Firebird pickups vs Filtertrons?

[hamerhead]

I know nothing about Filtertron pickups and was wondering how they compare to Firebird pickups (not minihums).

Thanks.

[velorush]

Construction?  'Trons are like conventional humbuckers, though the aspect ratio of the coils is much different.  Basically a permanent magnet under the coils magnetizes the polepieces.  The Firebird is more like a couple of Fender single coils slapped together, where the polepieces are the magnets, only with the Firebird there's one long magnet per coil rather than six individual magnet/polepieces.

If, rather, you're asking about tonal differences, I don't have much experience with the Firebird humbuckers, but I absolutely love the Filtertrons! 

 

[hamerhead]

17 minutes ago, velorush said:

If, rather, you're asking about tonal differences, I don't have much experience with the Firebird humbuckers, but I absolutely love the Filtertrons! 

This. I know the sound of Firebirds but not Filtertrons.

[Jakeboy]

I find them to sound nothing alike. The construction is different as noted above and so is the sound. I always love Filters at first and then struggle....I love the middle tone as it chimes nicely and alone they have a distinct tone but it just doesn’t do it for me.

Bird pups are prolly the perfect bucker. Single coil character with true humbucking power. Bright, snappy and rocking. 
 

Strangley enough, I have stellar sets of birds and filters sitting unused in a  box right now. I will def have another guitar with bird pups at some point.

[Dutchman]

I’ve played both... but not in the same guitar or even similar guitars for that matter. I felt the tron’s had a “thicker” sound to them. That tone was nice in “pretty” music. The birds cut thru a loud rock ensemble much better.  Kinda weird analogy, but just how I felt they worked!

[JGravelin]

The Filtertron is a great pickup and I enjoy them under specific circumstances. Add a good boost pedal and a Marshall circuit: that sounds pretty f'ing good to me. Or into a Twin. Tasty tone!

Firebirds have a more immediate attack and tighter, more dynamic and responsive feel because the magnetic sensor circuit is so pure and basic with nothing fancy and no extra bs: two bar magnets with wire wrapped around them. Desert island choice for me would be Firebird style. YMMV. IMHO. RYFO.

 

[cmatthes]

I've had both in various guitars, and really like them both. 

My Firebird pickups have only been in mahogany, solidbody guitars - actual Firebirds (a I, V, and VII), and several Eclipse/Eclipse XIIs.  They've got a great sonic base with good cut/midrange, and a super cool jangle factor.  Pretty smooth and sound really nice and punchy to my ears, especially when into a driven amp.  Awesome pickups, but then again, I was always a fan of the Norlin-era mini-hums too, so what do I know?!

I've put various FilterTrons in a bunch of different styles of guitars, and I really like the beefier, yet chimey and clear "sparkle" and grit.  Like Frank's Red Hot Sauce, I put that shit in EVERYTHING!  My favorite breed of pickup overall, because they're just, ya know...different.   I've got them in Alder and Ash solidbody Strats/Daytonas, a Hollowbody Ash Tele, a couple Alder Jazzmasters, a vintage maple laminated hollowbody Gretsch, and my ideal, my Korina/Maple bodied Shishkov DC.   There are a ton of variations in the Filter'Tron style pickup - lots of different outputs, winds, characters, blades v. screws, etc.  There's even a huge variation (to my ears) between the vintage 'Trons, the stock Gretsch/Fender units and the wide range of TV Jones offerings.  I gravitate towards Super'Trons and Power'Trons, and those don't really sound alike.  I've got a hollowbody Tele project underway right now getting a Super'Tron in the neck and a Power'Tron in the bridge.

What I didn't care for - I didn't dig the HiLo'Trons in the '62 Tennessean I had.  I know that they're single coils, but they only sounded good when they were super clean through my old Silverface Twin.  Any sort of grit or through any other amp...bloody awful.

I'm experimenting with a T'Armond in a 'Tron housing soon as well.  I've played a few newer Gretsch guitars (A Penguin, a Falcon and a SilverJet) with these and they sounded really good - like a bitchin' P-90.   We'll see how that goes too, but looking for something different.

Bottom line, there are a TON of cool choices.  It'll depend what you're putting them into and what you like playing/hearing.  If (for example) you were putting them into a particularly attractive swamp ash body, feel free to experiment!

[aknapp]

On 1/13/2021 at 5:19 PM, Jakeboy said:

Bird pups are prolly the perfect bucker. Single coil character with true humbucking power. Bright, snappy and rocking. 

This perfectly describes the set of Firebird pickups Josh wound for me.

[velorush]

Ran across this video demo of several types of pickups (no Firebird), but I thought it might give some perspective on the Filtertron in the context of more familiar pickups.  If this isn't helpful, worst case it's Shawn Tubbs noodling for twelve and a half minutes, and that's pretty spectacular all by itself.