Underwound followed closely by the 50’s wind for me. Both had the sparkle the original pickup was missing and weren’t as flabby. Love p90’s and love Jason’s pickups. Thank for taking the time to do this comparison, I know it must have taken a long time to make this.
Agree with a lot of others here that the underwound clearly had a great harmony/synergy with the bridge p90, but there was nothing splashy about it. Just sounded complementary and lovely.
I knew Mick would prefer the 50s wind, but I thought the underwound was the most balanced with the bridge and felt like they should go together compared to the 50s
Same. I've listened to a lot of P90 sound samples and staples really caught my attention in the past but I really gravitated towards the underwound overall in this guitar. I felt the staple had too much going on, almost muddy but not quite. The underwound had a clarity to it I like and like you said it mated well with the bridge.
I totally agree. The under wound sounded best to me. At one point I set my iPad down and wasn’t even looking at it. He was testing them again and I heard them, and when I picked up my iPad and looked I was right.. they just really stood out to me.
Thanks for your hard work Mick, these Vlogs are really fun. As a side note, I do like the side conversations you have when you are undertaking the soldering and work on the guitar. I guess its because I have four young kids and an adult guitar conversation is gold to me!
I stopped watching NOFX Backstage Passport to watch this. The notification came up and I instantly switched over without thought. And very excitedly. Man I love TPS videos. Also, these Lollars sound so much better than the stock pups. I think I like the inbetween position with the staples in the neck. Btw that NOFX show is also worth a watch! UA-cam spoils me.
I was just watching their Red Rocks live version of The Decline with the Baz's Orchestra yesterday and saw the teaser for Backstage Passport in my suggested video. It looks pretty good and sounds like you concur. I'll have to check that out! (sidenote: if you haven't seen that performance of The Decline, you should watch it. They have a bassoon. "Do Bad Religion have a bassoon?!" Haha!
@@LollarPickups Yes, give it a watch! :) I honestly can't recommend it enough. I'll check out the Red Rocks Decline performance in the meantime! Thanks for the recommendation. :)
I’m really taking the sound of that underwound P90. Hands-down sounds it’s so lush and creamy sounding. I bet the staple P90 would cut through a mix very nicely as well. Ultimately, the choice is yours my friend. Good luck.
The palpable fun when you said "It sounds... stupid good" warmed my heart. With the glimpse you've given us on your mental health journey (which I appreciate all the more as I suspect I may have to deal with some issues myself), it's great to see you enjoying these moments, letting loose. I think this can only occur when you're experiencing some form of balance. And yeah, it did sound stupid good.
50s wind for me. Without looking at the subtitles, I almost unanimously picked the 50s. Staple had more growl, but you have that in spades with the bridge. Plus the combination of the 50s & bridge together gives another unique and beautiful voice!
That reaction at 3:42 says everything. In my mind, the video transformed from P90 comparisons, to how much better that Les Paul sounds from that McCarty. 🔥
To my ears, it was between the 50s and the Staple too, Mick. This guitar sounds like it might be a candidate for the “Artie De-mud mod” so named after a long term expert on the Seymour Duncan forums). For a non-humbucker, place a 500K resistor in series with the hot output wire of pickup, with a 0.01uF cap in parallel (essentially, a subtle treble bleed) - this mod rescued the neck tone of my ES335!
From the outside, I loved both underwound and staple pickups. The underwound sounds sweet to my ears. The staple pickup seemed to have an authoritative clarity in both scenarios. Your 'honky' description of the 50s PU was spot on, and it sounded great on the 2 channel setup. I have a nice amp, DAC and speakers, but obviously it can't compare to being in your shoes at all. P90s are so good.
Thanks for going the extra mile to evaluate the pickups under similar conditions. It's exactly the right thing to do. But it's such a pain in the ass and takes a lot of time so most of us will never get around to doing it. Great, as always. I preferred the low wind pickup.
In the initial back to back with the Tone King, the Staple and the Low Wind were my preference - different, but both really good. However, that 50s wind sounded awesome in the "studio" context with the new preamp/poweramp rig. No bad options there, though :-)
Thanks so much for this special Mick, the time and effort you have put into this has not gone unnoticed, the differences between the pickups comes across so clearly through my relatively cheap Alesis Mk2 monitors, that I don't need to go through this exercise myself to discover the nuances between these great pickups. I think the 50's wind is what I am looking for by the way, I now know this even though I don't have anything with P90s on it at the moment!
Agreed. An underw-ound Staple would get him closer to what a Stratocaster Neck pickup sounds like. I'm currently in the process of having Seymour Duncan wind a Phat Staple for me and will request it under-wound as normally it is wound to a high (IMO) 9.1K Ohm. My personal preference would be something closer to 7.5K Ohm for most any neck pickup (a modern staple pickup included).
To my ear, rested from three days camping in a quiet forest, the staple brought out more character of this particular guitar across most of the comparisons. In the loud tests, the staple held its own better across multiple pedal configurations, I think, and kept a clear voice over the widest range of dynamics. Very informative (with headphones) comparisons, thanks!
Haha! I recognised the Fifty/Fifty before it was the right way round- my foot is on top of mine right now! It’s a glorious thing. Just a couple of good ol’ tube power amps....
Missed you boys so much yesterday! Love that you share this great gift with us. I'm not efficient enough (and can't justify the purchases) with soldering - and trying pickups. I'm glad to get to watch and hear you do it. It ends up making me find the things that makes me love me own rig - and work within the boundaries of what I have today. That might be odd to say, but its good and its a good thing. You help with gas - and I refocus myself on just playing better - and dialing it whatever I have.
