Gibson and its pickups

What do you prefer? P-90's or humbuckers? For those who dont know P-90's were used on old gibsons in the early 50's until the late 50's when gibson first started producing les pauls, in 1959(or 1958 im not totally sure) they were replaced by the humbuckers we all see today, thou there are special models still made with P-90's, mostly reissues and such. P-90's are pretty underrated since they dont look so good (thou in my opinion they are hot as hell especially the black ones) but have an AMAZING sound, they seem to have more tremble and such... they are also single coils, but anyway which pickups do you prefer on the gibson les paul or sg? (and please could someone also tell me their opinion if they would be good to use to play metal? )

Humbuckers, in every aspect. They look better, they have a better, fuller sound that just don't "squeal" as much as the P-90's since - as you said - P-90's are single-coils. Even if Fender's single-coil pickups have an even more snappy sound.

Also you do not want to play metal with with P-90's or really any kind of single-coils since those kind of pickups just don't get that nice, deep sound.

Now I'm not saying that P-90's are bad, they are well suited for lots of music as their sound are kinda all-round, being not as deep as the sound of a humbucker, and not as snappy as the sound of a Fender single-coil.

I prefer humbuckers, but note that I'm no expert and have very little experience playing on P-90's.

Hmmm interesting, its true, humbuckers have kinda a numb sound while P-90's are more aggressive and even thou they tremble they have a GREAT clean sound, but every time i hear an old gibson les paul with P-90's the sound is really overwhelming, fenders single coil sounds kinda funky while P-90's really sound aggressive and its sounds big so they are suited for rock, hard rock and blues in my opinion, and maybe some old metal like black sabbath would sound great on them, true humbuckes might be better overall but in specialized fields i think P-90's kick ass!! For example when i heard this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rga2ebdbKas&feature=related i came buckets when it let out the sound <3 it is a vintage thou. As for the looks i admit defeat since at least 90% of the people will think of them as more attractive unless they like vintage things :/

I'll go with the Humbucking pickup, cause it really has a fatter and more rich sound compare to the P-90 pickup. Also, it is very versatile with almost any song. However, P-90 still have its merit, its good with most blues, country, folk, and rock song thanks to the sharp and high treble song they provide.

Hmmm explain how you mean "fatter" because P-90's are pretty strong pickups, and they have a fatter sound than humbuckers, stronger and more aggressive, but its too straight, u probably meant more round by fatter since humbuckers cover more of the sound.

I think he means fatter as in "deeper, more bassy" sound than P-90's and as you said yourself they covers more of the sound. The P-90's have more treble than humbuckers but less than Fender's single-coils.

I agree with you that P-90's are great for playing rock and maybe some old Black Sabbath, but the difference between the old Sabbath kind of heavy metal and the modern one is big. For modern metal a P-90's wouldn't just do the trick, you need to get that distinctive middle-bas sound for it to sound good.

I didnt mean new metal to begin with lol, but something like iron maiden, skid row, dio, and some old ozzy songs like crazy train or mrs. crowley... Its not that i hate new metal, but for me that kind of music just doesnt have any soul :/ But even so iron maiden uses fender guitars so an old gibson would probably even be better for that kind of music.

Well, seeing as most guitarists form that genre seems to be either playing with P90's (ex. Black Sabbath) or the original superstrat design on their pickups with two single-coils and a bridge humbucker or the HSH setup (ex. Dio, Van Halen, Iron maiden) A guitar using P90's is well suited for that that kind of music.

If you want that hard growl quality when overdriving ,then go with a P90 (though a p90 is generally good all around at replicating even more classical tunes with its bright ,and fat sound,plus it's rich crisp hum) , but don't get me wrong you'll have a hard time getting some of the warm , thick ,and just plain FULL sounds you get from a humbucker out of just about any other pickup..I guess it's really just a matter of style ,and choice , but I kinda assume a P90 would do better with classic metal , but then again I'm really no expert seeing as how I play a gretsch Black F with Dyna , so i'm just going on my bit of my time on loaned guitars and word of mouth