The Fishman Fluence Thread

[Hoss632]

Yes, it would be great if "ordinary customers" could mix and match existing voices like the artists in the Fluence custom line. But personally I would be much more exited about new voices modeled after other highly popular pickups. So after the PAF, JB,... maybe the various Van Halen pups or certain BKPs everybody is raving about.

I would agree. I'd love a voice modeled after the Duncan black winters myself.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I wonder if those are the "special" pickups that Ben Eller was testing.

Oh and ABOUT FUCKING TIME they do a sig set with multiple color options.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Who knows. They say that Matt Heafy's custom set is just moderns with a split coil added, but his set definitely sound like they have much more low end to them than the standard modern set do. Just my opinions though.

IIRC there's multiple versions of the Fluence Moderns. The first revisions were brighter, had less low end, and more output. The later revisions have more low end and slightly less output.

 

[juka]

I wonder if those are the "special" pickups that Ben Eller was testing.

Oh and ABOUT FUCKING TIME they do a sig set with multiple color options.

+1 on both! Didn't know I liked neon yellow covers, but pictures of what EMG recently is doing for some endorsees is really giving me the itch for neon green or neon yellow covers/bobbins. Seems like the 80s are really coming back

That the other known "beta-tester"(?) of this mysterious set was Russ Parish better known as Satchel may hind to a certain direction.
Not sure how close EMGs Retroactive Super77 set comes to their marketing blabla and how well it was received, but maybe something in this direction.

 

[mrvomit]

just a word of warning about a brand of rechargables= Took 4 "Okcell " batteries reading they were ok in some forums ( 900mah in my case ) . It's a waste : Strong sibilance sound ,on full chord you hear regular sound ..but touching strings , being close to equipments or ending of the chords/notes they start to do that high pitch sibilance noise , unusable. 26 bucks in the bin or to be used elsewhere who knows when . Tried to wrap something (like a string package with sort of metal inside) to see if sort of shielding could mitigate that noise , no luck.
Also those batteries ere bit taller and did not fit battery compartment well .

ok Tried znter also.Nothing to do,with every of those usb-rechargable battery you get a sibilance noise .

 

[Mike]

Has anyone seen a wiring diagram floating around for a DT Set, but with a standard 3-way blade switch?

 

[mrvomit]

Has anyone seen a wiring diagram floating around for a DT Set, but with a standard 3-way blade switch?

i 've found lot of diagrams on fb page (

Fishman Fluence Modern pickups users), try to ask there​

 

[Warmart]

Over the weekend I installed my 1st ever set of Fishmans, the Will Adlers into my PRS 594 - I know, sacrilege and all that .

Gutting all electronics and reinstalling is not for the faint of heart, it was a JOB. At least I'm fairly experienced with soldering but navigating multiple Fishman wiring diagrams to figure out what was needed for THIS pu set in THIS guitar was a challenge. This is only my 2nd pu swap and the 1st was solderless EMG, but it worked 1st time! This guitar has hybrid hardware so the little bits of brass go well with the pu covers!

Very unique sounding pu's and massively better than the 58/15 MT's that came in it. They were fairly low output but VERY prone to feedback and just not my thing at ALL.

Damndest part is that I assumed I'd prefer the Voice 2 which is supposed to be the "active" sounding voice, so I wired my 2 push/pulls to make it the default. After playing a bit I found out voice 1 sounds way better to me, so I guess I'll be moving the wires on the push/pulls so my knobs aren't out all the time .

 

[jwade]

I got to try a Jackson 7 with the Fishman Fluence Open Core PRF-CO7, wasn't super impressed with them. They had a weirdly thin/jangly sound that I wasn't digging at all.

That was my first time trying a Jackson pro series and Evertune and Fishmans, and the Fishmans were the only weak link in the chain IMO. I really dug the guitar, and the finish is so much cooler in person, photos do not do it justice.

Would these pickups be something I could trade to someone for a different model? From what I've heard, the Moderns and the Devin set seem more like what I'd be into.

 

[Mike]

I got to try a Jackson 7 with the Fishman Fluence Open Core PRF-CO7, wasn't super impressed with them. They had a weirdly thin/jangly sound that I wasn't digging at all.

