MFD High output single coils.

[Sean Clavin]

Those of you who have these, how would you describe the sound. Are they in the realm of P90s? Very curious to find out. Thinking of getting a G&L loaded with one or two of these.

Thanks,
Sean

[yowhatsshakin]

I have a couple of models with overwound MFD's but no guitar with P90's, nor ever had. So although I love the sound, snappiness, and bark of the pups on my ASAT Special and 20th Anniversary, I cannot compare it to the requested pups. Sorry

[Jim P]

I'm not sure if you're speaking of overwound MFDs or the standard variety, for they're all fairly high in output compared to their Fender counterparts. In general, though, the MFD pickup lies somewhere between a Fender single coil and a Gibson P-90, with perhaps the edge leaning toward the P-90. I tend to think they're a little cleaner than a P-90, but substantially more output than a Fender pup. I also have an ASAT Super as well as an ASAT Junior, and both of those guitars with their overwound MFDs definitely lean toward the sound of a P-90. Of course, the more a pickup is overwound, the darker it'll sound. Still, MFDs are very unique sounding pickups on their own with a character that the P-90s just don't have. Not that one is better than the other.....just different. I guess you just have to try them to see. I'd probably recommend going to a music store and do a comparison. Hopefully this helps!

[fendertweed]

I, too, am not sure which you mean by "high output" MFDs...

If you mean any of the smaller sized MFDs (such as on an S-500 for ex.), it has no real sonic resemblance to a P-90 IMO.

The larger MFDs, as on an ASAT Special, look like P-90s and sound more like them but they are still not P-90s or P-90 sound-alikes. I prefer the large MFDs, the smaller ones have more gain and a little more fizz, which subjectively is not my preference.

The Z-coil pickups are also surprisingly close in tone to the large MFDs, we did an A/B test of an ASAT Special and an ASAT Z-3 a few years ago and we couldn't believe how similar they sounded, with the Zs being a bit more high fi/cleaner sounding.

[Sean Clavin]

High output single coils is how they describe the pickup on the website. I'm asking about the larger size pups, not the pups that look like they could fit in my Tele. The pups that are in the ASAT Special. I'm looking for a sound that would be similar to a P90 rather than an exact copy of that type of tone. I got plenty of single coil and HB tones, but not a good P90-ish tone.

[Submersible]

I've got tele-shaped MDFs on my ASAT Classic and original MDFs on my vintage SC-2. "High output single coil pickups" is absolutely accurate. Is it possible to find a single coil out there with higher output? Sure, but that doesn't change the fact that MDFs are on the high output side of the single coil family.

The pickups on the SC-2 are great. They don't really sound like a P90 or even a Jazzmaster pickup. They sound kind of like conventional tele pickups but with a better balance of highs and lows, less shrill, and louder.