Which Fishman Fluence set do I want?

[Rex_Rocker]

I want to try what the new(ish) 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?

Thanks.

 

[Masta' C]

I think the Devin set would cover all the bases, but you might want to contact Fishman about this one.

 

[allstarrme]

You want the classic set. Voice one is pure paf, like the Seth’s and antiquities but more hifi and with more volume. Voice 2 for the bridge is the JB but better. Take all the various JB’s and just the best from each and thats voice 2. Voice 3 is a good single coil tone.

A lot of the sig sets use the classics as a base. The Keith merrow, the Tosin neck, the will Adler neck are classic’s. The kill switch set has no bass so they sound really tight and mid present. The Devin set are very dark, have the treble way down. The Stephen carpenter set have more bass and gain than the moderns.

The modern sets I wasn’t a fan of until I tried it on an amp with a really heavy deep channel capable of getting that low A chord some real oomph. If you don’t have a very modern amp or pedals, it probably won’t blow you away. If you have a revv or diezel, some horizon device pedals and really get that djent its great. The moderns in anything above C without a modern channel weren’t as good as blackouts for me. They do seem influenced by the guitar construction some though. So townsends in a bright guitar may work fine, or kill switch sets in a bassy Les Paul some people like.

The classics and merrows sound great, I have an abasi set to try soon. There’s tons of video demos online and a 70+ page thread over on 7 string.org for these.

There are a ton on things you can do with these. Want a less hi-fi sound for the paf voice? Wire the hft on with just voice one. Want a single coil neck to switch between screw and slugs? Want each pickup on a different switch so they can be combined or switch between a single neck to a JB in the bridge? These can do it. They will eat batteries though, so have a quick access box or get the battery pack.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Thanks, dudes!

How about the output levels? How do these compare to Duncans/EMG's?