TV Jones PowerTron Plus

See TV Jones website

2005 Gretsch Tennessee Rose replacing Gretsch Filtertron.

This is an excellent rock pickup. This is TV's attempt to produce a more PAF Gibson-type sound (at the request of Billy Gibbons) Excellent for overdriving an amp into distortion, when its just breaking up. It still has a bit of a Filtertron thing happening, though. I have one of his Supertrons in the neck position and these pickups are very different. I generally use the Supertron on its own or a middle position blend of the Supertron and Powertron Plus for clean sounds, and the Powertron Plus for distortion. Don't be afraid of mixing and matching; I find the middle position blend to be highly musical with no hint of two pickups not suited to each other being mixed. I would imagine that this is true in the case of all of TV Jones pickups.

I have to say that both the Supertron and the Powertron Plus are far superior to the standard Filtertrons that the guitar came with, although they are quite different pickups. If you have standard Filtertrons already and generally like where they are soundwise, then maybe this pickup might not be for you. If this is the case, then TV Jones offers a number of other options. I was looking for something a bit different and that's what I got. I would also say check out TV Jones website. I found that in hindsight after finally hearing the pickups in my own guitar that the clips he has up are quite representative of these 2 pickup models. So presumably this is true in the case of the other pickups he has up as well.

passive humbucker for the bridge position

Mounted in the bridge position on a MIM Fender Stratocaster. I had to cut my own pickguard to accommodate the shape of the Filtertron style pickup. This pickup replaces a parade of pickups. Everything from the stock Fender pickup (ice pick in the ear tone) to Seymour Duncan Lil' 59, SD JB jr, SD lipstick tube and SD ssl3. I was mainly looking to get rid of the hum as well as a different tone.

Play through a Mesa Boogie Express 5:25 into a Boss GE-7, Electro Harmonics Small Clone chorus. The band I play in does a wide range of covers from 60's through to current. The pickup sounds a lot like a great Tele bridge pickup on steroids, clear punchy and ballsy. At low gain settings it has a muscular twanginess with a pronounced midrange honk that trasnforms into a big punchy crunch tone as you add more gain. With high gain settings there is no muddiness, lots of creamy sustain and plenty of harmonics. The tone is clean and spanky overall without any shrill highend or woofy bass. Dig in a bit or bump up the gain and they really growl. Amazing!

I love this pickup! I find I play with a lot less gain because the tone is so full and rich on its own. Less time spent twiddling knobs tweaking tone and more time playing. These pickups may look expensive at first glance but tone like this is a real bargain at the price.

Pickup features: Passive Humbucker-Filter'tron type
Impedence or other specs: 8.5K (or more) ohms....

Model of guitar or bass: Explorer bodied "part's guitar" w/bolt-on neck
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Duncan Designed....
Other pickups on guitar: nope
Artists using this pickup: Billy Gibbons, and maybe Brian Setzer
You musical style(s): Death/Black Metal, some hard rock, punk, rockabilly, & blues
Reason for pickup change: It's an experiment.I am a MAD SCIENTIST with guitars. And I needed a pickup/guitar suited for an upcoming blues/rockabilly recording/live project.

Perceived output level: Overwound PAF Hot. I expected that.
Tone: Yes....Lot's of it.....Very good tone
Sonic evaluation: I use a 100w Carvin solid state combo. For distortion I use a Digitech Metal Master stomp-box. Played CLEAN, this pickup in this solidbody (basswood) explorer (with a bolt-on maple/rosewood neck) did not distort at all, like all the other "High-gain" pickups will. The clean tone out of a "bridge" pickup is usually very trebly. Not in this case. Very good clean tone with beautiful sound that's close to being acoustic. Distorted, this pickup is very surprising. It sounds as heavy as much-higher-gain pickups, but the sound quality is awesome. No noise, No mud, not too-much-this, or too-little-that. I am pleasantly surprised with the sound and the quality.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: What I play is shown above. This pickup can do it all. Even the heaviest forms of metal.

Comments: I would buy this pickup again, and probably will. My friends thought I'd be playin' CCR covers with it. They did a jaw-drop double-take when I was playin' the first bits of "Raining Blood" with this set-up. Now they know what a filter'tron can sound like when TV Jones wind's 'em. This is the most satified I've been with a pickup purchase since I got the Gibson Tony Iommi pickup 3 years ago.....I hold both in very high regard. But the TV Jones Power'tron Plus has a better clean sound, and seems more correct sounding for the blues and punk. I think it does just as good for heavier music as the Tony Iommi pickup does (through my effects and amp).