EMG or Fishmans?

[jengofret]

Exactly bro.
I've been guilty of falling victim to the online hype crap too many times.

Now I'm blunt with my findings to help others not fall victim to the same shit I have.

You will not be disappointed with the bareknuckle

yep thanks, sounds like what I am after. want to do as much research etc before I bite the bullet

For real though. I would not rule out the Fishman classics in a premature manner. They do have that cocked sound to them. Pricewise they do not differ from the Bareknuckles. I would definately try to get my hands on them before buying the cat in the bag. Bareknuckle had that same hype few years ago, like Fishman has now. The only thing to consider, is the wiring, but if you can think sort of straight, it does not differ too much from a regular passive wiring.

thing is I know the bareknuckles should most likely deliver what I am after. I really don't know what to go for with the fishmans. Modern Alnico Humbucker Pickup? it's going into basswood. also I have no clue if I need to put a battery in those. been a long time since I bothered doing anything to my guitars in terms of upgrading pickups

I mean they aren't more expensive then the bare knuckles.
I think the classics will actually be very good for what you want.
but the holy divers or the miracle mans will be good too.

bareknuckles are tickling my fancy because of the of the burnt chrome finish. yeah it's dumb to buy something just for aesthetics. decisions decisions

 

[Stuck_in_a_dream]

No, no they are not.
And it's that simple.

They try to be a jack of all trades, but master of none.

The conveluted wiring and inflated prices just are not worth it.

No offense, but I think you missed an 'IMHO' somewhere.

IMHO, they are absolutely worth it, but YMMV, just like anything else really. Passives have their magic and Fishmans come close with some of the voices they offer, but for certain applications (e.g. tight high gain, clarity, etc.) the Fishmans are in a league of their own IMHO. So, give them a try. As others mentioned the Classics or the the Merrows (same neck as Classics and with EVH/brown sound V2 bridge voicing) should work really well for what you want. So, back to those YT videos .

 

[slavboi_delight]

yep thanks, sounds like what I am after. want to do as much research etc before I bite the bullet

thing is I know the bareknuckles should most likely deliver what I am after. I really don't know what to go for with the fishmans. Modern Alnico Humbucker Pickup? it's going into basswood. also I have no clue if I need to put a battery in those. been a long time since I bothered doing anything to my guitars in terms of upgrading pickups

Avoid the Moderns in this scenario. They are insanely focused. I'd opt for either the Fluence Classic set or the Merrow set. And they do need a battery. The actual circuitry of the pickups is powered by a 9V or that Fishman rechargable pack. I do understand that and of course upgrading a guitar from passive to active is always more of a hassle in the first place. All I wanted is to say that stuff like pickups was, is and will always be a subjective manner. OF course, due COVID it's not easy to trial and error guitars or pickups at the moment. But man I like them Fishmans. They are hairy and really scratchy.

 

[slavboi_delight]

No offense, but I think you missed an 'IMHO' somewhere.

IMHO, they are absolutely worth it, but YMMV, just like anything else really. Passives have their magic and Fishmans come close with some of the voices they offer, but for certain applications (e.g. tight high gain, clarity, etc.) the Fishmans are in a league of their own IMHO. So, give them a try. As others mentioned the Classics or the the Merrows (same neck as Classics and with EVH/brown sound V2 bridge voicing) should work really well for what you want. So, back to those YT videos .

Spot on.

 

[jengofret]

Avoid the Moderns in this scenario. They are insanely focused. I'd opt for either the Fluence Classic set or the Merrow set. And they do need a battery. The actual circuitry of the pickups is powered by a 9V or that Fishman rechargable pack. I do understand that and of course upgrading a guitar from passive to active is always more of a hassle in the first place. All I wanted is to say that stuff like pickups was, is and will always be a subjective manner. OF course, due COVID it's not easy to trial and error guitars or pickups at the moment. But man I like them Fishmans. They are hairy and really scratchy.

hard to to T&A anything in Australia. any advice on a trash metal fishman (exodus/the absence) type sound? think I might just buy a set of each fishman/bareknuckle. have a mate i've been giving lessons, he has a shit ibanez gio i'm sure we could mess with. it's not his main guitar so whichever ones I like more i'll just keep

 

[slavboi_delight]

For thrash the Moderns all the way. They are sort of like an EMG 81 but a little less compressed and a small boost in the 4k region. And they have a negative 6 dB option if you want to tight them up even further. But you can throw so much gain on them and they will handle it really well. Voice 2 of the Moderns sound a bit like a L500 so pretty aggro but still insanely tight.
Or if you want to avoid bottom end completely, the KSE set. That one is sort of like the Moderns but in insanely tight. Too tight for my taste.

