Don't watch this old trahs, I have an updated and much better video on why Fishman Fluence pickups are different. th-cam.com/video/5_H1DNtbZOk/w-d-xo.html
As a heavy gain user who previously only played passives (not even top of the line passives) for over 15 years I immediately loved the sound of the Fluence Modern. I see some people dislike their 'perfect' artificial tone so maybe it's a matter of taste but when I heard the vibrant and aggressive tone of the mid and low bar chords I was in love. I enjoyed how they sound unique and colorful compared to anything I've played before
That's me lol. The fishmans sound too artificial for me. That's said I'm thinking about getting a guitar with them. I think in a stereo setup with 1 guitar running fishmans and one running duncans or dimarzios the combination might be really nice
Thanks for the comparison. I still prefer your Black Winter CS. Your sound has more character with them and the deep mid/bass range delivers more umph/push. Maybe the Fishman's are too perfect for \m/ . . but definitely fantastic for cleans
I love my Fluence open core pickups! They give me everything I love about a good passive PAF but with consistency and greater versatility. The Moderns are cool, but they do sound just a bit too HiFi for my liking in E standard, though they do sound great in C# and below.
All I wanted was a good PAF guitar, and somehow I ended up here, with a Scott Lepage Fishman Fluence. The PAF tones are great, the "overwound" voicing is great, and the so called "split coil" is the only one I ever heard that actually sounds "normal". Plus it's not really single, so it doesn't even hum. The graveyard of cheap humbucker guitars I returned to GC is absurd. I feel like a jerk, but oh well.
I like that even though the Fishman pickups are active, they can achieve "active" or passive tones, depending on the model. Since they are all active and have low impedance outputs, the tone doesn't change whether you use a long or short cable or a wireless system. That's pretty cool! The challenge with passive pickups is that your resonant frequency moves around when you change cables, depending on the cable capacitance. Sorry, I know it's nerd talk...
Nice video. After watching some other videos about these pickups I found myself asking "but why?" because they never really explained it. You've answered all my questions and even gave me a chuckle or two. Cheers!
Fishman yes but would never try EMG, because "active iz sux" and so sterile and removed, right? So after years of stubbornly spending on passives, you realized that all the artists using EMG were in the end right?
I got an 8 string set and I've never looked back. Fantastic pickups. The only thing I would change in the low output. I tune down to DGDGCEAD and the lows require a lot of cutting to be tamed. But then again they are voiced for two steps or one step if drop E higher than what I tune to.
I'm freaking loving my Fishmans in my Ibanez Scott Lepage. I normally don't go for signature guitars, but his straight forward switching attracted me, and have not disappointed. As far as I know, only the Epiphone Prophecy guitars feature these with basic A, B, C switching, aside from Scotts guitar. Most have some kind of 5 way, or pull pots, with weird controls, that don't do ALL of the things (all three voices, in all three positions.)
The explanation is amazing. The demo....well... I find the Black Winter more dynamic. Pulling out 80 and 160 Hz or just rolling down Bass by 1.5 on the regular EQ would bring it into the voice realm of the Fluence, who sounded good, but was also missing a little realness. So with your custom shop Seymour Duncan you'd have a similar voicing with more bass, AND have more dynamics (not ALWAYS what everybody wants). That's not necessarily as bad a thing as you make it sound :-).
I've been a Seymour Duncan fangirl for almost 20 years (I dropped JB/Jazz in almost everything I own, including my Kiesel DC600). I was going to go with a JB/Jazz for my Osiris I ordered earlier this year, but when Kiesel had Fluence Modern pickups fully wired and installed for a $200, I couldn't say no (because it would have been a $50 upcharge on top of buying a JB & Jazz to ship to them). Fluences are absolutely monstrous and I love the clarity and tone. Duncans are still great if you want a more traditional tone, but damn, I'm impressed with Fishman (I was and still am an avid EMG hater after having 4 shit-sounding guitars with stuff ranging from 60s to 81s to 85s). Seymour Duncan's LiveWire set (basically an active JB and Jazz) is also really good (I have a Dave Mustaine signature with them...love the tone!), but if I had to choose one pickup to play and nothing else, it's probably a set of Fishman Fluence Modern.
I’ll stick with SD’s. (I run JB CS/ whole lotta CS. Both tapped and a tapped tone pot for phase shift in an old ESP/LTD ev400vf ) but if you want the good stuff (as you seem to already know) you can’t buy off the shelf. 😎🎸🎶✌️
@@khayrobs I wanted to get the Tosin's for my 7 string but FKN Fishman only makes them in active housing size. They don't make the Tosin's in passive size, so they won't fit in my guitar :[
Man, that's a great video! Thank you for shooting it out A/B with Black Winter, that's my favourite humbucker... You helped me make a decision on my next guitar setup!