What I enjoy out of a neck pickup is probably what few others do. I like them clear and woody rather than the brashness of the bridge. Anyway, that underwound is glorious. It's lovely on its own, with nice note separation, but lovely with some juice.
Agreed. I like the stratiness of the staple... also, it makes the guitar unique. The under wound sounds great as well. but I feel you can get that sound with a bunch of other guitars
With you on the 50’s wind, and yesss I hope you’re loving the stereo Mesa love as much as I! (Still worth trying the 20/20 if you haven’t, or maybe that’s more up Dan’s bag!)
I didn't have a favourite. All four of these neck PU's sounded the best to me at some point, depending on what you were playing. You said you thought the first one sounded too muddy. I assumed both the Underwound and the 50's would sound less muddy than the one that was already in, but the first couple of things you tried (the three chords ringing out and the shuffle after that) proved differently (to my ears anyway). Having said that, I'd never play anything like that with a sound like that with any P90 in the neck position. It's almost like wanting to play a heavily distorted metal part on a Gibson ES-150 (not trying to be rude - my intentions are good, promised!). Funny thing is that I don't think you'd ever play a shuffle in E anyway. Maybe you do, I can't be sure, it just doesn't seem to be 'you' somehow. I could be wrong. I actually liked the dirtiness and raw power of the first P90 when you were hitting it, playing solo stuff. And for your clean work I liked the Underwound and the 50's better. But to me P90's are all about dirt! For clean neck tones I prefer many different things (Telecaster neck PU's, DeArmond sc's, Filtertrons and even low output humbuckers). It's a good thing we're all chasing different sonic goals. Let's applaud the existence of rabbit holes! Wait...., this sounds terribly wrong! 😳
Hey Mick. For what its worth, the 50s wind did what you were looking for, based on what you described. It has that balanced clarity in the neck position. The underwound sounded like the best match for the bridge pickup, but leaned into the bass/flub thing you're trying to get away from. Who knows, maybe that can be tweaked out/dialed in. The staple had the most going on of the three. Complex and rich sounding, more harmonic content and dynamic happening. Beautiful sounding pickup. Also the least traditional P-90 sounding of the lot. You can hear a lot of strat pickup character at times. Definitely outside the box for what one would expect of this guitar. If you wanted distinctly different tones, based on pickup selection, it would be the way to go. But not the match for the bridge pickup in my opinion. Just my 2 cents, hope it helps with the decision. Killer tones direct into the Imperial btw. 👍
To my ear, the 50’s wind and the Staple have the most presence. The 50’s has a bit more note definition, where the Staple has a nice and sweet overall tone. I’ll be getting a Staple for my LP Jr to go with the Elliott P-90 in the bridge!
Man, those Lollar P90s just take the blanket of that lovely guitar! It was SO muddy before.....now it sings (I love Lollar P90s and have them fitted to my 03 LP Special) Enjoy whichever neck pup you settle on (my fav was the 50s wind......just!) 😊👍
Man, want to give a huge salute to not only how long this must of taken to film, but also how long it must of taken to edit! Great sounds, hard to pick!
Your comments @ 12:17 re "problems with this test" include some of the most insightful, rarely mentioned issues regarding doing solid , fair comparisons that I have seen anywhere. I have heard very few comments onthe fact that new pickups have to 'break in " for a while before they really settle in and sound right . Kudos ! I have spent over 20 years doing fanatical pickup comparisons and I fully agree with your comments.
Thank you Rhykko. I’d never really thought about it before until Ron Ellis mentioned it to me. He told me to ignore the sounds of them for the first hour or so at least. Stands to reason I guess!? And then time. We’ll time changes everything, always!
I enjoyed this Mick. The middle positions have an interesting tone with different neck pickups, and vice versa. That bridge P90 sounds good for sure and you picked what i would have picked. The staple pickup and 50s wind are really nice on their own and combined with bridge pickup, although i thought i liked the underwound middle tone best. What height were you setting the pickup to each time? 2.4mm seems good for humbuckers and P90s.
50s for me! It has a lovely chimey ring and clarity, plus I liked how it sat with the bridge pickup. Having said that the staple had a nice bit of nastiness and balls that I quite liked, but maybe keep it for another guitar. Everyone needs an excuse for more guitars!
Great to hear you playing through a Tone King amp. I have the Falcon Grande, and love it. Hope more people discover these amps, because they are phenomenal.
Staple and underwound to my ear. The staple with the Hendrix-ish univibe sound is awesome. Staples are like hot Fender single coils with more meat and smoother dynamics. Think Jimi meets Leslie West. I have Duncan Custom Phat Staple on an Ibanez hollow body, and it is immaculate. Also I installed an underwound neck Fralin P90 ‘humbucker case’ on my Washburn Nuno, and that sounds glorious.
Wicked sounds man! Oooooof! I liked the underwound most, but 50s was nice too. The staple sounds so beefy! Hopefully you come to a conclusion that you're happy with! I'm surprised you liked the staple the most as it was the closest to the first one haha, big difference to what we hear in youtube land though :)
The Staple Pickups dirty and volume were just lovely. It was hard to say what was better clean in a small room, but it seemed the 50's wind seamed to get your best playing clean. I have to say I love Lolar Staples on my Novo Serius J in the neck and bridge. My Novo T Amalfitano P-45 neck pickup a little different since it is only using a single bar magnet, lower output than the P-90.
