Roswell vs. Gretsch Filtertron // Pickup Shootout!

Let's compare a Roswell Filter'Tron style Pickup with a Gretsch Filter'Tron.
Some of you are familiar with Roswell pickups in Harley Benton guitars.

The Filtertron is Gretsch's own humbucker, designed by Ray Butts for Chet Atkins.
The patent on them was granted later, but the prototypes seem to predate Gibson's humbuckers.
Typically they are around 4 to 5K with much larger magnets and a smaller but higher coil than a typical humbucker.
How does it sound? Imagine a Gibson PAF Humbucker and a Fender Single Coil having a baby.
They are very jangly & open-sounding for humbuckers, much closer to a single-coil sound.

[davideoverman]

The Roswell was definitely a pleasant surprise! I did not expect that

[yrmh]

The Gretsch sounds more like a single coil, brighter & cleaner. The Roswell has more growl like a PAF.

[MarkMcCluney]

I think I'd always prefer the cheap one. As you say, the difference is minimal and any subtle details that are audible at home are usually swamped in the stage mix. But my favourite part of this is all country/rockabilly riff goodies there are on show here - I'll be closely examining this for tips! Cheers Fabian, so good to see you on YouTube again.

[kernalkarma]

I like them both, although I do prefer the gretsch filteron , because it seems to have a clearer top end sparkle .

[Bassman]

They both sound great and very similar! The difference would be negated in a live show!

[void]

Crazy how good the Roswell Pickup sounds

[primarypeople]

Seemed to me that the Rosswell had a richness of depth and softer warmth to it, thanks for the demo!

[andiebetjemann]

Thank you for the comparison. In got a Roswell myself for DIY buildt.
Your videos are joy to watch. Thank you very much.

[djmojolosangeles]

The Roswell pickup guitar had steel saddles vs the Gretsch pickup guitar which look to be brass saddles, how much could this have affected the sound? Either way, it is very minimal with the sound difference, price difference would probably help me decide in this instance. Thank you for the great review!

[t_sosh]

I wonder how much of the difference between them was because they were in two different guitars. I would've loved to swap the Roswell into the maple-topped Tele as a back-to-back comparison.

[kerryg]

Both sound great but my vote goes for the Gretsch. It's a bit brighter and more open. I agree that they are very close and may not make a difference at stage levels. The guitar and pedal display behind you is really cool!

[cm]

I was looking forward to another video with your filtertron teles!! Great video brother

[camaban]

Vielen Dank für das Video. Hat mir bei der Kaufentscheidung geholfen 🙂👍

[saturnskull]

nice video! I would like to hear both pickups with overdrive and fuzz too though

[Iggytommy]

what value pots were you using in each guitar for these sound samples? thanks

[southtombob]

The Roswell sounds a lot like a mini humbucker to me. That’s not a bad thing just a little different. The Gretsch has that jangle and compression that filtertrons are known for.

[rainermanz]

Hallo, du testest die Pickups in zwei verschiedenen Gitarren, mit verschiedenen Saitenreiter, verschiedene Hölzer? Das macht schon von der Gitarre aus einen anderen Klang! Gruß, Rainer.

[rogerfranklin]

Where are they made? the link you've previously shared takes us to a german page?

[Cheguebuddha]

I have a Fender bridge tele pickup. Would there be polarity issues between the Gretsch neck Filtertron pickup and fender bridge tele pickup? Thank you. Loved the demo!

[hansfrommer]

Hi Fabian! Das war Chain Gang von Fame, super! Gruß Hans, jetzt wieder unterwegs mit
JAXXON Five aus keep on rocking!