Filtertrons vs Humbuckers

[amdyck]

I have a new Gretsch 5120 with it's "specially designed" Humbuckers. When I played it at the shop it sounded nice - (like my idea of what a Gretsch otta sound like). So I bought it. At $750 (plus 12% tax) the price was right. Now what I would like to know is this: Is there all that much difference in the sound produced by Filtertrons and that by Humbuckers. I mean they both are designed to eliminate hum. Is there anything else I'm missing that makes them so different from each other? Thanks

[Norm]

Humbuckers have more output

They're louder quicker. The Filter Trons are a little mellower

[bill raymond]

A bit of elaboration on Norm's comment: If by "humbucker" you mean Gibson-style humbuckers, Norm is correct; but there are a lot of different humbucking pickups made. Some, like the filtertrons, have fewer windings on the coils and produce lower volume but a different range of frequencies. Perhaps the humbuckers on your 5120, being "specially designed", are made so as to sound more like filtertrons. There are a number of "filtertron-esque" humbuckers being produced.

[JeffS]

TV Jones has converted a number of 5120's to his TV Jones Classic Filtertrons. They could probably tell you the difference between your pickups and the Filtertrons.

Jeff Stovall

[albertgen]

It's mostly output, or how many windings. Gretsch used to have weaker output pickups than the Gibson Humbucker. Chet experimented a lot with different amounts of windings around the coil. Al

[amdyck]

Thanks, Lads. I suspected (at least a bit) that the 'specially designed' Humbuckers by Gretsch might have meant 'bordering the performance of filtertrons'. Listening to comparisons on youtube of the 5120 and the 6120, I don't notice a lot of difference in the two sounds. I don't think I am going to attempt to replace my 5120 pickups with TV Jones - just don't seem worth the added improvement.