I personally and subjectively preferd the underwound. Primarily as it sat better when used in combination with the bridge pickup for the kind of sounds i like. Also loving the new vlog space it looks awesome and it adds another layer of production quality and consistency in that space between both mick and Dan's vlogs.
Hi Mick. Great vlog as usual thanks. I have a Gibson Custom reissue 57 Special. The neck was starting to feel/sound too thick for me and I was thinking of getting the Lollar 50’s for bridge and Underwound for neck as a balanced set. But I then decided to try a 25 cent treble bleed mod on the neck PuP first. So now I can have the heavy grunt with the volume pot wide open and just nock it down a little to get more clarity and balanced tone. Kind of the best of both worlds. I may yet swap PuPs but this 2 minute mod has given me some pause for thought and additional playing time... I’ve also had success altering caps before to roll off a nasty edge to a LP Custom Florentine. Caps are by far the quickest and cheapest mod you can make and great for tweaking a muddy or bright characteristic you dislike about otherwise nice PuPs to your own ears. While I know in this case you didn’t like the older PuPs full stop, keep in mind the finer subtlety that caps can make in their various applications can really put that cherry on an already great cake. Have fun finding the right P90 feeling for you 👍
Thanks DJ! Much appreciated. I’m sort of ideologically opposed to wiring mods. No idea why, other than they didn’t do it in the old days. Which makes no sense at all why we shouldn’t do it today! Hahaha!
That Pedal Show Gottcha from a purist perspective... but keep the caps bit in your back pocket as a way of fine tuning a sound and feel of what you do like. I see what I did as balancing a sound I like in a darker or brighter sounding guitar body. Plus it costs only a few quid and 2 mins work at a time rather than rewiring as such. Cheers
Cracking vlog! I think if I had to choose I would lean towards the staple, but in fairness they all had a little something to offer. If you want a mild chuckle, watch the vlog with closed captions - I particularly love how it handles the playing sections, especially at 18:06 when that rogue F# sneaks in :D
My favourites were 50s followed closely by the underwound for cleans and the underwound for driven sounds. Overall the underwound wins it for me on balance.
I've been hankering after a P90 equipped guitar for ages. I tried a Gibson LP Special a while back & I found the neck pickup to be too dark and had I bought it, I'd have been looking at a swap. I think I preferred the underwound, especially when it was in combination with the bridge pickup but like you say, it is also about living with the guitar . Interesting stuff Mick thanks.
50's, more high end and sparkle without lowing the output like the under-wounds. (typed at conclusion of quieter playing). (after loud playing) Yep, 50's for the win for me. And can't wait for my number to come up to order a secret machine, that fuzz rocks.
Like you Mick, I immediately gravitated towards the 50s wound. I think it does the best all-round job of blending really nicely with the bridge pickup, and taming those flubby lows. They're much more focused now and tighter. The staple sounds good by itself (although the lows still flub out a bit), but I think it overshadows the bridge pickup a bit too much.
My gut feeling is the "muddy" Lollar neck (8.2k) in the bridge, with the "underwound" neck (7.7k) at the neck would make a better set. The 50:50... I've been using one with a Triaxis since the '90s. 😁
If I had to pick based on what I heard from this, the Underwound would be my 1st choice as it had the clarity without so much of the Flub. The 50's would be a close 2nd and the Staple third. I think the Staple possibly had a bit more clarity than the regular but a bit 'angrier' and pushed the amp more but overall seemed the closest to the Regular... Both the 50's and the Underwound were as similar as the Staple and Regular. Of course there are subtle differences between them still but from what I heard, you could almost split these into two 'groups'.
The staple sounded best to me in that guitar. Took on a slight strat sound. Guess that's due to the construction. Good timing in the vid. I'm installing the regular set in a JM style guitar I just finished building today. If I don't get along with the neck I'll be grabbing either the staple or the underwound. Thanks for the vids!
Having owned and played extensively a 1972 Reissue Les Paul w/ P-90s and Stopped Tailpiece that I bought in 1972 I was actually surprised that the 50s P-90 in the neck immediately stood out to me and never stopped. It might be because I've always figured it's easy to dump high end but harder to get it in the first place while still sounding full. The 50s gets my vote hands down, softer or louder. Anyway... very interesting "shootout". Thanks.
Great to hear the comparison Mick. I have been super happy with the 50-ties wounds in my McSoapie for many years now. Didn’t like Lollar regular winds enough, but never tried the underwound or staple. I can play that guitar for every style I like, never missing a tele or another PAF style guitar. Actually only got a DGT because I love the PRS trem so much. McSoapies with trems do exist, but are very rare.
Yeah man. That PRS waggle stick is easily the best floating job out there I think. I can play my DGT free of worries. Sounds great, works great. Usually one of those things isn’t there.
Might be worth giving Kinman a try. I have one in a Harley Benton faded blue DC Junior that sounds killer and .... no hum. Of course it is in the bridge position, but I reckon the Kinman neck P90 should be good too. I think the low end is mostly influenced by the pickups position along the strings although iron or steel in the centre of the coil can boost low frequency inductance. Changing the winding affects the high end. Different magnets affect attack and harmonic content. I'd expect the staple pickup to be more like a Strat pickup with a punchy attack, since the pole magnets are perpendicular to the string like a Strat. The other P90s all have the magnets in the normal P90 position under the coil and parallel to the string.
