Filtertron alternatives?

stickyfiddle

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 

TheMarlin

You could just swap the classic plus for a classic. 

The Classic plus is one of my all time favourite pickups. I’m sure plenty would be more than willing to do that trade. 

Hilotrons (quite low powered, but lovely pickups). 

Mojo pickups make Filterfoils, goldfoils in a Filtertron pickup housing.  I had a guitar with a set of those, sounded excellent. 

stickyfiddle

TheMarlin said:

You could just swap the classic plus for a classic. 

The Classic plus is one of my all time favourite pickups. I’m sure plenty would be more than willing to do that trade. 

Hilotrons (quite low powered, but lovely pickups). 

Mojo pickups make Filterfoils, goldfoils in a Filtertron pickup housing.  I had a guitar with a set of those, sounded excellent. 

Yeah, I have also thought about keeping a Classic in the bridge and something else in the neck. 

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 

TheMarlin

I happen to know that @lovestrat74 has a set of Filtertron mount TV Jones T-Armonds he’s thinking of selling.  You should message him, great chap. 

Having recently sold a Gretsch Duo Jet 53 Vintage Select with those very same T-Armond pickups, I have to admit that they’re one of my all time favourite sets of pickups.  Sound phenomenal with a 5E3 (my favourite amp), and awesome into Blackface style amp. 

Funkfingers

Why not simply modify the control wiring by adding a passive bass cut filter "strangle" switch à la Fender Jaguar?

stickyfiddle

Funkfingers said:

Why not simply modify the control wiring by adding a passive bass cut filter "strangle" switch à la Fender Jaguar?

Partly because where would be the fun in that? 

Partly because they just look brilliant

And partly because I keep seeing comments like this… 

TheMarlin said:

Having recently sold a Gretsch Duo Jet 53 Vintage Select with those very same T-Armond pickups, I have to admit that they’re one of my all time favourite sets of pickups.  

Cirrus

The classic plus is reasonably hot from my memory of briefly owning one.

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.

guitargeek62

Super’Trons were my favourite in their range by far when I was a dealer for TVJ; admittedly I’ve not tried a couple of the newer models yet (Ray Butts, Duo’Tron), but to me they were the real sweet-spot in the ‘Tron lineup and remain so every time I’ve use them since.

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.

Jimbro66

stickyfiddle said:  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.

Julian's guitar uses the Ron Ellis Ellisonic pickups which are very nice but around £750 a set. They, and the similarly nice SD Dynasonics are only available in DeArmond mount which is not straightforward to fit in a Cabronita due to the low clearance below strings.

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.

Seziertisch

I have a Filtertron-size Monty’s PAF and Mojo Strat/Jag pickup in my Gretsch.

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.

stickyfiddle

@Jimbro66 ta that’s very good intel! 

@Seziertisch no worries on U.K. prices as I’m not in the U.K.! I’m quite keen on TVJs because I’ll be in the states in a few weeks so can get them while I’m there