P-90s vs. Humbuckers

Apparently P-90's have a more "single coil" type of tone, and humbuckers have that fat, crunch tone from what i understand anyway.

P90s are hot and nasty single coils, often described as ideal blues pups. They crunch. They scream. Rolled down in level, they jazz. When driving an amp hard, have a much brasher character than humbuckers. The only reason you do not see then in more guitars, is they hum like MFs, except in both-pups-selected position, where a properly set up RWRM pair of P90s buck hum. There is a cult of P90 lovers for a reason.

Gnease nailed it. I love P-90s!

p90's are a thicker single coil, and humbuckers have two single coils facing each other per pickup to cancel the hum of single coils.
i have a prs with p90s. i'd describe the tone as big but bright, and cuts through the mix pretty well. on my cheap solid state amp, with a little distortion, you can really hear the extra metal in the pickups in kind of a harsh way, like hearing two cars scrape in a parking lot (think george thorogood). p90s hum, so if that bothers you in the store, it's probably going to still bother you at home. the hum generally can't be heard over a drummer or bassist, though.
humbuckers have a real thick, dark sound. sometimes they're a little warbly (barely noticable), and don't always cut through the mix as well, but they're great for creating a heavy mood, and really nice for rhythm playing
they say single coils have the best highs, p90's perform best in the mids, and humbuckers do well in the lower register.
i don't know how much either of those guitars is gonna sound like a traditional tele, which uses regular single coils.

i don't know how much either of those guitars is gonna sound like a traditional tele, which uses regular single coils.Neither will. You can get a rather "twangy" sound out of P-90s with low gain, but it's not the same.

As for the hum, the best way to combat that if it bothers you is to get very familiar with your guitar volume knob. Turn it all the way off when you're not playing, and there's no hum. The hum "disappears" when you're playing. You should get familiar with your guitar controls anyway; they're there to be used.

yeah, it doesn't bother me. i've read other forums where people complain about it a lot. i guess it varies from guitar to guitar and person to person.
personally, a neck p90 is about the sweetest tone i've heard on a guitar.

Thanks for all of the replies everyone! So if I want more of a rock sound then Humbuckers are the way to go? And if I want blues/jazz then I should go with the P-90s?

P90s have a strong rock heritage: Pete Townshend SG, George Thorogood, Beatles (Epi Casino) and many more. The only thing I would not use them for is high gain metal -- only because the hum will be a difficult problem in a high gain system.

If you are going high gain, go humbucker. If not, I highly recommend the P90s for almost everything else. If you check the Squire '51 thread, you will see I have modded one of mine by replacing the neck pup with a P90. P90 neck + humbucker bridge on a 25.5 in scale bolt-on -- this will be a real slice of all-around hot rock/blues machine. Been wanting a P90 + 'bucker guitar for years. Now I'll have one.

Thanks gnease. I'll check that out. I have a '51 too so this might be a pretty good option.

Sound clips are always helpful. :D

Here is a very good video that will give you an idea of what P-90s sound like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thR3a7wTPkk

And here is a clip of a Les Paul Standard with humbuckers. A fairly good representation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkMAcMm8vZo

Humbuckers have a darker tone that P-90s. They have a smoother tone too, P-90s break up well, this is why they are loved by many. It can be a little difficult to get crisp highs out of a humbucker, easy with a P-90.

If you are into high gain distortion, go with humbuckers. If you like a more natural blues (but Rock too) type breakup, go with the P-90s.

I find P90's to be closer to humbuckers than standard single coils. They hum and have more bite than a humbucker, but when it comes to power, output and balls, they are closer to humbuckers. I rather like them.

Humbucker = 2 single coils wired together with poles opposed to buck the hum

P90 = a big single coil with twice the wire and magnet of a standard single coil

My current favorite guitars are both p-90 based. I hacked out a demo for ya and posted it on my Soundclick site (click the "www" button at the bottom of the page), but the first three songs on the page all feature guitars with p-90 pickups.

"Shameless Wank" was done with my LP faded double cut ( her name's Cherry ) on both rythym and lead
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" was done with my Epi Wildkat (Miss Kitty)
"Voice of the Rose" has Cherry as the lead guitar.

Personally I find the p-90s to fit my style of playing best. They'll give you anything from a nice mellow jazz tone to a snarl and bark that you won't get from any other type of pickup.

TR's exactly right, too. And P-90s should sound somewhat like humbuckers. P-90s were Gibson's standard pickup in the '50s when they introduced their new humbuckers that they thought would replace them (and to a great extent, did.)

Has anyone seen the new Gibson p-94r and p-94t, they are p-90 pickups in a regular humbucker sized housing. Could be an easy way to put some p-90s in a guitar with no routing.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Gibson-P94R-Humbucker-Sized-P90-Neck-Pickup?sku=306914