Description
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Vintage output about 8k, and Alnico 2 magnets make for a nice neck or bridge P-90 that’s got a bit of raunch and nastiness to it. Great vintage tone. Mostly used in the neck position, paired with the Meaner P-90. Available in Soap-Bar, Dog-Ear, and “B atwing” for SGSpecial/Classic pickguard mounting. |
Steve Ouimette using the Mean P90 for lead, along with the Meaner P90 for rhythm.
Doug and Pat show review of our mean and Meaner P90, fit into our prototype cover that allows a true P90 to fit a humbucker rout.
Dan –
I’ve had Duncan, Lollar, Fralin, and Antiquity P90s. For my needs (classic rock), you can’t beat the balance of openness and warmth of the Mean 90 (I use it in the bridge of my SG Special and my Les Paul. Just mean enough to sound full and KKRRRAANNGG without adding extra grit. Sounds SO GOOD. Also, Wolfe is a great guy to work with. Highly recommend!
JT (verified owner) –
Hello,
The alnico ll provide an open and articulate sound. Never Harsh or Muddy. Usable tones wherever you set your volume/tone knobs. Think… If Seth Lover was asked to recreate a “Vintage P90” from the Early PAF/PAT# Humbucker Tone.
Keep up the good work
Wolfetone!!
* FAST turnaround!! They had mine shipped in a couple days!! Thanks!!
Wolfe Macleod (verified owner) –
We do our best, thanks!
Rob Fulmer (verified owner) –
The Mean P90 replaced the stock P90 in my SG Jr and nailed the sound in my head. Hard to explain but this pick up is dirty yet clear. Gritty yet smooth. Perfect for what I play ( 70s punk and garage). Highly recommended and shipped quick
Chris Dixon (verified owner) –
I bought a mean/meaner set for my epi 339-pro. This guitar already had a fret level, custom cut tusq nut, and all hardware replaced by real Gibson. I bought these, received them in 6 days. I had to wait another week for my 50s pots and caps harness to get in. All I can say is, My P90s, in my Epi, scream. My buddy, who is a vintage snob (he has 2 early 60s 335s, one with real paf and the other with p90), gave me the best compliment: thus sounds like a 5k guitar. That’s about my feeling too.
David (verified owner) –
Great sounding P90. Purchased this to replace the stock Dogear P90 on my ‘21 SG Junior. The stock one was wax potted and had an A5 magnet. To me it sounded really dark & harsh, and lacked clarity. The “Mean” P90 with the A2 really gave me the clarity and openness that I was looking for, and can still get nasty & gritty sounding. Great service at a crazy good price! Thanks Wolfe!!!
Brad Childress (verified owner) –
First, my apologies for not writing sooner. I know I suck. I found your company about 3 years ago and bought a Mean and Meaner set for my Epiphone Casino. Shimmed them up of course. I am very, very happy. They have everything from classic rock to dirt road swamp to clean (I use a CTS Audio taper, so it’s a wide sweep) through a class A amp with 6l6’s. With other guitars I have to use a 6 band EQ but not these. They don’t need any help and have fantastic range. Your products will be first on the list for next time.
Marinho (verified owner) –
Amazing! Bought a Mean/Meaner set for an Epiphone Casino. No shim needed under the neck pickup for the Mean P90. Bigger, more open sound compared to the stock pickup. Beautiful clarity, while also being able to get nasty. Turned a good tone into an amazing tone! Customer service needs to be mentioned as well. Simply the best! Highly recommended!
Marinho (verified owner) –
Amazing! Bought a Mean/Meaner set for an Epiphone Casino. No shim needed under the neck pickup for the Mean P90. Bigger, more open sound compared to the stock pickup. Beautiful clarity, while also being able to get nasty. My tone improved so much! Customer service needs to be mentioned as well. Simply the best! Highly recommended!
Charles (verified owner) –
Absolutely phenomenal sounding pickup for me and my p90 gold top! This was my third attempt at finding the right pickups for this guitar and third time was definitely the charm because my mean/meaner set gives me everything I wanted in this guitar. So clear and dynamic with great output and vintage vibe. Also, thank you Mr Wolfe for answering all my pickup questions!
Chad (verified owner) –
I’ve had a Meaner in the bridge and a special order under wound Mean in the neck of my Gibson Les Paul Special for a while now. Every time I play that guitar I’m blown away by how amazing these pickups are. Snarl and bite in the bridge when you want it, but beautiful, articulate clarity on tap as well. Wolfe is also a great guy to work with as well!
Alf B. (verified owner) –
The Meaner seems to be the most popular bridge model Wolfe makes, and I have had great success with it in the past as well. But when I tried to fix the harsh upper mids of my brand new Gibson Les Paul Special’s bridge pickup, the Meaner turned out to not be the best match for that guitar. It’s a pretty substantial chunk of mahogany, so it has a lot of beef and push to begin with and the Meaner just became too hot and a bit too smooth in the top end.
The Mean however, did the trick! It evened out the frequency response across the entire board, particularly smoothing out the upper mids and adding a bit of warmth in the top end without becoming dull in the slightest. Magnets clearly make a bigger difference than I thought, and I’m not sure I would ever put an alnico 5 bridge P90 in any guitar again after this experience.
I would even go as far as claiming the reason I’ve had a love/hate relationship with P90s over the years and I always ended up selling P90 guitars, was because I have for some reason exclusively stuck with A5 P90s. They’re good in the neck position though with a lighter wind, as a neck P90 can often get overly boomy and muddy.
Shortly summarised – if your guitar isn’t overly bright, your amps have enough gain and/or you don’t mind using pedals to get more gain rather than relying on the pickup to push hard, I think this is the ultimate bridge P90. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s far from a low output pickup – hotter than a PAF despite reading about the same. It’s more organic and more versatile than the Meaner in this guitar, but I also think this is highly guitar dependent.