The Fishman Fluence Thread

[Stephenar19]

Oof. Yeah, I like to give them the benefit of the doubt and guess they just never work with actives/piezos. I don't know, in my case this was just the on staff tech at GC, I don't really have one guy I go to regularly

 

[Robooze]

Hi y'all! I was looking for a future set of pickups for my new PRS SE Zach Myers sig. guitar.
Even though I'd say the stock ones are pretty decent, I really wanted something very versatile that could cover low-gain type of music and very heavy stuff as well, and the Fishman Fluence naturally got my attention.

Point is, my guitar is in Open C tuning, 24.5 in length, and also semi-hollow and would like to record with it. Do you think all the Fluence options are good at preventing bad low-end frequencies and create clarity with distortion, or should I orient myself towards a particular set? I would still like to retain the acoustic nature of the guitar for the clean tones if that makes sense

I know Devin Townsend has some semi-hollows on which he plays heavy stuff as well, but I've heard his sig. set is pretty bassy. Is it really though?

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I'm not sure if I'd call the DT set bassy. Just very smooth. It takes the modern set and rolls of the high end.

You may want the Classics or Keith Merrows. Both sets are meant to have a low-gain classic rock voicing, and a more hot-rodded, modern voicing.

 

[Robooze]

Thank you very much! I'd just want to avoid muddiness in the low end as much as possibile, mainly for tight heavy rhythms, while retaining warmth on higher parts of scale for more mellow music. But at this point it seems that all the sets could actually be viable options for me, just with different shades and nuances?

Anyways, how would you compare the clean tones between the Classic and Modern if you got the chance to try them both?

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Thank you very much! I'd just want to avoid muddiness in the low end as much as possibile, mainly for tight heavy rhythms, while retaining warmth on higher parts of scale for more mellow music. But at this point it seems that all the sets could actually be viable options for me, just with different shades and nuances?

Anyways, how would you compare the clean tones between the Classic and Modern if you got the chance to try them both?

Been awhile since I had the moderns. The modern cleans were just... clean. If you want a Modern seat tweaked for cleans, you want the KsE. The KsE is slightly lower output and has less bass, so it's pretty much ALL mids on voice 1, with a more scooped, bassier voice 2 which sounds surprisingly sparkly clean. Basically take the active clean sound and give it more body and top. It sounded really, really nice. And Voice 3 (split) sounds fucking amazing. I didn't gel with these because, like I said, voice 1 was ALL mids. And Voice 2 wasn't tight enough for metal rhythms.

I prefer the Classics all around. Voice 1 is divine for cleans. Sounds like a PAF with a bit of single coil flair. Voice 2 is pretty damn good for cleans as well. Bit more midrange and body.

 

[Robooze]

So, I found online a comprehensive pack of samples and stems for each Fluence set, with all the positions and available voices for each and wow... I wouldn't have thought this but I am totally amazed by the Tosin's!

I went through all the tones for each set and these are my overall ear impressions:

• The KsE has very lovely and sparkly cleans. Its high-gain heavy type of sound is indeed very tight but to me lacks in the low-end, like there's no much life and body to the tone.
• I dig the Classics. Unfortunately (but quite reasonably) some of their tones didn't sound modern enough for me.
• I loved so much how full and deep the Tosin Abasi and Devin Townsend heavy sound was! Their cleans are veeery good, I especially think the Tosin Abasi has the best ones out of all the sets. Its voice 3 cleans are just superb. They sound so clear, percussive and acoustic-like!

Between the Devin and Tosin Abasi, I think I'll go for the latter! I've found it has slightly more tightness and chord definition in high-gain settings, whilst the devin sound is a bit more smooth and fat. Just a subtle difference though.

 

[Albake21]

So, I found online a comprehensive pack of samples and stems for each Fluence set, with all the positions and available voices for each and wow... I wouldn't have thought this but I am totally amazed by the Tosin's!

I went through all the tones for each set and these are my overall ear impressions:

• The KsE has very lovely and sparkly cleans. Its high-gain heavy type of sound is indeed very tight but to me lacks in the low-end, like there's no much life and body to the tone.
• I dig the Classics. Unfortunately (but quite reasonably) some of their tones didn't sound modern enough for me.
• I loved so much how full and deep the Tosin Abasi and Devin Townsend heavy sound was! Their cleans are veeery good, I especially think the Tosin Abasi has the best ones out of all the sets. Its voice 3 cleans are just superb. They sound so clear, percussive and acoustic-like!

Between the Devin and Tosin Abasi, I think I'll go for the latter! I've found it has slightly more tightness and chord definition in high-gain settings, whilst the devin sound is a bit more smooth and fat. Just a subtle difference though.

Where did you get these stems from? I'd love to give them a try myself.

