@@jimmyholmes4494 Yeah, clean tones really demonstrate the differences. I'm beginning to think youtube has a rule that states guitar/pickup demos must be played with hi gain and distortion pedals only.
Yep clean comparison is very important. It sets the basis to predetermine if it will be bottoms mids or tops enhanced. And more so the fact two different guitars are used in the comparison. Great job even so.
@@Nomanspie can't hear it when you're playing and guess what, between songs you have a volume control. P90s are worth every bit of a little hum when it's quiet.
Hard for me to describe but to me they sound a bit more alive, bit more energy or less dark as most people would say it. I guess a bit more kick in other words.
Pretty close, but different enough. To my ear, in my computer(IMac, not so bad) the Sg Gibson equipped sounds a bit better, but it could be the miking of the amp, plus the sound of my computer(which sounds quite alright). The Wilkinsons seem a little more powerful. If you turned down the gain a little bit, they'd sound similar, I guess. again, this includes your miking and my soundsystem.
From Leo: Great jams, you make them both sound great. I just learned this recently. Wilkinson makes cheaper P-90's with ceramic magnets and for about double the money, (still very cheap) Wilkinson offers P90's with Alnico 5 magnets. The Alnico 5 Wilkinsons are warmer and and fuller, more like gibson p90s.
What ‘ sounds better’ is also determined by the non-linearities of each individual’s hearing. That said ... the Gibson pups sound thicker and with a little more low end. The Wilkinson pups have more high-mid. So it depends on taste and one’s ears. I would probably choose the Gibson’s. You can always filter bass out if you want to. But the Wilkinson’s would sound super sweet for clean to mildly overdriven blues tones.
Two guitars that are the same scale length with the same style pickups are "too different" to compare? I think maybe you're gettin hung up on the way they LOOK, maybe? Seem pretty similar to me...
I was just thinking the SG is a thinner body made of mahogany, and the Les Paul style guitar made of mahogany with a maple cap. Even if they were both Made by Gibson and put the same pick ups in from Gibson it would sound different. Just my thought.
They are definitely different. That is why Gibson brought out the Les Paul again. The SG aka Les Paul 2 was enough different that the Les Paul came back out.
@@ck2music712 If you look, you can see that on the LP, the neck pickup is closer to the neck and the bridge pickup is closer to the bridge than on the SG, which means the neck pickup will be more bassy and the bridge pickup more trebly.
+Blazersaint Agreed, the Gibsons are fuller & more articulate. The Wilkinsons are a bit lower output which can for sure make them more Strat like. With the Wilkinsons I find especially the neck pickup to be a bit muddy and lacking clarity. Overall they sound pretty good but the Gibsons for me sound light years better.
Thanks for the upload. I like the available grime from the Gibson P as opposed to the cleanliness from the Wilkinsons being overdriven by the amp. In my opinion it’s easier to carry over your guitar’s tone into any rig or situation as opposed to requiring a certain amp to get your tone. Thanks again for the upload!
Yeah I honk someone mentioned it Already!? But the Gibson in the bridge and willk in the neck better clarity Nice comparison and cool playing Rockon!!!!
Fantastic.. not worth 200 more for me, I'm poor lmao!! I'd love gibbies but can't afford them... Wilkinson is worth it ... already heating up my soldering iron!! ty great video!! ❤❤❤
Gibsons seem to have more growl, better for chunking rock chords. The Wilkinsons have more clarity and would cut through a mix better for lead playing IMO. Both sound good and have their strengths. I'm going to put Wilkinson P90s in my next tele build.
Very interesting perspective. I prefer the Gibson’s to be honest. Been using that guitar in band situations and never had a single issue cutting through a mix with solos. However, I do understand what you’re hearing. The Wilkinson’s are more hollow sounding(not a bad thing). To my ears they’re just not as defined as the Gibson’s. That being said I do like them as they’re not as hot and give me a more vintage tone when I want it. Apples and oranges really. Thanks for watching and the great comment. I really appreciate it.
@@VenancioPortalatin I skipped the part where you said which had which pickups and listened to/watched the video "blind". Then, I read your statement above and thought the Gibsons must surely be in the LP since that one sounded clearer and not as hot. The SG sounded muddier and with fewer harmonics. Imagine my surprise when I saw you zoom in on the line/print on the bottom of the light-colored soapbox pickup.
Wilkinson's sound more harsh and cheaper. They are nothing more than slightly upscaled, Chinese P-90s. If you want great tone, go hand-wired, if you can't afford hand-wired, keep saving.
Main reason I would change a pickup is how it drives the amp as it corresponds to playing with a drummer live. Medium to high output...with a decent amp...Ill find a tone I like...humbuckers p90, strat, tele...I love it all...thanks for the video.
The bridge the Gibson sounds fuller. The neck is fairly close but I think the Wilkinson sounds better. For the price I think I would go with the Wilkinson's and maybe do some experiments with tone caps.
I respectfully disagree. I don’t think the kind of guitar makes enough of a difference in tone. I’m not a believer of tone wood for solid body electric guitars at all.
I have a Chinese Les Paul copy with P90 Wilkinsons and without a Gibson to compare it to, love the tone. Listening to this video, I thought the Gibson P90s had a fatter, deeper tone and the Wilkinsons sounded brighter but a bit thinner.
I think ya do them both justice, great playing. Im partial to the chunk from the Gibsons i just bought the Gary Clark Jr triple P90 SG (itll be here Thursday i cannot wait!!) but ive done my research heavily. The Gibson ones are like "Slap your grandma then run like hell" I love the grit and punchy lows from them.
Great review .. Wilkinson for me ., have more sparkling tone .. Although the Les Paul is a much thicker body to than the SG .. naturally the SG is a thinner sounding guitar .. Gibson sound great to ..
