Hi Tom. Do they sound better? In a word: "Yup"! And they sound different too. By many accounts the standard Gretschbuckers on the 5120 are a cross somewhere between traditional Gretsch, and traditional Gibson. I also have a 5120 and I put a set of TV Classics on mine. They have that traditional much loved Gretsch sound from the late 50s which is just what I was looking for. Now I'm looking for a better amp to take better advantage of them! But still; even on my current modeling amps they sound a whole lot better than the G'buckers. With the G'buckers I only had a few different sounds that I was really happy with, but one that I really, really liked. With the Classics; there aren't very many sounds that I don't like, and thankfully, with a little knob twirling I can even get very close to my favorite "G'bucker" sound with one of the amps with the Classics! Which is not to say that the G'buckers sound bad. They don't, they really sound pretty nice, but they didn't seem to have the sparkle, excitement and clarity of the Classics, which I guess they shouldn't since they seem to have been designed with a more pleasant , mellow and relaxed character. I suppose though that if a person liked the G'buckers tone, a set of Supertrons or Powertrons may be worth looking at too since they are designed more to the warm side of things but would give the added clarity and accuracy of the Classics. One major difference I have found is remembering how quiet it was around the house when I used to practice about 70% of the time unplugged. Now I flip on the amp when I first get up in the morning and it stays on till I go to bed! Rich.

Thanks for the reply Rich. I am thinking about swaping the pickups. I was looking for that treble/twang sound of the old Gretsch guitars. Kinda like that early Beatles George Harrison sound. Thanks again Tom

Hi Tom and F107+5. Toms reply on the classics vs. G'buckers couldn't be descibed more precise. I just wanna tell that I agree. I put a supertron in neck position and a classic in bridge position on my 5120. They are really great but the G'bucker tone was also great but it's easy to get that sound from the others. I recorded the G'buckers before I removed them and tried to copy the sound with the new ones. I had to mellow the treble a bit in one of the positions. The G'bucker was better if I was going for the PAF humbucker thing. That's true but the classic Gretsch sound comes from the Supertron and the classic and don't hesitate to change you won't regret .....! Good luck from Jimmy H