Noiseless P90s - what are my options?

[Macaroni]

I've got a guitar with 3 x P90s and they're noisy as expected, and it's bothering me more than I anticipated. I've searched the forums and I've read about the DiMarzio Virtual P90s and the rest of that family. I've also heard about the Razor TSB-100s from All Parts, but there's not much detail on them.

Any other choices I should know about? I want to stay in the general tonal area of P90s without getting too hot or too close to humbuckers.

[WordMan]

Honestly? I don't know that I have heard a noiseless P-90 I trust yet...

Yes they are a pain. I think that is part of signing up to the cult of P-90's...

[tdu]

P-100's are supposed to be a noisless version, but I have also heard they lack some of the characteristics of P-90's that make them so good.

[MichaelK]

P-100's are supposed to be a noisless version

IMHO they don't hold a candle.

P-90s just have to be P-90s and unfortunately they are quite noisy. If you're recording you can do what Will Ray calls "facing Mecca" (I prefer to call it "facing Jerusalem"): turning your body 'till you find a sweet spot where the hum is minimalized.

If you don't have that luxury, like on stage, just play anyway. You don't hear the hum so much while you're playing. Turn down the volume knob between songs.

I havbe P90s in a Les Paul and I shielded the pickup cavity with a special paint, which cut back somewhat on the hum being stimulated by external electrical fields like cables, monitors, lights, my hands, etc. They're still noisy when they're at their worst, but I have more room to move around.

[Macaroni]

The reviews I've read about the DM Virtual P90s all indicated that they do sound authentic. I'm not looking for 'exact' replicas, but a more refined version, ie: improved. Most of the current offerings of classic P90s by the boutique guys all seem to be 'improved' tonally speaking.

[Badger71]

Mini Humbuckers...yeah yeah, I know, not as gritty snarly as P90s but they are noiseless.

[Robert1950]

The Gibson Blueshawk (recently discontinued) uses a dummy pup to cancel noise. Don't know it sounds, but there is a small following:

http://www.blueshawk.info/intro.htm

Maybe a reverse wound center pup???

[PolyMorf]

I replaced the Duncan SP90s on my Godin LG with DiMarzio virtual P90s. I just couldn't take their noise, and I'm a strat guy who doesn't mind some SC noise.

I think they sound EXCELLENT and are very quiet. I also have them wired for the outer coils in parallel and inner coils in parallel in addition to the standard neck/bridge/both pup switching.

[tdu]

I guess different people percieve 'noise' differently. I had a Godin LGSP90 as well and I didn't find the SP-90's that bad at all. I find the Gibson one in my Melody Maker a little noisier, but it's not something that overwhelms the great tone.

[Pete Galati]

The Gibson Blueshawk (recently discontinued) uses a dummy pup to cancel noise. Don't know it sounds, but there is a small following:

http://www.blueshawk.info/intro.htm

Maybe a reverse wound center pup???


http://www.blueshawk.info/pickups.htm

I can't find where they say where the dummy core is located.

Someone mentioned doing something like this when I was complaining about P90 noise a while back. I wonder if I could put a dummy coil in the control cavity of my Dillion. It would sure make my life easier! But will the dummy coil mess with the P90 sound, other than making it quieter?

Pete

[rwe333]

The reviews I've read about the DM Virtual P90s all indicated that they do sound authentic. I'm not looking for 'exact' replicas, but a more refined version, ie: improved. Most of the current offerings of classic P90s by the boutique guys all seem to be 'improved' tonally speaking.

Perhaps contact DiMarzio for their rec - pretty honest cats... (drop me an email if you need contact info)

[Macaroni]

Right now I'm leaning towards a DiMarzio VP90 for the neck & middle and a DLX 90 for the bridge.

[riffpowers]

IMHO they don't hold a candle.

P-90s just have to be P-90s and unfortunately they are quite noisy. If you're recording you can do what Will Ray calls "facing Mecca" (I prefer to call it "facing Jerusalem"): turning your body 'till you find a sweet spot where the hum is minimalized.

If you don't have that luxury, like on stage, just play anyway. You don't hear the hum so much while you're playing. Turn down the volume knob between songs.

I havbe P90s in a Les Paul and I shielded the pickup cavity with a special paint, which cut back somewhat on the hum being stimulated by external electrical fields like cables, monitors, lights, my hands, etc. They're still noisy when they're at their worst, but I have more room to move around.

IMHO P100's are great.I've got a set of KA P90's, just sold a histpric R4 with lollars in it and am about to recieve a Hmer special korina with a SD P90 in it.
IMHO P100's are great, I don't see why everyone bashes them all the time.
(Puts flame retardent jacket on) I think they sound 500% better than the lollars in my R4, thats why I sold it.
And for the record, martin barre fits p100's in his vintage juniors.