With a very overdriven amp you can lose the single coil clarity of P90s, which happened with the Gibsons. The Wilkinson pickups retained that single coil sound and came across as a fat Telecaster sound - which I prefered.
Richard Featherstone interesting. I found the opposite to be true. Always found the Wilkinson’s to get muddy when overdriven. Especially the neck pickup which on the Gibson has a lot more midrange bite to my ears. Thanks for the comment though. I’m gonna go back and listen again and see if I hear what you’re hearing.
Your playing sounded great and both guitars sounded good. I don't have a guitar with P-90's. I've been thinking of building one or modding an existing guitar with them. I like the Wilkenson's a little better, as I'm used to the single coil sounds of Strats. The Gibson's remind me of a more humbucker sound. For the price, I think the Wilkenson's be a good choice. Thanks for the comparison!👍😎🎸🎶
@@nicknaimeirajosel9422 just the wood alone, Gibson uses porus heavy wood and the Les Paul China special use tight grain bright wood so that's why the pickup comparing is pointless because the wood is directly responsible for the thickness of tone between the two girls .
I've since had much experience with Gibson and Wilkinson's p90's and fact remains that wood will change the tone but with all things being the exact same and only comparing p90's I think that made the Wilkinson's brighter and more articulate in purpose for good tone and for the perception of getting a much nicer pickup compared to whatever pickup came stock that's being changed, they want their pickups to stay in the guitar they are transplanted in so the buyers are happy with their products. That being said Gibson makes a fine p90 and I don't want to replace them in my Gibson guitars but the Xavier Les Paul special TV single cut I had was more bright than the Epiphone inspired by Gibson Les Paul special TV single cut and the Epiphone had CTS wiring harness and 50's wiring and really good pickups but still cheap o Xavier was still bright but in the end both got SOLD to fund my 2011 Gibson Les Paul studio 50's with p90's and I'm much happier with Gibson and it's attention to detail in the fret work area compared to the other 2 guitars the Gibson is better. I still want to order another 2021epiphone Les Paul special TV single cut and hope for better taller frets that aren't shaved all the way down leaving no room for fret leveling, which was the only problem on the 2020 Epiphone Les Paul special TV single cut I got this winter and sent it back for the horrible frets and they were bad but I played through most of it and realized how they are so low I can't fix that so I sent it back and took the money from both firstn guitars and got the Gibson.
great video dude :) i'm about to swap the wilkinson dog ear in my Vintage sg junior for a Warman one! the wilkinson is good, but something about it feels slightly sterile and lacks depth. still kicks the crap out of a lot of other stuff though! always had a good experience with warman, even if it's not what you're after they're still great pickups. can't wait to try it out!
Bad Motivator cool, I'll check them out. Thanks for the tip. Always looking to find different pickup makers. I agree about the Wilkinsons. They're pretty good but lack clarity that the Gibsons have. I've been considering a few brands to replace them.
I like both but I am a wilkinson guy over anything else and if u can find the rite ones they can and do sound just as good as Gibson's or Seymour Duncan or demarzio or anything else u put them up against. Altimately up to u man but I do love Wilkinson stuff.
I liked the Gibson sound but it sounded like you were on the neck with the Gibson and on the Bridge with the LP Copy but both sounded good my P90 is on a telecaster it rocks
I Really liked the clarity of the wilkinson but the gibsons sounded fatter.....hmmm...both sound like great pickups. Great playing by the way...nice and bluesy!
I like the Gibson because that sounded fuller while the Wilkinson was a little lighter but still sounded pretty good. Also just wanted to say hello feom another San Antonian 👍, i was telling my son about your video and he said he worked at the school you are part of in the PTA.
Wilkinsons by a hair. Do you think maybe if you swapped the pups on the guitars you might get 2 more different sounds ?? I don't know ?? Maybe a test for another day !!
To make a fair comparison you should use the same kinda guitar at least if not the same guitar. An SG sound very different from an LP regardless of pickups.
Hi there, I think if you did a bit of investigation that the Wilkinson branded pickups are actually not a P90 i.e single coil pickup but are a stacked humbucking design. I found the Wilkinson pickups to be dead boring in the Vintage (brand) LP Goldtop style guitar, rather polite humbuckers at best. I replaced them with brand new Gibson P90s and happy days! What is the cheapest new guitar I ever bought is now my everyday player - great tone into a Marshall tube head and Vintage 30 4x12 cabinet. Cheers
NoStringsAttached if that’s true they are the noisiest stacked single coils I have ever heard. I agree though they were lifeless and dull sounding. I no longer have that goldtop. Still have the SG though because it’s a far superior guitar in every aspect and the Gibson P-90’s are my favorite pickup ever.
I just looked Wilkinson pickups are about $20 for a pair of them and I played The Vintage Guitar Brand Strat vintage series with 3 Wilkinson P90s and it was fantastic sound couldn't believe it for under 500 bucks Great tone . And yes CLEAN TONE TO HEAR PICKUP S . You can have a piece of do do guitar and a tube screamer CAN YOU HEAR THE DIFFERENCE
The Gibson's are ceramic magnets , the wilkinson are alnico, ceramics always are deeper ,alnico's always brighter . Love both but prefer the wilkinsons
Normally that would be the case but I found the Wilkinsons aren't nearly as bright as the Gibsons. They get muddy in the low end especially the neck pickup. I like both don't get me wrong but find the Gibsons to be more balanced on all frequencies especially the mids.
