Tosin Abasi's Fishman Fluence Signature Pickup Shootout [4K]
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ต.ค. 2024
- Tosin conducts an extensive pickup shootout, comparing his new Fishman Fluence signature series pickups against various popular pickups.
Videography by Guitar Messenger: www.guitarmesse....
![Some really sick playing transpired at NAMM 2019... [Part 1]](/img/n.gif)
*DISCLAIMER* : Installing Tosin's pickups in your guitar does not mean that you will be able to play like Tosin...
I thought the pickups were broken or some shit. I was about to return them, then i saw your comment.
Nah for that a turtle neck is required!
😢
F**K
If only I could play so fast the framerate of the camera has to be upped...
Time // Song Name // Position // Pickup A/B
1:59 "Point To Point" (2nd Position) A
2:13 "Point To Point" (2nd Position) B
2:28 "Another Year" (2nd Position) A
2:37 "Another Year" (2nd Position) B
2:47 "On Impulse" (2nd Position) A
3:03 "On Impulse" (2nd Position, Coil Tapped) B
3:17 "Lippincott" (4th Position) A
3:32 "Lippincott" (5th Position, Split) B
3:46 "Tempting Time" (2nd Position) A
3:59 "Tempting Time" (2nd Position) B
4:10 "Air Chrysalis" (4th Position) A
4:27 "Air Chrysalis" (4th Position) B
4:42 "Modern Meat" (5th Position) A
4:59 "Modern Meat" (5th Position) B
5:17 "Arithmophobia" (5th Position) A
5:31 "Arithmophobia" (3rd Position) B
5:44 "Woven Web" (2nd Position) A
5:55 "Woven Web" (2nd Position) B
6:05 "Ectogenesis" (2nd Position) A
6:15 "Ectogenesis" (2nd Position) B
6:25 "Thoroughly At Home" (4th Position) A
6:33 "Thoroughly At Home" (5th Position, Split) B
6:41 "Kascade" (2nd Position) A
6:54 "Kascade" (2nd Position) B
7:07 "Inner Assassins" (2nd Position) A
7:15 "Inner Assassins" (2nd Position) B
7:23 "Tooth And Claw" (1st Position) A
7:35 "Tooth And Claw" (1st Position) B
7:47 "Tempting Time" (1st Position, Voice 2) A
7:59 "Tempting Time" (1st Position) B
8:11 "Nephele" (4th Position) A
8:19 "Nephele" (1st Position) B
8:28 "The Glass Bridge" (4th Position) A
8:37 "The Glass Bridge" (4th Position) B
8:47 "Ectogenesis" (2nd Position) A
8:58 "Ectogenesis" (2nd Position) B
9:08 "Kascade" (4th Position) A
9:20 "Kascade" (2nd Position, Split) B
9:34 "Tooth And Claw" (1st and 5th Position) A
9:47 "Tooth And Claw" (1st and 5th Position) B
10:00 "The Glass Bridge"(1st and 5th Position) A
10:13 "The Glass Bridge"(1st and 5th Position) B
10:25 "CAFO" (5th Position) A
10:33 "CAFO" (3rd Position) B
10:42 "CAFO" (5th Position) A
10:53 "CAFO" (5th Position) B
11:03 "CAFO" (1st Position) A
11:18 "CAFO" (1st Position) B
11:53 "Victory Smile"
Thanks
William Forero Thanks for this, I noticed someone tried to copy your post somewhere below.
Had some extra time? Good job
holy shit
This world needs more ppl like you.
this is less a comparison between better and worse pickups and more a showcase of all the sick shit i'm too poor to buy
Same here
So is anyone else just watching this just because of how insanely clean his playing is or is it just me?
yeah he's got some talent going on.
Also the camera quality and gear he’s playing through added with the top quality pickups
I came for the pickup shootout and stayed for the clean playin
Fishman sounds like a mastered guitar track..others sound like a DI guitar input compared
True. That's exactly what I thought... They just have more clarity. I found that they sound almost too harsh, which is exactly what you want out of a pickup. Better to have too much than not enough.
because an active pickup has preamps and eq filters inside the pickup,it is actually "mastered"
That’s because the tracks weren’t normalized to the same loudness or using the same effects
11:27 = Sick Chord
11:35 = Ok Tosin, thanks for sharing that with the cla-
11:38 = *tosin intensifies*
Using "anemic" to describe the thin sound of most split single coils :o
This guy conveys/articulates everything he says so well
yeah, I loled when he said it. Not sure why, but I think he got the communication skills from Guthrie Govan :)
Anemic is perfect. It's literally lacking heavy metal.