 

[Robooze]

See if this works: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/579zckh7d35x9kj/AAD2xZM8PbXSxTVz6hRoAOR8a?dl=0

It's the link they provide under the fluence signature videos they put on YouTube. Honestly I don't know how they managed to isolate all the sound clips but to me they all sound very different.

 

[Albake21]

See if this works: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/579zckh7d35x9kj/AAD2xZM8PbXSxTVz6hRoAOR8a?dl=0

It's the link they provide under the fluence signature videos they put on YouTube. Honestly I don't know how they managed to isolate all the sound clips but to me they all sound very different.

That worked, thank you! I've always wanted to try out the Tosin set since I've never gotten along with the moderns on 3 different occasions.

 

[Robooze]

I'd love to know your take on the sets. I'm by no means a sound expert so my impressions could be a lot subjective. Thanks!

 

[Ralyks]

I'm super tempted to put Tosins in my Strandberg Fusion at this point, but man, I really don't want to have any routing done. Kinda been going between the Open Cores and the Javiers. Whatever can do Prog and Thrash and a little Jazz.

My Boden Original 7 that already has Moderns in there, yeah, that is getting Tosins.

 

[Albake21]

So I took a listen to these stem files, it's very interesting to finally have a fair comparison. I used the Nueral DSP Nolly plugin to listen to these. Honesty, for the most part there are pretty subtle differences under high gain. I noticed there's a bigger difference when using Alnico vs Ceramic.

The two that really drew my attention were the Tosin Abasi and Keith Merrow bridge. The Killswitch set sounded really good, but like many others have said, it really lacks low end. Keith's bridge really surprised me. Under high gain, on voice 1, it sounds very similar to the Tosin bridge except it has this snappy sound in the high end that I really like. No other models seem to have this. I also really love the smoothness of Devin's bridge. Honestly I'd be happy with any of these three.

As for cleans, I really think they all sound fantastic. Tosin's Voice 3 sounds like a classic strat, which personally isn't my thing, but I know a lot of people would love it. Honestly, I think I have to go with Devin or Keith again on this. I know Keith's neck is just a classic but it sounds really nice for cleans. Devin's Voice 3 just sounds like a perfect well rounded single coil while others are bit too thin for me.

This test absolutely confirmed my hate for the moderns. They are way too compressed and lifeless.

 

[Goldenfinger]

Hello Everyone,
I need help for my LP project. I recently got KM set and extra p/p pots.
I want to have the volumes p/p for V1&2 for each pickup and Tones p/p for V3 for each pickup. I have contacted Fishman CS for a diagram but they seems busy. Can anyone help suggest me for the diagram to wire this?

 

[diagrammatiks]

everything just goes to ground. the k/m set should have a pin labeled v3. it overrides the pin for v2. so just have it switch to ground and the v2 pin switch to ground. You'll never get a wiring diagram from fishman.

 

[Two Panthers]

They wont give it to you because they dont want to/lazy, and also others do it better and for example strandberg gets “proporiety’ wiring other companies don’t get the offer on respective guitars with the Fluence pickups .....

Use the wiring from the right set, not all sets use the same wiring even if the blocks and female/male fit.....and also there is no pre amp for the split coil on the modern and SRC which is why you cant get them to “sounds “ properly , so maybe skip it

They are awesome in 3 way middle position anyway

 

[Goldenfinger]

Thank you so much.
I have been reading this thread from the first page before decided to go with the FISHMAN.
As it happened to me once, it is so true that they won’t help with the wiring diagram. I now really want to kick myself a 1,000 time for I have recently just bought many of the Fluence models and can’t get help with the wiring scheme I like them to be.

 

[diagrammatiks]

hey man it's not that hard. what are you trying to do?

unless you are trying to do some fancy hss or hsh wiring. it's pretty easy.

if it's fancy they can't help you because they don't know. i've gotten replies from them that have directly contradicted their diagrams.

 

[Two Panthers]

Thank you so much.
I have been reading this thread from the first page before decided to go with the FISHMAN.
As it happened to me once, it is so true that they won’t help with the wiring diagram. I now really want to kick myself a 1,000 time for I have recently just bought many of the Fluence models and can’t get help with the wiring scheme I like them to be.

NO problem man
Glad i could be of service my good man

 

[The Spanish Inquisition]

Oh man, just got my Strandberg Boden Metal 7 and it's amazing, but by god do the Fishmans hum like a motherfucker. They shouldn't do that. What could cause hum in Fluences?

 

[Two Panthers]

Thank you very much! I'd just want to avoid muddiness in the low end as much as possibile, mainly for tight heavy rhythms, while retaining warmth on higher parts of scale for more mellow music. But at this point it seems that all the sets could actually be viable options for me, just with different shades and nuances?

Anyways, how would you compare the clean tones between the Classic and Modern if you got the chance to try them both?

Please correct me if i am wrong, if you are lookin for super super bright scooped the SRC set is by far the most Scooped and clearest IMO