That was my first time trying a Jackson pro series and Evertune and Fishmans, and the Fishmans were the only weak link in the chain IMO. I really dug the guitar, and the finish is so much cooler in person, photos do not do it justice.

Would these pickups be something I could trade to someone for a different model? From what I've heard, the Moderns and the Devin set seem more like what I'd be into. View attachment 114786

I'm sure you could find someone who would do a trade of Moderns for your classics.

The Devin Townsend Set is only available for 6 strings though.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

T

I'm sure you could find someone who would do a trade of Moderns for your classics.

The Devin Townsend Set is only available for 6 strings though.

The guitar would have to be routed. Those pickup routes look super tight to the point not even the "passive" sized Moderns won't fit.

 

[Hoss632]

Over the weekend I installed my 1st ever set of Fishmans, the Will Adlers into my PRS 594 - I know, sacrilege and all that .

Gutting all electronics and reinstalling is not for the faint of heart, it was a JOB. At least I'm fairly experienced with soldering but navigating multiple Fishman wiring diagrams to figure out what was needed for THIS pu set in THIS guitar was a challenge. This is only my 2nd pu swap and the 1st was solderless EMG, but it worked 1st time! This guitar has hybrid hardware so the little bits of brass go well with the pu covers!

Very unique sounding pu's and massively better than the 58/15 MT's that came in it. They were fairly low output but VERY prone to feedback and just not my thing at ALL.

Damndest part is that I assumed I'd prefer the Voice 2 which is supposed to be the "active" sounding voice, so I wired my 2 push/pulls to make it the default. After playing a bit I found out voice 1 sounds way better to me, so I guess I'll be moving the wires on the push/pulls so my knobs aren't out all the time .

Not surprised you ended up liking voice 1 on these. Will's custom voice is probably the best sounding voice out of every pick up fishman has made IMO. 2nd for me is voice 2 on the classics. Guitar looks killer!

 

[washburned]

Hey guys, don't normally join forums but a lot of you guys seem to be into the similar stuff and have enjoying reading some discussions here

I just put a set of townsend fluences into a guitar... And they're crazy bright. Seems nearly impossible to get a smooth lead tone on the bridge. I'm thinking it's actually my guitar though. It's a Chris Poland signature schecter poltergeist, and every pickup I've ran in it is too bright for me, especially on the GBe strings, which is weird to me because Chris Poland always gets those warm and smooth tones, even on his bridge. I'm running my tones on my kemper into an apollo twin x via spdif, and have tried some sorcery to little avail

Stock pickups (john gadesi handwound Pasadena/Plus): too bright for me
Dimarzio Evolutions: too bright for me (I thought maybe this was happening because of push pull pot wiring was lowering my output, these sounded great in a $500 ibanez I got in like 2008)
Townsend fluences: too bright for me on the leads.... Could record some great rhythms with it though, insane clarity on each note in dense chords. I like them, but I really miss having some thickness/smoothness/mushiness on higher strings for leads as opposed to what I would describe as punchy but thin/brittle

Almost want to give up and get a new guitar. Sort of want that one borderline master of all trades guitar. I have a washburn renegade equipped with EMG 81/85 with 18v mod and I love the sound I get from them in that guitar. It can rip the percussive rhythms with a bright inflection/punch on the low strings, but still get that thick/warm tone on the higher strings without switching amp/preset. I would love to get that from a fluence set that can also do incredible clean tones like the townsends and just diversity in tone in general.

Guess the schecter is mahogany body and mahogany neck (edit: some sources say it's a maple neck with ebony fretboard... confusing), almost looks like the fretboard is actually part of the neck instead of different material. Is mahogany known for being extremely bright tonewood?

