The Fishman Fluence Thread

NoodleFace

Delicious Noodles
Joined
Jul 20, 2007
Messages
2,114
Reaction score
3,244
Location
Somerset, MA
You might even have some in shitty old electronics sitting around like remote controls or on old motherboards
 

cardinal

Buys guitars, sometimes plays them
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
7,858
Reaction score
7,040
Location
Northern Virginia
For what it’s worth I didn’t have the chance to swap the Alnico Modern to the bridge, but I did try swapping the Ceramic Modern for an EMG 57-8.

The Fishman plug worked just fine.

The 57-8 seemed similar to the Ceramic Modern Voice 2, but the EMG was a bit thinner and a bit more hairy or wooly. The Ceramic Modern was a bit thicker and smoother.

I stuck the Fishman back in there, as I was much happier with it.

Still need to see if I’d like the Alnico at the bridge. That just requires unplugging two things...
 

This site may earn a commission from merchant links like Ebay, Amazon, and others.

cardinal

Buys guitars, sometimes plays them
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
7,858
Reaction score
7,040
Location
Northern Virginia
Alright, tried the Modern Alnico 8 at the bridge position.

It’s definitely lower output. It’s not driving the amp as hard. “Passive” mode sounds single-coil like with a snappy and twangy, somewhat hollow midrange “cluck,” which is very cool IMHO and explains why I liked it so much in the neck.

“Active” mode is pretty mild. It’s comparable to the Ceramic’s passive mode in voicing and output IMHO. Compared to that, the Alnico is brighter in some ways but also a bit more “full”. Basically, it’s what I wanted the Ceramic “Passive” mode to sound like. Not as clinically smooth on top and not as surgically tight in the mids and lows.

The catch is that if you liked the really hot and cutting “Active” Ceramic mode, the Alnico gets you nowhere close IMHO.

That’s fine for me, but leaves me having now to buy another Alnico pickup :( I put an EMG 66-8 in there for now as a place holder, and that thing is nowhere near as sweet or dynamic as either Fluence mode.
 

cardinal

Buys guitars, sometimes plays them
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
7,858
Reaction score
7,040
Location
Northern Virginia
OK, another question for you Fishman experts:

Do any of the 8-string open-core options (neck, bridge, Merrow) sound like the Modern Alnico?

I've come to REALLY like the Alnico Modern 8 at both positions of my current 8-string. I have two more 8-strings that supposedly will be completed within the coming month or two, and both use passive-sized pickups. So the Modern 8 is a no-go, since I am definitely not routing these guitars for that pickup.

So the only options would be one of the Open Core if I try to stick with Fishmans. From the specs of the frequency peaks, none of them are similar to the Modern Alnico, which is disappointing...
 

Strobe

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 30, 2011
Messages
851
Reaction score
854
Location
St. Paul, MN
OK, another question for you Fishman experts:

Do any of the 8-string open-core options (neck, bridge, Merrow) sound like the Modern Alnico?

I've come to REALLY like the Alnico Modern 8 at both positions of my current 8-string. I have two more 8-strings that supposedly will be completed within the coming month or two, and both use passive-sized pickups. So the Modern 8 is a no-go, since I am definitely not routing these guitars for that pickup.

So the only options would be one of the Open Core if I try to stick with Fishmans. From the specs of the frequency peaks, none of them are similar to the Modern Alnico, which is disappointing...

The only ones with the open core aesthetic as of this writing are the classics and the Merrows. Both of them sound more similar to each other than they do to the modern. The closest is V1 of the Merrows having some similarities to V2 of the Modern Ceramic... but only a little.

Most of their pickups are variations on the modern set. The Merrow is a variation on the classic set.
 

cardinal

Buys guitars, sometimes plays them
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
7,858
Reaction score
7,040
Location
Northern Virginia
The only ones with the open core aesthetic as of this writing are the classics and the Merrows. Both of them sound more similar to each other than they do to the modern. The closest is V1 of the Merrows having some similarities to V2 of the Modern Ceramic... but only a little.

Most of their pickups are variations on the modern set. The Merrow is a variation on the classic set.