EVEN IF THE TWO GUITARS ARE MAHOGANY (YOU DON'T SAY), THE ELECTRONICS COULD BE DIFFERENT! JUST A DIFFERENT CAP OR POT VALUE COULD EASILY CAUSE THE SOUND YOU PREFER OR DON'T PREFER. THE ONLY TRUE WAY TO COMPARE, IS TO SWAP OUT THE PICKUPS ON EITHER OF THE GUITARS SO THAT YOU HEAR BOTH SETS THROUGH THE SAME GUITAR WITH IT'S WOOD & ELECTRONICS & THEN WE CAN HEAR A TRUE COMPARISON!
The difference is the Wilcinson p-90 has a thinner wind and a ceramic magnet. It's brighter, but you lose the low and mid chunkiness of the Gibson pups.
@@VenancioPortalatin: Well I have been building guitars for long enough to have tried lots of types and brands of pickups.. and now I make my own.. The average guitar player knows what sound they like, but they have no idea how we create it.
depends on your budget..if money is no issue I'd go with Gibson..if you want great sound at a cheap price i'd go with the wilkies..just saw them on Ali express for well under $30 u.s.
I agree the Wilkinson’s are a great budget option. They sound great especially given the price point. Overall, I have used a bunch of Wilkinson products and have always been happy with them.
@@VenancioPortalatin thanks, exactly. I just recently made a strat partscaster for a guy whose main guitar is an American Strat. When he played it his eyes kinda bugged open because my partscaster cost him $450 and the Wilkinson mwvs pups sounded damn near as good as his Fender American. He was very impressed with the Wilkies...i have wilk M series in a tele and they sound incredible. I'm like you..Wilkinson all day, lol.
I compared the Wilkinson's to Gibson p90's and the Wilkinson's are brighter than the Gibson but the wood in separate guitars can change the way you hear and perceive the differences 😉 just get what ever and keep rocking, that's what matters !
Hard to judge the difference between the Gibson vs Wilkinson P90s in this demo because the guitars are different as well: the SG is a thin solid body guitar whilst the Les Paul copy is slightly chambered under the arch top. The SG body produces are more cutting or thin tone (closer to a Strat pick-up) whilst the Les Paul body produces a more rounded, chunkier or mellow tone. In my opinion, the different bodies of the guitars are more responsible for the difference in tone than the pick-ups themselves. What do you all think?
Slippery slope with a tone wood debate...lol The differences are subtle but noticeable to my ears. I think it’s partially harder to hear because the mic on my camera. What I hear is the Wilkinson’s are muddy and lack mid frequencies and the Gibson’s are more balanced with more clarity with much richer overtones. My next plan for a test is to possibly put the same pickups into two different guitars to see if there truly is a difference. I will use the same pots as well. I suspect the differences will be negligible at best. Thanks for the comment & watching the video.
Well, it certainly shows how little pickups affect tone compared to settings, amp, speaker, player, fingers, mic, colour-of-socks, whether it's set neck mahogany, or bolt on maple/alder. Having said that, with my headphones, if I flip back and forth between 2:55 and 6:15, with that riff, there is a something extra with the SG that I like. But I don't know if that's really a pickup thing, or just a Les Paul/SG thing. When doing a comparison vid, you have to play the exact same riff, then edit in the same riff with the other guitar. Otherwise there is too much time between. Oh, and to really do a comparison you have to use the same guitar. Each guitar has its own sound. Nice playing by the way. My two bits.
the overdrive it's not really hiiiigh gain, so you can still hear a bit of difference given the type of body, but is really small. Seems like the Gibson has more mids, and the wikins lacks a bit of sustain
@@VenancioPortalatin my dude, have you tried the Oripure p90? i need a p90 and i'm looking for something not so expensive, these are alnico 5 with about 9k ohms, in paper means this should be really close to a Gibson p90, would love to see you trying this pickups, cheers
Gibson's were muddy in the mid-range ,but more punchy - wilkinson's are smooth across the spectrum, just not as punchy. What's with wearing the strap if you are sitting down , unless maybe needing both hands to do something else, I guess?
Good vid, nice playing but I hope that VANS are paying you appropriately for the excellent advertising video,...If both guitars had exactly the same scale length or the simular guitars it would be a fairer comparison , but of the 2 {both great sounding} the SG was my choice for best of...be well and prosper.
What you have here is primarily a difference in the quality of the instruments. You have a Gibson SG, and a Les Paul Chinese copy....not really a valid comparison. Swap out the two sets and put the Gibson pickups in the LP, and the Wilkinsons in the SG and everyone would be raving what clear and articulate the Wilkinsons are and how dull and muddy the Gibsons are.....LOL 🤣😂😂
I loved the Wilkenson sound. Good thing.. I just got a Willks P-90 bridge pup in the mail today. It's going in my cheap imported strat. Just one, no more ..
the gibson seems to have more drive and the wilks are more clear... i liked the gibsons better but they were both good. where was all the 60 cycle hum?
STEVE LEITNER lol, it's there. I just was trying to sit positioned so it wasn't loud in the video. I agree,, the Gibson have more bite. For what they are the Wilkinsons sound pretty good. A little darker in the bottom end especially the neck pickup. Both good tones though. I may do a part 2 using only clean tones.
Considering it was two different types of guitars it's hard to say, but I agree with you that they both sounded really good. Which one do you prefer? And does Wilkinson make a noiseless p90?
hard to compare pickups with drastically different guitars. An sg and a les paul will sound different with the exact same pickups. Sg's have more high end/mid range and a little bit of a thinner sound. Les pauls have more low end w/ more sustain, esspecially if it has a mahogony body.
I did this video 7 years ago and didn’t have the ability at the time to do that. However, I still believe you can get a basic idea of the differences in the pickups.
