I find the stock Dynas on my 6128TCG to be somewhere between Tele turf and the P-90 pea-patch. I must confess to being a bit surprised by how bright they are but I can get a lot of use from them and for any Surf aspirations I have the perfect stealth surf axe.
Shootout: Duncan vs Gretsch Dynas, Blackface vs Tweed, and a pedal.
« » Page 1 2 3 4 5-
- Rated: 82 ↑
Feb 5, 2008 3:35 p.m. Mark Synchro:
-
- Rated: 23 ↑
Feb 5, 2008 3:36 p.m. TomfromPA:
Texarock - Plus 1 for you. Huge is probably the best single word to describe Seymour Duncans. Then you could add rich, articulate, balanced, hum free, and nasty as hell after the good girls have gone home. The SDs stay cleaner much longer with a larger amp. I play mine through a Victoria 45410 and a Fender Twin Reverb.
Dawg - The SD Custom Shop pickups are the closest thing to the original 50's DuoJet D'Armonds that's on the market today. If you are worried about getting sufficient treble listen to Jeff Becks "Crazy Legs" album. Brian Setzer uses a vintage DuoJet through a small Supro for most of the "RockaBilly Riot" CD. A listen to Brian should give you an idea how it sounds with that style of music.
You've got to let us know how it goes when the SDs arrive in the UK. Expectations are very high for a $400+ set of pickups.
-
- Rated: 25 ↑
Feb 5, 2008 3:36 p.m. Danman:
texarock: said: I don't have so much experience with newer guitars, but old DeArmond jets sound huge.
I used to own a 1954 synchromatic. The dyna's sounded huge indeed. Very powerful and full and warm sounding. But still with bite and agression.
The Dyna's on my 1957 jet firebird are weaker en harsher sounding. Much more like a telecaster.
Of course a jet is a very different guitar and they always will sound very different. But there are so many differences in vintage dynasonics that it is hard to generalize the sound of them (although there is a typical sound to them of course). And also every guitar will sound different. I played several 50's jets of a friend of mine and they are all very different guitars and the pick ups all sound very different.
-
- Rated: 94 ↑
Feb 5, 2008 3:46 p.m. Setzer:
Thanks for doing this Proteus. I thought with your playing and setup that the Duncans sounded the best.
No question about it...Vintage DeArmond DynaSonics and Duncans Dyno Hybis(I send him vintage bobbins and he finishes them off) for me.
I did get a chance to play a DE a couple of years ago and those Dynas sounded great on that hollowbody. So if I got a pair or a guitar with them already mounted I would give them a chance. In the clips the stock pickups sounded to thin for me. Keep in mind that he did not adjust the amp, so we all like things differently.
I agree with the others a vintage Jet with real DynaSonics sound freaking huge!
-
- Rated: 2 ↑
Feb 5, 2008 3:46 p.m. Creation:
This post has been deleted
-
- Rated: 2 ↑
Feb 5, 2008 3:58 p.m. Creation:
Very difficult choice here as it is soooo difficult to apply your ear to the onstage environment that floats y'boat! I hear a great tone in every option here which highlights that old addage that "y'hear what y'wanna hear". I really dig every tone so I find it very hard to take this competition on board. My experience is only with my 6136DS which... when "sorted" to my liking thru my AC30 sounds like the bomb. I would find it very easy to be guided by this shoot-out either way which only goes to show it's "horses for courses"..... Superb work Proteus...as always...top stuff! Me...I'll stick to stock Dynas......best git I've EVER had the pleasure to play...!
-
- Rated: 37 ↑
Feb 5, 2008 5:56 p.m. seadevil:
I liked both of the pickups pretty much equally, but I do find it appalling that the stock Dynas are not hum-canceling. I don't think I would spend the extra money for a pair of SD's. I'd rather just raise the stock pickups and crank the bass up on my amp. I am tempted to buy ONE Duncan for my Eddie C model, though...
I don't understand why I'm not more knocked out by the sound of the Duncans, since I tend to prefer a chunkier sound. My favorite pickup of all time is the Charlie Christian, with Jazzmasters, P-90's, Barden Teles, and Dynas all more less tied for second place.
I see what you're trying to say with the pickups-to-women analogies, but it doesn't break down that neatly for me. I think I like Mary Ann better than Ginger, but I definitely prefer Angelina Jolie to the hopelessly unsexy, bland Jennifer Aniston. My tastes in women are kind of odd, though; I'm crazy for Audrey Tautou.
