Fluence Modern - Muddy?

  • Thread starter Thread starter napalmdeath
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napalmdeath

napalmdeath

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I got a nice Ibanez Prestige that I love. Top shelf guitar with Amazing Japanese craftsmanship. But, the Fluence modern in the bridge is muddy! I've had Moderns in a few Schecters, never had this issue. They were always searing, clear, and tight. Not so here. Is there a clearer Fluence that plugs right in that is brighter and tighter? I was looking at the KSE's, not sure if you can get just a bridge pick-up, or how it'll perform with the voicings since this has a switch vs. a push-pull. I love the guitar, but it's splatty, woofy, and mushy. It's like the tone knob is on zero. And, the tone knob itself does very little..
 
The KSE’s are definitely brighter and tighter, but something doesn’t sound right. I’ve never tried a Fluence loaded guitar that sounded muddy at all
 
I'm selling a like new set of KSE's. Definitely brighter and tighter than the Moderns.
 
I couldn’t get along with the moderns. I don’t know if I’d call them muddy, but blurry maybe?
Muddy invokes something not cutting through, which I think the moderns cut just fine, there just wasn’t enough separation and dynamics for me.

I swapped them out for classics and couldn’t be happier


On another guitar i put a modern alnico neck pickup in the bridge and really liked it.
The modern ceramic in the neck kinda sucked though
 
Last edited:
Aynirar27 said:
I couldn’t get along with the moderns. I don’t know if I’d call them muddy, but blurry maybe?
Muddy invokes something not cutting through, which I think the moderns cut just fine, there just wasn’t enough separation and dynamics for me.

I swapped them out for classics and couldn’t be happier


On another guitar i put a modern alnico neck pickup in the bridge and really liked it.
The modern ceramic in the neck kinda sucked though
Click to expand...
Blurry sounds about right.
 
Might be worth pulling out the soldering iron and bypassing the tone pot. I had a guitar where the tone knob absolutely murdered the tone regardless of setting. Must have been a bad resistor, or maybe the wrong value, it made the guitar super dark & dull.
 
Are you sure you are not stuck on Voice 2? Voice 1 never sounds muddy. Little bass and cocked wah mids. Voice 2 gets pretty bassy though.
 
Def not muddy. They are a little darker and fatter sounding then some of the other models though. I suspect it’s the guitar, I’ve had some muddy sounding Ibanez guitars in the past. And yeah they were prestige Japan built. Most Ibanez guitars in my experience sound better for leads and not as good for rhythm , especially if you want clear and tight. Are there exceptions to that statement absolutely. But I find that there basswood guitars especially can be muddy. The wood/construction/body shape and size all matter even if some internet noob says it doesn’t. I have several guitars with the same exact pickups and they all sound different. In fact I have two guitars that are exactly the same model guitar , identical in every way with the same pickups and they sound different lol.
 
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