Great test... must say I like both; but overall I think the Gibson has a bit more bottom end grunt! Perhaps the Gibson P90's are alnico's and the Wilkinson's ceramic? I just scored a Junior style guitar with a Wilkinson W90SK fitted... but no sweat to swap it out for a Gibson P90
Guy at guitar center recently gave me a hard time for not turning off the amp when changing guitars. He had a small fit LOL. Glad i'm not the only one without "Best Practice" unplugging habits. I like the Gibsons. I have some cheap chinese p90s on my guitar that feed back a lot, are the Wilkinsons microphonic at all?
Video a few years but I have Vintage Start style with 3 P90's Hum Canceling stacked Wilkinson P90's they cetraining have serious tune, using a Vox Modeling it just screams with the Marshall Model
Interesting. I find the Wilkinsons to have less clarity than the Gibsons. The Gibsons are definitely slightly darker but to my ears they're more rich and have better mids. The Wilkinsons are good though & I recently spent a long time adjusting the poll pieces and have got them sounding even better.
Both sounded good. I did kinda prefer the ones in the gold top more. Im sure your playing benefited the pickups also. What is the brand of that gold top ? It doesn't look like it says gibson on the headstock.
im looking at getting p90s or some thing a bit different than the usual HB set up,too many choices. A tip here on recording,if the room is not sound neutral ie no reflections from bare walls or stuff in the room,head phones to sound check as you play and an intrface to your pc or lap top to record mp3,carpet on the walls,or,something around the amp to make a small booth with carpet or heavy wool type blankets,the type removal guys use to cover stuff,will stop reflection from ambient suroundings,giving the best sound when mic-ing up the amp. I make tube amps dude,and i will be making video of my stuff,so i want the best audio quality possible,so i'm not being a dick here,just a really easy mini recording set up,plus if you play for fun,as we all do,the carpeted walls or heavy curtains/drapes on the walls will give you a far better tone,less of the treble will reflect back at you,saving your ears too. Of course,if you do use some sort of damper on the walls and floor,the video recorded audio will be far superior. I could have said use the egg crate foam,but that is way over priced. Great vid mate,all the best. rock on.
+john amptech thanks for the tips. I'm way ahead of you. Been working on my setup a lot and am moving my videos over to my home studio which is fully equipped with sound dampening & my full studio setup for recording. I started these videos at home on a whim so only recently they've been taking off a little so I'm going to start upping the overall sound/video production. I appreciate the tips though & I could tell you weren't being rude. Thanks for watching.
Would like to hear a comparison in clean. Thanks.
Yes, Lyd, the only way to discern the quality of sound from any pickup is to begin with the use of arpeggio chords in a perfectly clean channel. =))
Why does everyone always do almost all distorted tones? This was a cool demo but I always find myself begging for more cleans
Agreed
@@jimmyholmes4494 Yeah, clean tones really demonstrate the differences. I'm beginning to think youtube has a rule that states guitar/pickup demos must be played with hi gain and distortion pedals only.
Yep clean comparison is very important. It sets the basis to predetermine if it will be bottoms mids or tops enhanced. And more so the fact two different guitars are used in the comparison. Great job even so.
Both sounded great. For the money, you can’t beat the Wilkinson’s!
Its funny when people say P90s are very PAF sounding. WRONG!! PAFs are very P90 sounding. Ill stick to the p90s. Greatest pickup ever made
Couldn’t agree more!
Lovely 60 cycle hum driving everyone crazy.
No thanks.
@@Nomanspie can't hear it when you're playing and guess what, between songs you have a volume control. P90s are worth every bit of a little hum when it's quiet.
I'm a humbucker dude and you just convinced me to definitely shove some nicer P-90s neck pickups!
My ears are liking the wilkinsons just a bit more.
CJ99 cool, what about them do you like better? I'm curious to know what people hear & what I hear.
Hard for me to describe but to me they sound a bit more alive, bit more energy or less dark as most people would say it. I guess a bit more kick in other words.
Pretty close, but different enough. To my ear, in my computer(IMac, not so bad) the Sg Gibson equipped sounds a bit better, but it could be the miking of the amp, plus the sound of my computer(which sounds quite alright). The Wilkinsons seem a little more powerful. If you turned down the gain a little bit, they'd sound similar, I guess. again, this includes your miking and my soundsystem.
Yeah a bit more bite indeed!!
Wilkinsons are brittle. Gibsons blow them away
They both sound good. No problem either way.
From Leo: Great jams, you make them both sound great. I just learned this recently. Wilkinson makes cheaper P-90's with ceramic magnets and for about double the money, (still very cheap) Wilkinson offers P90's with Alnico 5 magnets. The Alnico 5 Wilkinsons are warmer and and fuller, more like gibson p90s.
What ‘ sounds better’ is also determined by the non-linearities of each individual’s hearing.
That said ... the Gibson pups sound thicker and with a little more low end. The Wilkinson pups have more high-mid. So it depends on taste and one’s ears.
I would probably choose the Gibson’s. You can always filter bass out if you want to. But the Wilkinson’s would sound super sweet for clean to mildly overdriven blues tones.
I never thought it could be such a big difference. Gibson has the lovely mid punch which Wilkinson lack. Thanks for the comparison.
Awesome playing! Both sound great, but I think they are 2 very different guitars for a comparison. Rock on dude !
Two guitars that are the same scale length with the same style pickups are "too different" to compare? I think maybe you're gettin hung up on the way they LOOK, maybe? Seem pretty similar to me...
I was just thinking the SG is a thinner body made of mahogany, and the Les Paul style guitar made of mahogany with a maple cap. Even if they were both Made by Gibson and put the same pick ups in from Gibson it would sound different. Just my thought.
