The Fishman Fluence Thread

[patdavidmusic]

Morning gents,
If this is too much of a ballsy maneuver just let me know and we can delete the thread.

I feel there are many thread asking about Fishman pickups, i thought one place would help a lot of people have their questions answered / clear up any misconceptions. I'm not being paid nor am I affiliated, I was just on the fence for so very long and it would have really helped me to have all of this information in one place. Not just for myself to answer but other owners as well, I see so many threads I thought one place might be better.

Although I just have one set, I am so blown away I'll be purchasing a different set later this month to compare (probably the Keith Merrow set)

I just had the Fishman Devin Townsend set installed, holy cow it is better than i imagined
Below is a video with clean demos, different voices and single coil mode


They'll be a similar to the above just with gain, next week.

If you just want the audio
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18d6yK7W8yJ1QPxRd2_Thyv9ltjO0GhQG/view


In another thread a lot of people asked if I could add DI, tracks and use real amps, I'll be using real amps in the next couple of days but DI tracks will take longer as I work out how to re-amp with the eleven rack / fractal ax8.

If there's any questions or queries, things you want to see or hear please let me know

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

The Devy set is the only one I'm apprehensive to try. They make it sound like it's a smoother, bassier EMG 81. Now I feel like in some guitars, the EMG 81 actually lacks some presence and high end, so that's the opposite of what I'd want from them.

Now I have a set of Moderns and I love them to death. They have the tightness of the EMG 81, but more clarity and more high end presence in voice 1, and voice 2 reminds me of the B&B L500XL with the scooped mids, thick lows, and VERY twangy high end. I also have the Classics and these are probably my favorite passive (sounding) pickups. Voice 1 is bright and chimey and works well under clean and slight crunch. Voice 2 has a thick and tight tone and a VERY bitey high end/high mid attack. I have them in 2 guitars and love them. And voice 1 of the neck is the perfect clean sound. Not too fond of voice 2, but god I love voice 1 to death.

Just ordered a KsE set as well. Gonna see how those work out.

 

[patdavidmusic]

The Devy set is the only one I'm apprehensive to try. They make it sound like it's a smoother, bassier EMG 81. Now I feel like in some guitars, the EMG 81 actually lacks some presence and high end, so that's the opposite of what I'd want from them.

Now I have a set of Moderns and I love them to death. They have the tightness of the EMG 81, but more clarity and more high end presence in voice 1, and voice 2 reminds me of the B&B L500XL with the scooped mids, thick lows, and VERY twangy high end. I also have the Classics and these are probably my favorite passive (sounding) pickups. Voice 1 is bright and chimey and works well under clean and slight crunch. Voice 2 has a thick and tight tone and a VERY bitey high end/high mid attack. I have them in 2 guitars and love them. And voice 1 of the neck is the perfect clean sound. Not too fond of voice 2, but god I love voice 1 to death.

Just ordered a KsE set as well. Gonna see how those work out.

Champion, these types of comments really help others, personally I'm not finding the Devins to bass heavy, but I'll post up my gain clips this week for others to see, the single coil mode is just stunning it has this pull and bass rounded tone of an actual single coil, obviously not exactly the same but certainly the feel is so much closer than just normally spitting a humbucker

 

[Ziricote]

When will we see actual bands using them for recording? How are they in a mix? Are they pleasing to the ears? I like a warm passive sound

 

[patdavidmusic]

When will we see actual bands using them for recording? How are they in a mix? Are they pleasing to the ears? I like a warm passive sound

Sounds pretty good to me

 

[TheShade0110]

When will we see actual bands using them for recording? How are they in a mix? Are they pleasing to the ears? I like a warm passive sound

I've heard plenty of Fishman owners comment on how mix-friendly/easy to mix Fishman pickups are(aside from the Stephen Carpenter set).

On another note I'm looking to grab a set of KSE sigs for my baritone 6 at some point soon-ish. They're supposedly the tightest, most articulate set in V1 so I'm excited to hear them in some ridiculous tuning like drop G, even though I'll likely *just* be using them in C or B standard and may end up favoring the passive voice anyways.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Well like i said i goy a set on the way. Ill be comparing them directly to an EMG 81/60 set.

 

[Shask]

I like this thread. I am thinking I am gonna get a set because I am curious. I think I have settled on the Modern set, since it seems to be the original one that all the others are based on. I have 2 PRS SEs that need new pickups. I have used passive Duncans the last several years, but was a big EMG user before that.

I was gonna order some, but it seems like they are currently out of stock at many places.

 

[lewis]

Well like i said i goy a set on the way. Ill be comparing them directly to an EMG 81/60 set.

Can I also request in said comparison, trying to EQ the 81 so it sounds as close to a modern as possible aswell?