+Bebopopotamus Isn't anemia lack of oxygen in the blood...
It's a lack of iron.
+Bebopopotamus Furry muff
DiMarzio sounded great too to be honest.
hobomick They should! (I designed those as well 😉)
touche
Tosin Abasi
I wonder what the Fishman's sound compared to Dimarzio D Axtivator X pickups; A lot what Tosin described about the Fishman pickups, I thought too when I first tried these Dimarzio's; that's why these are my go to pickups. But I'm open to try something new.
I'm buying them and putting them in my 8 string!!!
Sometimes I come back to this video just to witness the pinnacle of all guitar tone. It's like guitars in 4K
I'm a little surprised. I liked the clean sound of the Fishman, but preferred the DiMarzio with gain.
I felt the same way. I didn't like the fluence pickups when they were heavily over driven, they felt like they lost some articulation and clarity.
The Hard Problem to me the fishman just sounds like a loud single coil... i prefer single coils for cleans.....but like most single coils, the fishman sounded thin at higher gain...i still stick with duncans and di marzio as i love high gain and for me they do it best
I must say I'm feeling the same way. I would like to have them make a pickup that has a smooth sound to it. I currently have a D Activator in my guitar, but I'm having a hard time convincing myself to go the hi fi route.
@@torchlord11 How does the D Activator sound in single coil? I’ve heard it full hum bucker distorted with the clarity I want but I’d like a chime strat style sound from the split position in clean and overdrive without being brittle.
@@theders8590 It's been years since I've used my D activor pickups so I can't really help you there, sorry. I currently use the Blaze pickup which is a little more scooped in the mids giving more bass frequencies then the D activators.
the sustain at the end lmao. thought my phone froze for a second.
Colin Colin yeah I love the face he made lmao
The thing i love about the Fluence set, is the fact that they can sound more like the record, than the actual guitar that was used to play on the record... Its like they've got the full preamp+mix+master in the pickups themselves.
Wow. It's actually crazy how much more clarity, dynamics and output there is between the fluence's and the others for comparison. Great demo, dude!
The Fishman sound good to me, but they overcompensate the low end by compressing the signal a lot, which is a good thing for this band. For those jazz chords, I like the Dimarzio pickups better.
Agree
Fernando Barreto I like his dimarzios better especially with distortion and I still prefer his now discontinued TAM100, wish I could have bought one.
At least they aren't dead sounding in the low range. The Bareknuckles in the Aristides just sounded so flat in the low range.
The Dimarzios were better, but the low range punch of these new Fishmans are nuts.
The Fishman resonance on Air Chrysalis is wowza! However, I am not ripping the Ionizer out of the neck position on either of my 8s anytime soon.
I thought the Fishmans sounded very dynamic. You can especially hear the variance on the Modern Meat excerpt at 4:43. Tosin's playing dynamics, especially in his hammer on's/pull offs are *extremely* consistent when he wants them to be, and can be mistaken for compression, especially with what seems like active-PU level output on the fluences....of course, he could have had the Fluence's set in "modern" mode, which emulates active PU's, rather than passive mode here, but that would defeat the purpose of the shootout.
Those few seconds of On Impulse really take me back. I wish they still played it live :(
Same
@@austinhayman7023 Same x2.
They do some times
The new pickups sound like THE clean tone I've been searching for.
I feel exactly the same. I'm sure with the way they are designed they are consistent between 6, 7 and 8-string. It's a hard choice between these and the Devin Townsend set.
My only issue is that they can't fit in my 827 without some routing, I'm terrified to do that so I'll probably pick these up in a few years when I get a new 8 string.
That Merrow MKii sounded fantastic.
RNA MUSIC yeah those Duncans sounded great
what set are they ?
Nazgul bridge and Sentient neck
Actually...YES that KM was amazing!!! Gotta get one now!!
I have one and it is clear ass day
11:35 Tosin.exe has stopped working
I though my computed had crashed and was waiting for a BSOD.
Lmao
ROFL
Lolz
My galaxy s5 froze again
The Ibanez TAM-100 sound test with Dimarzio's Ionizers:
3:32 Lippincott
4:59 Modern Meat
6:33 Thoughly at Home
7:15 Inner Assassins
7:59 Tempting Time
8:19 Nephele
10:13 The Glass Bridge
10:53 CAFO
I loved this so much. The variety of guitars too was really interesting.
I don't play guitar, but I love to see the finesse and depth of detail that you can get at such a high mastery of the instrument.
