p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

[loversmoon]

I am as most of you know in the process of building a cabronita. I have since stripped the finish and started over. Unfortunately, that gave me too much time to think. Now, I want to hear your thoughts on p90's vs filtertrons. Pros and cons of each. any brand is up for discussion, its not just limited to gretsch or tv jones or duncan for that matter. Im trying to decide on what I want to put in this guitar when its finished. Its an alder body, maple neck with Cts pots and vintage wiring. guts can always be rearranged depending upon what I choose in the end.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

How resonant is that Alder body?

The Fender USA LCT is light as F. The MIM lookalike weighs about the same as a recent MIM Standard Tele. IMO, one of these instruments is exceptional whilst the other is exceptionally ordinary.

Within the last week, I have been comparing several P90-equiped guitars. The ones that sound right feature;
1) single coil pickups
2) all-mahogany and set neck construction
3) Gibson scale length.

I recently made the mistake of buying a clearance price Hamer XT Junior. After a change to an American pickup and controls, the guitar is sounding as one would wish a Gibson Junior to sound. Crank a valve amp into overdrive, roll off the treble, there's The Honk. This guitar is embarrassing my modified PRS SE One.

In my opinion, an electric guitar built from Alder, maple and rosewood and held together by screws rather than glue is not going to deliver a "Gibson" voice.

In fairness, such a guitar is not going to deliver a true Gretsch voice either but what it does produce is so much fun that you will not care.

 

[jake_xms3_punk]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

My favourite bridge pickup at the moment is the tv jones classic plus! I just love everything about it, nice growl, great mids, nice sparkle, cuts through any mix, amazing note definition and clarity, and has plenty of power to cover most genres of music. Most people use filtertrons clean and for rockabilly but to me the filtertrons under gain is where they shine and is very underrated.

Saying that though I haven't come across a neck filtertron I can get along with for the music I play, it's hard to explain but I find them a bit mushy and too open and 3d sounding for me on clean.
Have you thought about a filtertron in the bridge and p90 in the neck?

P90's also have a unique tone and both have their place. the only thing with p90s is they can hum quite bad.

 

[loversmoon]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

Ok, here's to how resonant it is. Overlook my inablility to play but it will give you somewhat of an idea of what the guitar sounds like.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

Sounds kinda twangy to me. I would follow jake's suggestion for the TVJ Classic Plus. One volume, one tone. Mildly overdriven valve amp. Rock out.

Incidentally, when your video ended, YT offered a selection of related videos. I chose one from a music store for the Fender MIM LCT. Your project poops all over that.

 

[loversmoon]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

Thanks funkfingers. Its a warmoth body and a Mighty Mite neck. I have great hopes for this project once its up and running. Ill look into the classic plus.

 

[loversmoon]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

Have you thought about a filtertron in the bridge and p90 in the neck?

P90's also have a unique tone and both have their place. the only thing with p90s is they can hum quite bad.

its only routed for a single pup in the bridge. I hate hum so filtertron its lookin like.

 

[jake_xms3_punk]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

its only routed for a single pup in the bridge. I hate hum so filtertron its lookin like.

Oh right can't go wrong then. If you are going to go 'tron, I can't recommend Tv jones enough. Tv jones pickups have come down a bit in price since I last bought one but they are still quite expensive. Don't let that put you off though they make some amazing sounding pickups and have the best filtertrons on the market IMO.

I'm looking forward to your build, keep us posted

 

[loversmoon]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

Will do jake. I had started a build thread when I first took off on this project. I really hated the finish color once it was done. Im fickle what can i say.

 

[dr. ad]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

if i wanted both but had to choose, i'd have a filtertron in the bridge and a p90 in the neck.
a p-rail in the neck could also work for you?

FYI, and just IMO:
i've tried a filtertron in a tele neck and it took a lot of tweaking to make it happy, and wasn't a versatile sound...
i believe a filtertron rout will be deeper than a p90 rout in the bridge, too. the trons need a lot of room.
if you want to go interchangable, H/H may be the best way to go. a neck p-rail and a bridge magnatron would be a pretty good place to start

best of luck with it, whichever way you go. i'm enjoying your build thread
:beerchug:

 

[loversmoon]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

Thanks dr. ad. I may at some point route it out and put something in the neck. Ive never had a guitar with just a bridge pickup. I kind of liked the idea of a one trick pony. Get in get the job done and get out so to speak.

 

[tubecrunch]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

<====great minds....

 

[dr. ad]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

'tron with a 3-way tone switch?

 

[TeleLubber]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

If you hate hum.. I've been really happy with the Duncan Phat Cat.. sounds nearly as good as my Lollar P90s.. no hum, and fits a humbucker route.. nice growl and bite.. just another option to consider

 

[loversmoon]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

hmm thanks tele. I wonder how hard it would be to route out the filtertron route to a normal sized bucker route using one of stew macs templates.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

Without wishing to appear to be either a spammer or an endorsee (I should be so lucky!!!), I suggest that you visit the TV Jones Pickups website ASAP. www.tvjones.com Check out the pickup comparison page for descriptions and sound clips. There is certain to be something that makes the range of tones you desire AND fits right into the existing pickup rout.

Since you are havering between Gibson and Fender-meets-Gretsch voicings, I suggest one of the hotter 'Tron models, wired via what Seymour Duncan Inc. calls a Spin-a-split variable coil split. Have it all!!!

 

[jake_xms3_punk]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

+1
if its already routed for a tron, just stick one in there and try it out. Check out vids on you tube, most are in a gretsch, playing rockabilly drowned in reverb but there are a few that show the versatility of the tv pickups and trons on general.

Listen to Ac/dc (Malcolm's tone) & the Living End etc to get an idea of the different sounds other then rockabilly that can be achieved with filtertrons.

 

[Amplifuzz]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

+1
if its already routed for a tron, just stick one in there and try it out. Check out vids on you tube, most are in a gretsch, playing rockabilly drowned in reverb but there are a few that show the versatility of the tv pickups and trons on general.

Listen to Ac/dc (Malcolm's tone) & the Living End etc to get an idea of the different sounds other then rockabilly that can be achieved with filtertrons.

Indeed. Check out TVJ himself demoing a pretty cool switching system for a single bridge filtertron guitar, and there's another one on his channel of him playing VH riffs on a Classic Plus equipped Ibanez RG:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg3FcuY8yIw

 

[loversmoon]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

Thanks guys, I've watched every vid I can find and I'm def interested in the powertron plus

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: p90's vs filtertron....talk to me ...whats your thoughts?

Next, look into schematic diagrams for the control circuitry.