Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

juka

juka

New member
First I want to say thank you to all the great people who make this my premier resource for everything pickup related by sharing their huge knowledge so willingly (regardless of brand).

The Fishman Fluence Devin Townsend Signature Set got my attention when it was introduced last NAMM, because it seemed to serve both extremes of the spectrum (ultra heavy and crystal clean in one pickup).
Meanwhile I have found two great reviews by Guitar Interactive and just recently by Fluff, but not much hands-on experience here. And they seem to be really hard to find if you want to buy them.

So, is somebody here who already had hands-on experience and likes to share?

Finally found one online retailer that carries them and now the wait begins as they slowly ship over the big pond to my place :-(
 
Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

I'm really interested in trying some Fluence pickups. Everything I hear just ticks all the boxes for me.
 
Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

They asked me to check out that set. It was an interesting set and all, but I referred them to another review guy I know that would be much more in the wheelhouse of a Townsend vibe. Fishman didn't get with the guy, so I've heard nothing of them.
 
Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

darthphineas said:
They asked me to check out that set. It was an interesting set and all, but I referred them to another review guy I know that would be much more in the wheelhouse of a Townsend vibe. Fishman didn't get with the guy, so I've heard nothing of them.
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What a pity! I really like your other pickup reviews!
Not so much into this whole signature thing either. I hope this is Fishman's take on the EMG89/81TW.
Would you like to elaborate on your initial impressions nevertheless?
 
Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

juka said:
What a pity! I really like your other pickup reviews!
Not so much into this whole signature thing either. I hope this is Fishman's take on the EMG89/81TW.
Would you like to elaborate on your initial impressions nevertheless?
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I've not played the Devin set, so I have no impressions.

I have played the Modern and Classic humbucker sets. The Modern Alnico would be the most appealing option I've dealt with so far. You can go to TMRzoo, where I'm a Staff Writer...they currently are the only place that has my evaluation of the Fishman Modern set.
 
Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

What is it you'd like to know? If you have any specific questions or concerns I can try to address.

It's a very unique set. Devin fans have heard him toggle between blazing EMG grind and crystal clean (more often passive) tones, so the signature aspect of these pickups highlights the flexibility of the Fluence cores. The magnetic circuit is still a big part of the feel though. These are a hybrid of one blade coil (the would-be slug coil) and the screw coil. That makes a pretty big differnce. Yes, I would say if you are a fan of the 89/81tw's that these would excel in both the HB tone and the split coil tone. And you don't have to use Voice 2 with the single coil mode. You can set up the Voice 1/2 switching on one pot and the coil split on the other, so you have both voices HB/SC available.

Maybe those are all the things I can think of to say from an R&D standpoint that might not be covered in reviews. Is there anything else you'd like to know?
 
Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

 
Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

frankfalbo said:
What is it you'd like to know? If you have any specific questions or concerns I can try to address.

It's a very unique set. Devin fans have heard him toggle between blazing EMG grind and crystal clean (more often passive) tones, so the signature aspect of these pickups highlights the flexibility of the Fluence cores. The magnetic circuit is still a big part of the feel though. These are a hybrid of one blade coil (the would-be slug coil) and the screw coil. That makes a pretty big differnce. Yes, I would say if you are a fan of the 89/81tw's that these would excel in both the HB tone and the split coil tone. And you don't have to use Voice 2 with the single coil mode. You can set up the Voice 1/2 switching on one pot and the coil split on the other, so you have both voices HB/SC available.

Maybe those are all the things I can think of to say from an R&D standpoint that might not be covered in reviews. Is there anything else you'd like to know?
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Hey Frank, thanks a lot for your answer!!! You pretty much hit the nail and covered almost everything I wanted to know. Perfect :D

Although the switching pattern you described is not covered in the pdf Fishman provides with these pickups, it's exactly what I had in mind for my guitar.

One last question: Will they work without a tone pot and how will this affect the tone? I was thinking about a 2 vol / no tone configuration, using one vol pot to switch between V1/V2 and the other to switch between HB/SC. Can you describe how V2 HB sounds?

I'm pretty sure I can figure out the right wiring, but if you had such a wiring scheme already at hand, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks again.
 
Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

GilmourD said:
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Yeah, that's one of the great reviews I was talking about in my first thread.
Thanks for providing the link!
 
Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

They will sound the "same" without a tone control because the potentiometer loading does not adversely affect the resonant peak like it does with a high(er) impedance pickup. I wrote an article for Premier Guitar about pots and caps and a little subset was inserted for active/low impedance pickups. Basically each 25k pot you use, whether it's volume or a tone pot, reduces the output by .7dB. Hardly noticeable to anyone unless you're A/B'ing directly. If you A/B'd one guitar with 2 pots vs another guitar with 1 pot, you might say "there's some kind of difference but I don't know what" and it's just that fractional dB difference, and it's affect on the gain structure of whatever is next in your signal path. Raising and lowering the pickup a little would have more effect actually.

V2 as a humbucker is a really solid, clean HB. The voice Devin sought in single coil mode was more on the Tele-ish side, with a little Strat mixed in. Sometimes when people describe true old PAF/Les Paul's, like the under-wound PAFs (not the more muscular ones that some say are the "better" ones) they say "truly vintage LP's have more of a Tele sound than what we think of as THE PAF sound" so now, imagine the Tele-ish voice I described for single coil mode, but with BOTH coils. It's a bright but round HB, at a healthy output level.

The wiring should be pretty simple. Start with a Les Paul wiring diagram and omit the tone controls, then just run the coil split wires to one push/pull and the Voice wires to the other. .
 
Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

Thanks again, Frank, and a Happy New Year to you all!!!

Will let you know when the set arrives and how I like it.
 
Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

After playing around with them for several days now, I have to admit that I like the Fishman Fluence Modern set in my other guitar way better :-(

They have all the wonderful Fluence qualities but somehow seem like they were designed to compensate for an overly bright sounding guitar. So in my guitar it sounds like playing with really old strings on.

Maybe the still to be announced Killswitch engaged signature set will be more up my alley as the guys seemed to like the EMG85 as bridge humbucker as much as I did ;-)
 
Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

darthphineas said:
Killswitch Engage
Devin Townsend
Deftones

Sounds like a pretty focused market.
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Don't forget Greg Koch

http://www.fishman.com/products/series/fluence/greg-koch-gristle-tone-signature-pickup-set/

 
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Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

Although I didn't intend this thread to become a discussion about who uses this brand, a list of users can be found on their website.

Back to topic:
A thought that just occurred to me: Could it be that the HF Tilt function is enabled by default on V1? That would explain what I'm hearing in this set?
But this is something probably only Frank can answer.
 
Re: Fluence Townsend Sig anyone?

Frank does stop by, but he's also busy getting ready for NAMM.

Maybe a message to him via his site or his FB would get his attention quicker during this busy week for him.
 
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