Demo: Gretsch 5422 w/TV Jones T-Armonds

[@Tonetwisters]

ONE strum stopped MY truck. Boy, the clarity and articulation are incredible. Glad people are discovering and using Dynasonics, and TV JONES makes the best, IMHO. Nice playing, young Sir.

[@rubercoober]

Hey thanks so much! Nearly a year after making this video, I ended up getting a '62 Guild Starfire III with the original DeArmonds - they really are some of the best sounding pickups out there. Hearing this demo in hindsight makes me think I was being too particular about whatever it was that made me sell that guitar, as it sounded great and not too far off from those old Dynas in my Guild. That said, I'd probably not have the Guild if I hadn't moved this guitar on. Hoping to make a video demo of that soon! Take care

[@braderrick]

I don’t understand why these pickups don’t get more love. I just got a gretsch and I can’t wait to swap out the filter trona for these T Armond pickups! Thanks for the video!

[@okaytastic6691]

Do you know if they work well in a live context?

[@braderrick]

@@okaytastic6691 I don’t use a lot of gain/overdrive but clean wise I love them in a live situation. I’m a tele guy at heart and can even get some great tele tones with these pickups if I want but they are much more complex and useful for other tones too

[@okaytastic6691]

@@braderrick yea see I’m a tele guy too but I’ve wanted a killer Gretsch for a long time so I’m glad to hear they’re different enough

[@braderrick]

I think you’ll like it. I don’t play my Gretsch all the time but when I do I always ask myself why don’t I play it more often lol. Mine is not a super expensive one, it’s a Gretsch 5427TG. Beautiful dark blue metallic color with gold hardware. I swapped the Bigsby out for a trapeze tailpiece since I never use a bar and for tuning stability. Everyone calls me an idiot for that I’m sure lol but the guitar suits me batter. Then I added the T-Armond pickups and a different pickguard and I love it!

[@okaytastic6691]

@@braderrick thanks for the response. I’m trying to get a knotty pine round up right now

[@Vermonster23]

Love that sound! Got one of those pups in my LP special double cut. Someone had replaced the original pick up with a tin piece of crap. I put one of those in to give it some body with the P90 upfront. Wow!

[@late4suppa1]

I have a 2019 version of this same model and am having Seymour Duncan Vintage PU's installed. I can't wait to get it back. Great tone on your guitar! A+

[@craig.encinitas]

How’s it sound now? 😃

[@zebdoz333]

I realize that your upload which is fantastic, was like five years ago but I myself am a lover of Gretsch , it helps me immensely with my third rate guitar playing a 5435 T with bigsby which I never use but nonetheless love that guitar

[@ManicMaximus]

Hauntingly good sounds. I think I’m going to put a set of these in my LP Special as I can’t get rid of boomy woof in the Gibson P-90s.

[@willw3900]

Nice work, thanks for the helpful video.

[@DEATHRAYCAT]

Thanks for this I’m thinking about popping one of these in my Ray Rod !

[@julianpark93]

I’m probably going to copy this exact same setup… I have a G5422TG. Thanks for this demo!!! Great playing too!!

[@rubercoober]

Thanks! I hope it works out for ya

[@jerahrichard9877]

Great sound, Congrats!

[@DUMBLIESCOM]

Great review of pickups - looking to put them into Fender La Cabronita and I play more like your style than other reviews so this really helps. Nice axe.

[@rubercoober]

Happy to hear it, thank you! I've always struggled with watching demos where the players sound nothing like the style that I play, so I'm glad you found it useful. Cheers!

[@BackToTheBlues]

I have an orange G5422 with gold plated hardware (I wasn't going to buy it - I was in a music store buying a 'learner' Strat copy for a ladyfriend of mine who showed interest in learning, but there it was, hanging on the wall, beckoning me - you know how it is). I keep thinking about uprating the pickups on that as the Blacktops are a bit underpowered compared to the TV Jones ones in my 6128-59 Jet Firebird and Billy-Bo, but every time I play it I fall in love with the lovely tone they have!

[@BackToTheBlues]

PS - Those T-Armonds do sound (and look) lovely, though! And thank you for such a good video which shows all the tones you can get, which you can only really do with a clean tone.

[@marvo10]

Sounds great.What strings are you using? I just put 12 52 Flatwoods on my 2420.