Thanks. The good news is that the descriptions of the Open Cores are generally what I would like (essentially beefy PAF types). But there’s obviously some variables there. The EMG 57 supposedly is a beefed up PAF type thing and doesn’t sound nearly as good to me as the Modern Alnico. But the Duncan Custom (totally different, I know) also is billed as a beefy PAF and I love that one.

Guess I’ll just have to try them all. Ugh. These new guitars are coming with either a set of Dimarzio PAF 8 or Duncan Sentient 8s (which I know are typically used at the neck, but I thought I’d try them at the bridge too).

Hopefully they’ll work out fine, but I’m expecting to want more oomph out of them at this point. (Problem when guitars take this long to build. My amp changes and now all my pickups need to change).
 

LeviathanKiller

Knee-shooting Archer
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
2,146
Reaction score
1,359
Location
Deep Southeast
I really dig the alnico Modern in the bridge so far. It's the best I've heard the Modern set sound out of all of the possible voicings and such. I think I put my clip on wrong though (although it was intentional technically) so now the push/pull just toggles the gain it seems. haha
 

cardinal

Buys guitars, sometimes plays them
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
7,858
Reaction score
7,040
Location
Northern Virginia
I really dig the alnico Modern in the bridge so far. It's the best I've heard the Modern set sound out of all of the possible voicings and such. I think I put my clip on wrong though (although it was intentional technically) so now the push/pull just toggles the gain it seems. haha

I absolutely love it. The active mode is exactly what I wanted from a humbucker: thick mid range, clear bass, and nice treble bite without extending too far high or low.

And the passive mode sounds IMHO like a badass Tele tone, which was a pleasant surprise
 

op1e

Spirit Taker
Joined
Dec 8, 2008
Messages
3,153
Reaction score
643
Location
Northeast Ohio
I'm gonna switch my Alnico into the bridge of my Rgd 7421. Bridge is just too hot and too thin. And I love 81's. So I pull up and it's too fat and low output. If Emg made a passive size 81-7tw I'd buy it and kiss it's biscuits.
 

HeHasTheJazzHands

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2011
Messages
36,762
Reaction score
29,699
Location
Louisiana
jesus he dialed in all the treble. every pickup sounds super clanky and djenty. I did like the low end thump of the 57 and classics though.

So much this...i couldn't even make it through the whole video. Overall tone was painful.

This also isn't wrong. :lol: I was using laptop speakers at first and thought it sounded thin and harsh. I went grab my proper headphones and it made it sound even MORE thin and harsh. :rofl:

But yeah, I wouldn't use the Fluence Classics if your tone is already trebly like this. It's probably one of the brightest pickups I've ever used. I had to take it out of a bolt-on maple-necked guitar because it was getting too harsh and clanky.
 

MASS DEFECT

SS.ORG Infiltrator
Joined
Jul 28, 2008
Messages
2,808
Reaction score
3,576
Location
San Francisco, California
Ugggh he even managed to make the 57 sound thin. He said he doesn't like the "cardboard box" mids on the Modern. I think that's what makes the Modern sound a little less compressed than the 81. But yeah, the Modern could use some the 81's lows. Because it can sound all mids when you dont tune your amp to it.

I wonder how the Modern V2 sounds compared to the 57. I only have the Hetfields to compare with and so far Modern V2 has all the bottom but manages to sound tighter. The Hets have a LOT of low mids.
 

crankyrayhanky

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2009
Messages
1,091
Reaction score
350
Location
Austin, Texas
I just joined the family. Scored a Caparison with KSE pickups. Reeeeealy digging it. It's a metal machine....so the first tune I write with is not metal, lol. This is a clip with pickups in the middle position "classic" KSE setting. The amp is a cleaner Kemper amp with a Kemper Fuzz dialed in, so it's not the greatest tone test, but it inspired so here it is:

https://soundcloud.com/smile-over-dark/the-end-of-the-ride-4-13-19#t=2:20

EhPHomih.jpg


I want to try some more of these. Does anyone ever put these Fluences in Wolfgangs/HPs? Might look goofy but sound great. I have an EVH import Stealth I'm looking at, also a newer HP2.
Also have an Epi LP7 Goth that is a contender for a swap. Might consider a Classic set or modern (?) I dig the KSE but want to mix it up on other guitars.
The hype is real!
 


Latest posts

Top