-
- Rated: 25 ↑
Feb 5, 2008 7:02 p.m. senojnad:
Danman, Texarock.... and everyone else: I agree 100% with TomfromPA. If anything, he is being conservative, at least in terms of the amount of improvement I saw in my Duo Jet with the Seymour Duncan conversion. For my ears (and a few other folks who heard the before and after-- including my wife who does not play guitar or share my love for Gretsch guitars) the difference was not subtle. It was HUGE.
For the record, my Jet is a 6128TCG (JT06...).
-
- Rated: 25 ↑
Feb 5, 2008 7:12 p.m. senojnad:
I'm not suggesting that anyone rush out and plunk down $450 (+ installation costs). Rather, go with your vibes and reactions to Proteus' excellent demos here. Then go shopping and "road testing" if possible (and I know that is easier said than done.....)
For me, it was not an easy decision to invest in the Seymour Duncan dynas. However, I have never regretted that decision, nor have I had any "second thoughts" about it.
-
- Rated: 37 ↑
Feb 5, 2008 7:19 p.m. seadevil:
Incidentally, I find Mark Synchro's use of the word "pea-patch" very amusing. It reminds me of a great James Thurber story called "The Catbird Seat". Are you sitting in the catbird seat? Are you tearing up the pea-patch?
Okay, I'm going to listen to the clips again.
-
- Rated: 37 ↑
Feb 5, 2008 7:54 p.m. seadevil:
Well, now I think I like the Duncans better. I got curious about exactly what the differences were and opened both of the Deluxe clips in Bias Peak. The Duncans exhibited a noticeably larger (louder) waveform. That wasn't enough for me, though; I wanted to see how the actual tone varied. I ran a plug-in from Elemental Audio Systems called "Inspector". It's a spectrum analysis plug-in with an easy-to-read display. I took screenshots of the same point very early in the clip (beat three, measure two, assuming that we're starting on the "and" of one). Here's what their tonal profiles looked like.
-
- Rated: 82 ↑
Feb 5, 2008 9:26 p.m. Mark Synchro:
seadevil said: Incidentally, I find Mark Synchro's use of the word "pea-patch" very amusing. It reminds me of a great James Thurber story called "The Catbird Seat". Are you sitting in the catbird seat? Are you tearing up the pea-patch?
Just another example of the subtle word-play incorporated into all of my posts (except this one).
-
- Rated: 35 ↑
Feb 5, 2008 10:25 p.m. roadjunkie:
Just like a whole lot of others here I liked both. As much as I like my DSW I won't be changing them out anytime soon. Then again with cash in hand I wouldn't have to think twice about buying a WCST or the SD equipped Falcon! Good work and great post Prote but if you would have done this with the DSV it would have been more help to me. I'm curious if that thought entered your mindset at all
I also want to know what you were thinking in comparing the live sound to the recording. I'll be listening to this for some time!
-
- Rated: 12 ↑
Feb 6, 2008 3:47 a.m. Drew Morrison:
Interesting debate and thanks again to Proteus.
I installed SD Dyna-Sonics in my Duo Jet 'Cat Man' DSV reissue and to my ears they just make the guitar so much better than the stock pickups. They are full sounding and have that wooden tone that you cannot get with the stock pickups. They generate a fatter sound rather than the HI-FI signal you get with the stock pickups. I prefer them but everyone hears something different.
Yours
Drew
-
- Rated: 2 ↑
Feb 6, 2008 4:52 a.m. Zuvembie:
Great experiment! Takes a lot of time and effort to do this kinda thing. How many times have you changed your pickups or set up and wondered if your memory and judgement were correct? Good to have the hard evidence. I'd just like to add a dumb comment! Obviously the amp settings could be adjusted to take the stock pups into the realm of the SD's (more mids and gain etc,.) The sound wouldn't be a 100% match but coupled with raised pick up height, it would be similar.....and way cheaper. I understand the purpose of Proteus's review would have prohibited this, but maybe a shoot out where this was the aim could be useful-trying to get one model to sound like the other with a few tweaks of the amp. BTW, can someone tell me if my White Falcon G6136T-LDS has stock or SD dynasonics? I've heard that they're SD's but no info on this on the Gretsch site. Happy with it anyhoo!
-
- Rated: 8 ↑
Feb 6, 2008 6:14 a.m. Rock Lajoint:
Zuvembie, my amp only has a volume control so I can't tweak it to make the Dynas on my 6120 DSW sound more like vintage Dynas. I shouldn't need to, I feel I've already paid for that sound.
Clearly the stock Dynas and Duncans sound different in a Jet. I'd like to know how the Duncans sound in my 6120 but in the short term I'm not going to shell out for that experiment.
