DiMarzio DP169 Virtual P-90 BK

I bought this to replace a Gibson P90 bridge pickup in a Gibson SG Classic. I loved P90 sound, but hated the hum that comes with playing single coil pickups into a high gain Orange amplifier. I was afraid that the double row of screws wouldn?t look good in combination with the stock P90 neck pickup, but it doesn?t distract at all. I considered other similar pickups, but this Dimarzio seemed to get good reviews and it is one of the cheapest options for replacing a P90 soapbar with a humbucking P90-voiced pickup.

I absolutely love this pickup! Does it sound exactly like a P90? No, it does not. A single coil pickup behaves differently than a humbucking pickup in dynamics. This behaves like a humbucker, but it is voiced like P90 and has similar output, with perhaps a bit more bass and output. It comes close enough in tone to a Gibson P90 to satisfy my needs and the hum is now totally gone! The sound of the Virtual P90 mixes well with the natural tone of the Gibson SG.

The two coils are voiced differently and you can adjust the sound by turning the screws. I tried the pickup with either side screwed closer to the strings thinking this would get me closer to the dynamics of a single coil pickup, but the sound is best in my opinion with all screws at the same distance from the strings. It seems that one coil offers raw and aggressive high mids and the other offers clean highs and solid lows. The combination of these two qualities makes this pickup sound similar to a P90 to my ears.

i think this is a bit too bassy, even for my les paul made of birch (zoot suit model).
it is difficult to find the tone one wants. the pickup works and probably to some it is the right tone, but for me it is not. looking at other options i find it difficult to find a good replacemnt outwidth a filter tron style pickup - the variety of humbuckers that fit into a P90 slot is not great.

the sound just did not speak to me enough but that is personal. the pickup works and maybe it is the right one for you.

ideally one should be able to try this and then return if it does not work (i know in the USA that is the case with swapping with Dimarzio). i have had mine for about 1 year and still use it, but i will probably swap it in time in the quest for a tone that suits my needs more ...
PS: I use it in Parallel and Series (works well). I also experimented as a single coil and it was alright - I prefer Parallel and Series wirings due to Hum (which is the reason I swapped out the P90 in the first place)

had a seymour duncan p90 which was great but sometimes too "thick sounding"
this has given me the option to still have that thick p90 sound without the overpowering qualities of a typical humbucker. Having the split coil also gives me more stratty tones akin to a single coil pickup, so very versatile!
Noiseless in p90 config, but not noiseless in single-coil wiring.
Buying a pickup without being able to try before you buy is a gamble but this was worth it. very pleased!

Vorneweg, es ist extrem schwierig, Sound zu beschreiben... Ich habe diesen Pickup gekauft, weil mich das single-coil-Brummen des verbauten P90 nervte. Verbaut ist dieser in der Hals-Position einer Fender Stratosonic (24,75"-Mensur, wraparound bridge, Mahagoni-Korpus). Dort liefert der Pickup einen asugewogenen, warmen Sound. Bei Crunch ist das einwandfrei, für clean fehlt mir ein wenig die Brillianz.

Der Einbau ist eigentlich recht einfach: wer löten kann und ein wenig das Funktionsprinzip der Verschaltung versteht, sollte mit der Verkabelung klar kommen. Der mechanische Einbau ist auch unproblematisch, zu berücksichtigen ist aber, dass die Anschraubpunkte im Korpus andere sind als bei Standard-P90. Die mitgelieferten Schrauben sind der einzige Kritikpunkt: diese sind aus eher minderwertigem Material, sodass der Kopf schnell ausleiert, wenn man zu fest dreht...
Ob das nun wie ein P90 nur ohne BRummen klingt fällt mir schwer zu beurteilen, da der direkte Vergleich nicht möglich ist. Ich würde sagen: ja, aber mit deutlicher Tendenz zum Humbucker-Sound.