Hey all,
I ordered a set of TV Jones T-Armonds to replace the stocks in my Duojet and they arrived at the store yesterday. Knowing my poor soldering skills might damage the project I have left the job to my favorite guitar maker/ repairman Mike Lull who does most of the setup and repair work on my other guitars. The job is due this coming Friday. The stock pickups worked decently but had some balance and clarity issues I couldn't fix with height of pickup body shimming and pole adjustment. They were almost there as is but I was haunted by the missing 10% I could hear from the T-Armonds in the duojet of a friend. I'm looking forward to getting my jet back!

Way to go gtroates! :D looking forward to hearing what you think!

I have trouble imagining my G6128TCG sounding even better, so I'm really looking forward to your review.

I replaced the Dynasonics in my 6128TCG with T-Armonds. I'm totally happy with the result!

hmm...

I think I'll need to have more brass in pocket before I could work up enough discontent to pull my Dynas. They aren't any noisier than my other single-coil guitars, and they sound great.

hmm...

I think I'll need to have more brass in pocket before I could work up enough discontent to pull my Dynas. They aren't any noisier than my other single-coil guitars, and they sound great.

I personally think that there is a lot of hype in most of the OTHER TV models. they're all great quality PUPs thats not a question in my mind, and totally dont need as much tweaking out of the box. people say "they have so much clarity, and 'bell like chime' " which I argue is just a matter of impatience with tweaking your Filters (except the bell like chime part, thats a TV quality for sure) But 170 dollar difference from filters just doesn't really add up FOR ME.

I just think that the only picups that have a real worthy difference from their stock counter parts are the T-armonds. They are more balanced string to string, AND the deal sweetener is that they reduce Microphonics (bad squeeling feedback) A LOT in high-gain/SPL settings, so unless you have a butt-load of feedback problems they MIGHT not help you much more than simple tweaking can.

Of course it's not next Friday yet so I don't have them in my hands in the guitar for the comparison, but I can speak to why I made the choice of getting them. I have had my Duojet with the stock pickups for a good while now so I have tried raising the pickup bodies with shims and tweaking the pole pieces. The stock pickups do sound quite good, I agree, but there is a noticeable clarity and pickup balance when both are on that can be heard when the two are played side by side by the same player in the same model guitar. T-armonds are physically different from the current Gretsch stock offerings in some visible ways: the magnets used in the TV version are not as long as the stock ones and are shaped with some beveling on their tops. The TVs are higher output because they are wound for that, I debated the idea of just sending the stock ones out for rewinding but weighed the magnet difference in with my choice, figuring that the shorter magnets make a significant change to the sound and help with quieting the squeals at high volume.

I own three Gretsch guitars, my 6120 SSU has had TV Classic Plus filtertrons in it for a few years now and my 6120 Hot Rod has TV Classic filtertrons in it. The difference between the original stock filtertrons and their replacements was clarity and better high volume sounds in both cases. Having had such positive experiences with switching pickups in those two guitars I decided that I trusted the T-armonds to be the "icing on my jet cake," I'll know soon enough but I'm pretty sure I'll have no regrets.

Oh yeah, Totally not questioning your judgment. Like I said this is the ONLY model I feel improves upon the original design.

Although their pole design isn't really what reduces the Microphonics... The slugs just dont NEED to be as long as they are in Dynas. (I've met people who cut their dyna's down but not for micro-phonics, but to lessen the DRAG on the strings.) The magnets just caused the strings to magnetize to them and kill sustain.

Its about the Wax potting. TV just pots his better. Just like Guild/DeArmond did for the DeArmond 2000's which are modeled after Dynas. If anything T-armonds are just a really nice cross between Dynas and DeArmonds, but improved.

Yeah, I was guessing on the reason for the smaller poles including less micro phonics because the stock ones had longer springs attached to them so more to rattle. Wax potting them makes more sense to the micro phonics quelling aspects, so you are right. I have had a screwdriver get pulled hard onto the magnet poles of a stock dynasoni.

lizard king, no worries, your post didn't strike me in a wrong way, I got it, no worries.

It's Friday and I just got the guitar back with the pickups installed and polepieces adjusted with a new set of strings. My verdict is they are the missing pieces I was looking for, they're great. Compared to the previous stock pickups (2007 FMIC era Gretsch Dynasonics) the T-Armond set is clearer, better balanced string to string and in the middle pickup position, and louder at the same volume settings on my amps. My guitar didn't need the shims to balance the pickups out so I know the pickup bodies aren't any higher than before with the stocks, I have no complaints, I think my Duojet is a better guitar for me with the TV Jones pickups in it. Now I'm off to play it again!

Okay, after my classical guitar duet rehearsal tonight was over I got back to a few solid hours of playing my Duojet with the new pickups. What I think makes the most difference to me is I noticed my harp harmonic lines ala Lenny Breau/Chet Atkins were coming out much more easily on even the neck pickup than ever before. I also noticed I was hearing more balance with hammer-ons and pull-offs within my horn line licks, I had needed to pick more often with the old pickups. John Scofield style lines with mostly legato phrasing came out cleanly again like when I used to play them on my humbucker guitars. I can only guess that this is because the new pickups are higher output than the stock ones that I changed out. I am more relaxed and picking lighter on the fast lines than before, that's a good change for me. When playing Scotty Moore or Brian Setzer licks I still got a great Rockabilly sound to my ears too.

I can only say in conclusion, if you are interested in the T-Armonds, check them out for yourself, it is a substantial investment to make so take your time and investigate if they will work for what you want. I am now among the T-Armond converts so I can say they work well for my needs.:)

So glad to hear you're so happy with them gtroates! :D Congrats again!

If you want to sell the stock ones PM me :)

there is also a nifty difference in ordering the neck reverse wound so you get hum cancelling in the middle position.
I also find I like my slugs closer to the fretboard on the neck and closer to the bridge on the bridge.
just beautifully made DeArmonds all the way around.
http://i40.servimg.com/u/f40/12/30/07/14/img_8910.jpg

What about pole height suggestions, and distance from the surface of the pickup to the string?

Cheers Tavo

Marlin