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Home > Guitar > Electric Guitar Pickup Reviews > Seymour Duncan > Phat Cats

Seymour Duncan Phat Cats

Summary
Price New Seymour Duncan Phat Cats @ Musician's Friend
Manufacturer URL http://www.seymourduncan.com/
Sound 9.2 (19 responses)
Overall Rating 9.4 (31 responses)
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Product: Seymour Duncan Phat Cats
Price Paid: GBP 145.00
Submitted 11/27/2004 at 06:30pm by Andy H

Features :
Pickup features: passive P90 in a humbucker cover
Impedence or other specs: see web site

Instrument :
Model of guitar or bass: rebuilt/modified kay jazzer (solid mahagany center block and neck)
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: generic P90's
Other pickups on guitar: all P90's
Artists using this pickup: The bloke in the strokes, don't know his name.
You musical style(s): Rock blues, and anything else i feel like
Reason for pickup change: the old pick ups were a bit flat, no character.


Sound : No Opinion
Perceived output level: slightly hotter than the old ones, great variation in tone using the vol/tone pots.
Tone: really well defined bass, great mids, biting, cutting but warm and sweet and a lovely sparkling top end with no harshness, amazing.
Sonic evaluation: the dogs bollocks, amazingly versatile, i really can't understand why people use humbuckers, P90's are truly the most versatile pick ups around, ok maybe that's abit of a generalisation, i just don't like humbuckers.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Rock, blues, punk (clash, ramones, greenday)P90's really will do it all.

Overall Rating : 10
Comments: i would definatley buy them again tomorrow, but only for humbucker replacement, if i wanted soap bars or dog ear P90's i'd go to tim at Bareknuckle pick ups



Product: Seymour Duncan Phat Cats
Price Paid: US $79
Submitted 11/08/2004 at 08:59pm by Dick Potter
Email: rpotter at uic<dot>edu

Features :
Pickup features: P90 single coil clone in a humbucker case
Impedence or other specs:

Instrument :
Model of guitar or bass: Gibson Hawk
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Gibson 490
Other pickups on guitar: TV Jones Tron thing
Artists using this pickup: Picasso, Dali, Renoir
You musical style(s): Blues, rock, roots
Reason for pickup change: Needed more clarity and bass string articulation than a humbucker can give.


Sound : No Opinion
Perceived output level: Less than the stock 490 humbucker, very similar to an *average* p90
Tone: trebly, though balanced and clear
Sonic evaluation: I use it with my '68 Super, a Mk I reissue Boogie, and a 30 watt Laney. I am not mister distortion, rarely getting past Zep or Cream levels, and I do a fair amount of roots rock. Here's my deal: tone wise, I do just about all I want with a Tele and a cranked amp. But my Gibson Hawks are easier to play. So how do I get them to sound twangy? Yank the humbucker and put in one of these. End of story. Less twang and more snarl than a tele, sure, but still cool. Lots of killer rock from Who, Santana, the Dead, Mountain, etc. featured p90s, so if you like that, try one of these.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This works great for my weirdness, and I look forward to putting one in the neck position so as to get that beautiful both pickup sound

Overall Rating : 9
Comments: I am typically disappointed by aftermarket pickups, but this one is a keeper. Its only drawback is a bit of hum. It compares favorably with my Bill Lawrence p490, which is a similar configuration, but with more of a strat voicing (the Lawrence also puts out some beautiful frequencies that most pick ups miss, the way an AC 30 puts out some tones that a Marshall will miss, if you know what I mean).
I had purchased a Rio Grande brand version of this pickup and it was a piece of sorry noisy junk in comparison.
Except for the slight noise, I think this is a great rock and roll pickup, nailing the virtues of the best p90s. Though I don't play that style, I would guess that it is not the best choice for extremely high gain metal (by virtue of its tone, output, and hum). But hey, it might be.



Product: Seymour Duncan Phat Cats
Price Paid: US $80
Submitted 07/06/2004 at 07:41pm by santos l. helper

Features :
Pickup features: passive hot p-90 single coil with humbucker-sized plating
Impedence or other specs: seymourduncan.com

Instrument :
Model of guitar or bass: epiphone fat-210 strat (humbucker in bridge)
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: gibson 57 classic plus
Other pickups on guitar: 2 epiphone single coils
Artists using this pickup: yomama
You musical style(s): pop/punk/rock/metal/blues/funk
Reason for pickup change: want something loud like the 57 plus but with better definition. 57 plus is deafening.


Sound : No Opinion
Perceived output level: extremely hot. loudest pickup next to classic 57 plus
Tone: emphasis on high and high mids with warm low end. nice mid cut.
Sonic evaluation: epiphone strat -> orange twin channel head -> custom mesa 2x12 cab with eminence swamp thang/cannabis rex combination.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: believe it or not this pickup is versatile and can nail any style, even metal!

Overall Rating : 8
Comments: i was kind of taken aback by this pickup. not usually a p-90 kind of guy. i saw a monster rock show with one of these in les paul goldtop once. this has sizzle and bite with a clear high end, really brings out the strat quality in my guitar unlike others. similar to 57 but retains the clarity, you can roll down the volume. roll it down more and the tone changes to jazz as another reviewer said. does not get muddy, great for soloing AND brutal rhythms. this competes with a hot rails (also loud) and the gibson 498t hot alnico. an interesting option if you tried other pickups and are looking for something new.



Product: Seymour Duncan Phat Cats
Price Paid: US $160.00
Submitted 04/11/2004 at 01:22pm by Robert Gaines

Features :
Pickup features: Humbucker sized single coil P90ish design
Impedence or other specs: don't know, don't care

Instrument :
Model of guitar or bass: HAMER STUDIO CUSTOM
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: SEYMOUR DUNCAN 59 HUMBUCKERS
Other pickups on guitar: N/A
Artists using this pickup: DON'T KNOW
You musical style(s): Blues, Jazz, Rock, rockabilly
Reason for pickup change: I personally do not like humbuckers but love playing gibson and hamer guitars.


Sound : No Opinion
Perceived output level: seem to be quite hot to my ears
Tone: great bottom end, clear mids and treble
Sonic evaluation: Using a Hamer Studio Custom through a Fender deluxe reverb. Great tone!!!!!!! This is the tone I have always wanted in my humbucker based guitars. This pickup screams when required. Cuts through the mix like a hot knife, but roll of the volume and listen to a lovely jazz tone. This pickup was first fitted on Hamer Newport Semi guitars but trust me, they sound the business on solids as well. This pickup could change the Les Paul as we know it or in my preferred case the Hamer forever.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: blues, jazz, rockabilly, country, rock

Overall Rating : 10
Comments: If these pickups were stolen, I would hunt down the culprit to the end of the earth. They are SENSATIONAL. Could be the biggest thing for guitar tone for quite a few years. Forget that muddy, weary, tone of your humbuckers, put some life and soul into your guitar, hear it breathe, hear all the frequencies it can deliver. YOU MUST GET A SET OF THESE WITH HASTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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