Thankyou for your video lately I've been hearing everyone "talk" about Fishman pickups but I couldn't figure out the reason why. This video clearly showed the why! I am an EMG707 fanboy for like forever and I am going to make a change. Thanks.
Killer, glad I can help. When you get a set of Fishman, it's important to tweak your amp settings for the clearer sound. You will amazed at how much high end you were having to add to you 707s.
Nice video, but ..to compare those pickups you should mount on the same guitar or model with the same 95& same setting, adjusting pickup heights(not easy task) and then make comparison with at few different rolls of volume potentiometer and all it on clean(some spacious effect is ok), overdrive and high gain lead and rythm. There can be heard huge difference with all nuances as well.
This was a general discussion about the pickups as, not an in depth comparison. I have other videos up where the pickups are in the same guitars, setup the same with 500k pots for the comparison. Also, the guitar really isn't making the difference you think it is. At most some sustain and resonance are effected by the construction and wood choices, at least with electrics, acoustics are a different story. There is a lot out there busting the tone wood myth for electrics, so this video was fine in just showing that the pickups didn't have the clarity issues passive high output pickups deal with. Here are some links to me comparing these pickups and more in the same guitars with the same setup th-cam.com/video/2s53N_m-iyY/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/2p436uD5ASQ/w-d-xo.html
The moderns, being that they're going for a better active pickup, have the same complaints be do about EMGs with top end. People think it's "sterile." The moderns are just less compressed and can have more low-end than something like an 81. Personally, I prefer the Keith merrows, Devin Townsends, classics and Willie Adler sets. Those I would say definitely don't have that sterile too end. As for sounding synthetic, no I don't think so. They sound hi fi for sure, and clearer than your average pickup and that can throw people off.
@@MetalHeadProductions Thanks for the reply man! Yeah makes sense, same way people gravitate towards a "normal" guitar speaker rather than a FRFR... Myself I'm finding myself leaning more towards something like the 57/66 set, coupled with a V30, searching for that mid boost. But it's good everybody has different tastes, otherwise it would all sound the same. Rock on!
@@Scarrus666 57/66 EMGs are the best EMG make, in my opinion. I'd really recommend, if you ever get the chance, something like the classics from fishmans are really killer.
@@MetalHeadProductions Yeah, that 57/66 set does sound awesome! I might look into the fishmans too, a friend is getting them, I believe, so I'll get to try it out at least.
@@MetalHeadProductions thanks for the reply. Essentially if you're buying used Fishman pickups you want the complete package . Also since these pickups are voiced differently, you can't simply swap one set for another either?
@@alex1982maple some of the wiring on these sets will be just fine to swap around. I've done that with a few, but some of them either have more voicings or coil splits so some of that won't work. If you're getting used you'll need to buy the pots you'll need, and those pickups need the two cables that plug into each pickup to come with them
That custom black winter sounded muddy as hell.. Ive read mixed things about fishmans, some insist they sound artificial or puny, but Ive heard some beautiful demos. I should really take a deep dive into fishman pickups. They sounded good in this demo.
I'm not really a metal guy , at best I enjoy playing progressive rock leads , jazz , fusion etc. In the past I've enjoyed dynamic tones with passives , and fishman pickups just deliver that in spades. From the moderns , classics and the Abasi set. They have this really nasally mid range that's unlike any pickup I've tried. They have this snappy warm feeling that I'm addicted to now. They do have a high-fi and un real sound but in a good way , very pleasing analog way. Every new guitar going forward will be with fishmans .
I might modify my strat with fishman pickups but i got to route out a battery compartment I originally was going to put EMG pickups due to Metallica but Metallica might change pickups to fishman watch it might happen
That was awesome and very informative. Kudos on just straight up no bullshit, this is how it is. I'm 2 days away from receiving my Schecter sls c7 elite multiscale with the fluence modern's. Can't wait. 🤘 hope to have a similar positive outcome as this will be the first time having Fishman...
Have you compared to the Lace Alumitones? They have a similar thing going on. I liked the ones I tried; had a very interesting articulate attack that I haven't experienced in any other pickup.
I haven't, those are a whole different animal and function pretty differently than really any pickups. I have been thinking about demoing those and giving them a shot though.
@@MetalHeadProductions They're worth a try for comparison's sake. They will likely end up in one of my guitars because I liked what they did, but I don't think they would be my "do everything" pickup. But I did prefer them over EMGs, they had alot of that what I like about EMGs, plus a little extra, plus the bonus of being totally passive.
Do the tosin abasis have pole pieces inside? Do they have to align with the strings? I need to install them in a miltiscale guitar but im afraid they wont line up correctly.
