Which Fishman Fluence set should I try?

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Rex Rocker

Rex Rocker

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I want to try what the Fishman pickups are all about.

I really like the EMG 57. I also really like the Duncan Black Winter. I kinda like the more Alnico-like EQ and feel of the JB more as far as passives go, but I find it easier to work with the Black Winter because it resembles the output level of the EMG 57 more (and it doesn't hurt that it also sounds killer, LOL).

I'd like for the Fishmans to resemble the high-output level of the 57 and the Black Winter as much as possible so that I don't have to completely rework my settings each time I plug a different guitar in. So which Fluences do this? The 57 is, after all, noticeably hotter than the 81 IME, so there's that to take into account.

I'm thinking Modern Alnico would do the trick as far as EQ/voicing goes, but how about the rest of the lineup? Is it powerful enough? How about the Keith Merrow? And the Devin Townsend? And the KSE's?

Thanks.
 
The classic set is kinda like your JB passive in voice 2 i think it is.
The Modern set is based on the 81/60 combo somewhat and in my experience better in every way.
The KSE's are tighter than all of the other sets but lack the low end, even more so than Moderns.
The Devin set is in voice 1 a thicker Modern essentially, very thick and meaty. Voice 2 is more low gain, single coil-ish.
The Merrow set is the most "passive" feeling set of the Fluence line. Voice 1 is more medium output, low mid passive feel. This set has 3 voices as well so you can get single coil tones on voice 3.
 
For moderns, if you’re recording DI’s with them I’ll warn you, they have some issues.

the issues I have found are with the pick attack. When you pick single notes with any force, there is an odd trampoline echo artifact that can happen and it will drive you nuts. I can go into more detail if you want..

I put ‘ol faithful emg 81 in and this is where I realized where the fishmans shine. The moderns are very dynamic. Very “aggressive”. Not muddy, but still can benefit from a tube screamer. Every palm muted chug with the 81 sounded the same whereas the moderns responded to my pick attack so I could do very slight accents with how grindy I want the chugs to sound.

to answer your question about output. The moderns have absolutely insane output. In fact, to match you black winters, you may want to use the -6db setting. The fishman design is adaptable with the different voiceings, different gain settings, better coil tap abilities, available eq filter to tame high frequencies. Truly one of a kind
 
I only have the Fluence Classic humbucker and Fluence Single-Width, but I think they sound great. The Classic easily does modern metal
 
Thank you, dudes! You think the Classics would keep up with the EMG 57?
 
I’ve got the Devin Townsend set getting delivered today.

Apex missed one part of the description of them; there’s technically 3 settings:

Full on balls to the wall active
’Classic’ (more like a passive pickup)
Classic + split coils

I’m hoping these are the perfect solution for the guitar they’re going in, as I have different presets in my AxeFX essentially doing al that work. The thing I dug about the DT’s is that in all the demos I watched, they seem to dial back that upper mid/high end harshness that generally drives me fucking looney trying to eliminate.

Definitely anxious to get these installed tonight. They’re going in an Ibanez SZ320. A $500 guitar ($150 on Craigslist these days!) that slays 90% of other guitars I own/have played. I’ve been using the stock, shitty SD Customs that came in it and they sound like fucking plastic, especially under a microscope.
 
Classic or modern I think would suit you best.
 


in this particular demo, I disliked classics the most (for that style). I still have them on order regardless haha
 
RevDrucifer said:
I’ve got the Devin Townsend set getting delivered today.

Apex missed one part of the description of them; there’s technically 3 settings:

Full on balls to the wall active
’Classic’ (more like a passive pickup)
Classic + split coils

I’m hoping these are the perfect solution for the guitar they’re going in, as I have different presets in my AxeFX essentially doing al that work. The thing I dug about the DT’s is that in all the demos I watched, they seem to dial back that upper mid/high end harshness that generally drives me fucking looney trying to eliminate.

Definitely anxious to get these installed tonight. They’re going in an Ibanez SZ320. A $500 guitar ($150 on Craigslist these days!) that slays 90% of other guitars I own/have played. I’ve been using the stock, shitty SD Customs that came in it and they sound like fucking plastic, especially under a microscope.
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You're right, I forgot the Devin set has 3 voices. It's hard keeping up with all of the sets sometimes, haha. It is also the set I want to try the most since I currently have the Moderns and Stef sets.
 
Apex1Rg7X said:
You're right, I forgot the Devin set has 3 voices. It's hard keeping up with all of the sets sometimes, haha. It is also the set I want to try the most since I currently have the Moderns and Stef sets.
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Dude, when I went to finally decide on a set, I couldn’t remember all the specs, even though I researched them all numerous times in the last year. It wasn’t until the day I ordered them and went back over all the different sets that I remembered. I thought it was just Modern/Classic and forgot about the split coils.

The bastards never showed up yesterday so I’ll probably be soldering while watching The Mandalorian tonight.
 
RevDrucifer said:
Dude, when I went to finally decide on a set, I couldn’t remember all the specs, even though I researched them all numerous times in the last year. It wasn’t until the day I ordered them and went back over all the different sets that I remembered. I thought it was just Modern/Classic and forgot about the split coils.