Sounding great Mick. Have to say my fave in the four was the under wound. I was hearing a bit of early 70's Townshend. They all have a character of their own for certain.
Another vote for the underwound neck (staple is a close second). Thanks so much. I've got a 90s LP Special I want to put Lollar P90s in to replace the stock P100s. I've got Lollars in all my Fenders already .
I have one of your combos-Lollar Regular P90 bridge and Lollar Staple neck-in a PRS singlecut with Korina neck/body. I feel like the SC (at least mine) is a little more middy and not only do I love the Staple but the slight scoop works well with that guitar. With the McCarty the Staple sounded even more Fendery, and while I loved and preferred that sound, I do wonder if it might still get slightly woofy to your ears in that guitar. But honestly I'd take the Staple even with some woof... ;-) I did have a 50s wind in the bridge at one point, and while I liked the sound it did lack a bit of push and couldn't balance quite right with the Staple neck. Thanks for sharing, and it sounds killer in all combinations!
I really love my Eastman SB56/n-GD, it has Lollar underwound P90 in the neck position and Lollar P90 in the Bridge position. Great work on the video Mick, from what I heard I would be happy with the underwound or 50's PU's. I prefer the lighter wound PU's, I like the clean tones they produce. If I need to push the signal, well that's what pedals and amps are for (IMHO). Again, great and informative video. Thanks Mick.
Just added Lollar's Charlie Christian in the neck and their Novel 90 at the bridge of my '79 Les Paul Custom. Sounds fantastic and I do not miss the humbuckers one bit.
Amazing vlog as usual Mick! You have a really tough choice to make, they all sounded awesome, I would keep the staple P90 not only because it sounds stupidly good, but also because it gives a very different flavor. Out of the regular ones, the best one for me was the 50's Wind P90, but again, that's how you'd expect a P90 to sound, the Staple one leaves you with a "Woah, that was unexpected" kinda thing that I seriously enjoyed.
Thanks for this Mick, great playing, love the vlog. I just ordered a staple for my p90 guitar, I love the strat vibes. Defs keep the staple in the PRS The Lollar imperials have a very airy quality similar to the gold top Les Paul. I wasn’t a fan and swapped them for something more meaty
Mick, start the spinoff: That Pickup Show
Winner!
As someone who spent months swapping pickups in my tele, I can’t stress enough how tedious this would be!
AWESOME!!!!
Brilliant
Underwound followed closely by the 50’s wind for me. Both had the sparkle the original pickup was missing and weren’t as flabby. Love p90’s and love Jason’s pickups. Thank for taking the time to do this comparison, I know it must have taken a long time to make this.
Big fan of the underwound.
GCKelloch I’d rather trust my ear than your theory. Thanks
Very few guitar players are electrical engineers, I was and science doesn’t lie.
However the sound is what is important.
jz0h4d exactly!
Those were my two favorites as well in that order.
Underwound is the clear winner here for me. Sounded perfect in that guitar matched with that bridge pickup.
Totally agree
Yep.
Bottom end sounded muffled and not enough top end for me.
Yes, I liked the dynamic response of the underwound the most. The staple, sounded stratty (yes even before you explained it I already mentioned that)
Yes that was lovely
Underwound the best in this lot of P90s both for clean and overdrive IMO...
Agree with a lot of others here that the underwound clearly had a great harmony/synergy with the bridge p90, but there was nothing splashy about it. Just sounded complementary and lovely.
I knew Mick would prefer the 50s wind, but I thought the underwound was the most balanced with the bridge and felt like they should go together compared to the 50s
Same. I've listened to a lot of P90 sound samples and staples really caught my attention in the past but I really gravitated towards the underwound overall in this guitar. I felt the staple had too much going on, almost muddy but not quite. The underwound had a clarity to it I like and like you said it mated well with the bridge.
See, that's how a Les Paul is meant to sound! Clarity, cut and definition. Booootiful!
Cheers gweeezer! It’s such a great geetar!
I totally agree. The under wound sounded best to me. At one point I set my iPad down and wasn’t even looking at it. He was testing them again and I heard them, and when I picked up my iPad and looked I was right.. they just really stood out to me.
Thanks for your hard work Mick, these Vlogs are really fun. As a side note, I do like the side conversations you have when you are undertaking the soldering and work on the guitar. I guess its because I have four young kids and an adult guitar conversation is gold to me!
I liked the underwound, and then the staple in first part. The Mesa sounds incredible, Nugent would proud of you.
Thank you very much for being an overthinking guitar nerd. That Pedal Show always makes me feel like I'm not alone in the world.
You are not alone!
Out of 6 billion’ish you two are still fairly alone 🤓
The second I heard the 50s wind, I loved it. each time I went back and listened again, I loved it more.
And that's a great soldering station!
I stopped watching NOFX Backstage Passport to watch this. The notification came up and I instantly switched over without thought. And very excitedly. Man I love TPS videos.
Also, these Lollars sound so much better than the stock pups. I think I like the inbetween position with the staples in the neck.
Btw that NOFX show is also worth a watch! UA-cam spoils me.
Ma-na-ger!!!
@@yoshi-808 haha you know it! I'm going to need to watch it several more times when I'm done. I'm obsessed!
I was just watching their Red Rocks live version of The Decline with the Baz's Orchestra yesterday and saw the teaser for Backstage Passport in my suggested video. It looks pretty good and sounds like you concur. I'll have to check that out! (sidenote: if you haven't seen that performance of The Decline, you should watch it. They have a bassoon. "Do Bad Religion have a bassoon?!" Haha!