They are definitely different. That is why Gibson brought out the Les Paul again. The SG aka Les Paul 2 was enough different that the Les Paul came back out.
exactly
@@ck2music712 If you look, you can see that on the LP, the neck pickup is closer to the neck and the bridge pickup is closer to the bridge than on the SG, which means the neck pickup will be more bassy and the bridge pickup more trebly.
Gibsons are chunkier for sure, Wilkinsons seems brighter and more strat like.
+Blazersaint Agreed, the Gibsons are fuller & more articulate. The Wilkinsons are a bit lower output which can for sure make them more Strat like. With the Wilkinsons I find especially the neck pickup to be a bit muddy and lacking clarity. Overall they sound pretty good but the Gibsons for me sound light years better.
True, which is great if you like those classic 'bell tones' from Strat, but like that feel and weight of a Gibson.
The Gibson bridge pickup was better, but at the neck position the Wilkinson was way better.
Thanks for the upload. I like the available grime from the Gibson P as opposed to the cleanliness from the Wilkinsons being overdriven by the amp. In my opinion it’s easier to carry over your guitar’s tone into any rig or situation as opposed to requiring a certain amp to get your tone. Thanks again for the upload!
Yeah
I honk someone mentioned it
Already!?
But the Gibson in the bridge and willk in the neck better clarity
Nice comparison and cool playing
Rockon!!!!
Fantastic.. not worth 200 more for me, I'm poor lmao!! I'd love gibbies but can't afford them... Wilkinson is worth it ... already heating up my soldering iron!! ty great video!! ❤❤❤
Either would be great but for me the Wilkinsons cut a little better and sound clearer, which suits my playing style more.
Gibsons seem to have more growl, better for chunking rock chords. The Wilkinsons have more clarity and would cut through a mix better for lead playing IMO. Both sound good and have their strengths. I'm going to put Wilkinson P90s in my next tele build.
Very interesting perspective. I prefer the Gibson’s to be honest. Been using that guitar in band situations and never had a single issue cutting through a mix with solos. However, I do understand what you’re hearing. The Wilkinson’s are more hollow sounding(not a bad thing). To my ears they’re just not as defined as the Gibson’s. That being said I do like them as they’re not as hot and give me a more vintage tone when I want it. Apples and oranges really. Thanks for watching and the great comment. I really appreciate it.
Def more growl and girth, I love that tone and am hooked.
@@VenancioPortalatin wilkonsons p90 sounds more like the single coils Les Paul ACTUALLY used in his guitar, the Gibson p90 sounds more full and heavy.
Agree with that assessment. Would like to hear those Wilks clean.
@@VenancioPortalatin I skipped the part where you said which had which pickups and listened to/watched the video "blind". Then, I read your statement above and thought the Gibsons must surely be in the LP since that one sounded clearer and not as hot. The SG sounded muddier and with fewer harmonics. Imagine my surprise when I saw you zoom in on the line/print on the bottom of the light-colored soapbox pickup.
awesome Wilkinson P90 - got the same pickups on my Vintage......you rock on mate !
Never mind the pickups...I was enjoying the playing! :)
+Terry Bull lol, thanks a lot. I really appreciate the kind words.
I forgot we were comparing pickups. Lol.
Wilkinson's sound more harsh and cheaper. They are nothing more than slightly upscaled, Chinese P-90s. If you want great tone, go hand-wired, if you can't afford hand-wired, keep saving.
Main reason I would change a pickup is how it drives the amp as it corresponds to playing with a drummer live. Medium to high output...with a decent amp...Ill find a tone I like...humbuckers p90, strat, tele...I love it all...thanks for the video.
Thanks from Tokyo.I am thinking about to change my pickups from normal single coil to p-90 on my Stratocaster.Your video is so helpful.
Thank you for the kind words. I love p-90 pickups. I'm glad I could be helpful.
The bridge the Gibson sounds fuller. The neck is fairly close but I think the Wilkinson sounds better. For the price I think I would go with the Wilkinson's and maybe do some experiments with tone caps.
I watched a couple of your videos, and man you can really play!
Thanks for the kinds words. Glad you dig the videos
The sound of a Les Paul style guitar and a Gibson SG will be completely different, you need to do comparison with the same or similar guitars.
I respectfully disagree. I don’t think the kind of guitar makes enough of a difference in tone. I’m not a believer of tone wood for solid body electric guitars at all.
@@VenancioPortalatin I'm talking about a Les Paul to SG, I have both and the tonal qualities are completely different.
Man those Gibson pickups sound amazing, great playing dude!!!
I have a Chinese Les Paul copy with P90 Wilkinsons and without a Gibson to compare it to, love the tone. Listening to this video, I thought the Gibson P90s had a fatter, deeper tone and the Wilkinsons sounded brighter but a bit thinner.
Wilkinson’s sound really good and have a nice definition,I have a classic and did Emerson wiring on it and that improved the sound more to my liking.
Impressive playing. Would have been interested to hear what they sound like in a more clean setting.
Yeah, I thought about that but I found the differences in these two pickups really become more apparent with a little grit.
I have the alnico five Wilkinsons. They are very clean. More so than my other P 90s.
I think ya do them both justice, great playing. Im partial to the chunk from the Gibsons i just bought the Gary Clark Jr triple P90 SG (itll be here Thursday i cannot wait!!) but ive done my research heavily. The Gibson ones are like "Slap your grandma then run like hell" I love the grit and punchy lows from them.
Comparison pickups with two significantly different guitars . This is genius!
Wilkinson pickups are licensed in Japan, China, South Korea depends on which country you buy from, Japan has the best but the most expensive
I like the Wilkinson's that's all I use I just love their tone and punch of them.
I love the Wilkinson neck pickup......a little more clarity.
Well done ,thanks ,couldnt really hear a lot of difference,big difference in price but.
