2023 GIBSON PICKUP COMPARISON: Les Paul Humbucker vs P90 vs Mini Humbucker Pickup Shootout

Рет қаралды 18,998

Күн бұрын

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Presenter: @kennethkishandave
Editor & Videographer: @emranmalek
Music Store: @music_bliss // @Music Bliss Malaysia
Equipment Used:
Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s Humbucker
Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s P90
Gibson Les Paul 70s Deluxe Mini Humbuckers
Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister Deluxe 20
Orange PPC212V Vertical Cabinet with Celestion Neo Creamback Speakers
MXR DC Brick Power Supply
SE Electronics V7X Dynamic Mic
SE Electronics X1 S Condenser Mic
MOTU M6
0:00 Intro
1:15 Signal Chain
1:36 Clean - Neck Pickup
3:00 Clean - Both Pickups
3:37 Clean - Bridge Pickup
4:34 Crunch - Neck Pickup
5:16 Crunch - Both Pickups
6:02 Crunch - Bridge Pickup
7:16 What I hear in the room
7:58 Outro

Пікірлер: 65

@deeman524 11 ай бұрын

Those mini humbuckers have the cleanest tone

@Mikey__R 7 ай бұрын

I was definitely surprised how much brighter they were than the P90, sort of half way to a Tele.

@adamkrauss303 6 ай бұрын

Helpful comparison. And thanks for playing the same riffs with each guitar, as not all reviewers do that.

@WeekendWarriorGuitars 2 ай бұрын

I have a 1971 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe w/ the mini humbuckers - I think this demo shows how great these minis sound in the Les Paul! It's my favorite guitar and pickup combo 🤩

@neoaureus 4 ай бұрын

I played the P90 the Goldtop 58 Reissue and the Custom... p90 is a monster machine. Killer.

@Rogijimbex 7 ай бұрын

Well done! I'm in the P90 camp also. They've got it all. Thanks

@theburningfeathersband 2 ай бұрын

After so many years of hating on mini humbuckers your video has humbled me. They sound great 🤘🔥

@Delzona Жыл бұрын

P90s!!! The minis after that! Great video, really great to hear comparisons using chord patterns that are somewhat recognizable, which to me makes it easier to hear the difference in pickups.

@mwpv11 Жыл бұрын

Great comparison. For me I prefer the Humbuckers, then the P90’s and mini’s last

@johanhasan4707 Жыл бұрын

Great video, as usual. Oh, your reverb also makes me happy! LoL

@igabo95 10 ай бұрын

All 3 sounded amazing and fit to a certain application. I was blown away by the aggressiveness of P90s , which I must say were my favourite , probably also thanks to you gear , which made them shine. I never tried mini HB though , and your video made me want to try them! Thx , great video and great sounds.

@dafxtone Жыл бұрын

Very good comparison, and usefull. Congrats.

@Macho-Sasquatcho Жыл бұрын

Awesome thorough video! This really helped me out as I've been trying to decide between a P90 vs Mini Humbucker Les Paul.

@seanvine39 6 ай бұрын

Great video btw

@hkguitar1984 Жыл бұрын

Great evaluation and description, I would agree with your assessment 100%. Having owned all three of these guitar/pickup combinations I also favor the P90s. That said, I'm still glad to have each of them on-hand as each has a time and place for their use. Count me as a new Subscriber. Thank You, great content Sir.

@craigtodd8297 9 ай бұрын

Great video.

@donthousand7503 5 ай бұрын

Thank you for the video, it's just what I was looking for. For me mini humbucker for life 😂 p.s. hi from Italy!

@innyshaTH Жыл бұрын

This is very perfect content for us to know the difference between guitar and what we should pick the right one. Thank you ❤🎉

@Tomalga Жыл бұрын

I like the mini humbucker most, but p90 is close second. Reg humbucker can sound too washed out at times, the mini corrects that and gives it more clarity. Can't beat the P90 aggressiveness/energy tho. Hard to decide between the two, but there's something about the mini humbuckers sound that strikes a chord (pun intended) with me. Great comparison!

