Would swapping out the Blacktop Filtertron pickups in my Gretsch be worth it?

[FuelGTRX]

Would swapping out the Blacktop Filtertron pickups in my Gretsch for the High Sensitivity Filtertrons be worth it? The Blacktops are decent sounding, but don't seem as clear or raw sounding as the High Sensitivity Filtertrons Gretsch uses in the Pro series guitars. Is it just my imagination? I know the Blacktops are made with ceramic magnets while the HS Filtertrons, so I'm guessing that could be a factor. Would it be worth the swap?

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Would swapping out the Blacktop Filtertron pickups in my Gretsch be worth it?

Only you can determine whether it's worth the investment? What did you pay for the guitar and what manufacturers replacements are you considering? I routinely put more into pickups than the guitar is worth. However sometimes it's point of diminishing returns if the guitar isn't a good candidate for upgrade.

 

[FuelGTRX]

Re: Would swapping out the Blacktop Filtertron pickups in my Gretsch be worth it?

I'm definitely not going with TV Jones. I would love to have some of their pickups, but there out of my price range. Their pickups run around $130 each while Gretsch HS Filtertrons run for $70 each.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Would swapping out the Blacktop Filtertron pickups in my Gretsch be worth it?

The hotter 'Tron clone should add some extra balls to drive a valve amplifier harder. IMO, this is worth doing for the bridge/Treble pickup. It may not help so much for the neck/Rhythm pickup.

If you like the existing tone and simply want a higher output level, it might be cheaper to add a booster or overdrive pedal to your signal chain.

 

[RayA]

Re: Would swapping out the Blacktop Filtertron pickups in my Gretsch be worth it?

Would swapping out the Blacktop Filtertron pickups in my Gretsch for the High Sensitivity Filtertrons be worth it? The Blacktops are decent sounding, but don't seem as clear or raw sounding as the High Sensitivity Filtertrons Gretsch uses in the Pro series guitars. Is it just my imagination? I know the Blacktops are made with ceramic magnets while the HS Filtertrons, so I'm guessing that could be a factor. Would it be worth the swap?

I was going to install a set of Gibson '57/burstbucker 3 pickups in the guitar, but before I did I decided to opened the pickups up to find they had Alnico 8 magnets so I changed them up with Alnico 5 magents. Now the tones of these blacktop filtertron pickups sound incredible....No pickup change for me in this guitar!