Great review .. Wilkinson for me ., have more sparkling tone .. Although the Les Paul is a much thicker body to than the SG .. naturally the SG is a thinner sounding guitar .. Gibson sound great to ..
your camera zoom is killing it :D
thanks for the video, very helpful and right on the topic!
With a very overdriven amp you can lose the single coil clarity of P90s, which happened with the Gibsons. The Wilkinson pickups retained that single coil sound and came across as a fat Telecaster sound - which I prefered.
Richard Featherstone interesting. I found the opposite to be true. Always found the Wilkinson’s to get muddy when overdriven. Especially the neck pickup which on the Gibson has a lot more midrange bite to my ears. Thanks for the comment though. I’m gonna go back and listen again and see if I hear what you’re hearing.
Great playing dude! what year is the Gibson?
I was looking for a P90 to put in my Les Paul mod. I just found it.
Love your Playing and sold on the Wilkos
Your playing sounded great and both guitars sounded good. I don't have a guitar with P-90's. I've been thinking of building one or modding an existing guitar with them. I like the Wilkenson's a little better, as I'm used to the single coil sounds of Strats. The Gibson's remind me of a more humbucker sound. For the price, I think the Wilkenson's be a good choice. Thanks for the comparison!👍😎🎸🎶
Get the Alnico 5 s
@@stewarttomkinson3356 👍😎
Both sound great. Just a matter of preference... I prefer the Gibson, seem to have more dynamics, but I love that les Paul copy you got!!!
Charles T. I agree 100%. Thanks for watching.
I preferred the Gibson tone by quite a lot.
I agree
Great playing dude. Both sounded good.
+DMSProduktions thanks! I agree,they both sound good. I slightly favor one over the other though.
The guitars would sound different even with the same pick ups!!! Not a good comparison !!!!!!
Les Paul copy much brighter but that could be for other reasons also. Use the SAME guitar for pick up comparisons Einstein.
@@nicknaimeirajosel9422 just the wood alone, Gibson uses porus heavy wood and the Les Paul China special use tight grain bright wood so that's why the pickup comparing is pointless because the wood is directly responsible for the thickness of tone between the two girls .
I've since had much experience with Gibson and Wilkinson's p90's and fact remains that wood will change the tone but with all things being the exact same and only comparing p90's I think that made the Wilkinson's brighter and more articulate in purpose for good tone and for the perception of getting a much nicer pickup compared to whatever pickup came stock that's being changed, they want their pickups to stay in the guitar they are transplanted in so the buyers are happy with their products.
That being said Gibson makes a fine p90 and I don't want to replace them in my Gibson guitars but the Xavier Les Paul special TV single cut I had was more bright than the Epiphone inspired by Gibson Les Paul special TV single cut and the Epiphone had CTS wiring harness and 50's wiring and really good pickups but still cheap o Xavier was still bright but in the end both got SOLD to fund my 2011 Gibson Les Paul studio 50's with p90's and I'm much happier with Gibson and it's attention to detail in the fret work area compared to the other 2 guitars the Gibson is better.
I still want to order another 2021epiphone Les Paul special TV single cut and hope for better taller frets that aren't shaved all the way down leaving no room for fret leveling, which was the only problem on the 2020 Epiphone Les Paul special TV single cut I got this winter and sent it back for the horrible frets and they were bad but I played through most of it and realized how they are so low I can't fix that so I sent it back and took the money from both firstn guitars and got the Gibson.
great video dude :) i'm about to swap the wilkinson dog ear in my Vintage sg junior for a Warman one! the wilkinson is good, but something about it feels slightly sterile and lacks depth. still kicks the crap out of a lot of other stuff though! always had a good experience with warman, even if it's not what you're after they're still great pickups. can't wait to try it out!
Bad Motivator cool, I'll check them out. Thanks for the tip. Always looking to find different pickup makers. I agree about the Wilkinsons. They're pretty good but lack clarity that the Gibsons have. I've been considering a few brands to replace them.
just a tip,,anytime you want to compare tones,,use clean with no effects
Really like both!!
I can't hear anything with the overdrive
I like both but I am a wilkinson guy over anything else and if u can find the rite ones they can and do sound just as good as Gibson's or Seymour Duncan or demarzio or anything else u put them up against. Altimately up to u man but I do love Wilkinson stuff.
For me it’s the Les Paul !!!
I liked the Gibson sound but it sounded like you were on the neck with the Gibson and on the Bridge with the LP Copy but both sounded good my P90 is on a telecaster it rocks
A real PAF Humbucker sound like a Tele on steroids.
I Really liked the clarity of the wilkinson but the gibsons sounded fatter.....hmmm...both sound like great pickups. Great playing by the way...nice and bluesy!
+Ryan Potts I agree, the Gibson’s are way fatter & fuller. Higher output as well. Both sound great but I prefer the Gibson’s.
I like the Gibson because that sounded fuller while the Wilkinson was a little lighter but still sounded pretty good. Also just wanted to say hello feom another San Antonian 👍, i was telling my son about your video and he said he worked at the school you are part of in the PTA.
I would be closer to Wilkinson sound, they are more dynamic. great video btw
It’s hard to compare pickups in a LP and an SG. Two different sounds.
Just a basic low budget comparison. Not meant as a scientific test. In my opinion the difference in bodies makes little difference.
Wilkinsons by a hair. Do you think maybe if you swapped the pups on the guitars you might get 2 more different sounds ?? I don't know ?? Maybe a test for another day !!
I agree, please do a clean demo.
Unfortunately, sold the LP clone so can’t redo the video
ordered a set of Wilkinsons for an early xmas gift build ..glad I did
To make a fair comparison you should use the same kinda guitar at least if not the same guitar. An SG sound very different from an LP regardless of pickups.
what was the first tune?