The bastards never showed up yesterday so I’ll probably be soldering while watching The Mandalorian tonight.
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I bought a new ESP E-II Eclipse yesterday with the EMH 57/66 set which I've been wanting to try, but if those don't work out for me I will get the Devin set most likely. Let us know how you like them once you get them installed.
 
So I went ahead and ordered a set of Moderns. Some people seem to like the Modern Alnico in the bridge position. I suppose I'll give that a try first since I'm more of an EMG 57 or even 85 guy more than I am team 81, LOL.
 
Was just watching a video from the channel Augafish where he was going over some of the new epiphone series. Not really a fan if the guitars themselves, but what caught my eye was the Prophecy line comes loaded with Fishman pickups.

But apparently these are not anything from the existing Fishman lineup, and custom voiced for Epiphone to sound like Gibson pickups. Why not just put actual Gibson pickups in the guitar then?... Either way they actually sound pretty good!

The reason I'm posting here is because at the end of the video, he does a comparison of the Epiphone version against some existing Fishman sets. Although demonstraighting the differences between the Fishman line wasn't the purpose of this video, it just happens to be one of the better sounding videos I've seen where I was able to hear the differences very easily. I thought the Willy Adler set was my personal favorites, and the Epiphone versions sound like a slightly less output version of the Willy set.

Posting this from my phone and not sure if the video will automatically embed its or not. Link below.

 
KentC said:
Was just watching a video from the channel Augafish where he was going over some of the new epiphone series. Not really a fan if the guitars themselves, but what caught my eye was the Prophecy line comes loaded with Fishman pickups.

But apparently these are not anything from the existing Fishman lineup, and custom voiced for Epiphone to sound like Gibson pickups. Why not just put actual Gibson pickups in the guitar then?... Either way they actually sound pretty good!

The reason I'm posting here is because at the end of the video, he does a comparison of the Epiphone version against some existing Fishman sets. Although demonstraighting the differences between the Fishman line wasn't the purpose of this video, it just happens to be one of the better sounding videos I've seen where I was able to hear the differences very easily. I thought the Willy Adler set was my personal favorites, and the Epiphone versions sound like a slightly less output version of the Willy set.

Posting this from my phone and not sure if the video will automatically embed its or not. Link below.

Click to expand...

Thank you dude. I actually kinda dig the KSE's better in there. It's too bad I already ordered the Moderns, haha. Oh, well..,
 
So I'm bumping this thread because I got the moderns in. Very much liking them. So much, that I'm ordering a set for another guitar.

So which set do you guys recommend I check out? I'm not sure about the classics because I'm not into the whole PAF-type sorta thing, so I'd probably waste 50% of the pickups' potential.

How about the Willie Adlers? I'm dubious because they're worn gold, and they're going into a silverburst guitar, but man, if they're built around a hot passive ceramic that Willie used (Duncan Distortion?) and the Moderns, I'd probably dig them.

How about the Tosins? I'm not a huge fan of djent, but they may very well work for chugg, LOL.
 
Also: What's the finish on the Devins like? Is it kinda like the EMG Hets? Or is it darker? On the pics it just looks like glossy black.
 
Pretty much all the demos I've seen of the Devin set all sound too smooth and a little muddy to my ears. Maybe thats nothing like how they are in person, but thats how I'm hearing them. Almost like the presence is rolled off, or there's a built in high pass of some sort.

Not a big fan of the worn gold on the Willie set, but maybe there's something that can be done to remove it? Sand paper? Idk... You should try the Willie set and report back since I'm interested in them too :cool:
 
I like the KSE Set best since it’s the tightest and strongest pinch harmonics and liked that it was a little lower output. The Modern and Abasi’s were my 2 next favorites. I had the Abasi and Modern in the same guitar and they sounded almost the same, the Abasi just had a bit more upper mid presence, nicer cleans, and maybe just a little less tight than the modern. Didn’t like the Devin set. Weird low mid nasal cocked wah thing going on and just not a fan. Didn’t care for the Carpenter or Merrow sets as much either
 
I have a guitar with a 57/66 set, and they’re great pups.
I briefly had the Fluence Classics in my Charvel SoCal and really didn’t care for them. As weird as it sounds, I could almost hear the top end of the frequency they were peaking at, and it sounded artificial and annoying to my ears.
I have the KSE set in my PRS S2 and they’re killer! Super hi-fi. Bridge position is like a hi-fi emg with a lot of top end. I believe Position 2 is based off a BKP Mule, but I think it sounds like a medium output Dimarzio Super 3 And the neck goes from creamy to creamier. I don’t have mine wired for single coil mode.

I hated the Devin Townsend pickups. Too modern and thick and not hi-fi to my ears. i played the Steph Carpenter 6-string set and really liked them. Lots of warmth and clarity. Its unfortunatley they inly make an 8 and 7 string version now.
The Tosin’s sound the cleanest and have that high mid JB-ish tone.
I’d really like to try the Javier Set but haven’t yet.
Fwiw, I think the most similar set to a 57/66 is a Fluence either the KSE or Tosin sets.
 
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