@@LollarPickups Yes, give it a watch! :) I honestly can't recommend it enough. I'll check out the Red Rocks Decline performance in the meantime! Thanks for the recommendation. :)
I prefer the under-wound followed by the 50’s. Thank you for taking the time to compare these!
I like the underwound. There’s a nice sparkle and clarity.
I’m really taking the sound of that underwound P90. Hands-down sounds it’s so lush and creamy sounding. I bet the staple P90 would cut through a mix very nicely as well. Ultimately, the choice is yours my friend. Good luck.
This was a spectacular demo, Mick (my Les Paul nothwithstanding). This is what the internet needs more of!
Thanks mate! And thanks for the Lester - lots of very nice comments about it!
@@ThatPedalShow I just had lunch with Aynsley Lister. He said he thoroughly enjoyed this too. Keep the Lester for as long as you like, old chap!
Preferred the underwound. All were an improvement over the original.
The palpable fun when you said "It sounds... stupid good" warmed my heart.
With the glimpse you've given us on your mental health journey (which I appreciate all the more as I suspect I may have to deal with some issues myself), it's great to see you enjoying these moments, letting loose. I think this can only occur when you're experiencing some form of balance.
And yeah, it did sound stupid good.
The underwound has a glorious sweet tone.
Personally,I preferred the underwound P90. It just had some kind of clarity and lightness that, to my ears that is, the other PU's lacked.
And if sometimes you want darker there's the toneknob
@@vhollund True!
It was a great tone, I use my volume knob on 6-7 with p90s and get that light sound, but have room for solo.
I did too, plus the middle position had a better tone to my ears.
It was fun to watch you explore. Thanks for the insights Mick and letting us into your livingroom.
50s wind for me. Without looking at the subtitles, I almost unanimously picked the 50s. Staple had more growl, but you have that in spades with the bridge. Plus the combination of the 50s & bridge together gives another unique and beautiful voice!
The excitement on Mick’s face when he opens the box with the Messa power amp in it 🤩.
Loved the staple 👌🏽
That reaction at 3:42 says everything. In my mind, the video transformed from P90 comparisons, to how much better that Les Paul sounds from that McCarty. 🔥
Shhhhhh. Don’t tell anyone. Hey ho. That’s what £7,500 buys you then!
Back in the day, we used to handle the muddy neck pickup thing by using the bridge pup for rhythm and the neck for lead .
To my ears, it was between the 50s and the Staple too, Mick. This guitar sounds like it might be a candidate for the “Artie De-mud mod” so named after a long term expert on the Seymour Duncan forums). For a non-humbucker, place a 500K resistor in series with the hot output wire of pickup, with a 0.01uF cap in parallel (essentially, a subtle treble bleed) - this mod rescued the neck tone of my ES335!
From the outside, I loved both underwound and staple pickups. The underwound sounds sweet to my ears. The staple pickup seemed to have an authoritative clarity in both scenarios. Your 'honky' description of the 50s PU was spot on, and it sounded great on the 2 channel setup. I have a nice amp, DAC and speakers, but obviously it can't compare to being in your shoes at all. P90s are so good.
Thanks for taking us along 🖐😃
Thanks for going the extra mile to evaluate the pickups under similar conditions. It's exactly the right thing to do. But it's such a pain in the ass and takes a lot of time so most of us will never get around to doing it. Great, as always. I preferred the low wind pickup.
Tone King Imperial, lead channel, NO PEDALS
“Golly!” *monocle pops out*
In the initial back to back with the Tone King, the Staple and the Low Wind were my preference - different, but both really good. However, that 50s wind sounded awesome in the "studio" context with the new preamp/poweramp rig. No bad options there, though :-)
Man, that 50/50 is phenomenal sounding!!! Then the p90's, rabbit hole indeed!
Thanks so much for this special Mick, the time and effort you have put into this has not gone unnoticed, the differences between the pickups comes across so clearly through my relatively cheap Alesis Mk2 monitors, that I don't need to go through this exercise myself to discover the nuances between these great pickups. I think the 50's wind is what I am looking for by the way, I now know this even though I don't have anything with P90s on it at the moment!
Thanks Simon. The 50s are my faves too. Good luck!
Knowing Mick, I could hear the 50’s to his ear almost immediately. I liked the Staple, but you could tell it was hotter
Agreed. An underw-ound Staple would get him closer to what a Stratocaster Neck pickup sounds like.
I'm currently in the process of having Seymour Duncan wind a Phat Staple for me and will request it under-wound as normally it is wound to a high (IMO) 9.1K Ohm. My personal preference would be something closer to 7.5K Ohm for most any neck pickup (a modern staple pickup included).
HK Guitar very cool
The staple sound better as a pickup overall, but I agree, an underwound staple...oooo glorious
To my ear, rested from three days camping in a quiet forest, the staple brought out more character of this particular guitar across most of the comparisons. In the loud tests, the staple held its own better across multiple pedal configurations, I think, and kept a clear voice over the widest range of dynamics. Very informative (with headphones) comparisons, thanks!
Haha! I recognised the Fifty/Fifty before it was the right way round- my foot is on top of mine right now! It’s a glorious thing. Just a couple of good ol’ tube power amps....
The under wound to my ears sounds the best, a nice airy tone
Underwound was my favorite and its wasn't close for my ear. Listening to you jam brought the others to life.
