Can P90s do heavy rock?

[TheGuildedAge]

I am toying with the idea of putting some vintage vibe humbucker sized P90s in my guild s-100. I'm after a thick, punchy rock tone with good cleans. Any reason a P90 can't do rock like humbuckers?

[mtlin]

Nope, P90's can rock as hard as a humbucker. Well, they may not be the best choice for modern metal. But they rocked hard enough for Leslie West and Tommy Iommi.

[Rist-Guitars]

P 90s are great!!
Mountain, the Who, yes they rock.

cheers,
Roman

[jazzandmetal?]

P90s ARE heavy rock!:RoCkIn

[Mike9]

P-90's through the Dumble channel of my Omega Hot Rod Deluxe absolutely SING!!!!!!!

[otherstar]

They sure can, look at lots of players from the 60's through today that have P-90's in their guitars.

[jgyn]

Johnny Thunders...

[?&!]

Tony Iommi's original SGs had P90s. That's a pretty good endorsement.

[Igneous]

Okay, of course they rock. And your playing better be on because it will need to be. The sustain is to die for but hard to get a good chug out of it if thats what your looking for.
PAF's and antiquities are good for hard rock/metal and okay cleans.
Better cleans from the p-90's

[02Singlecut]

Yes they can.....BUT the noise from high gain is a deal dreaker!:BITCH

[atquinn]

Seymour Duncan's hi-output do high grain great (they do cleans good as well)! Yes, there's lots of noise, but not when you're playing, so no biggy.

-Austin

[mooawk]

Listen to some Social Distortion.

[michael patrick]

Oh yes, P-90s can do heavy rock.... (http://www.vimeo.com/1166559)


.

[rhythmeister]

Joining the parade...yup, I've got Dirty Dog P-90s in a Hamer Korina guitar and they sound fantastic for hard rock/classic rock. Light up any Who song and you'll grin ear-to-ear.

As others have said, truly high gain can be problematic/noisy when you are not rippin'. For really high/modern gain, I stick to 'buckers. But anywhere up to that point the P-90s are at the top of the heap!

[SnidelyWhiplash]

Look at the Woodstock movie. P-90's ruled! :dude

[HHB]

they can if you can!

[Marty s Horne]

Leslie West had one of the baddest tones in rock IMO. "Mississippi Queen" sounds as great today as it did 30 years ago.

[Strat58]

HI oh yeah listen to Foghat and Mountain great P90 sounds.
Peace Strat58

[echale3]

You can do metal with P-90s... Back when Jake E. Lee was Ozzy's lead guitarist, he played a white SG Junior with single P-90 , and he was smokin' hot!!! You can see him playing it on the "Ultimate Sin" video, IIRC...

[Austinrocks]

P-90s are better in some ways, they don't smear the way humbuckers do, but they are suseptible to noise, currently I am using split coil humbuckers so I get the single coil tone and humbucker for the noise cancelling, really the best of both worlds IMO.

[Knuckles]

Listen to some Social Distortion.

+1000, thank you.

[TheGuildedAge]

I'm in an original rock band. SOme of what we write is heavier, some lighter, ambient. The heaviest I would want to get, from a tonal reference standpoint is tool, deftones heavy, but most of the time I'm in the radiohead, collective soul, our lady peace, u2 vibe.

[michaelvincent]

You have to take the good with the bad and put up with a certain amount of noise when it comes to P90's....but oh the tone and punch!

[JLee]

Gibson Goldtop with P90s, a Sunn Model T and a Rat Pedal. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqOoGBvJBK4&feature=related

Gibson SG with p90s and a Randall Warhead(gear used on the album, despite the gear you see on the video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NewEBRKFwXg

[richey88]

Green Day anyone? The latest album has p-90 smeared all over it........NY Dolls, The Who (Tommy, Live at Leeds), and definitely +1 on previous posters choices, Foghat, Mountain.....Leslie West sounds absolutely MASSIVE with his Jr...

Noise? Yes, but you just crank it up and get your band cookin so who would know the diff? Roll the volume knob back between songs. A noise gate would work too but I personally can't stand 'em.

[Custom50]

they are the best heavy rock pickups IMO. you can get a great sludgy sound from them.

[atquinn]

Green Day anyone? The latest album has p-90 smeared all over it........NY Dolls, The Who (Tommy, Live at Leeds), and definitely +1 on previous posters choices, Foghat, Mountain.....Leslie West sounds absolutely MASSIVE with his Jr...

Noise? Yes, but you just crank it up and get your band cookin so who would know the diff? Roll the volume knob back between songs. A noise gate would work too but I personally can't stand 'em.

Get a RWRP neck (or bridge, doesn't matter) and just switch to the middle position for noise-cancelling goodness!

-Austin

[TheGuildedAge]

I ordered a set of Vintage Vibe humbucker sized P90s, we'll see.

[RvChevron]

I really think the amp and pedals influence more the kinda tones you want to acheive.