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Here is the deal. I installed them into my PRS soapbar (mahogany body and neck with 500K pots) and they are on the verge of being Ice picky. I mean very bright. They are probally as bright as a strat bridge and neck if not brighter. So far, they only way they have jived with me are with the tone on 1 or 2. Are P-90's supposed to be this bright? Or, are they designed for 250K pots? I am new to P-90's, the PRS's sounded like butter like a raw single coil with a little warmness to them. I have also played Phat Cats and thought they were great!!! With the Duncan vintage P-90's, I cant really even get anything warm in the neck position.

Somethings weird there? I use 350k stock Gibson pots in mine with .047 caps. The bridge is edgy but the neck is very sweet. Not too sure what would be up there, I'll see if I can figure something out?

You're probably just used to hearing a higher output P-90.
How hot were the PRS units?

My Phat Cats are pretty bright, but I can tame it with the right amp settings or a tweak of the tone knob. The neck position PC in my Sheraton can get almost too fat with the tone rolled down; great for fuzzed out 60's style solo's though ( BTO, here I come! ).

Maybe a switch to the McSoapy's set would do beter for you. I'm not sure what was at the neck, but I'm pretty sure it has a Duncan Custom P-90 NECK model in the bridge.

The PRS units had a lower DC resistance than the Duncans. I know that means a little but, not everything.

Here's what I have tried thus far, I have switched the tone pot to a 250K, installed a .047 orange drop tone cap and removed the treble bleed cap between the 2 lugs on the volume. It has helped a little but, it is still twangy and kind of bright. It just dosent sound all that great and not much like these should in my opinion. Should I just go ahead and put a 250K in the volume position or, is there something else wrong with them? I am sort of considering using the 21 day policy or, just unloading them and installing the original PRS's. Its driving me nuts!!!!

Help a brotha out Wattage!!!!

I've always believed that P90's work best with 250k pots. After all, they are still single coils. Before you give up on them, change out all the pots with 250k pots.

Ryan

My vintage p-90 it's very bright too. I allways though it was because of the
guitar which is a modded Dano U-1. But now I am starting to think the set has somethig to do with it.

How you like the middle position? It's my favorite so far

Bueler???

Not really sure what to tell you, I have never had that be an issue?

For ages I used the Custom version which is kind of chunky, more along the lines of Thorogood when rockin it up a bit. I've had the Vintage neck for along time and it sounds fine the bridge is fairly new but it is nowhere's near ice pick in an all mahogany guitar. I also have a '56 P-90 in another all mahogany and while being a little smoother than the SD it isn't a big difference. I have always kind of described the P-90 sound as wire brush like.

I suppose you could try 250k pots but the stock pups were run with 500k pots and sounded fine? I can't imagine 500k pots making them be so bright that they are terrible? Is this how you have them wired?I had them wired correctly. I installed 250's today and no good results. I re-installed the Original PRS's and I must REALLY like them so, I went to plan B today. I called Alex and made arrangements to swap them out for other pickups. Maybe its my guitar, Maybe its me, or both. I have no clue. I thank you for your good help Scott!!!!

Is there a diagram for using 2 Volume knobs and 1 Tone somewhere like the one you posted? Sorry if this is a FAQ.

Go to the home page, go to support, and click schmatics, make your selection.


Originally Posted by theodieHere is the deal. I installed them into my PRS soapbar (mahogany body and neck with 500K pots) and they are on the verge of being Ice picky. I mean very bright. They are probally as bright as a strat bridge and neck if not brighter. So far, they only way they have jived with me are with the tone on 1 or 2. Are P-90's supposed to be this bright? Or, are they designed for 250K pots? I am new to P-90's, the PRS's sounded like butter like a raw single coil with a little warmness to them. I have also played Phat Cats and thought they were great!!! With the Duncan vintage P-90's, I cant really even get anything warm in the neck position.

A few questions:

I have a PRS SE Soapbar II with stock pickups that sound good to me so I haven't replaced them. Is that the same guitar that you got?

The Vintage P-90's you put in are the Alnico 5 regular ones (not Antiquities with Alnico 2)- right? Judging from posts here it seems like the Hot and Custom P-90's (with ceramic magnets) are more popular for that quot;Bad to the Bonequot; sound...

Before sending them back you might try replacing all 4 Alnico 5 magnets with Alnico 2. But before doing that you might want to make sure that the magnets were oriented correctly: the same magnetic polarity butts up to the keeper bar in the middle, which then acquires the opposite polarity. If one of the magnets gets flipped accidentally the resulting sound can be harsh.

I tried swapping magnets in a Gibson LP Jr with a single pickup at the bridge. This was a discontinued 2002 model and it came with ceramic magnets. You could get some sweeter sounds with A5, A2 and A3 magnets, especially if you mixed different magnet types. But I went back to the original ceramic pickups because they offered the most versatility as you adjusted the two controls.

I guess I'm a nut because I've never met a P-90 I didn't like... I think it is hard to screw up the design. And I'm sure that you tried adjusting the height up and down to see if you could find a sweet spot...

I have the PRS single cut so it pretty much is the same guitar you have. I agree, I think the stockers are that good!!! I already sent them off to swap out though. I am more than happy with the factory 90's though. I got the Duncans because I am just a Duncan Whore most of the time.