Missed you boys so much yesterday! Love that you share this great gift with us. I'm not efficient enough (and can't justify the purchases) with soldering - and trying pickups. I'm glad to get to watch and hear you do it. It ends up making me find the things that makes me love me own rig - and work within the boundaries of what I have today. That might be odd to say, but its good and its a good thing. You help with gas - and I refocus myself on just playing better - and dialing it whatever I have.
Loving the new vlog space! The Lester McPablo sounded awesome. I wish they all sounded like that...
What I enjoy out of a neck pickup is probably what few others do. I like them clear and woody rather than the brashness of the bridge. Anyway, that underwound is glorious. It's lovely on its own, with nice note separation, but lovely with some juice.
It’s a tie between the underwound and the staple.
I would suggest you check out Bootstrap pickups squeaky clean p90, which will be like a hybrid of those two pickups. They sound great.
Exactly my choices as well. giving the underwound the edge. Especially worked much better in the middle position
Agreed. I like the stratiness of the staple... also, it makes the guitar unique. The under wound sounds great as well. but I feel you can get that sound with a bunch of other guitars
Some of the best pickup demoing out there! That new Mesa rig doesn’t sound AMAZING! Thanks for taking the time to share this process with us 💯
With you on the 50’s wind, and yesss I hope you’re loving the stereo Mesa love as much as I! (Still worth trying the 20/20 if you haven’t, or maybe that’s more up Dan’s bag!)
I like my P-90s a bit weak, my humbuggies about average, and my single coils hot.
I didn't have a favourite. All four of these neck PU's sounded the best to me at some point, depending on what you were playing. You said you thought the first one sounded too muddy. I assumed both the Underwound and the 50's would sound less muddy than the one that was already in, but the first couple of things you tried (the three chords ringing out and the shuffle after that) proved differently (to my ears anyway). Having said that, I'd never play anything like that with a sound like that with any P90 in the neck position. It's almost like wanting to play a heavily distorted metal part on a Gibson ES-150 (not trying to be rude - my intentions are good, promised!). Funny thing is that I don't think you'd ever play a shuffle in E anyway. Maybe you do, I can't be sure, it just doesn't seem to be 'you' somehow. I could be wrong.
I actually liked the dirtiness and raw power of the first P90 when you were hitting it, playing solo stuff. And for your clean work I liked the Underwound and the 50's better. But to me P90's are all about dirt! For clean neck tones I prefer many different things (Telecaster neck PU's, DeArmond sc's, Filtertrons and even low output humbuckers). It's a good thing we're all chasing different sonic goals.
Let's applaud the existence of rabbit holes!
Wait...., this sounds terribly wrong! 😳
Hey Mick. For what its worth, the 50s wind did what you were looking for, based on what you described. It has that balanced clarity in the neck position. The underwound sounded like the best match for the bridge pickup, but leaned into the bass/flub thing you're trying to get away from. Who knows, maybe that can be tweaked out/dialed in. The staple had the most going on of the three. Complex and rich sounding, more harmonic content and dynamic happening. Beautiful sounding pickup. Also the least traditional P-90 sounding of the lot. You can hear a lot of strat pickup character at times. Definitely outside the box for what one would expect of this guitar. If you wanted distinctly different tones, based on pickup selection, it would be the way to go. But not the match for the bridge pickup in my opinion. Just my 2 cents, hope it helps with the decision. Killer tones direct into the Imperial btw. 👍
Some additional comparison timestamps.
______________
9:51 - Reg - neck
10:00 - 50's - neck
10:09 - UW - neck
10:18 - Stpl - neck
______________
10:27 - Reg (b) + Stpl (n) - middle
10:34 - Reg (b) + Reg (n) - middle
10:29 - Reg (b) + 50's (n) - middle
10:43 - Reg (b) + UW (n) - middle
_______________
10:53 - Reg - bridge (single note)
10:58 - UW - neck (single note)
11:12 - Reg - neck (single note)
11:16 - 50's - neck (single note)
11:26 - Stpl - neck (single note)
Love the 50 wind , your touch with that guitar is wonderful. Thanks Mick.
To my ear, the 50’s wind and the Staple have the most presence. The 50’s has a bit more note definition, where the Staple has a nice and sweet overall tone.
I’ll be getting a Staple for my LP Jr to go with the Elliott P-90 in the bridge!
Man, those Lollar P90s just take the blanket of that lovely guitar! It was SO muddy before.....now it sings (I love Lollar P90s and have them fitted to my 03 LP Special) Enjoy whichever neck pup you settle on (my fav was the 50s wind......just!) 😊👍
Man, want to give a huge salute to not only how long this must of taken to film, but also how long it must of taken to edit! Great sounds, hard to pick!
ThNks Mike!
Your comments @ 12:17 re "problems with this test" include some of the most insightful, rarely mentioned issues regarding
doing solid , fair comparisons that I have seen anywhere. I have heard very few comments onthe fact that new pickups have to
'break in " for a while before they really settle in and sound right . Kudos ! I have spent over 20 years doing fanatical pickup
comparisons and I fully agree with your comments.
Thank you Rhykko. I’d never really thought about it before until Ron Ellis mentioned it to me. He told me to ignore the sounds of them for the first hour or so at least. Stands to reason I guess!?
And then time. We’ll time changes everything, always!
I enjoyed this Mick. The middle positions have an interesting tone with different neck pickups, and vice versa. That bridge P90 sounds good for sure and you picked what i would have picked. The staple pickup and 50s wind are really nice on their own and combined with bridge pickup, although i thought i liked the underwound middle tone best. What height were you setting the pickup to each time? 2.4mm seems good for humbuckers and P90s.
