Any users of the signature Fishman Fluence line? (Devin, Abasi, KsE, etc)

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Well, I just installed a set of Fluence Moderns in my Aria V. Compared to the Duncan Distortions, they're lower output, but tighter and clearer. In voicing 1, they seem to have a center-mid focus and less low end, similar to an EMG 81. Has a lot more high-end though. Has a twangy-like attack in the high end. Passive Voice 2 sounds like a mix between the Distortion and a JB. Has that high-mid quack like a JB and a chunky but tight low end/low mid like a Distortion.

EDIT: Actually thinking about, it sounds a lot like a B&B L500XL on Voice 2.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Fuck, I can't edit my message.

Couple more things; So far I'm sold on them. Voice 1 is very, very modern sounding. Sounds like an EMG 81 but with more bite on the extreme top end. Love it to fucking death. Voice 2 is good if you wanna do crushing riffs. Just massive, thick power chords with tons of low end. Sounds a bit too clear for sludgy music, but it can probably do that.

Also, if you're a rookie with installing pickups... get a pro to do it. It took me almost 2 hours to install these. Sooo much shit to do.

Sometime this week I'll try to install the classics in my PRS.

 

[that short guy]

A little late to the conversation but I have the KSE set and I like them but I can see how they wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.
Voice one is like an EMG 81 but with a little bit more tighter bottom end. Voice two is like a PAF meets a 59ish sound, very pleasing, more dynamic than voice one, and a hell of a lot more full sounding. Voice 3 is an amazing single coil sound and is the soul reason I went with these

Here's a demo I did the day I got them. I used a Helix to record it and the Amp sims are a PRS Archon for all of the heavily distorted tones and a line 6 original amp called the litigator for the clean and slightly dirty sounds (rolled on and off of the volume knob). All of the clean and slightly dirty tones where voice 3 but different parts used different pups, the heavily distorted tones where voices 1 and 2.

https://soundcloud.com/i_get_bored/fluence-kse-test

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Hmm, so voice 2 of the KsE is actually prety low mid output? Might have to try it in another guitar.

 

[Strobe]

Hmm, so voice 2 of the KsE is actually prety low mid output? Might have to try it in another guitar.

There is a 6dB cut on the moderns. If you want moderate output, you can wire that to a push pull pot, or just wire it to ground if you want it always on. I get wanting a more medium output. I use passives and other low output pickups a lot, and I like to not have to tweak my amp settings wildly to get a usable tone.

I recently changed out the SD Blackout in my single pickup RR24. The modern is definitely lower output than the blackout was. I like blackouts, but they can get muddy. It can be fixed with amp EQ on a lot of guitars, but it requires very different amp settings from my guitars with other pickups. The fluence pickups are a lot easier to get a good tone out of.

I put the alnico in my single pickup guitar. It works for either the bridge or the neck, and I wanted a bit of a rounder tone in this otherwise bright sounding guitar. It still sounds great. I just put it in yesterday, and I have not played enough to describe it properly. The ceramic sounds a lot like an EMG81 to me. The neck is closer to an 85 in the bridge, but not as similar as the ceramic is to an 81 to my ears. It beats the pants off the AHB-1 blackout in terms of clarity.

 

[that short guy]

Hmm, so voice 2 of the KsE is actually prety low mid output? Might have to try it in another guitar.

They're on the edge of medium to medium/high. Its my favorite voicing out of 1 and 2 for high gain. All of the lead work, the 1st half of what would be the chorus and the 2nd half of the 2nd verse as well as the first part of the last chorus were done on voice 2

 

[MASS DEFECT]

Well, I just installed a set of Fluence Moderns in my Aria V. Compared to the Duncan Distortions, they're lower output, but tighter and clearer. In voicing 1, they seem to have a center-mid focus and less low end, similar to an EMG 81. Has a lot more high-end though. Has a twangy-like attack in the high end. Passive Voice 2 sounds like a mix between the Distortion and a JB. Has that high-mid quack like a JB and a chunky but tight low end/low mid like a Distortion.

EDIT: Actually thinking about, it sounds a lot like a B&B L500XL on Voice 2.

