Supermassive 90 info and a couple of questions

[Branimir]

Greets!

I've been looking for a replacement P90 in the bridge position of my Edwards Les Paul.

Stock bridge pickup is a Seymour Duncan SP90-1 - which is a really good pickup and I've been playing it for the last 4 years, and got used to it, but sometimes I notice I lack some bottom end push (the band is tuned to B standard), and probably should switch to a humbucker loaded Les Paul, although I really like the cleans and the bite of the P90s, not to mention the dynamics.

So I was checking out some other P90s on the market and noticed the Supermassive 90 - maybe it could fit my purpose well.

Anyways, the questions:
1. How high is the output of the Supermassive 90? I like the lower output of the Seymour's and could live with a bit hotter pickup (to be a notch louder than the neck pickup), but would not like to have it over the top
2. Does it retain the dynamic character of a classic P90 pickup?
3. How does it handle lower tunings? I noticed the seymour still works excellent in D tuning, but lower - it gets a bit flappy and not focused, which sometimes get on my nerves

Thanks for all the comments and help!

Greets from Croatia,

Branimir

ps: not to sound like a commercial - this is my music: http://umor.bandcamp.com - so you can get a hang of what I play and what to need from pickup

[Telerocker]

Hi and welcome here!

- The dc-resistance of the Supermassive on the chart is about 10.6 k, which could be a little less or more since BKP's are scatterwound, so therefore the output is approximately.
- It's reckoned to have the behaviour/dynamics of a classic p90, though it has a lot of mids and sounds more compressed then say the Nantucked. Personally I love the clips of the Supermassive.
- It should handle lower tunings well cause it stays focussed even with massive amounts of preampgain (says the description on the website), although I'm far from an expert when it comes to downtuning and certainly not to B. Maybe some other forummembers (Nolly?) can chime in to comment on this question.

[Branimir]

Seems this topic has gone to page xyz since the reply.

Nevermind, my paycheck lands on monday so I'll give a shot at a bridge Supermassive 90 and I'll post reviews and comments here when it arrives.


B.

[Kiichi]

Would be nice for Nolly or so to chime in here.

I donŽt know much about the p-90s, but I recon the Supermassive will suit your needs. Something tells me though that besides the output you might like the pig90 tbh. Very clear, very fat, but with real p90 character and with great cleans.
Again, an experts view would be nice.


Btw, I enjoyed the song I listened to, though I have to admit that I am not perticulary fond of the singers voice, but that is a taste thing. Musically I like it.

[Nolly]

I believe you'll enjoy the Supermassive - the wind isn't out of control but the oversized magnets certainly give it plenty of push. It's certainly going to be a more robust and saturated sound than your current pickup, and yes, that will come at the expense of some dynamic range, but I don't think you will find it overly compressed. You should find the low end to be focussed and the clarity to be very good even when detuned.

[Kiichi]

Damn Nolly, you are like Batman sometimes. We forum minions put the Nolly signal up and there comes the hero to save the day. Love you man!

[Branimir]

I believe you'll enjoy the Supermassive - the wind isn't out of control but the oversized magnets certainly give it plenty of push. It's certainly going to be a more robust and saturated sound than your current pickup, and yes, that will come at the expense of some dynamic range, but I don't think you will find it overly compressed. You should find the low end to be focussed and the clarity to be very good even when detuned.

Thanks for the replies guys!

Current pickup combo - Seymour Duncan SP90-1 in bridge and neck is nice, but while trying to get a good balance from the bridge pickup, when I switch to neck - the neck is a bit muddier. I suppose after I install supermassive 90 in the bridge, I will have to fiddle around with tone controls on the amp a bit - I reckon treble can be higher than it is now, so the neck pickup will be brighter in the end. If the Supermassive 90 is a bit louder than then neck position seymour it's cool, as long is not over the top humbucker style madness  8)

I'll write back after I install it.

Cheers!

B.

[Telerocker]

Fiddle with the height. A bit lower or higher can give radical different results with scatterwound pickups.

[Branimir]

Supermassive 90 ordered yesterday -> will post impressions and soundclips when it arrives!

Cheers!

[Telerocker]

Congrats! Hope they do what you're after.

[Branimir]

Update.

I received the pickup last week, though I have been out of town at that time, so I installed it yesterday and tried it a couple of minutes ago.

Overall the pickup is middy as hell, though the bass is very tight and strong too. Highs are more icepicky than I imagined, but in the end it complements the guitar well.

I will have to give it a couple of weeks to try it out righteous - with the band situation etc etc.

On the first "hearing" - I find mids too strong, maybe a bit too hard to dial out - since they carry alot of highmid content too - so while having "heaviness" to the sound, it never gets muddy. A plus on that one though! I'm already loving the "icepicky" highs, since now finally my high strings sound tight and pronounced, and switching from the previously installed pickup - I found no problems with dynamics, they are still there. As with the previous bridge pickup - I prefer the pickup as close to strings possible (at least on the bass side). Output of the Supermassive 90 is not hot, maybe a bit hotter than the sock Seymour, and as it is now - is in perfect balance with the neck Seymour - volume wise.

Conclusion:
The guitar sounds grittier now, a bit fatter, much clearer and pronounced, but still sounds like the instrument I know and play for years.

Packaging is great! STICKER!!! Nice touch - I love stickers, and also thanks for the glass, errr... cup coaster?  :lol:
I'll probably stick with it since it's certainly not a downgrade from the Seymour, and I like to support small independent guitar/effect/etc businesses!

Punk!  :band5:

Thanks,

B.
 

[Kiichi]

Good to hear you like the first impression. Sounds like something for me too....one day maybe.

It will be very interresting to hear how they do in a band setting, cause I got a feeling that if you like em now, youŽll love em then. That middy sound will usually explode in my experience. When you think it is to middy it will be great with the band, as those are the frequencys that define your sound there.

Keep us updated, especially when the first band thing happens!

[Telerocker]

Congrats! Nice review. I imagine you will tailor everything the coming weeks: the pickupheight and the amps eq. I fiddled quite a while with my Crawler/IT's HSS-set.

[Branimir]

Thanks for the replies and kind words!

Anyways, I'm not sure if I fitted the pickup correctly. Does the rotation of the pickup matter? I have connected the wires properly, and the bridge pickup is NOT out of phase with the neck pickup - that means I have rotated the pickup right? Logic tells me if I rotated the pickup in the other direction - with that wiring, the bridge pickup would be out of phase with the neck?