Any wisdom or suggestions that could be thrown my way would be appreciated. Thinking of trying the 18v or 24v mods, but I'm 95% convinced it's the guitars tonewood and there's not much getting around it

 

[Warmart]

Hey guys, don't normally join forums but a lot of you guys seem to be into the similar stuff and have enjoying reading some discussions here

I just put a set of townsend fluences into a guitar... And they're crazy bright. Seems nearly impossible to get a smooth lead tone on the bridge. I'm thinking it's actually my guitar though. It's a Chris Poland signature schecter poltergeist, and every pickup I've ran in it is too bright for me, especially on the GBe strings, which is weird to me because Chris Poland always gets those warm and smooth tones, even on his bridge. I'm running my tones on my kemper into an apollo twin x via spdif, and have tried some sorcery to little avail

Stock pickups (john gadesi handwound Pasadena/Plus): too bright for me
Dimarzio Evolutions: too bright for me (I thought maybe this was happening because of push pull pot wiring was lowering my output, these sounded great in a $500 ibanez I got in like 2008)
Townsend fluences: too bright for me on the leads.... Could record some great rhythms with it though, insane clarity on each note in dense chords. I like them, but I really miss having some thickness/smoothness/mushiness on higher strings for leads as opposed to what I would describe as punchy but thin/brittle

Almost want to give up and get a new guitar. Sort of want that one borderline master of all trades guitar. I have a washburn renegade equipped with EMG 81/85 with 18v mod and I love the sound I get from them in that guitar. It can rip the percussive rhythms with a bright inflection/punch on the low strings, but still get that thick/warm tone on the higher strings without switching amp/preset. I would love to get that from a fluence set that can also do incredible clean tones like the townsends and just diversity in tone in general.

Guess the schecter is mahogany body and mahogany neck (edit: some sources say it's a maple neck with ebony fretboard... confusing), almost looks like the fretboard is actually part of the neck instead of different material. Is mahogany known for being extremely bright tonewood?

Any wisdom or suggestions that could be thrown my way would be appreciated. Thinking of trying the 18v or 24v mods, but I'm 95% convinced it's the guitars tonewood and there's not much getting around it

Sounds like you need to solder a wire from the hf tilt to ground. Could also try high cut on your Kemper. Think this is the 1st time I've heard anyone mention excessive brightness with the Townsend lol. Must be the particular guitar. Mahogany is generally known for warmth but ebony can add some brightness, but has to be the guitar in general.

 

[Warmart]

Not surprised you ended up liking voice 1 on these. Will's custom voice is probably the best sounding voice out of every pick up fishman has made IMO. 2nd for me is voice 2 on the classics. Guitar looks killer!

Totally agree, it's fantastic and thanks!

 

[washburned]

Sounds like you need to solder a wire from the hf tilt to ground. Could also try high cut on your Kemper. Think this is the 1st time I've heard anyone mention excessive brightness with the Townsend lol. Must be the particular guitar. Mahogany is generally known for warmth but ebony can add some brightness, but has to be the guitar in general.

Will try this tomorrow, appreciate the suggestion, hoping you're onto something here!

Should've mentioned, the way I wired them was essentially like the moderns, at the suggestion of fishman customer support. They just swapped out the pickup selector in the diagram for a gibson style 3 way selector which is what the schecter has and I wired for 2 push-pull tone pots, and one volume, that way I could have independent switches for coil tap and the passive voice.

 

[washburned]

Sounds like you need to solder a wire from the hf tilt to ground. Could also try high cut on your Kemper. Think this is the 1st time I've heard anyone mention excessive brightness with the Townsend lol. Must be the particular guitar. Mahogany is generally known for warmth but ebony can add some brightness, but has to be the guitar in general.

So I took some time to understand the wiring diagram as far in depth as I could in for about ~30 minutes. I definitely wired everything correctly. Unfortunately with the townsend fluences there is no hf tilt -- I guess the conclusion I've come to which you've supported is it's just the guitar, maybe a bit of it is my lack of affinity for dialing in tones in the limited context of direct into the kemper. I have had good luck with the renegade with the emg 81/85 though, just the intonation is a bit off with that one compared to the higher end guitars. The way I'm thinking, it shouldn't be too hard to dial in a good tone with a good guitar as the basis for what you want. As far as the schecter poltergeist maybe it's that ebony fretboard, did a little research on tonewoods and it does seem that's something that adds a good amount of brightness, it's like the EGb strings are like punchy ice picks for anything beyond rhythm.