Loved the cleans on the fishman so much clarity, so much lower power on the dimarzio's as well....time to burn my guitars
patdavidmusic hahahaha same
Right during tax season. Smart.
He knows what guitar players do when they find extra cash.
I like that you're willing to
1. Change when you find something better.
2. Straight up compare with your old stuff.
I feel like a lot of signature stuff just gets updated for the money every once in a while. The fact that you compare them honestly shows that you're just in it for constant motion and progression, not just searching for the last 1959 rusty bobbin or putting your name on a pickup cover.
I'm not really an AAL fan at all, but when Tosin speaks I listen. Best player alive or ever, period.
You're a sick human, Tosin. Can't even call myself a guitar player after watching you.
The Fluence pups definitely sound more clear and articulate.
He's right, those other pickups sound good too, especially those DiMarzios. The Fishman pickups sound like the way the music sounds in your head. Especially on stuff like On Impulse and Point To Point, songs that were definitely not recorded with as high fidelity as their last 2 albums.
For your style of playing, Fishman was the right choice 100%
Even with the phone speakers you can hear the clarity and articulation in the pickups. It's like Tosin said "it sounds like you have a fresh pair of strings" super glassy and clean
This is the most in depth pickup video I’ve seen in a long time
Bare Knuckle sounding the worst? That's probably blowing my mind more than anything.
I am very disappointed in the bare knuckles here.
yeah they sound so muffled and kinda muddy
They do make a lot of different types of Bare Knuckle with a lot of different voicings after all. But yea, it's disappointing to see nonetheless. They are still really expensive pickups regardless of the set with that boutique brand, lol.
Ya same here I was like wtf
As a builder, I have tried many sets of BKP's - from Painkillers, to Stormy's to Black Hawks and Rebel Yells. I put DiMarzios and OX4's in my own guitars. What can I say?
I wish he would've added the model names of the pickups in the description
A god amongst mere mortals
That feedback on the last lick of C.A.F.O. was some of the sweetest thing I ever heard
Second position on the fishmans sounds amazing. Can't wait to get a set.
People still giving a lot of love to the Dimarzio's - in this comparison the low end between the Fluence and Dimarzios is the difference with and without gain. They both sounds killer but the Dimarzio's can't hang with bigger, more articulate chords. Listening to this on Audio Technica M50x headphones and the low end to my hears is over taking the other notes. Fluence are super balanced. Really dig them. Well done man!
Those signature pickups are crystal clear in any situation and don't have the woofy or screachy elements that other pickups do. Awesome demo, Thanks Tosin.
that's an incredible difference in volume during the cleans.
Damn, just release that guitar already! Can't wait any longer
miad he said it will be coming very soon :)
I'll take 2
I’m from the future, sorry how things turned out but Abasi guitars look pretty cool!
Hey those legions are out now by the way lol sorry you waited so long
That clarity is unreal
8:11 Damn, haven't heard this version of The Glass Bridge!
spadorade Lmao it's Nephele.
Fishman cleans for the win wow. Tosin was spot on in his description in that you hear the greatest difference in the clean tones. Overdriven, the differences are more subtle but still the Fishmans win on my score card. When played back to back like this, the differences stand out. Ear opening for sure.
I'd have to say those fluence's are amazing..sound clarity and richness... Again though if I have a 16th of the skill and finesse of Tosin I'm sure it'd all sound amazing.
you have the best timing man, I was just about to order a set of pickups for my 7 string, and your the best person to give examples of their voicings.
10 out of 10
Maybe I am biased towards the Ionizers, but they sound really good to me still. The fluence is amazing don't get me wrong, but there is a quality with the Ionizers that speaks to me a little bit more. I would still like to have a set of fluences but I wouldn't swap the Ionizers for them.
I want those Fishman pups. I play mostly clean and those are the cleanest tones I've ever heard on a guitar
I recently bought Tosin's 7 string set for my Legator OT7F :-) Getting installed by my local shop over the next couple weeks. I imagine their tech will have some fun with it as he doesn't usually get Fishman jobs.
It's cool to get an idea of some of the tones I'll get from this demo. Not that I will be able to play like this though!
Going for the Fishman recommended wiring scheme, which I believe is what Tosin uses just with a tone pot in the circuit. But I have worked out my own little addition to the wiring - a 2nd push pull that will give me 3 further positions: bridge single coil in position 1, bridge single coil & neck humbucker in position 3, and bridge humbucker & neck single coil in position 4. Will be interesting to hear what those combination humbucker/single positions will sound like!
