MichaelW
Well-known member
So I guess the term “NPD” in this forum would be New Pedal Day, so I’m coining the acronym NPUD for new pickup day….
I mentioned in my other thread that I fell pretty hard this year for some pretty good Black Friday deals on gear and these came in the mail today.
These are Brian Porter’s take on the classic Filtertron but sized for standard humbuckers as opposed to the harder to fit vintage Filtertron size.
The rest of this post is TL;DR so feel free to skip
.
Some backstory and context. When I bought my PRS S2 Starla a couple years ago it was one of two S2’s I got, the other being the Vela Semi hollow that you’ve seen in some of my demo videos. By the time I had discovered the S2 line they had already stopped making the Starla in the US and it’s been only available in the SE line.
I was super stoked to find a 2019 NOS US made S2 Starla at the time for a good price so I snagged it.
The S2 line has turned out to be a real sweet spot for me in terms of the cost, fit and finish, supporting US jobs, nitro finish, better woods, and legendary PRS playability. I’ve become less and less enamored and comfortable with the Core line of guitars, of having so much money tied up in a single guitar, and to be honest, of the bling. I really prefer the more quirky less blingy models like the Starla and Vela.
Anyway, the Starla has been somewhat of a niche guitar for me. It’s not one I play too often but for certain sounds and parts it really fits that niche well. Kinda of like Gretsch Meets SG. The stock pickups in the Starla are kinda neat but I found them lacking a bit both in terms of power as a humbucker or jangle as a filtertron. So pretty much since the first week I got the guitar i had been planning to swap the pickups out.
Problem is, there aren’t a whole lot of pickup makers making a humbucker sized Filtertron that I was interested in. The obvious choice would have been TV Jones but their HB sized Classics don’t look like a filtertron but rather dual slug humbuckers. And I’m not sure they sound the same as their classics. Another choice that’s been on the top of my list are the Lollartrons, and I‘ve come close to pulling the trigger on them a few times, but I just couldn’t quite stomach the $400+ price tag for a set for a niche guitar.
Enter the Portertron, I just found out about these a few weeks go and have been watching for a Black Friday deal on them, so when it came up I jumped on them. I did exchange a few emails with Brian Porter and he was pretty cool in helping me hone in on which set to choose.
What I was looking for was something with a bit more filtertron jangle but also a bit more “grunt” than the stock Starla DS pickups put out. The stock Starla pickups probably have more in common with a dynasonic than a ‘tron.
These Portertrons are actually wound a little hotter than a vintage filtertron and closer to the TV Jones Classis Plus.
Anyway, I was originally planning to put these under the tree, who was I kidding, i was installing them 20 minutes after the mailman dropped them off hahaha.
I‘ve only spent about 30 minutes playing them and have a bit of dialing in pickup heights yet but they really sound fabulous. Clean they don’t really turn my all mahogany Starla into a Gretsch but they do have some of that jangle and flavor, much more so than the stock pickups. But with some gain is where these babies really shine. OMG the harmonic richness is amazing. Even with just some light gain these pickups come alive with a richness that you can’t quite get in any other style of pickup. So far I’m super happy with them. In fact very happy with both these and the Anthem PAF’s I also got on the Black Friday sale.
My Starla has remained stock the whole time I’ve owned it, mostly because I figured I’d address all the rewiring to my prefrences once I made a decision on the pickups. The S2 line are made in the US but use the overseas electronics. Pickups are made by G&B in Korea and the electronics are a wierd mix of US and Asian parts.
Here’s the stock wiring….
Not an alpha but some no name Korean made pot. But full size, the push Pull is a mini sized pot.
The 3 way nblade toggle is actually quite well made so it stayed and I reused it.
I did away with the coil splitting because Filtertrons don’t split well. So I installed a pair of TAOT CTS 500k log taper pots.
I was kind of surprised to find that the jack is actually a Switchraft. so that stayed as well.