[HHB]

've been using a DiMarzio VP-90 and love it, sounds great, stands right next to my 58 LPJr and holds it's own

[Pearly Gator]

Having three P90s, I would think that you could set it up to be humbucking in position 2&4 like a Strat. Can you flip the magnet in the middle PUP and reverse it's leads? That would make the middle pickup humbuck when used with either the neck or bridge PUP with a minimal affect on the tone.

PG

[Macaroni]

Having three P90s, I would think that you could set it up to be humbucking in position 2&4 like a Strat. Can you flip the magnet in the middle PUP and reverse it's leads? That would make the middle pickup humbuck when used with either the neck or bridge PUP with a minimal affect on the tone.

I do have it wired that way (ie: middle is RWRP), and the 2 & 4 positions are fine, noise wise. It's the neck, middle and bridge alone that are bad, and they are key playing positions for me. Plus, I have the Tone as push/pull to get the neck + bridge and that's noisy too. TOO MUCH NOISE! ;)

[BigDoug1053]

Having three P90s, I would think that you could set it up to be humbucking in position 2&4 like a Strat. Can you flip the magnet in the middle PUP and reverse it's leads? That would make the middle pickup humbuck when used with either the neck or bridge PUP with a minimal affect on the tone.PG

Sounds like a good suggestion for the 3 PU set up. :JAM

[Marty s Horne]

Rio Grande had a pickup called a Hushbar which was a hum cancelling P-90 type. I've never heard it but I have a set of their humbuckers and really like them. I did a sub gig with a guitarist who had the Gibson P-100s and was not impressed. So so tone AND they were noisy.

[filteredwaters]

Along these lines . . . I've got an '81 LP Deluxe with what are described as "mini-humbuckers". Are these P-90's, P-100's or something else? I haven't played it in a while so I can't remember what noise issues it may have.

Tnx.

[Marty s Horne]

The Gibson mini humbuckers are not P-90 pickups. They are basically copies of the Epiphone mini-humbuckers from the 60s. They are hum cancelling and sound like a brighter, thinner humbucker. I had 2 Pauls with those pickups and thought they sounded good.

[keith_t4e]

I have a really cool lp special tv yellow single cut with p100s. The good thing is they are totally quiet. The bad thing is the tone is not all that great. I've considered Rio Grande's baby bukers with those two litle coils, but that really would be a shame to not have real p90s. I'm leaning Llollars. I can't believe you did not like them. Tell me more about Dimarzios.

[haslar]

What about the Suhr hum-cancelling system?

[Macaroni]

What about the Suhr hum-cancelling system?
That is $350! Way over priced IMHO. That's almost twice the cost of 3 DiMarzio pickups. No way I'd spend that much on top of the pickups. It seems stupid to me.

[hipfan]

In my Agile P90 LP copy, I have tried (a) the Lace PS-900 and 905 soap bars, (b) the Dimarzio Virtual P90's, (c) Seymour Duncan Antiquity II mini-humbuckers (Deluxe style), and (d) TV Jones Power'tron in a soapbar housing. I've also used Dave Stephens' "X-Set" P90's in the guitar.

I have to say that nothing completely compares to the tone of the real P90's - in my case, the Stephens' ones. They just sound more "real" and thick and react so nicely to volume adjustment, etc. All of the things that we like P90's for are there.

All of the others have very cool tones in their own right, but I keep coming back to the real thing because of their rawness and responsiveness. I'm going to cycle through a-d above one more time, now that I'm more experienced with adjusting pickups and the rest of my rig is more "set" than it was before. We'll see if any of them can unseat the real P90's permanently, but I'm not going to hold my breath. :)

[c_mac]

Lace makes P90's that are noiseless. I haven't played them but I have owned a set of Lace Holy Grails that were noiseless and sounded very good and very much like legit single coils.

[Macaroni]

What about the Suhr hum-cancelling system?
On the Suhr site, under Price List, it says it is $325 retail price, and the price for Suhr to install a retrofit SSC system is $490!!!!

:eek: :crazy

[Trebor Renkluaf]

That is $350! Way over priced IMHO. That's almost twice the cost of 3 DiMarzio pickups. No way I'd spend that much on top of the pickups. It seems stupid to me.
Street price is around $259. It's been getting good reviews with quite a few strat players. I haven't heard of anyone trying it with P90s yet, though some have asked if it would work.

[Paul86]

Who else has uses Lace's P90's? What was it that you liked / didn't like about them?