50s for me! It has a lovely chimey ring and clarity, plus I liked how it sat with the bridge pickup. Having said that the staple had a nice bit of nastiness and balls that I quite liked, but maybe keep it for another guitar. Everyone needs an excuse for more guitars!
Great to hear you playing through a Tone King amp. I have the Falcon Grande, and love it. Hope more people discover these amps, because they are phenomenal.
Staple and underwound to my ear. The staple with the Hendrix-ish univibe sound is awesome. Staples are like hot Fender single coils with more meat and smoother dynamics.
Think Jimi meets Leslie West.
I have Duncan Custom Phat Staple on an Ibanez hollow body, and it is immaculate.
Also I installed an underwound neck Fralin P90 ‘humbucker case’ on my Washburn Nuno, and that sounds glorious.
they all sounded great in post-ytb land! i spose the feel is the defining factor, and only mick knows what speaks to mick
Wicked sounds man! Oooooof!
I liked the underwound most, but 50s was nice too. The staple sounds so beefy! Hopefully you come to a conclusion that you're happy with! I'm surprised you liked the staple the most as it was the closest to the first one haha, big difference to what we hear in youtube land though :)
The Staple Pickups dirty and volume were just lovely. It was hard to say what was better clean in a small room, but it seemed the 50's wind seamed to get your best playing clean. I have to say I love Lolar Staples on my Novo Serius J in the neck and bridge. My Novo T Amalfitano P-45 neck pickup a little different since it is only using a single bar magnet, lower output than the P-90.
I personally and subjectively preferd the underwound. Primarily as it sat better when used in combination with the bridge pickup for the kind of sounds i like. Also loving the new vlog space it looks awesome and it adds another layer of production quality and consistency in that space between both mick and Dan's vlogs.
Thank you Leigh!
Hi Mick. Great vlog as usual thanks. I have a Gibson Custom reissue 57 Special. The neck was starting to feel/sound too thick for me and I was thinking of getting the Lollar 50’s for bridge and Underwound for neck as a balanced set. But I then decided to try a 25 cent treble bleed mod on the neck PuP first. So now I can have the heavy grunt with the volume pot wide open and just nock it down a little to get more clarity and balanced tone. Kind of the best of both worlds. I may yet swap PuPs but this 2 minute mod has given me some pause for thought and additional playing time... I’ve also had success altering caps before to roll off a nasty edge to a LP Custom Florentine. Caps are by far the quickest and cheapest mod you can make and great for tweaking a muddy or bright characteristic you dislike about otherwise nice PuPs to your own ears. While I know in this case you didn’t like the older PuPs full stop, keep in mind the finer subtlety that caps can make in their various applications can really put that cherry on an already great cake. Have fun finding the right P90 feeling for you 👍
Thanks DJ! Much appreciated. I’m sort of ideologically opposed to wiring mods. No idea why, other than they didn’t do it in the old days. Which makes no sense at all why we shouldn’t do it today! Hahaha!
That Pedal Show Gottcha from a purist perspective... but keep the caps bit in your back pocket as a way of fine tuning a sound and feel of what you do like. I see what I did as balancing a sound I like in a darker or brighter sounding guitar body. Plus it costs only a few quid and 2 mins work at a time rather than rewiring as such. Cheers
I'm sold on the staple... great vlog, I might get one for myself to put on my custom build Tele... ! Cheers
Underwound sound glorious.
He made the same mistake in the same place, reaction was perfect. Brilliant guitar tones btw. Thanks for this video.
Great video!!! Well worth all the effort. Always wanted to see a good video comparing different p-90 style pickups.
Great vlog Mick, super enjoyed that. The Mesa is mega. Thank you.
I like 50's for cleaner sounds, and the standart for crunch tones. Great vlog Mick
Oh man I was in love with that 50's wound after the first chord.
Cracking vlog! I think if I had to choose I would lean towards the staple, but in fairness they all had a little something to offer.
If you want a mild chuckle, watch the vlog with closed captions - I particularly love how it handles the playing sections, especially at 18:06 when that rogue F# sneaks in :D
Underwound is the winner for me. The 50s sounded a little thin, the staple a little woofy. But all were better than the original option.
My favourites were 50s followed closely by the underwound for cleans and the underwound for driven sounds. Overall the underwound wins it for me on balance.
Love love love these vlogs Mick! Give us moooore! Haha!
And 50s was my favourite by a long long way. Underwound was number 2 for me.
Underwound sounded best to me. Any pickup must-first-sound-good = "Clean" in order to have great Tone when adding overdrive. Nice TPS guitar strap.
I've been hankering after a P90 equipped guitar for ages. I tried a Gibson LP Special a while back & I found the neck pickup to be too dark and had I bought it, I'd have been looking at a swap. I think I preferred the underwound, especially when it was in combination with the bridge pickup but like you say, it is also about living with the guitar . Interesting stuff Mick thanks.
That’s a great deal of work. Much appreciated. Love that pedalboard setup.
Underwound is the best match. Thanks Mick!
50's, more high end and sparkle without lowing the output like the under-wounds. (typed at conclusion of quieter playing).
(after loud playing) Yep, 50's for the win for me. And can't wait for my number to come up to order a secret machine, that fuzz rocks.