[@haraldwestman6137]

Nice! A question though: looking at the specs it seems as the bridge pickup has way, way more windings than the neck one… I would have thought it would make it quite loud and a bit middy/honky. Hearing it (albeit through my phone speakers) I get a bit of that vibe… what’s your opinion/experience?

[@rubercoober]

Ah man, to be honest I don't quite remember. They were pretty well balanced volume-wise after the set up but I don't have any good memory of the EQ/vibe other than what's in the video, it does come across a bit honky though

[@KelsterVonShredster]

cool video...are those pickups noisier than classic filtertrons?

[@fredericlaclau8908]

Hello! Very very nice sound 👌 did the pickups fit without adjustment? I want to know if you can install these pickups instead of the filtertrons without drilling 😬 thx

[@theworshipbunker]

Sounds great. I recently picked up a used 5422 and I really dig it. I think I need a bit of set up on it. I believe the previous owner put a Compton bridge on it. What size and kind of strings are you running??? And where’d you find your bone nut???

[@rubercoober]

Hey, thanks! This guitar is long gone, but at the time I was using D'addario 11s (standard nickel wound pack). The Compton bridges are great. The bone nut was custom made by my local guitar tech using a bone nut blank I bought from StewMac (I think), any good luthier in your town should be able to make a bone nut for you.

[@theworshipbunker]

@@rubercoober Sounds great man!!! Thanks for the feedback. It's much appreciated.

[@williamd1891]

Is this setup gigable with a three piece band? I keep hearing about feedback and buzzing issues? Thanks.

[@rubercoober]

This guitar with these pickups? Absolutely, but that's a matter of knowing how to work with that/around that and it all varies with the sort of music you're playing and what exactly you expect from a guitar. It's a different tool than a tele or a strat. If you're playing high gain and loud volumes you'll probably get some underbearable feedback unless you're careful with your placement in relation to the amp, and the 60 cycle hum of these pickups would only be worse in a scenario like that.

[@Seangregorymiller]

Was going to sell my Gretsch until I heard these pickups in your demo. That’s the exact sound I’ve been chasing! Did you install them yourself and if so, how difficult was it?

[@nvader6]

TV Jones has a video walkthrough for installing Filtertrons in an Electromatic 5120. The main thing is getting the correct mounts.

[@rubercoober]

Hey, sorry for the delayed response. I didn't do that installation myself as I was having other work on the guitar done at the time, and the mount was incorrect so I needed my tech to fashion some adapter rings to get it to fit this guitar. The soldering bit is easy enough in this guitar as there are quick connect mounts for the pickups that my tech clipped and directly wired the new pickups into. Typically you'd have to pull the harness but in this case we didn't have to, which was super handy. But yeah - these were the wrong mount, they were meant for a duo jet. You'd need the universal mount I think, if you contact TV Jones they'll give you a rundown of what pickup you need for your specific model. But I believe the Universal Mount is supposed to work with most guitars, paired with the proper adapter.

[@blueshark928]

Are those TV Jone Pickups plug and play? I notice inside my 5422TG that the pickups have connectors on the Black Top Filtertrons. Does TV Jones have the same connectors? And thank you for the demo. Nice playing too!

[@rubercoober]

Hey, thanks! You're welcome, glad you liked it and found it useful. The TV Jones pickups don't have the connectors as far as I know, but I know the 5422 connectors helped with the install. Instead of fishing out the pots and struggling with the harness, my tech just clipped the connectors and soldered the pickup leads directly to the connector leads right there in the pickup route. I hope that helps!

[@leschen9725]

I want to know what the music of 9:28 is. It sounds so familiar.

[@rubercoober]

Hey, yeah that's a little song snippet of something I was working on a while back. Maybe that descending bassline thing is what's reminding you of something, the progression based on the bassline is I VII V II (?). No clue what it is you might be thinking of though

[@survivorsofthelostandfound6396]

Hi again! Based mostly on this demo I've ordered a set of T-armonds. It was a close call between these and classics. Next up is a compton bridge. Initially I thought stainless, but I'm concerned it could make the pups somewhat harsh in the treble range. I see you have a brass compton. Was your reasoning to get a warmer sound with these bright pups? Cheers.