You got it right. Voice 2 on the modern is like a thickened Distortion. It is much clearer than my EMG JH but it can also do thick slow chords. I'll finish up installing a set of Nickel Black moderns on my Soloist later. I hate soldering these pups. I wish they would come up with quick connects. Installing EMG pots and wires just taes me 30mins. lol

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

You got it right. Voice 2 on the modern is like a thickened Distortion. It is much clearer than my EMG JH but it can also do thick slow chords. I'll finish up installing a set of Nickel Black moderns on my Soloist later. I hate soldering these pups. I wish they would come up with quick connects. Installing EMG pots and wires just taes me 30mins. lol

Yeah, I got so spoiled by EMGs that this became a fucking chore. Been forever since I installed electronics from scratch, let alone something as complicated as the Fluences.

They're on the edge of medium to medium/high.

Aaah, I see. Well shit.

And I do know the Moderns have a jumper to reduce the output. Just feel like the overall voicing is more modern.

 

[MASS DEFECT]

My guitars have the EMG wiring and I just want to pop the Fluence and just use Voice 2. How do I do that by just using the jumpers?

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

My guitars have the EMG wiring and I just want to pop the Fluence and just use Voice 2. How do I do that by just using the jumpers?

Looks like using the jumpers might work. I'm assuming pulling/activating the toggle completes the circuit to change the voicing. Might wanna email Fishman about that, though.

 

[angl2k]

My guitars have the EMG wiring and I just want to pop the Fluence and just use Voice 2. How do I do that by just using the jumpers?

They can be permanently toggled by using the included jumpers. Although you can use the EMG pots afaik Fishman uses a different value capacitor (0.22 uF) for the tone pot than EMG (0.1 uF).

 

[MASS DEFECT]

They can be permanently toggled by using the included jumpers. Although you can use the EMG pots afaik Fishman uses a different value capacitor (0.22 uF) for the tone pot than EMG (0.1 uF).

Do I just have to plug in the jumpers? No soldering?
And does the capacitor affect my tone?

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Do I just have to plug in the jumpers? No soldering?
And does the capacitor affect my tone?

The jumper seems to just plug in like a solderless system. And i imagine the tone pot doesn't effect the tone unless its dialed in. Just effects the tone knobs frequency.

 

[MASS DEFECT]

Here are the installed Black Nickel Moderns in my Soloist. Black Nickel looks so good in black. I had to wire some options in. V1/V2 in the vol pot. Outer coil splits on the tone pot. Have to give up wiring at some point since I messed up the splits and have someone help me. I get some mild hum in my neck alnico though. So I dont know. Everything else sounds good. Voice 2 on the ceramic bridge is too dark for this all mahogany guitar.

Thinking of installing the battery pack since the battery only lasts 100 hours. And you don't always get 9v of juice with batteries. So maybe if the guitar is in active duty, you might want to change every 2 months.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Screw it, I like the moderns so fucking much that I'm gonna consider a 3rd set for my EMG-loaded Epi Explorer.

Still looking between the Tosin Abasi, KsE, and Devin set. They all seem like they'd be up my alley on Voice 1, but the 2nd voicing is crucial. Like I said, needs to be low-to-medium output.

EDIT: Also to mention... yeah, these pickups are VERY high output. Didn't realize how crazy it was until I plugged in my other guitars. Definitely seems to overpower them. But they STILL remain tightness and clarity. It's insane.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Double-posting bump, because...

Finally got the classics installed.

And they do as they say on the tin. Voice 1 is PAF-esque, voice 2 is higher-output. The output is slightly different, but it definitely does work for high-gain. Voice 1 is scooped and trebly like a PAF, while voice 2 has a midrange bump and slightly less low end to increase the output and tighten up the sound. I really dig them.

 

[MASS DEFECT]

How's voice two with the classics working out for you? I honestly prefer V2 on the Classic vs the V2 on the modern. The modern has a lot of bass on V2.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I prefer V1 on the modern and V2 on the classics, because both voicings have more midrange and less low end. But I'm finding uses for both. Voice 1 of the classics for vintage-style tones, and V2 of the moderns for sludgier sounds or a huge wall of sound. But for my ideal tone, I prefer V1 modern and V2 classic.

I plan on wiring in a coil tap for the Classics, though. I'm fine with the Moderns having no coil taps for now since it's a strictly brutal guitar, but I'd like even more versatility from my PRS. I found out if you get a 3-way mini toggle switch, you can have both inner and outer coil splitting.

Still want more opinions on a third set. I wish there were more details on the Tosin Abasi set.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

dammit i've got to finish my destroyer build so I can install my moderns already. Very curious to see if I like em.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

500xl vs kse set