@hemordroidnz7908 Жыл бұрын

Totally agree, the clarity and warmth from the minis is very appealing. I currently play a maton ms500 with twin stock humbuckers, but they don't have that drive and clarity so this has made my mind up

@kylecravens6501 10 ай бұрын

Agreed! A great tonal reference on that would be the guitar work of Jeff Carlisi of 38 Special. All those great guitar solos would have been a Les Paul Deluxe Goldtop with the mini humbuckers.

@mortonwilson795 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for this - great to have the 3 back to back to compare! I'm sort of covered for Humbuckers (1968 Les Paul Custom & the recent Epihone 59 with Gibson electronics) and P90s (Casino w Lollars & Duesenberg Starplayer) BUT i recently tried the new Gibson Deluxe 70s Gold Top reissue and was blown away by the clarity and 'edge' it has - this could easily be my 'other LP' for double tracking and rhythm parts. The minis seem to do away with any 'flab' that humbuckers might have and tighten things up and sit in their own frequency lane . . . your comparison pretty well demonstrates what I was hearing trying these at the Gibson dealers! 👍😊

@tedjaworski225 Жыл бұрын

Mr. Beard, nicely done. I'm on board with your opinion. My '65ish Firebird 3 has P90s that just grab by the short hairs. Thanks.

@emiliocolon6158 9 ай бұрын

This video is the perfect example that pickups have different usages depending on the song and genres. Thank you for giving me a good reason to go pick up a new guitar.

@SoulfulJim1 6 ай бұрын

Best comparison of this yet.

@sheriffdohboy Жыл бұрын

Hey….just subscribed …,always enjoyed your music bliss content and tones….on the subject of pickups on a les paul..,,have previously owned to Gibson BFGs which have the best of both worlds with P90 neck and burstbucker in the bridge …would recommend them to anyone

@soundknight Жыл бұрын

I can see a need for all of them.

@RnRanimal 2 ай бұрын

the best sound production in a guitar review video I have seen and heard.

@timwillcox6031 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for the good comparison! The minis are my personal favorite, I think they are under utilized.

@briandietrich1373 6 ай бұрын

Love the mini buckers and P90's!

@barackmycat9448 Жыл бұрын

That was well done. I`m mostly a bass player but I have watched many guitars in action. The P90`s always sounded right to me. The other 2 are great but suited to certain playing. imo The big humbucker just shouts Peter Townsend.

@TheLadsBandLive Жыл бұрын

P90s are cool. I love them, I play them but, man, they sure do buzz and hum. It definitely takes a bit of taming to get under control.

@markhenley5131 9 ай бұрын

Great playing indeed I love p90s but find overdriven mini humbuckers just great

@schaerfentiefe1967 Жыл бұрын

A very good video! Surprisingly the P90 sounded a little dull in the clean demos and a little harsh in the crunch demos ... with some disharmonious overtones from the bridge pickup. The regular humbuckers were sometimes a littel muddy but with crunch/distortion they had the best, rich and harmonic sound for me with. The mini humbuckers seem to be a good compromise with an emphasis in the high-mid and treble range but without the snotty, disharmonious overtones of the P90. If I had to chose only one Les Paul, overall I would still prefer the regular humbuckers...

Жыл бұрын

Dude, I needed to see this comparison. I had a 2018 Gold Top Les Paul Classic with P90's. I sold it March of this year, 2023. It was over 10lbs, too heavy! All 3 guitars in this post sound great! Man, I think I'm going again with the P90's. A 50's standard Gold Top. Thanks for the post!!

@bewusstsein3527 Жыл бұрын

the 2018 classics has no weight relief . i dont know about the 50s standard but i do feel the 2018 run is special.. i have one

@andresrestrepo6039 5 ай бұрын

Mini humbucker just has so much punch and cut to my ear. I really liked em.

@rusty6314 Жыл бұрын

Excellent video you got yourself a new subscriber!

@JosephGallagher 4 ай бұрын

Them mini's are so gooood!!