[@rubercoober]

Hey! Glad to hear I helped you make your decision! Yeah the reasoning was two parts - 1) Warmer tone to mellow out the brightness of the pickups 2) matches the gold hardware of the guitar hahaha. I had always heard the T-armonds are exceptionally hi-fi/bright for a Dearmond style pickup, and was worried about them being too shrill. I was also okay with the idea of them being hifi as that matches the pickups in my jazzmaster - turns out these are much less bright than the pickups in my jazzmaster (at least to my ears). The brass seemed to be the best option to ensure they retained clarity and that they weren't too bright. I will say, I did have a stainless on my previous 5120, but the pickups in that guitar were gibson P-94s, which were much less bright, so it seemed to work out. You should be fine with stainless steel - I don't think it will make the pickups too harsh. The brass will definitely make the tone more mellow, but honestly I kind of wish these pickups were brighter on this guitar. If they're too bright, just use your tone knobs more! I think you'll be fine.

[@survivorsofthelostandfound6396]

Thanks man for that reply. You echoed my concerns exactly re: shrillness. I do need my guit to be bright to be heard through the humbucker soup my fellow bandmate sometimes cooks up, but there's a fine line between bright and shrill, eh? Reckon I'll give the stainless a go and as you say, I can use the tone knob to tame them if need be.Thanks and all the best from NZ. BTW, would love to hear the T's with that Rat pedal.

[@rubercoober]

Of course man, no worries! It's a fine line to walk for sure, but shouldn't be too hard to manage. It's all so subjective anyways, so it's hard to know how you'll like them. I'm used to my extremely hifi/bright Curtis Novak pickups in my jazzmaster, so this was a big change. Enough to warrant using the bright switch on my amp to get to a similar place as the JM. But yeah man, you'll be fine! You're very welcome, best of luck to you! The Rat is gone, unfortunately, but I just picked up an Earthquaker Devices Palisades that I'm really enjoying so far, so maybe I'll try and put together a demo of the Gretsch through that thing. Sounds fantastic. Really impressed with how these pickups respond to dirt. I liked them enough with the Rat, but wasn't particularly impressed - it might just not be my flavor of dirt, I'll have to pick up another eventually to try out. It'll be a while though - this Palisades is amazing. Keep posted, I'll try to do a dirt demo with the T-armonds soon. Cheers!

[@survivorsofthelostandfound6396]

Great demo. Been looking for a good clean demo of these pups as considering them for my 5420. Did you change the harness aswell?

[@rubercoober]

Thanks! Yeah, I had trouble finding a demo of them at all that wasn't in a duo jet or another solid body. The harness is actually stock. Considered getting the tv jones replacement harness as I had one in my 5120 a couple years back. I don't think it's necessary to swap it though, I'm happy with it so far.

[@survivorsofthelostandfound6396]

Thanks for the reply. Good to know its stock. Did you notice any improvement with the taper after installing the harness in previous guitar. One complaint I have with the 5420 is the taper is practically non existant, not sure tho if its due to inferior parts or a result of the master volume circuit. Cheers.

[@rubercoober]

No worries man! To be honest I don't remember if the taper improved or not - the circumstances of upgrade were pretty peculiar. Long story short, the guitar was mine, then warrantied by some sheisty tech at GC, who stripped it and kept the husk lying around. I worked there at the time and was able to get the shell back 8 months or so later. I ended up basically rebuilding that guitar with all new parts, including that wiring harness, so enough time had passed that I never noticed the difference in taper from stock to upgraded. I will say though, it's likely you'll notice a difference just due to the quality in pots used. If you don't want a new harness, the main issue now is the pots that come stock in the guitar are likely Log taper pots - they fall off with no noticeable taper. You need audio taper pots, which will have a noticeable taper. I honestly don't recall if TV Jones uses Audio or Log pots in their harness though.

[@allthingsbigandsmall]

What type of mount do you need to put these in the G5422TG?

[@allthingsbigandsmall]

Sounds great

[@rubercoober]

@@allthingsbigandsmall Sorry, I missed this! You're going to need the english mount filtertron sized version (with the ears) and then you've got to get 2 of the TV Jones Dual Screw Mount Adaptor to be able to attach both pickups to their respective mounting rings. It was a bit harder for me because I accidentally bought the no ear version, so I had my tech fashion some adaptors to mount it to the ring on this one. The nice thing about the 5422 is that the pickups are attached with quick connectors, so you don't even have to take out the harness to wire them in! Just clip the quick connectors and attach the pickup leads to the corresponding wires. Good luck!