Dynas or Filtertrons for chord melody solo guitar?

My point of view:
Just like deciding between 2 picks, flatwounds vs round wounds, or an open-back vs closed-back speaker, Some songs might sound a little better with one or the other. But neither choice will be best in all situations. I could imagine recording a solo chord melody piece where one pickup sounded better for the bridge while the other suited the verse.

 

Chord melody? I do it, and there is no better choice than the Supertron. Chet Atkins loved them, and he was pretty ok at chord melodies. I really love mine- you can play them with the tone from 1-10, and you’ll get something workable.

 

I've had 3 Gretsch guitars in my life. I definitely loved the 2 with Filtertrons the most. But remember, these are generally not a high output pickup. They do have a unique tone/timbre. They sound beautiful when fingerpicked, strummed, or flat picked for certain applications. They are wonderful for Country, folk, old 60s rock. Neil Young's softer electric tones were often on a Gretsch. The Eagles used them a lot in the 70s. Of course they were George Harriso's tone on many old Beatles records. Enjoy. They are a great sounding pickup.

 

While Chet loved his Filter- and Supertrons, I'd definitely go Dynasonic - those are my all time favorite pickup type, such clarity, but still plenty of balls, such versatility.
If your Dynasonics sound too thin, just lower the magnets into the pickup, and then raise the whole pickup with shims - and suddenly you're going from a Tele sound with more balls to a P90 sound with more clarity.
TVJones T-Armonds supposedly sound thicker than vintage-style Dynasonics, if you look for a fuller tone (never tried those myself).

There are plenty of other players I like who use Filtertrons, but I could never make them work for me - they have something grindy, brash, strident in the upper mids that I could never dial out, and they exaggerate the difference between dull, thuddy, woody wound strings on the bottom and bright cutting treble strings even more than regular humbuckers do (I don't like PAFs, either...)

 

I have new dynasonics and don’t know how they compare
They are the clearest most articulate pickups I have

And they’re the most transparent(I hate this term) pickups I’ve ever used they make my hollow body sound exactly as it does unplugged

 

As I said - with Dynasonics you can really fine-tune the balance between treble snap and mid-punch by experimenting with pickup height vs magnet height.
I like mine angled, so that the shell of the pickup sits closer to the treble strings, and farther away from the bass strings - and then I raise the pole pieces under the bass strings for balance.
That way you get fuller sounding treble strings, and snappy bass ones.

On a 6120 with top-mounted Dynasonics you might have to make custom shims to achieve that, though I have heard that some people use plastic "washers" (cut to appropriate lengths from surgical tubing) to have a bit of room for experimenting...

 

Dyna for every type of playing.

 

Dyna's, hands down.