Great tone!! Great playing too. I much prefer the tone of the SG....makes you wanna dance!! Both sound good...Thanks for the video.
Hi there, I think if you did a bit of investigation that the Wilkinson branded pickups are actually not a P90 i.e single coil pickup but are a stacked humbucking design. I found the Wilkinson pickups to be dead boring in the Vintage (brand) LP Goldtop style guitar, rather polite humbuckers at best. I replaced them with brand new Gibson P90s and happy days! What is the cheapest new guitar I ever bought is now my everyday player - great tone into a Marshall tube head and Vintage 30 4x12 cabinet. Cheers
NoStringsAttached if that’s true they are the noisiest stacked single coils I have ever heard. I agree though they were lifeless and dull sounding. I no longer have that goldtop. Still have the SG though because it’s a far superior guitar in every aspect and the Gibson P-90’s are my favorite pickup ever.
I just looked Wilkinson pickups are about $20 for a pair of them and I played The Vintage Guitar Brand Strat vintage series with 3 Wilkinson P90s and it was fantastic sound couldn't believe it for under 500 bucks Great tone . And yes CLEAN TONE TO HEAR PICKUP S . You can have a piece of do do guitar and a tube screamer CAN YOU HEAR THE DIFFERENCE
to my ear the Wilkinson has more definition in the mids…i prefer it here. great playing!
Wow the Wilkinson actually sound pretty good! Cheers
The Gibson's are ceramic magnets , the wilkinson are alnico, ceramics always are deeper ,alnico's always brighter . Love both but prefer the wilkinsons
Normally that would be the case but I found the Wilkinsons aren't nearly as bright as the Gibsons. They get muddy in the low end especially the neck pickup. I like both don't get me wrong but find the Gibsons to be more balanced on all frequencies especially the mids.
I just this morning saw the Wilkies on ebay for $12..i'm ordering hoping they are not rip-offs..they sound comparable to the gibbies imho.
EVEN IF THE TWO GUITARS ARE MAHOGANY (YOU DON'T SAY), THE ELECTRONICS COULD BE DIFFERENT! JUST A DIFFERENT CAP OR POT VALUE COULD EASILY CAUSE THE SOUND YOU PREFER OR DON'T PREFER. THE ONLY TRUE WAY TO COMPARE, IS TO SWAP OUT THE PICKUPS ON EITHER OF THE GUITARS SO THAT YOU HEAR BOTH SETS THROUGH THE SAME GUITAR WITH IT'S WOOD & ELECTRONICS & THEN WE CAN HEAR A TRUE COMPARISON!
The difference is the Wilcinson p-90 has a thinner wind and a ceramic magnet. It's brighter, but you lose the low and mid chunkiness of the Gibson pups.
Exactly, you're the first person to fully get the differences. Everyone else complains i didn't play clean but I hear it clearly even with some dirt.
@@VenancioPortalatin: Well I have been building guitars for long enough to have tried lots of types and brands of pickups.. and now I make my own.. The average guitar player knows what sound they like, but they have no idea how we create it.
Great playing!
depends on your budget..if money is no issue I'd go with Gibson..if you want great sound at a cheap price i'd go with the wilkies..just saw them on Ali express for well under $30 u.s.
I agree the Wilkinson’s are a great budget option. They sound great especially given the price point. Overall, I have used a bunch of Wilkinson products and have always been happy with them.
@@VenancioPortalatin thanks, exactly. I just recently made a strat partscaster for a guy whose main guitar is an American Strat. When he played it his eyes kinda bugged open because my partscaster cost him $450 and the Wilkinson mwvs pups sounded damn near as good as his Fender American. He was very impressed with the Wilkies...i have wilk M series in a tele and they sound incredible. I'm like you..Wilkinson all day, lol.
Awesome, I love building parts casters as well. The Wilkinson compensated Tele bridge is my go to for upgrading a 3 saddle bridge.
The Wilkinson’s have more "Character"
Wilkinson for me
You officially sealed the deal! I like the wilkinsons and I am going to put them on my Les Paul
I compared the Wilkinson's to Gibson p90's and the Wilkinson's are brighter than the Gibson but the wood in separate guitars can change the way you hear and perceive the differences 😉 just get what ever and keep rocking, that's what matters !
Hard to judge the difference between the Gibson vs Wilkinson P90s in this demo because the guitars are different as well: the SG is a thin solid body guitar whilst the Les Paul copy is slightly chambered under the arch top. The SG body produces are more cutting or thin tone (closer to a Strat pick-up) whilst the Les Paul body produces a more rounded, chunkier or mellow tone. In my opinion, the different bodies of the guitars are more responsible for the difference in tone than the pick-ups themselves. What do you all think?
Slippery slope with a tone wood debate...lol The differences are subtle but noticeable to my ears. I think it’s partially harder to hear because the mic on my camera. What I hear is the Wilkinson’s are muddy and lack mid frequencies and the Gibson’s are more balanced with more clarity with much richer overtones. My next plan for a test is to possibly put the same pickups into two different guitars to see if there truly is a difference. I will use the same pots as well. I suspect the differences will be negligible at best. Thanks for the comment & watching the video.
Loved the riffs at 8:00
liked them both
Well, it certainly shows how little pickups affect tone compared to settings, amp, speaker, player, fingers, mic, colour-of-socks, whether it's set neck mahogany, or bolt on maple/alder.
Having said that, with my headphones, if I flip back and forth between 2:55 and 6:15, with that riff, there is a something extra with the SG that I like. But I don't know if that's really a pickup thing, or just a Les Paul/SG thing.
When doing a comparison vid, you have to play the exact same riff, then edit in the same riff with the other guitar. Otherwise there is too much time between. Oh, and to really do a comparison you have to use the same guitar. Each guitar has its own sound.
