you get a punchy mid rangey distortion with a nice bite on the high end. Play a complex chord voicing and you hear every note in relation to the others. Single notes stick out as much as you want them to. If you are at the point in your playing where you want a lot of subtle control over note dynamics, these could be for you. Styles: Roots rock, funk, world beat, alternative, alt-country, Jam Rock. The only thing I miss about the old pickups is the glass slide sound I would get from the 498t. The only complaint i have is that the neck p/u seems a little too bass heavy.

I would replace. I might put these in my other guitars too.
Been playing 25+ years.
I will always search for THAT sound!

OK so I was not a big fan of p-90s. Then I heard p90s with a bass contour a a standard treble control with 250k pots. I wanted something strat like yet with more tone. I found it. The set up on my guitar is a set of phat cats with a 500k volume and a 250k bass conture and a 250k tone/ treble cut. Mixes with a piezo bridge. I finally found that blend I like.

The pickups are in a schecter C1-ea. It came standard with duncan designed hb102s. pure mud. I wanted a brighter sound and so phat cats from ebay. 100.00 for the pair. I'm thinking about another guitar just like it because I like the sound so well. Tone is definitely a 10

The output is better than I expected and really clear for a metal covered pickup. I am running these through a Kustom coupe 36 or a POD xt live and in ear monitors it depends on the gig. As far as tone they are juicy. I expected either a more sterile sound like normal p90s but I think the 250k tone controles help. they are perfect for what I play. Rock worship, classic rock, and I can even get a respectable not as chunky but doable drop D. I wouldn't use these for metal but as for everything else Yeah they are great.

If it were lost or stolen this I would replce it in a heartbeat. I have been playing for 33 years and the laundry list of gear rages from stupid to stupidly pretentious. I have a couple of favorite pieces like my Breedlove acoustic and my hard disk recorder with all of the effects stuff. These pickups like I said range very widely tonally. They are awesome. I compared them to the Reverends, and the schecter p90s and the gibson p90s. I just found my tone. Worth every penny in my book. The bass and treble controls help a great deal.