P90's for my Les Paul..? ----> How noisy..?

[Fowl2338]

Morning gentlemen.

I just started a new side project and I'm in need of some advice for my Les Paul.

I've been looking at the Stockholm P90's.

The range of tone I'm after is early 90's altenative ------> good ole Soundgarden, Pearl Jam,
AIC, Nirvana, Temple of the Dog, etc.

I play through a modded JCM 800 clone with 6L6's, usually straight into an amp, but sometimes
with an OD with the level up, gain down.


P90's have a nasty mid grind that's just badass. :mrgreen: With these being hotter than normal,
I figured I could still have the AIC grind with the Pearl Jam clean, all while having that awesome
 single-coil attack with hefty lower mids.


What do you guys think? Feel free to make any other suggestion (HB's, P90's, w/e)

[metale]

From what I've read about the Stockholms, I wonder if you would not be better with a set of Mississippi Queens. The Stockholms seem more modern, bassy and hotter sounding.

[ericsabbath]

definitely a humbucker for the bridge
a black dog would be a safe bet for soundgarden and alice
if you want some single coil-like attack,  for the other stuff, then you want the riff raff  :D
but if you really want some mid grind without the booster, then grab something hotter like the rebel yell

[AndyR]

At first, after reading Eric's post, I was thinking "duh, he's after the p90 thing..." :lol:

But then I thought about it - I have Riff Raffs (SG) and MQs (Explorer). I am actually thinking of swapping them over (the Explorer has had the Riff Raffs before, and I'm thinking of giving it more "humbuckeryness"), but every time I compare the two guitars through the same amp I end up deciding it's just not worth the bother. The MQ does clean up more with the guitar's volume and tone, but they do perform very closely. At full tilt, to a guitarist, one is obviously a humbucker and one is not - the Riff Raff is slightly smoother, the MQ slightly hairier or chewy sounding - but the difference to me is not as great as I imagined before I owned the MQs (or great enough for me to get the soldering iron out).

So if you're worried about single coil "noise", Riff Raff is not a bad suggestion at all :D.

I've never used actual p90s, but yes, MQs do have the single coil noise. But like any single, it's not noticable when you're playing, even in a particularly bad environment (er... for example, in front of the laptop and TV like I am at the moment! :lol:)

[Philly Q]

I've never used actual p90s

Really?  :o

I suppose it's not that amazing, but I've got so many P-90 guitars it's hard to imagine.  :lol:

MQs do have the single coil noise. But like any single, it's not noticable when you're playing, even in a particularly bad environment (er... for example, in front of the laptop and TV like I am at the moment! :lol:)

It's true, the noise is pretty much a non-issue for me - although in principle I strongly approve of the idea of noiseless pickups.  But I don't gig, and you do hear these stories of people finding single-coils unusable in certain environments due to mains power issues or certain types of lighting.

[Fowl2338]

definitely a humbucker for the bridge
a black dog would be a safe bet for soundgarden and alice
if you want some single coil-like attack,  for the other stuff, then you want the riff raff  :D
but if you really want some mid grind without the booster, then grab something hotter like the rebel yell

Why are you against the P90 in the bridge?

How does the Rebel Yell compare to the Black Dog?

[ericsabbath]

definitely a humbucker for the bridge
a black dog would be a safe bet for soundgarden and alice
if you want some single coil-like attack,  for the other stuff, then you want the riff raff  :D
but if you really want some mid grind without the booster, then grab something hotter like the rebel yell

Why are you against the P90 in the bridge?

How does the Rebel Yell compare to the Black Dog?

all those bands have used single coils here and there, but the core tone are humbuckers 90% of the time
you can always use a coil split when you need it
unless you're absolutely sure you strictly want  a p90 tone
it's not hard to get that from a splitted humbucker or even with just a good equalizer in front of the amp
the opposite is quite hard, though

rebel yell is hotter, much brighter and more upper mid focused than the black dog
should deliver the mid grind plus the sparkly attack
I bet it's also a great splitter

I wouldn't rule out the riff raff, although it isn't "grindy"
I love how it makes a les paul sound sharp and sparkly without losing any of the les paul chunk

stockholm p90 seems to be more low mid voicing, though