Kinda cool how they emboss the fiber plates on the pickups. s
Continued in next post….
I mentioned in my other thread that I fell pretty hard this year for some pretty good Black Friday deals on gear and these came in the mail today.
These are Brian Porter’s take on the classic Filtertron but sized for standard humbuckers as opposed to the harder to fit vintage Filtertron size.
The rest of this post is TL;DR so feel free to skip
.Some backstory and context. When I bought my PRS S2 Starla a couple years ago it was one of two S2’s I got, the other being the Vela Semi hollow that you’ve seen in some of my demo videos. By the time I had discovered the S2 line they had already stopped making the Starla in the US and it’s been only available in the SE line.
I was super stoked to find a 2019 NOS US made S2 Starla at the time for a good price so I snagged it.
The S2 line has turned out to be a real sweet spot for me in terms of the cost, fit and finish, supporting US jobs, nitro finish, better woods, and legendary PRS playability. I’ve become less and less enamored and comfortable with the Core line of guitars, of having so much money tied up in a single guitar, and to be honest, of the bling. I really prefer the more quirky less blingy models like the Starla and Vela.
Anyway, the Starla has been somewhat of a niche guitar for me. It’s not one I play too often but for certain sounds and parts it really fits that niche well. Kinda of like Gretsch Meets SG. The stock pickups in the Starla are kinda neat but I found them lacking a bit both in terms of power as a humbucker or jangle as a filtertron. So pretty much since the first week I got the guitar i had been planning to swap the pickups out.
Problem is, there aren’t a whole lot of pickup makers making a humbucker sized Filtertron that I was interested in. The obvious choice would have been TV Jones but their HB sized Classics don’t look like a filtertron but rather dual slug humbuckers. And I’m not sure they sound the same as their classics. Another choice that’s been on the top of my list are the Lollartrons, and I‘ve come close to pulling the trigger on them a few times, but I just couldn’t quite stomach the $400+ price tag for a set for a niche guitar.
Enter the Portertron, I just found out about these a few weeks go and have been watching for a Black Friday deal on them, so when it came up I jumped on them. I did exchange a few emails with Brian Porter and he was pretty cool in helping me hone in on which set to choose.
What I was looking for was something with a bit more filtertron jangle but also a bit more “grunt” than the stock Starla DS pickups put out. The stock Starla pickups probably have more in common with a dynasonic than a ‘tron.
These Portertrons are actually wound a little hotter than a vintage filtertron and closer to the TV Jones Classis Plus.
Anyway, I was originally planning to put these under the tree, who was I kidding, i was installing them 20 minutes after the mailman dropped them off hahaha.
I‘ve only spent about 30 minutes playing them and have a bit of dialing in pickup heights yet but they really sound fabulous. Clean they don’t really turn my all mahogany Starla into a Gretsch but they do have some of that jangle and flavor, much more so than the stock pickups. But with some gain is where these babies really shine. OMG the harmonic richness is amazing. Even with just some light gain these pickups come alive with a richness that you can’t quite get in any other style of pickup. So far I’m super happy with them. In fact very happy with both these and the Anthem PAF’s I also got on the Black Friday sale.
My Starla has remained stock the whole time I’ve owned it, mostly because I figured I’d address all the rewiring to my prefrences once I made a decision on the pickups. The S2 line are made in the US but use the overseas electronics. Pickups are made by G&B in Korea and the electronics are a wierd mix of US and Asian parts.
Here’s the stock wiring….
Not an alpha but some no name Korean made pot. But full size, the push Pull is a mini sized pot.
The 3 way nblade toggle is actually quite well made so it stayed and I reused it.
I did away with the coil splitting because Filtertrons don’t split well. So I installed a pair of TAOT CTS 500k log taper pots.
I was kind of surprised to find that the jack is actually a Switchraft. so that stayed as well.
Kinda cool how they emboss the fiber plates on the pickups. s
Continued in next post….
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