I really enjoyed the sound of the Fluence Moderns in a previous guitar that had a mahogany body, lots of low end chunkiness. But the Legator OT7F is a brighter guitar with alder body/maple fingerboard so they seem to lose a lot of the dry growl I heard before. I was really surprised to hear how much difference the tonewood actually makes with active pickups. I couldn't make back the tone I liked with EQ'ing alone, so it seems like Tosin's Fluence set is the best solution. I use coil splits on humbuckers a load also so having the dedicated single coil voices (2 very different single coil sounds in Tosin's set apparently!) will be a bonus too.
The Fluence Position 4 sounds particularly great in this demo. Has that single coil spank but still enough grunt & low end to play heavy riffs on too.
Brilliant comparison! Thank you! I have Fishman's in a bass and they are wonderful. I think you hit this spot on!
Used Dimarzio and EMG's and love them. I was very impressed with how well those Fishmans sound. Wow
Holy crap. The fishmans cover every frequency very smoothly
Happy Valentines Day Toast in a Basin!
Travis Bystedt *Toast in a Basket ;)
I saw the teaser on Instagram, and I'm still surprised.
I am a passive guy, and I was always like "man, actives suck :^(" and I've tried multiple Blackouts, and multiple EMGs and never really clicked with them... but Fluences wow. Your guitar tone has never sounded better.
such a thorough evaluation. Godspeed!
Thanks Tosin, your take on these is what's selling it. For the life of me I can't get enough info on any of the other videos, including those by Fishman, to make up my mind. But my clean sound is equally important to my gain sounds and your wealth of examples has been what made me jump onboard. I'm using a BC Rick Bich with only a single volume pot at the moment, and a 3 way switch, and a small chrome coil tap switch. I'm wondering if its best to wire them the using a modification allowing a 5-way to be installed (which I'm not afraid to do since the guitar is already fairly beat up) - or push pulls, and keep my 3-way.
I thank the universe for creating Tosin, truly a genius of our times... I'm stunned...
That sustain is out of this world
And man...with distortion on, I think it's all a matter of what flavor you're into. But WHOAH the difference when it came to the clean tones was no competition. The Fishmans were clear, powerful, and oh so bell-like. Absolutely crazy.
the signature TAM100 sounded the best imo
Yes, absolutely on par with his Fishmans. :)
Each one has it's own beauty great work tosin
The consistency across all of the setting sounded amazing on the Fishmans. Certain aspects I like were more sprawled out between the Duncans, BN's and Dimarzio's.
They certainly sound a lot louder. I know that the output in fishman pickups is always really high. It'd be a better comparison if they gain matched the different guitars in post
Larry and Tosin did well with Ionizers 8. On par I say, with the Fishman pups.
I think theres a lot of things going on at the high frequencies range, thats what makes Fishmans sound so unique while playing clean.
the low end clarity is the only thing I like about the fluence pickups in this demo.
I'm amazed at the amount of string buzz on such expensive instruments
I would love to hear the first three AAL albums re-recorded with a Larada. Looking forward to album number 5, too!!
Now Album Number 5, Parrhesia is here! How're you liking it?
@@Acepilot1312 I think it's amazing. Although, I would have loved to hear more clean parts in it and some transitions could be smoother. However, Red Miso is a masterpiece!
I see so many comparisons being made to passive pickups when in reality the Fluences are not passive they are active pickups. Now I agree that they perform remarkably and they have a tonal voice that is simply astonishing by comparison to some of the top dogs in the passive pickup realm. I would like to see how they compare to other active pickups on the market like the ever acclaimed EMG's and such to see if the Fluence's have all the bases covered.
I haven't seen these compared to any other active brands of pickups and it has me intrigued as to why not?
You sir are an amazing artist and of all the pickups that were compared to the Fluence in this video I would say that the DiMarzio equipped Ibanez was the second best sounding for clarity of tone and dynamic response to your playing style. It was also the closest to your Fluence equipped guitar's range.
All these pickups sound amazing!
Hey there, Tosin! Not sure if you see these comments here, but I wanted to ask how do you get the second and fourth position on the fishman abasi to sound so clean with a more aggressive tone (im pointing more towards the tone on the woven web example), it almost sounds like it is totally noiseless.
I have an abasi emi 8 and a custom 6 string and both of them with your fishman humbucker on the bridge, and position 2 is extremely noisy. Even with a strong noise gate, whenever im actually playing there is so much noise its almost unusable and it ends up being super frustrating because the single coil tones on those pickups is by far my favorite sound.
