« P-90 tone in a humbucker size »

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.