@conartist267 9 ай бұрын

Great comparison. No talking is always best between samples. I surprised myself. I didn’t like the mini hb’s but I found surprisingly close to the P90’s.🙏 p.s, I’ll always go with the humbucker and I think you can eq to a close P90 sound…

@stanislavmigra Жыл бұрын

I love them all. But I can clearly hear, why humbuckers are most common Les Paul pickup. p90 and MiniHumbuckers feels to me like more specific usage. And MiniBuckers just looks wrong to me on Les Pauls.

@st.johnfromdesmoines8361 Жыл бұрын

So, I actually kept score while I was listening (I'll reply-to-self with a detailed breakdown of those scores and potentially a more detailed analysis thereof). But it's interesting to me that for as different as they are, this one came out super duper close for me. In fact, just adding up simple scores (3 points for every 1st place, 2 for every 2nd, and of course, 1 for every 3rd), they even came out to be a perfect 3-way tie at 12 apiece). To completely abuse the term "objective", I'm going to say therefore, that they are [ahem] "objectively" a 3-way tie, since their overall scores all added up to be the same. Probably the much more important system of measure, though, than a simple naked "tally", would be the more "overtly subjective" measure of what my overall impressions and sensations were listening to them. Even in this much more important and nuanced system of measure, though, I still would struggle somewhat to name a definite 1st place. I can, however, probably more confidently name a 3rd place - and I'll give that one to the minis. Here's why: each pickup had assets and each had liabilities, and at their best, they all shone brilliantly. At their best, they probably ARE a tie for me. But I think I'd give the minis last place subjectively, though, simply because their liabilities tended to be the liabilities that offended me the most. At their best, they're bright and articulate and dazzling, and without the hum of the P90s to boot. But at their worst, I found them to be harsh and brittle, and besides, I found that even if the minis were the most articulate overall, I found the articulation of the P90s to be far far sweeter and less one-dimensional. There is a lot of nuance and character to the P90's articulation, where the articulation of the minis sometimes sounded brutal and robotic. I definitely felt the minis were the least soulful of the three. If we were to separate the scores out to just clean and just dirty, then on balance, the P90s were my favorite of the three for clean tones and my least favorite of the three for dirty tones. The minis were the exact opposite, taking the top score for dirty, and the bottom score for clean. The Humbuckers came in in the middle on both counts, and I suppose, if for no other reason than for that, I'll go ahead and award them the #1 spot subjectively, because they are a masterful jack of all trades, as opposed to the others, which are each more "min/maxed". I liked the Humbuckers almost as much as the P90s when clean, and almost as much as the minis when dirty, and much better than the others in the opposite direction. Moreover, the raw scores don't account for "how important" particular strengths and weaknesses were for me. I'll save all that for the reply-to-self breakdown, but those breakdowns will only further diminish the minis overall and, I suppose, even further bolster the Humbuckers and P90s, and probably especially the humbuckers. So, I'll stop here for now and thank you for an excellent video. If you'd like to know more, see that reply, which will be incoming as quickly as possible. :-) Cheers, and thanks again!!!