Again this raises the question of why don't Gretsch Dyna-Sonics sound like they used to - assuming the Duncans have the original sound. I realise that Dynas are more complicated than most but it seems that Gretsch have done a lot the hard work (all the right parts are apparently there) but skimped on the details. What would be the cost difference to them to produce Dynas to original specs? I imagine that it wouldn't be a great amount. When it comes down to it, I greatly doubt the original Dyna-Sonics were lovingly hand crafted and carefully balanced with an added sprinkling of mojo, they were engineered to a spec. I can't believe it's beyond Gretsch to produce vintage sounding Dyna-Sonics at a cost differential that would make a minimal impact in terms of percent on the pricing of expensive guitars.
I like the sound of my stock 6120 DSW, it sounds great for the Eddie Cochran lead stuff I like to play but it bugs me that the sound isn't quite right, for example, for Bo Diddley sounds. From Proteus' tests it seems that the Duncans give this extra dimension.
-
- Rated: 2 ↑
Feb 6, 2008 6:43 a.m. Zuvembie:
Oh I do agree with you Rock Lajoint, it seems a bit crazy that the spec of the stock dynas don't match the performance of the oldies. Seems like a big thing to over look when producing an expensive instrument that could easily be improved....(assuming the SD's are the more popular choice?) What I suggested wasn't an ideal option, just reflected my own cicumstance of being able to add some grit to the sound via a gain channel. I much prefer the sound of a single volume amp turned up to break up point. Only drawback seems to be the old problem of 'too loud for home, not loud enogh for gigs without frying the little fellow' . I agree you shouldn't have to make compromises
-
- Rated: 31 ↑
Feb 6, 2008 2:30 p.m. do not be afraid:
well, i didn't much like either through the Deluxe, but i loved them both through the Princeton, so, i guess it worked better for me as an amp shoot-out! but, the Seymour Duncan Dyna'Sonics are definitely my preference: fatter, hotter, nastier, but still with plenty of attack, clarity, and TWANG! still, both sounded to me like, well, uh, Dyna'Sonics — the greatest pickups ever made!
i agree that it's a shame that Gretsch doesn't get the little details right on the reissue Dyna'Sonics, but they really don't get the little details right on reissue Filter'Trons, either, or, actually, come to think of it, on their reissue guitars! yes, Fender has brought the company a long way, but there's still a very long way left to go if “buildin' 'em like they used to” is the ultimate goal!
-
- Rated: 21 ↑
Feb 6, 2008 3:07 p.m. Gretschmaster:
Proteus I just tried to listen to the clips again and they won't work. Apparently it has to do with some "plug-in" not initializing properly.
Whatever that means...
Is my comp just acting up or is it the web page?
-
- Rated: 23 ↑
Feb 6, 2008 3:18 p.m. TomfromPA:
Gretschmaster. The clips are playing on my iMac. You need an Apple
-
- Rated: 69 ↑
Feb 6, 2008 4:41 p.m. bonedaddy:
TomfromPA said: The clips are playing on my iMac. You need an Apple
So true!! +1 -
- Rated: 195 ↑
Feb 6, 2008 4:51 p.m. Proteus:
Weelllll, they're just standard mp3s stored on a platform-agnostic server. Plug-in issues would about have to be at your end.
If they worked for you before and aren't now...restart? Reload whatever plug-in it is the OS is looking for?
-
- Rated: 15 ↑
Feb 6, 2008 5:11 p.m. bobframe:
Tom,
Those of us who are blessed with iMacs should act charitably to those less fortunate.
-
- Rated: 23 ↑
Feb 6, 2008 5:52 p.m. TomfromPA:
Once I was lost, but now I see...
Meanwhile back to the thread. Mark S, are you really going to play surf music on a Jet? That is soooo neat. GDP needs to take up a collection and get you to a gig at a California surf bar. The impact of "That Great Gretsch Sound" would be seismic.
-
- Rated: 21 ↑
Feb 6, 2008 6:52 p.m. Gretschmaster:
Restarted, everything is fine again. Only difference is that I prefer the sound of the Duncans even more so than before. I wonder how they would sound in the DSV or the Country Club.
If I had a Dyna-equipped guitar I would definetly need to buy a set. Can't put a price limit on that sound...
And about the Mac issue, well, there is definetly one in my future. I am going to need a laptop for university in the fall so I am eyeing a MacBook Pro. They are such awesome computers. The earliest I could afford one will be mid-spring so I'm just going to hold off until they release the new models (which has been near the end of spring for the past couple of years).