 

[lewis]

For thrash the Moderns all the way. They are sort of like an EMG 81 but a little less compressed and a small boost in the 4k region. And they have a negative 6 dB option if you want to tight them up even further. But you can throw so much gain on them and they will handle it really well. Voice 2 of the Moderns sound a bit like a L500 so pretty aggro but still insanely tight.
Or if you want to avoid bottom end completely, the KSE set. That one is sort of like the Moderns but in insanely tight. Too tight for my taste.

I keep seeing and hearing this.
considering the EMG quick connect wiring works perfectly on the Fishman,s its easy to A/B them in and out of the same guitar and ive done this countless times all of last year in recording and live situations.
ive backwards and forwards the FIshman modern set and my usual Dual EMG 81 set in the same guitar and they are nothing like each other. They just arent

they have massively different low end (the moderns is non existent), they have massively different low mids and normal mids, and the Moderns high mids are fucking stupid. They also feel completely different from each other.
You are talking to a guy that loves treble boosters and single coil style twang, and even I dont really like the over emphasis of high frequencies on the modern set.

all in all it really is apples and oranges. Other than being actives, there is literally nothing else in common.

 

[slavboi_delight]

I keep seeing and hearing this.
considering the EMG quick connect wiring works perfectly on the Fishman,s its easy to A/B them in and out of the same guitar and ive done this countless times all of last year in recording and live situations.
ive backwards and forwards the FIshman modern set and my usual Dual EMG 81 set in the same guitar and they are nothing like each other. They just arent

they have massively different low end (the moderns is non existent), they have massively different low mids and normal mids, and the Moderns high mids are fucking stupid. They also feel completely different from each other.
You are talking to a guy that loves treble boosters and single coil style twang, and even I dont really like the over emphasis of high frequencies on the modern set.

all in all it really is apples and oranges. Other than being actives, there is literally nothing else in common.

Since you're pretty dead set on you're opinion, I'm not gonna try to talk you out of it since I mentioned that hearing tone is very much a subjective thing and I'm not really into arguing, because without disrespecting you're opinion it seems you really are leading a personal crusade against Fluence pickups.

And yes, the Moderns are brighter than an 81, I thought we settled that in a different thread.

 

[lewis]

Since you're pretty dead set on you're opinion, I'm not gonna try to talk you out of it since I mentioned that hearing tone is very much a subjective thing and I'm not really into arguing, because without disrespecting you're opinion it seems you really are leading a personal crusade against Fluence pickups.

And yes, the Moderns are brighter than an 81, I thought we settled that in a different thread.

I wouldnt still use FIshmans in my primary guitar if that were true.

and the differences between them are way more than simply "the moderns are just brighter"

 

[slavboi_delight]

I wouldnt still use FIshmans in my primary guitar if that were true.

and the differences between them are way more than simply "the moderns are just brighter"

Let's put the actual qoute of me saying that emg and fishman share tonal similarities to the side.

Why do you use fishmans in your primary if you dislike them? Genuine question here.

 

[lewis]

Let's put the actual qoute of me saying that emg and fishman share tonal similarities to the side.

Why do you use fishmans in your primary if you dislike them? Genuine question here.

been too busy the last 15 months, with other things to prioritise money on too, than getting new pickups for a guitar.

 

[slavboi_delight]

i respect that

 

[Hoss632]

I figured this was probably the best thread to ask in. are fishman's really worth it? I don't want a complex wiring setup, too much to think about when playing. was looking at bareknuckle holy divers, guitar is going to be mostly for 80's cock rock stuff

The wiring is not difficult to think about honestly, at least while you are playing. It's no different than using a push/pull pot for coil split tones on a guitar or if you use the 5 way super switch that's another way to gain access to single coil tones (if you indeed need those tones). And then the push pull for voice 1 or 2 depending on the pick up. It's getting everything wired up that seems to be where folks have trouble if they are doing it themselves. the fishman classics are amazing for 80's rock/metal tones though. Joe Satchel of steel panther has open core classics in his signature model and that's the type of music they play. The holy diver set would also be a badass set to use as well. You can probably find a guitar loaded with fishman's at a local guitar shop to try out and see what you think tonally and of the wiring.