Rio Grande Vs. Harmonic Design

[mungo]

I'm wondering if anyone has had a chance to compare the Harmonic Design Z-90's to the Rio Grande Fat Bastard. I have the Fat Bastard in one of my guitars now to try it out and while it's ok, before I bought it I was wondering what the difference's might be to the Z-90's.

TIA

dug

[mrmojorisin]

There is no comparison.

The Z90 is a Porsche, the FB a volkswagen.

Really, I found the FB lacking clarity and hi end. It was unusable for me. The Z90's produced surpreme P90 tone from God!

Go for it...

Carl

[illinimax]

I've owned both and still have the Z-90s. Best pickup I've ever played or heard.

[mungo]

Thanks for the response. I kind of figured as such. Other reviews I've read of the FB weren't that favorable but I personally had nothing to compare to. But I have also heard good things about the Seymore Duncan Phat Cat. Anyone have thoughts on that?

[Jon Silberman]

I believe Carl Werkmeister and Jim Fisher will ditto the above two reviews as soon as they find this thread.

[mrmojorisin]

The Cats are great too. They are a tad warmer and more vintage sounding than the Z-90's, which have a tinge of hi-fi character (in a good way). The cats als emphasis mre the low mids, whereas teh Z90's emphasis a bit more the hi mids.

You cant go wrong with either....

[Power Freak]

Originally posted by mrmojorisin
There is no comparison.

The Z90 is a Porsche, the FB a volkswagen.

Really, I found the FB lacking clarity and hi end. It was unusable for me. The Z90's produced surpreme P90 tone from God!

Go for it...

Carl
Seconded!

:dude


I love the Z90 pickups particularly for the extreme clarity and overall "huge" sound that it has. The FB wasn't as clear and just sounded like mud.

:)

[mungo]

Well I just got in my Z-90 today! Thanks to all who responded. I'll post a verdict as soon as I can instal it.


dug

[Jon Silberman]

Well, where's our promised verdict?! ;)

[mungo]

Dude I forgot, my bad.

Anyway, I'm digging it. As far as sounding like a real P-90 the jury's still out. But what it does it does really well. Very unique and cool. Lots of clarity and bite but meaty. And it cleans up nicely with the volume control. That's what actually lead me in this direction. In my opinion I haven't found a humbucker that cleans up as nice as a single coil when the volume's rolled back. But I needed something with a little more meat then a normal or even hot bridge single coil.

Now I've got different pickguards to swap in the guitar as the need arises. One's a straight strat, one is with two normal strat singles and the Z-90, and soon another with either Burns or Lipsticks (I haven't decided yet).

Thanks for all the input. They are definately worth looking into.

dug

[mungo]

I thought that I would post another follow up. Now having played the z-90's for awhile I can honestly say that these things rawk!!!!!!!!

dug

[Jon Silberman]

Mungo, the software is robbing you - look at the post totals on your last 2 posts: they're both "7!"