Per my other thread I'm looking at rejuvenating an old friend in the form of my old Cabronita. The Classic/Classic+ in there at the moment are nice but a little hot so I fancy a change while keeping a bit of Gretsch flavour - and also not routing anything.
So... I'm thinking about options, most likely from TV Jones. Top of the list seem to be the T-Armond and Ray-Butts Ful-Fidelity, so I'm looking for any experiences on these most of all, and any other suggestions I may not be aware of.
I'm also slightly tempted by P90s but think they're probably darker than I want. But please do give me any thoughts!
According to the TVJ chart I think those are in pretty much the right area
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I'm also well aware that I've been listening to Julien Lage a fair bit lately and that's no doubt swaying me towards the dearmond styles
I've never loved goldfoil souds if I'm honest, though never played any myself. I think it's the association with scrappy garage-blues stuff like the Black Keys. I need to have a trawl through youtube
The happiest I've been with filtertrons are when they're both wound the same - until I got my ceramic filters, I was really happy with two HS filtertron neck versions in my gretsch. You just crank the bridge one up close to the strings (which is where they like to be) and lower the neck until they balance.
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
I would recommend looking at Mojo’s offerings too though as Marc does some wonderful winds, to the point that I don’t plan on renewing my TVJ builder deal as I’d rather stick with Mojo overall.
p.s. Shoutout for the Gretsch HS Trons with the ceramic mags - they’re punchy but articulate, a great all-rounder ‘tron if you rarely use pristine cleans and like a bit of grit.
T-Armonds in Filtertron mount might be your best option. They will drop straight in to your Cabronita but I believe their construction is a little different to the DeArmond mount version, which may or may not affect their sound.
I have Gretsches with T-Armonds, Gretsch Dynasonics and Classic/Classic+ 'trons. I also had a 6120 Smoke with Ray Butt's pickups. To my ear, the T-Armonds have a more 'modern' sound than traditional Dynasonics and are more suited to a variety of genres and less likely to squeal/feed back. However, they will hum at higher volume levels. If you'd like a T-Armond-ish sound but humbucking, the TVJ Zoomtrons might appeal.
The Ray Butt's pickups had that very clean tone you'd associate with Chet Atkins. Having said that, Setzer uses them with quite a bit of dirt.
There are lots of options out there is you want to get creative, particularly as TV Jones are quite expensive this side of the pond.