@st.johnfromdesmoines8361 Жыл бұрын

Promised "reply-to-self" with the scoring breakdowns: Scoring system: each 1st place is worth 3 points, each 2nd is worth 2, and each 3rd is worth 1. Total points available: 36. Highest possible score: 18. Lowest possible score: 6. Perfect average score: 12. Clean Neck: 1st: P90 2nd: Humbucker 3rd: Mini Clean Middle: 1st: P90 2nd: Mini 3rd: Humbucker Clean Bridge: 1st: Humbucker 2nd: Mini 3rd: P90 Dirty Neck: 1st: Mini 2nd: Humbucker 3rd: P90 Dirty Middle: 1st: Mini 2nd: P90 3rd: Humbucker Dirty Bridge: 1st: Humbucker 2nd: P90 3rd: Mini Neck Overall: 3 way tie (4pts each) P90: 1st and 3rd Humbucker: 2nd and 2nd Mini: 3rd and 1st Middle Overall: 2 way tie: P90 and Mini P90: 1st and 2nd Mini: 2nd and 1st Humbucker: 3rd and 3rd Bridge Overall: Humbucker Humbucker: 1st and 1st P90: 3rd and 2nd Mini: 2nd and 3rd Clean Overall: 1st: P90 (7 points, 2 1sts and a 3rd) 2nd: Humbucker (6 points, 1 of each ranking) 3rd: Mini (5 points, 2 2nds and a 3rd) Dirty Overall: 1st: Mini (7 points, 2 1sts and a 3rd) 2nd: Humbucker (6 points, 1 of each ranking) 3rd: P90 (5 points, 2 2nds and a 3rd) Final Score: 3-way tie: 12pts apiece. Assets and liabilities: Mini Assets: Brightest, most articulate Mini Liabilities: sometimes harsh and brittle, articulation kinda brutal and soulless. My least favorite of the three on clean. Bridge in dirty is offensively shrill. Neck in clean is very "plastic". Humbucker Assets: Warmest and richest, by far the best Bridge. Best balance of clean and dirty Humbucker Liabilities: can be dead and murky sounding. Least favorite middle position. P90 Assets: the perfect middle ground compromise between the Mini's brightness and the Humbucker's warmth. Much sweeter, more nuanced and soulful articulation. P90 liabilities: Huuuuuuuummmmmm, and also my least favorite for dirty. I can't quite put my finger on what it is I dislike about the sounds overdriven, but it's pervasive. Overall least favorite: the Mini. At their best, they're breathtaking. But their liabilities are the ones I find the most offensive. Overall favorite: Humbuckers: the best "jack of all trades", even if a master of none (except for the bridge). Much less "min/maxed" than the other two, covers the most ground well. One I find the most intriguing: Mini One I find the least intriguing: Humbucker One I WANTED to like the best: P90 One I THOUGHT I would like the best: P90 One I THOUGHT I would like the least: Mini. The greatest highlight moments for me: P90 neck clean and Humbucker bridge dirty. Most extreme victories for me: P90 Middle Clean and Humbucker bridge dirty. Favorite positions on each guitar: P90: Clean: Neck. Dirty: Middle. Overall: Neck. Humbucker: Clean: Neck. Dirty: Bridge. Overall: Bridge Mini: Clean: Bridge. Dirty: Middle. Overall: Middle. Misc thoughts 1 of 2: Even though the Mini scored higher for me overall than the Humbucker on dirty, I think I might still actually prefer the Humbucker for dirty overall anyway: why? Because the most important position for me when playing dirty (by far) is the Bridge position, which the Humbucker won for me....by far. Yeah, I genuinely do like the mini neck and middle dirty better than the Humbucker equivalents, but those positions are less important to me than the bridge - combined. Perhaps, for heavy playing, a guitar with a bridge Humbucker and a Mini neck would be ideal (pending the results of how the middle position would sound - which I have not yet had a chance to hear as of this writing, though given how it'd be mixing a dual coil with a dual coil, I would imagine that I'd like it just fine.) Misc thoughts 2 of 2: For clean tones, by contrast, the bridge position is actually the least important to me, making what I perceive to be the P90's weakness there to be less important than its dominance in the neck, which is the most important clean position to me, or in the middle position, where I felt the P90's dominance over the others was the most pronounced and dramatic. While it may seem like the obvious solution for me, then, would be to get a guitar with a P90 neck and a bridge Humbucker, I know for a fact this is not true for me because I have heard the Middle sound on these blended guitars and do not like it at all. Rather than the two pickups "blending", they instead, to my ears, more "stack unpleasantly". And so, seeing as how "clean Middle" is generally more important to me than "clean Bridge", it would for me amount to a net loss to go "PH" on a guitar where I'd mostly be playing clean vs P.P. Again, it'd depend on how the (as yet unheard) middle position would sound, but if favorable, I could see PM becoming a good solution, though given that it's a single and a multi-coil pickup being blended, then just like the aforementioned PH, or, I suppose like a Precision Bass neck and a Jazz Bass bridge, I don't like the way the attempted blends sound in the middle on any of those, so I suspect I would not like this blend either. And there you have it. The full breakdown and some additional thoughts. Overall the Humbucker takes it, though the standalone highlights are mostly P90, and the standalone lowlights are mostly Mini, despite my finding it the most intriguing. Thanks again for the video!! 🍻

@iamritvikshem Жыл бұрын

I think Mini Humbucker sounds the Best

@scarcam Жыл бұрын

P90s really shone on this with plenty of power, grit and bite. The humbuckers sounded dull to me. The mini humbuckers are there own thing, much lower output but still usable

@ClintCurtis 8 ай бұрын

Surprised my the minis! Maybe I need a third Les Paul….