Im curious about this and convinced the difference between their core sounds, could be the difference of just adding one of the active EQ knob options EMG offer to the existing 81 to add more high end twang or what not (if you already own the 81 obviously)

 

[cip 123]

When will we see actual bands using them for recording? How are they in a mix? Are they pleasing to the ears? I like a warm passive sound

They're excellent for recording. You've probably already heard them you won't be able to tell in a final mix but if you're an engineer sitting down you will.

In my personal experience switching from Dimarzio to Modern 7's they cut out a lot of low end warbling frequencies i.e. static noise frequencies that weren't really helping with the sound of the note more just a low quiet but noticeable warble.

I tracked my bands entire EP again when we realised we were getting a clearer signal.

Mind you this wasn't a very scientific test, the mic wasn't 100% in the same place but after sending just one track with the fishmans to my engineer we re-did the other 3 tracks.

Also they seem to get away from the lifeless sterile tone I usually get with ceramic pickups and the active/passive mode really helps. I have songs where I'll switch to passive mode and some for active.

 

[patdavidmusic]

They're excellent for recording. You've probably already heard them you won't be able to tell in a final mix but if you're an engineer sitting down you will.

In my personal experience switching from Dimarzio to Modern 7's they cut out a lot of low end warbling frequencies i.e. static noise frequencies that weren't really helping with the sound of the note more just a low quiet but noticeable warble.

I tracked my bands entire EP again when we realised we were getting a clearer signal.

Mind you this wasn't a very scientific test, the mic wasn't 100% in the same place but after sending just one track with the fishmans to my engineer we re-did the other 3 tracks.

Also they seem to get away from the lifeless sterile tone I usually get with ceramic pickups and the active/passive mode really helps. I have songs where I'll switch to passive mode and some for active.

I feel the same way, I'm literally putting the final touches on an EP and I just got the pickups, I'm almost tempted to re-record it would just kill me

 

[cip 123]

I feel the same way, I'm literally putting the final touches on an EP and I just got the pickups, I'm almost tempted to re-record it would just kill me

It was for ease of mixing with my band. The Dimarzios didn't sound bad by any means but with the fishmans cutting out some troubling frequencies it just made mixing easier.

If you're already there with the EP there isn't much point. We were pretty early on in the mixing stages. Like I said earlier at the final outcome no one is going to know what pickups/amp/guitar you used. The Fishmans just helped my engineer at the time. If you've already dealt with the mix on other pickups stick with that mix rather than create more work!

 

[Strobe]

I own:

Strat set
Tele Set
Classic humbuckers
Modern Humbuckers
Tosin Abasi set

I am not adept at uploading music to the interweb, but might be able to if we need it. In general I have found other better players more skilled with their interweb-fu than I to share.

Happy to answer any questions on the ones I have. I have. They're all good. The classics are my favorite of the bunch - the tones seem to have the most variety to me, and it's all really good. In the same way that PAF pickups can work for almost any style, these can too - while also working better down-tuned than most PAF pickups do. I also prefer the Tosins to the moderns slightly.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Okay so I actually got them in today.

I just plugged the KsE bridge directly into the EMG wiring.

From what I can tell, the KsE Moderns are definitely lower output. Not extreme, but it's noticable. They also have less bass and low. More in the mid/upper mids and treble region.

https://soundcloud.com/user-367099678/emg-81-vs-fishman-killswitch-engage-fluence

 

[TedEH]

I've been debating getting a set of classics to throw in one guitar to replace some Blackouts that I don't always get along with. I get the impression that the moderns would be something I'd go for if I was more a fan of traditional actives (81, etc) but I tend to be more a fan of passives and clean sounds and rolling back volume to smooth stuff out, and playing with dynamics and mid-gain sounds, etc. I've got 81s already so that territory is covered.

I found that any time I've picked up a guitar with any kind of actives you can sort of feel the active-ness of it immediately, and it's not something I'm a fan of. For those who have tried these so far, do these "feel" like actives? Or is it more something in between, or totally different?

 

[lewis]

Okay so I actually got them in today.

I just plugged the KsE bridge directly into the EMG wiring.

From what I can tell, the KsE Moderns are definitely lower output. Not extreme, but it's noticable. They also have less bass and low. More in the mid/upper mids and treble region.

https://soundcloud.com/user-367099678/emg-81-vs-fishman-killswitch-engage-fluence

holy shit so they DO work with EMG wiring/solderless?

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

holy shit so they DO work with EMG wiring/solderless?

They do. But like i said you're stuck with one voicing unless you wire in a separate mini toggle or something. And that requires soldering.

 

[lewis]

They do. But like i said you're stuck with one voicing unless you wire in a separate mini toggle or something. And that requires soldering.

what about the push/pull? have we worked out if that works? haha

 

[TedEH]

If a toggle would work I don't see why push/pull woudln't. A switch is a switch.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

If a toggle would work I don't see why push/pull woudln't. A switch is a switch.

Because I don't know if EMG's solderless push-pulls work.