Tips for my Epiphone SG P-90 with Sabbra Cadabra

[MaxBrothman]

Hello,

So basically I have been playing a lot of The Doors and Black Sabbath so it made sense to get an SG. I am the sort of person that would buy an Epiphone and take it to a luthier and try to get the most from it.

I have strats, superstrats, Gretsch, Vs, LPs.

So obviously the one to get would be a P-90 config. Epiphone SG Classic Worn P-90s.

I have a Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra pedal.

I have several choices of amps but as of now I am going into a 6L6 clean channel of an EVH amp (5150III). I have several Marshalls (EL34s) I could use also.

I have a Helix Stomp and Two Notes IRs. Lots of IRs. The cab that seems to be getting me Sabbath tones are Orange cabs and cabs with Celestion Heritage G12H. Dual mic with SM57 and a Ribbon.

I noticed the P-90s are probably the first pickups I have owned that need you to really dig in when you pick to get some punch.



So my first question is about palm muting on the SG. Does it take much more power in your strumming hand to get a good palm mute with an SG with P-90s?

The second is about distortion feedback. With the P-90s and high-gain does that automatically mean a noise gate at the start of the chain?

Finally, when Toni Iommi does his solos what would be a good configuration for the pickup selector, and what pedals (helix settings) should I engage?


Any more tips on that SG and P-90s would be great. I have been playing for more than 10 years.

 

[Grizzlyman]

Hi there.
Sounds like you have a cool setup. I’m a big Iommi fan too. I have used the Sabbra cadabra pedal but I sold it as I found it too noisy.
I use SGs with P90s too.
My best rig for pure Iommi style tone was the Laney VH100R amp head through my old carlsbro 4x12. Amp handled all overdrive. Drive on about 5, master on 3.5. Massive sound. I used a Tubescreamer emulator on my boss ME-50 for solos plus a bit of delay from the boss.
I also have a Laney VC50 combo, which is the 50watt combo version of the same Laney above. Again, awesome tone with the amp doing the work.
Lately I’ve had to change my rig as I had some issues with both amps and need to get them both fixed.
So, new rig to try to get the same tone ended up being:
Harley Benton DC-60 Junior/Gibson SG Junior 60s both with Bare Knuckle Pig 90 pickups, into…
Dunlop CAE Wah
Korg Pitchblack Mini
Mooer Mini Phaser (orange)
Mooer Green Mile (tubescreamer clone)
Mooer 009 Blacknight mini preamp pedal (emulation of Engl Blackmore)
Donner Yellow Fall Mini delay
Mooer Shimverb Mini reverb pedal
Seymour Duncan Power Stage 170 (pedal amplifier)
Laney GS212IE 2x12 cab

This rig all fits into my backpack, so I only need to carry the guitar, bag and cab, super easy.
The Seymour Duncan Power Stage acts like a clean amp, even has a sag feel to it, despite being class d. Gets plenty loud enough for serious gigging.
The main tone of the rig is from the Mooer Blacknight. This mini preamp really sounds incredible and has loads of fat gain available and a really pleasant sounding mid range that nails that 70s classic rock on steroids kinda sound . Not so much metal, more classic rock, doom and stoner stuff.
The tube screamer clone before it really works as it would in front of a real tube amp, the Blacknight reacts really well to it, so down the gain on the Blacknight and stick the tubescreamer in front with the level cranked and the drive right down, it nails that sabbath tone.

I personally don’t associate palm muting with sabbath very much, that’s a more metal thing, better served by humbuckers and a 5150 doing the overdrive/distortion.
That said you should still be perfectly able to palm mute with a P90, I can with mine, just make sure the pickup is close enough to the strings, and get a shim under it if you need to raise it.

Good luck!
Rig pics for reference…

 

[Grizzlyman]

To answer your other 2 questions…
Feedback shouldn’t be a problem if you have good pickups, and Iommi often uses some tasteful feedback.
For Iommi’s solos he turns up his volume on the guitar. That’s pretty much it apart from when he adds Wah or delay, but he doesn’t use a volume boost for solos, he uses his guitar volume knob all the time.

 

[sirpluckalot]

Hello,

So basically I have been playing a lot of The Doors and Black Sabbath so it made sense to get an SG. I am the sort of person that would buy an Epiphone and take it to a luthier and try to get the most from it.

I have strats, superstrats, Gretsch, Vs, LPs.

So obviously the one to get would be a P-90 config. Epiphone SG Classic Worn P-90s.

I have a Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra pedal.

I have several choices of amps but as of now I am going into a 6L6 clean channel of an EVH amp (5150III). I have several Marshalls (EL34s) I could use also.

I have a Helix Stomp and Two Notes IRs. Lots of IRs. The cab that seems to be getting me Sabbath tones are Orange cabs and cabs with Celestion Heritage G12H. Dual mic with SM57 and a Ribbon.

I noticed the P-90s are probably the first pickups I have owned that need you to really dig in when you pick to get some punch.



So my first question is about palm muting on the SG. Does it take much more power in your strumming hand to get a good palm mute with an SG with P-90s?

The second is about distortion feedback. With the P-90s and high-gain does that automatically mean a noise gate at the start of the chain?

Finally, when Toni Iommi does his solos what would be a good configuration for the pickup selector, and what pedals (helix settings) should I engage?


Any more tips on that SG and P-90s would be great. I have been playing for more than 10 years.

Are the P90's hum cancelling when in the middle position?

 

[3bolt79]

I just sent a Sabbra Cadabra back. Noisy AF and had shorts on the input and output jacks.

Don’t know what era of Sabbath you’re into. I like the Dio years. I have a Mesa/Boogie Mark V 25. It nails the Heaven and Hell sound with my SG strait into the amp On the MK II setting.

The funny thing was I was trying to get that sound in the Marshall Origin 50 I have with the pedal. It just failed on so many levels.