Like you Mick, I immediately gravitated towards the 50s wound. I think it does the best all-round job of blending really nicely with the bridge pickup, and taming those flubby lows. They're much more focused now and tighter. The staple sounds good by itself (although the lows still flub out a bit), but I think it overshadows the bridge pickup a bit too much.
My buddy made a Coodercaster for me from a Mexican Strat and Lollar pickups. Oh my yes. Jason does amazing work.
YES!!! Couldn’t wait for this one!!
My gut feeling is the "muddy" Lollar neck (8.2k) in the bridge, with the "underwound" neck (7.7k) at the neck would make a better set.
The 50:50... I've been using one with a Triaxis since the '90s. 😁
If I had to pick based on what I heard from this, the Underwound would be my 1st choice as it had the clarity without so much of the Flub. The 50's would be a close 2nd and the Staple third. I think the Staple possibly had a bit more clarity than the regular but a bit 'angrier' and pushed the amp more but overall seemed the closest to the Regular...
Both the 50's and the Underwound were as similar as the Staple and Regular. Of course there are subtle differences between them still but from what I heard, you could almost split these into two 'groups'.
The staple sounded best to me in that guitar. Took on a slight strat sound. Guess that's due to the construction.
Good timing in the vid. I'm installing the regular set in a JM style guitar I just finished building today. If I don't get along with the neck I'll be grabbing either the staple or the underwound.
Thanks for the vids!
Having owned and played extensively a 1972 Reissue Les Paul w/ P-90s and Stopped Tailpiece that I bought in 1972 I was actually surprised that the 50s P-90 in the neck immediately stood out to me and never stopped. It might be because I've always figured it's easy to dump high end but harder to get it in the first place while still sounding full. The 50s gets my vote hands down, softer or louder. Anyway... very interesting "shootout". Thanks.
Great to hear the comparison Mick. I have been super happy with the 50-ties wounds in my McSoapie for many years now. Didn’t like Lollar regular winds enough, but never tried the underwound or staple. I can play that guitar for every style I like, never missing a tele or another PAF style guitar. Actually only got a DGT because I love the PRS trem so much. McSoapies with trems do exist, but are very rare.
Yeah man. That PRS waggle stick is easily the best floating job out there I think. I can play my DGT free of worries. Sounds great, works great. Usually one of those things isn’t there.
Even Mick is incorporating Capt Lee's lick these days! What a visionary! What a pioneer! hahah
Ihmmmmmm
Might be worth giving Kinman a try. I have one in a Harley Benton faded blue DC Junior that sounds killer and .... no hum. Of course it is in the bridge position, but I reckon the Kinman neck P90 should be good too. I think the low end is mostly influenced by the pickups position along the strings although iron or steel in the centre of the coil can boost low frequency inductance. Changing the winding affects the high end. Different magnets affect attack and harmonic content. I'd expect the staple pickup to be more like a Strat pickup with a punchy attack, since the pole magnets are perpendicular to the string like a Strat. The other P90s all have the magnets in the normal P90 position under the coil and parallel to the string.
The underwound is obviously the sweet choice here. Yeah, great tone!
Ordered a Mojo Staple P90 earlier this month with the nickel bezel. Can’t wait to try it out!
Sounding great Mick. Have to say my fave in the four was the under wound. I was hearing a bit of early 70's Townshend. They all have a character of their own for certain.
Another vote for the underwound neck (staple is a close second). Thanks so much. I've got a 90s LP Special I want to put Lollar P90s in to replace the stock P100s. I've got Lollars in all my Fenders already .
I have one of your combos-Lollar Regular P90 bridge and Lollar Staple neck-in a PRS singlecut with Korina neck/body. I feel like the SC (at least mine) is a little more middy and not only do I love the Staple but the slight scoop works well with that guitar. With the McCarty the Staple sounded even more Fendery, and while I loved and preferred that sound, I do wonder if it might still get slightly woofy to your ears in that guitar. But honestly I'd take the Staple even with some woof... ;-) I did have a 50s wind in the bridge at one point, and while I liked the sound it did lack a bit of push and couldn't balance quite right with the Staple neck. Thanks for sharing, and it sounds killer in all combinations!
Great vlog as always, Mick! Cheers
I really love my Eastman SB56/n-GD, it has Lollar underwound P90 in the neck position and Lollar P90 in the Bridge position. Great work on the video Mick, from what I heard I would be happy with the underwound or 50's PU's. I prefer the lighter wound PU's, I like the clean tones they produce. If I need to push the signal, well that's what pedals and amps are for (IMHO). Again, great and informative video. Thanks Mick.
I think this is the best I have heard you sound Mick! Love the rig sir !
Thanks Brad!
Just added Lollar's Charlie Christian in the neck and their Novel 90 at the bridge of my '79 Les Paul Custom. Sounds fantastic and I do not miss the humbuckers one bit.
Amazing vlog as usual Mick! You have a really tough choice to make, they all sounded awesome, I would keep the staple P90 not only because it sounds stupidly good, but also because it gives a very different flavor.
Out of the regular ones, the best one for me was the 50's Wind P90, but again, that's how you'd expect a P90 to sound, the Staple one leaves you with a "Woah, that was unexpected" kinda thing that I seriously enjoyed.
Thanks for this Mick, great playing, love the vlog. I just ordered a staple for my p90 guitar, I love the strat vibes. Defs keep the staple in the PRS
The Lollar imperials have a very airy quality similar to the gold top Les Paul. I wasn’t a fan and swapped them for something more meaty