I would love to play some other guitars with the same pickups to see how they feel in different wood. Just doesn't seem that practical. Wish I could get ahold of a washburn WM 526, high end version of the renegades. Renegades have the dark and smooth tonality to them with the phenolic fretboard. Somewhat surprising to me that the guitar really means that much in terms of tone. Thinking about looking into the ibanez prestiges but really not sure.

 

[Flappydoodle]

Hey guys, don't normally join forums but a lot of you guys seem to be into the similar stuff and have enjoying reading some discussions here

I just put a set of townsend fluences into a guitar... And they're crazy bright. Seems nearly impossible to get a smooth lead tone on the bridge. I'm thinking it's actually my guitar though. It's a Chris Poland signature schecter poltergeist, and every pickup I've ran in it is too bright for me, especially on the GBe strings, which is weird to me because Chris Poland always gets those warm and smooth tones, even on his bridge. I'm running my tones on my kemper into an apollo twin x via spdif, and have tried some sorcery to little avail

Stock pickups (john gadesi handwound Pasadena/Plus): too bright for me
Dimarzio Evolutions: too bright for me (I thought maybe this was happening because of push pull pot wiring was lowering my output, these sounded great in a $500 ibanez I got in like 2008)
Townsend fluences: too bright for me on the leads.... Could record some great rhythms with it though, insane clarity on each note in dense chords. I like them, but I really miss having some thickness/smoothness/mushiness on higher strings for leads as opposed to what I would describe as punchy but thin/brittle

Almost want to give up and get a new guitar. Sort of want that one borderline master of all trades guitar. I have a washburn renegade equipped with EMG 81/85 with 18v mod and I love the sound I get from them in that guitar. It can rip the percussive rhythms with a bright inflection/punch on the low strings, but still get that thick/warm tone on the higher strings without switching amp/preset. I would love to get that from a fluence set that can also do incredible clean tones like the townsends and just diversity in tone in general.

Guess the schecter is mahogany body and mahogany neck (edit: some sources say it's a maple neck with ebony fretboard... confusing), almost looks like the fretboard is actually part of the neck instead of different material. Is mahogany known for being extremely bright tonewood?

Any wisdom or suggestions that could be thrown my way would be appreciated. Thinking of trying the 18v or 24v mods, but I'm 95% convinced it's the guitars tonewood and there's not much getting around it

Does the bright guitar have a tone knob?

Running any pickup without the tone knob in the circuit makes it brighter. Even with the tone set on 10, it's probably still affecting the sound.

 

[Warmart]

So I took some time to understand the wiring diagram as far in depth as I could in for about ~30 minutes. I definitely wired everything correctly. Unfortunately with the townsend fluences there is no hf tilt -- I guess the conclusion I've come to which you've supported is it's just the guitar, maybe a bit of it is my lack of affinity for dialing in tones in the limited context of direct into the kemper. I have had good luck with the renegade with the emg 81/85 though, just the intonation is a bit off with that one compared to the higher end guitars. The way I'm thinking, it shouldn't be too hard to dial in a good tone with a good guitar as the basis for what you want. As far as the schecter poltergeist maybe it's that ebony fretboard, did a little research on tonewoods and it does seem that's something that adds a good amount of brightness, it's like the EGb strings are like punchy ice picks for anything beyond rhythm.

I would love to play some other guitars with the same pickups to see how they feel in different wood. Just doesn't seem that practical. Wish I could get ahold of a washburn WM 526, high end version of the renegades. Renegades have the dark and smooth tonality to them with the phenolic fretboard. Somewhat surprising to me that the guitar really means that much in terms of tone. Thinking about looking into the ibanez prestiges but really not sure.

Damn, surprised there's no hf tilt, thought it was on all Fishmans. So you can easily add a high cut to your Kemper or lower the treble side of the pu's.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Sometimes you just get a bright guitar. Guitars aren't 100% consistent.

Also TBH I stopped giving a shit about tonewoods. I've had mahogany Les Paul-esque slabs that were sharper than razors, and swamp ash guitars with maple necks that were dull and flubby.

But it's surprising to hear the Dev set is too harsh because, IIRC, it's one of the darker Fishman sets.

Maybe try the new Fluff bridge pickup? Judging by how Fluff described it and how it sounds in clips, it's probably the darkest, most rounded off Fishman pickup.