Nice playing by the way.
My two bits.
Thanks for doing that. I had just found those two places and was going back and forth, when I started reading the comments LOL
the overdrive it's not really hiiiigh gain, so you can still hear a bit of difference given the type of body, but is really small. Seems like the Gibson has more mids, and the wikins lacks a bit of sustain
Exactly
@@VenancioPortalatin my dude, have you tried the Oripure p90? i need a p90 and i'm looking for something not so expensive, these are alnico 5 with about 9k ohms, in paper means this should be really close to a Gibson p90, would love to see you trying this pickups, cheers
Gibson's were muddy in the mid-range ,but more punchy - wilkinson's are smooth across the spectrum, just not as punchy. What's with wearing the strap if you are sitting down , unless maybe needing both hands to do something else, I guess?
Good Man ! enjoyed review .
Thank you.
Good vid, nice playing but I hope that VANS are paying you appropriately for the excellent advertising video,...If both guitars had exactly the same scale length or the simular guitars it would be a fairer comparison , but of the 2 {both great sounding} the SG was my choice for best of...be well and prosper.
Should have done it clean with no effects, that way you can hear what the pickup is doing better.
What you have here is primarily a difference in the quality of the instruments. You have a Gibson SG, and a Les Paul Chinese copy....not really a valid comparison. Swap out the two sets and put the Gibson pickups in the LP, and the Wilkinsons in the SG and everyone would be raving what clear and articulate the Wilkinsons are and how dull and muddy the Gibsons are.....LOL 🤣😂😂
I loved the Wilkenson sound. Good thing.. I just got a Willks P-90 bridge pup in the mail today. It's going in my cheap imported strat. Just one, no more
..
the gibson seems to have more drive and the wilks are more clear... i liked the gibsons better but they were both good. where was all the 60 cycle hum?
STEVE LEITNER lol, it's there. I just was trying to sit positioned so it wasn't loud in the video. I agree,, the Gibson have more bite. For what they are the Wilkinsons sound pretty good. A little darker in the bottom end especially the neck pickup. Both good tones though. I may do a part 2 using only clean tones.
Considering it was two different types of guitars it's hard to say, but I agree with you that they both sounded really good. Which one do you prefer? And does Wilkinson make a noiseless p90?
My vote goes to Gibson. Great comparison.
hard to compare pickups with drastically different guitars. An sg and a les paul will sound different with the exact same pickups. Sg's have more high end/mid range and a little bit of a thinner sound. Les pauls have more low end w/ more sustain, esspecially if it has a mahogony body.
This isn't a pickup comparison, it's a guitar comparison, swap the pickups around from guitar to guitar, then you'll have an actual reference point
I did this video 7 years ago and didn’t have the ability at the time to do that. However, I still believe you can get a basic idea of the differences in the pickups.
Great test... must say I like both; but overall I think the Gibson has a bit more bottom end grunt! Perhaps the Gibson P90's are alnico's and the Wilkinson's ceramic? I just scored a Junior style guitar with a Wilkinson W90SK fitted... but no sweat to swap it out for a Gibson P90
The Wilkinson's are more articulate & the clarity is better. The Gibson's sounded a bit muddy compared to the Wilkinson's.
Guy at guitar center recently gave me a hard time for not turning off the amp when changing guitars. He had a small fit LOL. Glad i'm not the only one without "Best Practice" unplugging habits. I like the Gibsons. I have some cheap chinese p90s on my guitar that feed back a lot, are the Wilkinsons microphonic at all?
Video a few years but I have Vintage Start style with 3 P90's Hum Canceling stacked Wilkinson P90's they cetraining have serious tune, using a Vox Modeling it just screams with the Marshall Model
I think the wilkinsons have a bit more sparkle vs the gibsons being a little darker? I just bought those wilkinson p90s for a tele project tho
Interesting. I find the Wilkinsons to have less clarity than the Gibsons. The Gibsons are definitely slightly darker but to my ears they're more rich and have better mids. The Wilkinsons are good though & I recently spent a long time adjusting the poll pieces and have got them sounding even better.
Wilkinson’s were definitely a little thin sounding. Would have liked to hear how they clean up when the volume is rolled back.
Love the Pignose
Both sounded good. I did kinda prefer the ones in the gold top more. Im sure your playing benefited the pickups also. What is the brand of that gold top ? It doesn't look like it says gibson on the headstock.
im looking at getting p90s or some thing a bit different than the usual HB set up,too many choices.
A tip here on recording,if the room is not sound neutral ie no reflections from bare walls or stuff in the room,head phones to sound check as you play and an intrface to your pc or lap top to record mp3,carpet on the walls,or,something around the amp to make a small booth with carpet or heavy wool type blankets,the type removal guys use to cover stuff,will stop reflection from ambient suroundings,giving the best sound when mic-ing up the amp.
I make tube amps dude,and i will be making video of my stuff,so i want the best audio quality possible,so i'm not being a dick here,just a really easy mini recording set up,plus if you play for fun,as we all do,the carpeted walls or heavy curtains/drapes on the walls will give you a far better tone,less of the treble will reflect back at you,saving your ears too.
Of course,if you do use some sort of damper on the walls and floor,the video recorded audio will be far superior.
I could have said use the egg crate foam,but that is way over priced.
Great vid mate,all the best.
rock on.
+john amptech thanks for the tips. I'm way ahead of you. Been working on my setup a lot and am moving my videos over to my home studio which is fully equipped with sound dampening & my full studio setup for recording. I started these videos at home on a whim so only recently they've been taking off a little so I'm going to start upping the overall sound/video production. I appreciate the tips though & I could tell you weren't being rude. Thanks for watching.