I guess my studio is very noisy since it has so many electronic appliances around but I'm always surprised whenever I see you playing in those positions and it always sound super clear. I would expect at least a little bit of noise under it, but it never shows up. Can you share what is going on in the signal flow so that it sounds super clear like that?
Thanks
The Fishman pickups were the best by far. Just so crisp and clear
That feedback at the end alone had me sold!!
Cant say which one is better, I´ve tried the same pickup on different guitars and had very diverse results.
Of all the pickups, the Dimarzio kept up the best with the Fishman pup. That said, the Fishman's were still more open and clear by a wide margin.
the ones that arent the fluence just sound like they have the tone rolled off a bit. Spectacular!!
Thanks to Tosin for caring this much.
those fluence pickups have beautiful and rich cleans. And only in the regards of clean, in order from worst to best I'd have to say:
bareknuckles
dimarzios
duncans
Fishmans
My only worry/concern is that the second position on the fishmans has alot of high end but not a ton of body compared to the others
The fishmans tone is so rich and succulent :3
Rad collection of footage.
All the pickups sound good but the Fluence has that gorgeous sparkliness to it.
I really need those fishmans. Good lord they're so good.
Tosin, there is something almost hypnotically magical about your left hand... I spent most of this video not even noticing the sounds and just watching your fingers move... spellbinding.
For what it's worth, this is the first vid I have thought the Bareknuckles come out third best (hate the SD's). The Fishman are lovely especially clean, beautiful balance of weight between the high and low frequencies. I did prefer the Dimarzios for the dirt, but not by much. The difference could be the guitar.
Certainly changed my mind. I have an 8 and was set on putting Bareknuckles in but now... might have to be a set of Fluence.
Cheers Tosin, always an absolute joy to watch you play (despite how clumsy and inept it makes me feel).
Any chance you're coming to the UK anytime soon?
11:53 "That was with the noise compressor on, bro."
Its like, I could hear from each example you played, which guitar you used for which part in the album . The sound difference from each pickup really is significant
There are a lot of Chapman stick sound at 3:48 and 4:10. Tosin would make an awesome chapman stick player. That's for sure
Aside from the awesome shootout, it was interesting to hear how much better the fanned fret intonated on the chords higher up on the neck. The Fishman pickups really beef up the lower strings, the other pickups are designed for a "traditional" guitar, but Tosins bottom strings are tuned to a bass guitars range, figures he would get better use out of anERG specific design.
The Fishman's cut through no end and retain clarity even though they almost sound like the gain is clipping, but they're not. I'm really impressed. I'm a big Bare Knuckle fan but they don't cut it in this comparison. I wouldn't mind knowing which BKs he's using here.
I've watched this video like 10 times just watching him play
The Fishman Aura's have a very hi-fi sound, mainly because their tolerances are tighter. If you take 10 sets of pickups from the same model, same manufacturer and mesure them, you'll have large differences in impedance.
Damn that sustain and harmonic chime on those Fluence's was incredible! They might replace EMG as my favorite pickups!
The sparkling highs of the Fluence pickups really shine on clean tones, but I really prefer all the other p-ups when distorted.
I have three Ibanez guitars and have been using them on and off for 10 years now. I've lately, and I mean the passed two years, been playing Deftones songs. I took my very first guitar and replaced every piece of hardware on it and fitted it with Stephen Carpenter Fishman Fluence pickups, the 6 string version of which only 50 were made. Holy shit I love them! I needed a crap load of distortion to get pinch harmonics for the odd notes that don't like to ring. Now I can take just a distorted amp and squeal every note if I wanted to. They're soooooooo sensitive and I love that. Plus the low string are raw and so natural. Seriously thinking about fitting all my guitars with them.
Great comparison. Thank you. Helped me make my pickup choice.
although its undeniably clearer and well defined, the other pickups sound more pleasing to my ears
but everything depends on context, and i'm pretty sure that these fishman pickups would really shine through in a mix
In love with this tone!
Dang! A coil splittable active with breathing cleans... a beauty!
Ironically, I preferred the tone of the 'normal' passive humbuckers for most if not all of the clean tones, but thought that the Fishmans suited his style better for most of the distorted tones. I think I will still be using passive humbuckers for now, but I appreciate the comparison.
I believe I’ve commented this before but the tam 100 is the prettiest guitar I think I have ever seen
Ok, those pickups in an Aristides just became my dream guitar.
Great stuff. The Fishmans sound great.
I like how that DiMarzio sounds