Seymour Duncan SPH90-1N Phat Cat Neck

I found a set of these pickups going for around $45 on ebay and they had never been fitted in any guitar so essentially I got them brand new. This was the deal of the century. I was actually on the lookout for humbuckers until I came across these.

I had never used or owned a guitar with P90's so I was unaware of the sound at first but once I put them in my guitar there was no way I was going back. I play a lot of country licks and such and the clarity I get from these pickups is amazing.

My Tanglewood Les Paul copy came with pretty average pickups and by putting these phat cats in I feel like I have upgraded the sound of this guitar by miles.

Highly recomend this pickup. What's great about it is that it requires no modifications at all for those guitars that already have humbuckers.

Thanks!

Justin

The Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P-90 sure is a cool cat. With this pikcup you get all the output, tone and sustain of your favorite humbucking pickup but with the all the definition and note clarity of a single coil. This pickup is super dynamic. It can be warm and thick for blues or be crunchy for rock. P-90s respond well to how you are playing and goes along with you. These pickups are very lively and punchy. They have a thinner bottom end than most P-90s but there are a ton of mids and top end spank. They are very responsive and sensitive to pick attack. I compared the Phat Cat Les Paul to a 2004 Gibson Classic SG with stock Gibson P-90’s which are the traditional big P-90s. I also compared it to a Les Paul Historic Special Double Cut reissue, (modeled after the 1960 Les Paul Special DC). I found the Gibson P-90’s in both guitars to be both a bit warmer and smoother with greater bottom end. Overall, the Gibson P-90’s had a much fuller and “wider” sound while the Phat Cats seemed more closely aligned with a hotter Fender single coil sound. With that said, the Phat Cats do not sound bad at all. The Phat Cats sounded very good overdriven and with high gain. They were surprisingly quiet and certainly would help cut through the mix in a band setting. Some tonal differences between the Phat Cat and the Gibson Traditional P-90s can be explained by the Gibson P-90 being much larger in size and able to pick up my frequencies. This also means that they cannot be easily installed onto a guitar that didnt come with them. The Phat Cat can do a variety of tones and could be used for many styles. I could do country to jazz to rock even. If you are looking for some of that classy P-90 tone and do not want to have to cut up your guitar to get them to fit, the SD Phat Cat may be for you.

- How long have you use it? 1 / 2 day but I already won! I did mount a serious Burny Les Paul, 1978 - Edit qques months later, I offered the little brother to the position Acute Les Paul, replacing a JeffBeck.

- What is so special that you like most and least? Output Level incredible is one thing, but mostly it is a simple format to double the size it has a humbucker with the slamming and clarity of a single!! And also with sensitivity to noise (a cathode ray tube screen for example).

- Have you tried many other models before buying it? I brought up in an acute JB. They do not marry really well, JB The lack of acute and clarity, this poses a problem when one looks more presence by switching to position micro acute.

- How would you rate the quality / price? bah, it was cheap (€ 120 but hey, it was the price for good pickups I think)

- With experience, you do again this choice? ... A Fonnd!

After testing "for real" knowledge has repeated with drummer and amps: I put 10/10. this mic is fabulous (at least for me) I think I have discovered a new world, namely the best single coils and humbuckers combined. So I think to replace the JB that is an acute Phat Cat. Richessse harmonic sustain, clarity and fishing at a time. the awesome crunch. I finally understood the secret of his AC DC: The P90. It is pointless to try to imitate the sound of Angus Young on Highway to hell with anything other than the microphone.
A sound that comes out of the mix, I find it crushes the JB by his presence. However, it has a very full sound less saturated, less fat. No significant buzz. Hum I update this opinion ... Since I replaced the JB with a sharp Phat Cat, the guitar is very consistent.

Config test:
micro-mounted on a serious Burny Les Paul 78 -> Supercomp -> octave -> phaser -> Tube Factor -> delay -> amp

Been tried in a Twin, a JCM900, a Hot Rod to play the Rock (ledzep, Janis Jopl, Font, ....) I put 8 / because of the sensitivity of the screen buzz. That said, I did not notice any problem of uncontrollable feedback .... But I tend to push the gain and the Fuzz ... again: gouache Humbuckers without loss of slamming. Attention, we were not in the world fender, one is the fat sound ...

I Mount in the neck position on my old Ibanez RG450 (basswood) I wanted to evolve in the same fawn gots my music: mtal finished, long live reggae / funk / jazz / rock!
The diffrence is standard: a round and warm but also slamming and pchu (thank you handle Saddle?), While the dpend Manir to attack the strings! perfect for jazzy solos full of offbeat reggae scale or the old you to take guts, it is also good in trs saturated rock to the old.
Same attention when the sound is so rich that he can tend to eat other guitars in the BPS group (not tried recording); some legalization and that r gl.
With a SD Pearly Gates in the bridge (the big rock) and one in central ssl1 (although the funky old) arssuscit my guitar!
And what's more he mouths dla