Best noiseless P-90

Sixstring said:
I'm going to if I can work around the issue using the noise gate and if I can't get along with that I will more than likely be looking at a set of Fralins!
Thank you all for the input!
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I have been very impressed with Fralin's noiseless pickups. I have a set of his Tele Split Blades and they sound incredibly close to the Fender CS Nocaster pickups I have in another guitar. The Fralin noiseless P90s are on my radar for a future build.

That said, it might be worth checking the ground on the guitar before swapping pickups. Even as little as 5-10 ohms of measured resistance can exacerbate the noise. I've stopped shielding guitars but do put a piece of 2" copper tape across all of the pot and switch holes in the control cavity to ensure a complete ground and create a common ground point on one of the pots to remove ground loops.

I have a Reverend Contender with their P90s (true singlecoil) and they have a bit of noise but the gate seems to work quite well with moderate crunch tones. My Input Gate settings are:
Mode: Advanced
Gate Type: Intelligent
Threshold: -57.8
Ratio: 3.07
Attack: 1.46 ms
Release: 10.00 ms
 
Sixstring said:
I'm going to if I can work around the issue using the noise gate and if I can't get along with that I will more than likely be looking at a set of Fralins!
Thank you all for the input!
Click to expand...
Has anyone mentioned hum at rehearsal?
 
Andy Eagle said:
The best P90s are not hum canceling. I've never had an issues with true single coils live that couldn't be worked around . It's worth the trouble.
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Have you tried the Fralins? The ones I got (a pair of 5% underwound at neck and middle, and a stock wind bridge) sound identical to the beloved PRS/SD ones that came in my triple P90.
 
JoKeR III said:
I have been very impressed with Fralin's noiseless pickups. I have a set of his Tele Split Blades and they sound incredibly close to the Fender CS Nocaster pickups I have in another guitar.
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Those are great, too. I have their "High Output" one in one Tele and their "Split Steel Pole 5% Underwound" in another, with the Vintage Split Blade in the middle spot (and a Duncan Jazz HB at the neck). Fantastic combo!
 
JoKeR III said:
I have been very impressed with Fralin's noiseless pickups. I have a set of his Tele Split Blades and they sound incredibly close to the Fender CS Nocaster pickups I have in another guitar. The Fralin noiseless P90s are on my radar for a future build.

That said, it might be worth checking the ground on the guitar before swapping pickups. Even as little as 5-10 ohms of measured resistance can exacerbate the noise. I've stopped shielding guitars but do put a piece of 2" copper tape across all of the pot and switch holes in the control cavity to ensure a complete ground and create a common ground point on one of the pots to remove ground loops.

I have a Reverend Contender with their P90s (true singlecoil) and they have a bit of noise but the gate seems to work quite well with moderate crunch tones. My Input Gate settings are:
Mode: Advanced
Gate Type: Intelligent
Threshold: -57.8
Ratio: 3.07
Attack: 1.46 ms
Release: 10.00 ms
Click to expand...
Nice! I will have a chance this coming week to run through the stage to find out where it's coming from. I really haven't had a chance to do that yet. I will try your settings I'm sure it will get me where I need to be!
Budda said:
Has anyone mentioned hum at rehearsal?
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One of the sound guys has mentioned it in the past when I'm using the Gretsch, it's mainly when I'm either boosting or running a drive when it's really noticeable, pretty much the same with the Les Paul.
 
joegtr said:
I really liked the sound of the stock Gibson P90's in my SG Classic so I was reluctant to change them. I decided to do so because the guitar was unusable in most of my playing situations. I considered Fishman Fluence because I have their single coils in my Strat & Tele , and their Classic humbuckers in my Charvels, which I absolutely love. There is no way a battery and push-pull pots would fit in the SG without modification so I ended up with the Fralin Stock wind hum cancelling P90's. I am completely satisfied. The tone is a little brighter if anything but still definitely P90 and no noise, so the guitar gets a lot more gig time!
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I saw those last night as I was doing more research! I'm sure they sound ok but didn't not want to deal with anything powered so they were off the table.
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
Have you tried the Fralins? The ones I got (a pair of 5% underwound at neck and middle, and a stock wind bridge) sound identical to the beloved PRS/SD ones that came in my triple P90.
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Yes and I liked them until I put then up against the Throbak and they just have a 3D presence that isn't in the Fralins. In fairness if I wanted noiseless they are as good as it gets but that last bit of something only in a single coil is important to me for a P90.
 
200man said:
+1 on the Fralins.
Easy to pop in too…and I have tried the Kinmans
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Yeah, the Kinmans I have in my SG Special are a mixed bag for ease of installation. Neck pickup, based on the "Staple" P90 sound was easy peasy. Bridge position "Nasty Bright" is a lot thicker than a standard P90 and barely fits under the strings, with zero room to back it off if you need to for the sound you want....
 
I’ve tried Kinmans, Mojotone, and Fralins in my LPSs and I like them in that order.

The Fralins really sounded like humbuckers; not a bad sound by any stretch, but definitely more PAF than P90. Not what I was looking for.

Mojotones are great! In this forum - or possibly another - someone described MJs as “polite” P90s and I agree with that. The mids and highs are dazzling; the lows could be a bit beefier. If Kinmans didn’t exist, I’d stick with MJs.

Kinmans are my favorite; I like them better than Gibson P90s. Highs, mids, and lows all come through at any volume. The P90 growl - which I’ve never been able to explain, but know it when I hear it - is definitely a thing with the Kinmans. They are pricy, but worth it. (He usually has a holiday sale).

All of the above are dead quiet.

Good luck.
 
Chris K said:
I’ve tried Kinmans, Mojotone, and Fralins in my LPSs and I like them in that order.

The Fralins really sounded like humbuckers; not a bad sound by any stretch, but definitely more PAF than P90. Not what I was looking for.

Mojotones are great! In this forum - or possibly another - someone described MJs as “polite” P90s and I agree with that. The mids and highs are dazzling; the lows could be a bit beefier. If Kinmans didn’t exist, I’d stick with MJs.

Kinmans are my favorite; I like them better than Gibson P90s. Highs, mids, and lows all come through at any volume. The P90 growl - which I’ve never been able to explain, but know it when I hear it - is definitely a thing with the Kinmans. They are pricy, but worth it. (He usually has a holiday sale).

All of the above are dead quiet.

Good luck.
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Thanks for the tip! I will be honest it is getting hard to know which way to go! It seems everyone has their favorite for various reasons!
 
All the ones mentioned are good sounding pickups, Hum canceling ones are a different thing though IMO and none of them are quite like a true single coil version. I just depends on how important the hum cancelling is to you.
 
I use the Mojotone quiet coil p-90's and have really enjoyed them in my Melancon P-90 artist. They maintain the P-90 "bark" and always gotten high praise from other musicians who tried the guitar.
 
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