@allanflippin2453 5 ай бұрын

Well done comparison! I could hear differences with each pickup type. In some comparison videos, the presenter deliberately makes the guitars sound the same as much as possible and dares us to pick which is which :D In clean, I prefer the mini-humbuckers. And that surprised me. In general, the full-sized humbuckers had a bottom-heavy sound. Have you ever played a Firebird? Although those have "mini humbuckers", they are not the same as the mini-humbuckers on Les Pauls or other Gibsons. I'm curious how that stacks up.

@svetoslavslavov7215 7 ай бұрын

My favorite are the p90

@larsfocken3456 3 ай бұрын

P-90 are best in middle position. The Humbuckers are great, too. The Mini Humbuckers have much clarity. Check out Jeff McErlain‘s video How To Dial In A Les Paul before changing your PUs!

@seanvine39 6 ай бұрын

P90s have a great acoustic quality to them. My favorite jazz gtr setup is a 175 with a p90 in the neck. Early Jim Hall stuff. Beautiful.

@seanvine39 6 ай бұрын

PAFs are too tubby. Never been a fan.

@holmesy321 4 ай бұрын

A slightly different ballgame, but I was looking at 335s and couldn't decide between HBs and P90s. I was thinking I'd probably buy the HB model and put a P90 in the neck. But man, EVERY TIME I watch one of these types of videos it makes me want a mini humbucker...

@michaelcrain6820 10 ай бұрын

P90’s all the way…clean & crunchy. They just growl like no others.

@ChoppaWhoppa1 3 ай бұрын

P90s clean, but regular hummies with crunch sound best imo.

@christianboddum8783 6 ай бұрын

I'd love to se a LP with a Burstbucker in the bridge and a minihumbucker in the neck, wonder why Gibson never offered this hybrid.

@John_Doe657 Жыл бұрын

I honestly prefered the humbuckers in this comparison as they had more bottom end and sounded a bit more whide. The P90’s comes in close second and they got some nice bite to them. The mini humbuckers didn’t sound very good with distortion imo, also they seem to be very noicy.

@nathanlira8551 4 ай бұрын

Mini deveria ser padrão absoluto.

@plastlover 5 ай бұрын

Minihumbucker for the win!!!!

@soundknight Жыл бұрын

P90 for cutting through the mix Mini for fitting in the mix Bucker for the soloist

@Lejomr2 11 ай бұрын

Mini all the way!

@andrewmuelleranantababaji8073 2 ай бұрын

Where sound what you have no 67 12 firebird with mini hums

@rocker8692 Жыл бұрын

Goldtop sounded best

@squiddly-diddly Ай бұрын

P90s all the way home....it is how it should be.

@JAL-cc8jd Ай бұрын

Just got a new Gibson LP Deluxe 70’s and it’s an incredible guitar. Excellent fit and finish and the neck is perfect IMO. I bought it online based on this comparison and I’m not the least bit disappointed. The mini humbuckers sound fantastic. Very clear and articulate yet still smooth and warm. Don’t get me wrong, though. The P90 one is next on my list (and was actually my first choice but the one I was sent had several issues with it). Can’t wait to get one, hopefully sooner rather than later because I’m getting older and would like to enjoy it for a while. 😂

@uglyguitarguy 3 ай бұрын

I wish they hadn't put that god awful 50's neck on the 70's mini-humbucker version. I wanted to buy that guitar so badly, but went with a standard because the 60's neck is just so much nicer to play. Complete miss by Gibson making a 50's spec and calling it 70's just because it has different pickups.