Fishman Fluence opinions

I liked them in hi gain amps to do the typical EMG 81 style sound, but differently if that makes any sense. I like them to do the things that I would usually use an EMG for. The problem was I never liked them with Marshall amps at all. A hi-gainer 5150 they sounded good (not the best), but to help push an amp they did this weird mid range thing I couldn't stand. maybe I installed them wrong though. Ironically I loved classic EMG's for helping boost vintage Marshalls
 
I used EMGs for like 10 years before I switched to passive pickups exclusively (mostly due to being uneducated in the ways of passive pickups). That being said, I got a Charvel San Dimas with Fishman Fluence open cores about a year ago, and I like them. They remind me of the Lace Sensors in my Tele Plus Deluxe and give me enough dynamic response to forget about the battery. I don't know if I'd seek them out for a new build, but no complaints about them either.
 
I've got the Tosin Abasi set in a strandberg. It has the battery pack that you recharge with a USB cable. Weird plugging a guitar up to charge like a phone. Anyway - I agree with a couple of comments. One being meh. The other being that they're best through high gain. I have kept them in the guitar because all of my others are very conventional sounding and when I reach for the strandberg I want something different, but I'll still almost certainly replace them with something like bare knuckles or something.
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys! It seems my best option is to stick with passives for now. I already have them anyway so why spend more money.
 
I have the Classics and the Moderns, and they're both killer. I'm normally an EMG 81 kinda guy, but I also enjoy the Duncan JB, the Distortion, and the Black Winter.

Honestly, the Classics really do feel and sound like passives, IMO, just a bit more hi-fi (in a good way). Voice 1 on the bridge model is like a good spanky PAF, and Voice 2 is like a hotter, tighter JB. Voice 2 on the Moderns (Passive Attack) Is pretty passive-like too. I actually prefer the Classics for what I play (Melodeath). They're chunkier, squishier, and nastier.

Either way, they're both great pickups. I've seen people compare them to amp modeling and saying you're getting an imitation of the real deal. I disagree. They're just an idealized take on the pickups they're modeled after. I don't see them as any different from the RTM, Tone Zone, AT-1, Suhr SSH, and Aldrich, for example, which are all someone's idea on how the Duncan JB should be modded. JMO.
 
Findthetone1 said:
Yeah I've never been a fan of actives. Never had a guitar with them in it. But there are so many options and they seem to have gotten more of a personality so to speak, I feel like maybe I should consider them.
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For me I would say the exact opposite. There is no personality.

I had the KM7 with KM Fishman. They were definitely really good pickups but meh and no personality is what I would use to describe them. Played one guitar for a few minutes with the Moderns and wasnt blown away either.

I know a lot of people love them but I probably wouldn't get them again.
 
I just got a Kiesel K 7 with hipshot fixed bridge. Swamp ash body, quilt top, 7 piece walnut/purpleheart/maple neck. I sent a set of Fishman Fluence Modern 7s in for the build and assumed they would sound similar to my Charvel Satch with the Classic set (which I love). Incorrect. The moderns sounded a little rizzy to me and I was a bit bummed upon recieving the otherwise immaculate guitar. Went to the local Dallas guitar show this past weekend where Frank Falbo was working the Fishman booth, and he suggested I try the Keith Merrows. After alot of chatting with him, I went ahead and picked up a set from him. Its a NEW guitar again! Huge difference in response on the low B, and better overall smoothness to the tone. Highs pop out better without being shrill and note seperation on the low chords is greatly improved. Thank you Keith Merrow and Frank Falbo!
 

