Agree.
P100s are not quite P90s in tone, but in my opinion they can be close enough that I don't care about the difference. I think their P90 shape does a lot to keep the tonal character in the same vein. But since they're basically a stacked version of a humbucker, they can cancel a lot of the buzz. Some can also be tapped so you have the option at the flip of a switch to get more in the P90 character. I love that capability on my AD-3200MCC. Cover anything P90 tone does well, then engage the 2nd coil for the quiet part. They stay articulate and sound similar, but compromise a bit of that wildness.
Enjoyed your post, Steve.BatUtilityBelt wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2024 12:27 pm Disclaimer: I think everyone will have a personalized take on this, and I don't think there's any right or wrong, just individual experience. These are just mine.
P90s and P100s are my favorite pickups. To me, they tend to sound a little fatter than others, and a bit untamed. That makes them fun for rocking a performance in various stages of breakup. Jazzmaster pickups can enter this territory too, but it's not quite the same and not with the versatility of the P90. I have a few humbucker Les Pauls that sound to me like more refined versions of my P90 Les Pauls, and honestly neither is good or bad, they're just different. There's a wooly character to P90s that I sometimes love to lean into.
The Les Paul wiring gives me something a lot of guitars don't - specifically the ability to adjust the blend between the two pickups. I don't care as much about the 2 tone pots, but having 2 volume pots lets me find a sweet spot for whatever I'm playing, and for me that's a big feature.
The Les Paul body shape is pretty comfortable, and the carve top influences the way I play in that the strings are a bit more "suspended". I tend to let myself play a little sloppier, more aggressively with that carve top moving the rest of the body out of the way a little, Maybe that's why I prefer my Les Pauls to not have a pickguard, as it just gets in the way.
I have no religion on whether combining a mahogany body with a maple cap imparts tonal magic. I'll leave that for others. I like the sound of my Les Paul shaped guitars more than some other dual P90 guitars, but there are too many variables to pin that on just the body.
Regarding Strat... hmm. P90s are single coils too, but a whole world different from Strat or Tele or lipstick pickups. I think every type of pickup is trying to have an advantage over some other type, but those advantages also impart limitations. They all have character. I think of guitar tone as chasing vocal abilities, and just like there's no perfect singer for every song, there's no perfect pickup for all. It's just a matter of which you like for any given application. But to your question directly, no I don't hear P90s as being between humbuckers and thinner single coils. I do think humbuckers were designed to try to maintain tonal characteristics of P90s but remove the hum. And I think other single coils were designed to perhaps emphasize higher frequencies to stand out in a mix.
After posting this I'm getting more interested in those PUs. Watched a comparison video, and your description about them is right what I perceived in the video, and I have to say that I kinda started liking their sound. Call me crazy, but I think my ears could separate strings notes better than with the humbucker. I only had my Agile AL3000, but even though I liked it, I always wanted some more clarity and definiton. not sure if the nature of the humbuckers had to do with it, not calling it a bad thing, but just that I was expecting something they could not give.glasshand wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 8:18 am I love P90s and Les Pauls with P90s! To me, they're like a very raw, aggressive humbucker with a lot of clarity. I wouldn't exactly call them "in between" a Strat-style single coil and a humbucker - they are their own thing - but I understand the comparison. They have more drive and grit and "bark" than any other single coil, and they have more clarity and chime than almost any humbucker. Their one weakness is that they pick up a lot of electrical noise.
@BatUtilityBelt how would you compare P100s to P90s? I don't hear much about P100s, but I've been curious because of the noise issue with P90s.
Yes; I was hoping you would appear here; I know that's one of your favorites.tonebender wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 10:37 am No secret that my all time favorite guitar is my Les Paul Goldtop with P90s. You mentioned P90 not being the classis Les Paul sound but remember the first Les Paul guitars were equipped with P90s so they are the "classic" Les Paul sound. For some reason P90's just seem to be more pleasing to my ear. I like a Les Paul with humbuckers too.
-. Well, like I said in the previous comment, I think I'm liking P90s better, I like the sound. Now it would make sense to have one LP with HB and another with P90s; there IS a difference, not good or bad, just a difference. Hopefully my next LP style guitar will be a P90 version, whenever it'll be ... 
So, your AD3200 has P100?BatUtilityBelt wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 11:09 amAgree.P100s are not quite P90s in tone, but in my opinion they can be close enough that I don't care about the difference. I think their P90 shape does a lot to keep the tonal character in the same vein. But since they're basically a stacked version of a humbucker, they can cancel a lot of the buzz. Some can also be tapped so you have the option at the flip of a switch to get more in the P90 character. I love that capability on my AD-3200MCC. Cover anything P90 tone does well, then engage the 2nd coil for the quiet part. They stay articulate and sound similar, but compromise a bit of that wildness.Top Smaller.jpg
It does! Rondo called them P90s instead of P100s, but they mentioned the stacked coils in the details. The tone knobs are both push-pull so you can independently tap each pickup. I love those pickups in every possible configuration.