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Shredsmcgee said:
I just got a Kiesel K 7 with hipshot fixed bridge. Swamp ash body, quilt top, 7 piece walnut/purpleheart/maple neck. I sent a set of Fishman Fluence Modern 7s in for the build and assumed they would sound similar to my Charvel Satch with the Classic set (which I love). Incorrect. The moderns sounded a little rizzy to me and I was a bit bummed upon recieving the otherwise immaculate guitar. Went to the local Dallas guitar show this past weekend where Frank Falbo was working the Fishman booth, and he suggested I try the Keith Merrows. After alot of chatting with him, I went ahead and picked up a set from him. Its a NEW guitar again! Huge difference in response on the low B, and better overall smoothness to the tone. Highs pop out better without being shrill and note seperation on the low chords is greatly improved. Thank you Keith Merrow and Frank Falbo!
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Now try the Schecter Diamond Decimator :p

That Kiesel looks pretty awesome too.
 
I’ve got the Devin Townsend set in one of my guitars and I fucking love it. I am generally not a fan of EMG’s due to a weird mid range I hear with them.

I’d totally rock these in an 80’s inspired rig; I’d just stay on the Classic setting most of the time (Passive) and then switch to Active for leads, because it’s literally like putting a boost in front of an amp. There’s practically no difference between putting a TS9 with the level cranked and Drive at 0 in front of an amp and switching from Classic to Active with the pickups, a slight EQ difference, but that’s it.

Then there’s a 3rd option, Split Coil + Classic, so it uses the passive voicing and splits the coil, I can get legit Stratty/Tele tones out a neck-through, mahogany guitar.

I was on the fence for months about it due to my distaste for active pickups, but I’ve been nothing but stoked with it since I got it. It’s literally like having 3 different guitars and I generally scoff when I hear stuff like that because it’s usually something like, “Well, I got a really good humbucker sound but the split position sounds pretty weak and not really balanced”, these fuckers are balanced perfectly and you don’t get crazy volume drops between the three modes. There’s nothing weak about them, that’s for sure.
 
Just can't get along with Fishman fluence pickups. EMG's are my thing... i've been using the 57/66 set for a long while now and they can do just about anything, with more dynamics than the typical 81/85 set, which I also love for different reasons.
 
RevDrucifer said:
I’ve got the Devin Townsend set in one of my guitars and I fucking love it. I am generally not a fan of EMG’s due to a weird mid range I hear with them.

I’d totally rock these in an 80’s inspired rig; I’d just stay on the Classic setting most of the time (Passive) and then switch to Active for leads, because it’s literally like putting a boost in front of an amp. There’s practically no difference between putting a TS9 with the level cranked and Drive at 0 in front of an amp and switching from Classic to Active with the pickups, a slight EQ difference, but that’s it.

Then there’s a 3rd option, Split Coil + Classic, so it uses the passive voicing and splits the coil, I can get legit Stratty/Tele tones out a neck-through, mahogany guitar.

I was on the fence for months about it due to my distaste for active pickups, but I’ve been nothing but stoked with it since I got it. It’s literally like having 3 different guitars and I generally scoff when I hear stuff like that because it’s usually something like, “Well, I got a really good humbucker sound but the split position sounds pretty weak and not really balanced”, these fuckers are balanced perfectly and you don’t get crazy volume drops between the three modes. There’s nothing weak about them, that’s for sure.
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I used to be a huge fan of Devin Townsend, but I can't stand the guys tone at all. The only decent tone he ever got was on SYL's "alien" album. He's got that typical recto sound which just grates on me, it's too "safe sounding" for a lack of a better word or phrase.
 
Have a Modern in one of my guitars; was my main recording guitar for a few years. Nice and tight, good for metal to me. Everything I loved about an EMG 81, but none of the overly oppressive bass.


Got into an accident, couldn’t play as fast or as long and got into sludge/doom.

Went right back to the 81....there’s something rawer about it to me, fits those genres really well.

If I had to choose between some really good passive and the Fishmans anymore, I’d keep the passives.
 
anomaly said:
I used to be a huge fan of Devin Townsend, but I can't stand the guys tone at all. The only decent tone he ever got was on SYL's "alien" album. He's got that typical recto sound which just grates on me, it's too "safe sounding" for a lack of a better word or phrase.
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Good thing the pickups don't make you sound like Devin Townsend. 😉 Not anymore than EMGs make ya sound like Hetfield or Wylde.
 
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