Great Video, and this is actually every reason why I'm NOT USING Fisherman Fluence. Personalty and imperfection to me is perfection in itself. I dont want anyone to have the exact same tone nor do i want someone else, being close enough yet still having your own voice i feel is more important and more needed now than it ever has been before. Everyone is sounding the same these days.
Am sorry dude but that is the most retarded shit I've heard for not using fluence! Lol. You can still make you're own tone and style type just by adjusting you're amp or pedals, scales ect.. That's like saying all the old dinosaur rock sounded the same since they all had PAF pickups. I do understand the logic of you're argument but I think later fluence might let regular folks mod they're pickups to their own specs like they're doing to the guys being endorsed.
I just bought a Schecter SLS Evil Twin E-1 guitar. It certainly is different. It has the Fishman Fluence Modern set. They sound great but the problem I have with them is that I don't get a lot of low end that sounds clear. It gets kind of muddy. I don't get the same tone from my other guitar that have passive pickups. I have a Schecter Guitar Research C-1 Platinum Electric Guitar Emerald Burst with an EMG 81 (Bridge)/85 (Neck), it seems the EMG 81 is more pronounced. I am looking for that vintage classic rock sound, i.e., AC/DC, Foreigner, that kind of thing. What are your thoughts on Fishman Fluence Moderns? Thank you for posting this.
If you're are looking for a vintage classic rock sound you should take into consideration PAF clones pickups. Fishman Moderns are arguably among the most versatile (if not the most versatile) pickups out there, but they still remain active pickups with their specific type of sound and focus. Those are made to sound tight in the low end and precise (same as EMG81s even tho Fishmans are a little tighter), you kinda want the opposite for an AC/DC-ish tone, meaning a looser less precise bottom end and a lower output (like a much lower output, a vintage output) with less compression. For some pickup suggestions, you could try with a Duncan 59B, or if you can spend a little more a Bare Knuckle Riff Raff. If you prefer actives you can try with the EMG57/66 set, those are based on PAFs, but still they won't get you much better results than an 81 or a Fishman.
Each guitar having its own voice is part of their charm, and the main reason most guitarists have and use many guitars. Differences between two identical copies of the same guitar model would be nowhere near drastic enough (let alone noticeable to most people) to require the sound engineer to compensate, but most performing artists are not actually bothered with duplicate guitars and instead carry different guitars. Their signature sound is not defined by the pickups or their guitars. The same setup will sound different from one gig to the next as the room differs no matter how much the sound engineer tries to compensate, so any obsession about micro-details of pickup sound is moot and only noticeable in a sterile and reproducible environment like a home studio.
Having a consistent sound is really important, and starting with a good base, your pickups, you can tune and shape your tone from that base. By that logic why use different pickups at all? why doesn't everyone use a JB or EMG 81 if engineers can just fix it in the mix? How they feel is important, how they respond, all of it, not having to fight with your guitar and EQ the hell out of it to get to the sound you want, all super important, and I dont care how the good the engineer is, if your pickups are muddy, undefined and lack clarity, they cant add clarity. there is a video of Tosin Abasi at a clinic at pitbull audio in san diego. he looped his old signature guitar with his old dimarzios, then he looped his then signature model with his FIshmans playing the same song. He switched between the two loops, and speaking as someone who was there in the room, the difference in clarity and tone was not just noticeable but drastic.
Read again what I wrote instead of posting a prefab response that has nothing to do with what I said. I did not say all pickups sound the same, nor that it can just be fixed in the mix. I said that the differences in sound between guitars are actually desirable by most guitarists and do not need to be compensated for. Nothing wrong with liking how a fishman works or sounds. But dissing traditional pickups for "inconsistencies" is BS. Two guitars will never be identical (each piece of wood is unique) so it is irrelevant if the pickups in them are identical. In fact I suspect the manufacturing tolerances of pickups are much tighter than those of wood. If you desperately want consistency in a studio recording, just use the same guitar, why change it? In a live setup in a rock/metal context nobody can tell the difference between your main and back up guitar, unless you get extremely different guitars, in which case you are at fault, not the pickups.
I read what you wrote and this isn't a prefab answer. I didn't even imply that all pickups sound the same, I was just saying from the point you were making, why even have pickup options, why doesn't everyone use the same pickups. Ah, you got ass hurt because you thought I was dissing traditional pickups. I love traditional pickups, man, and I've used tones of them across most brands. It's not dissing them to acknowledge their limitations. With electrics, the wood is negligible for tone. The sounds is an electromagnetic response and doesn't have anything to do with the wood. If we were talking acoustics that would be a different story, but we're not. At most it will effect how long a string will resonate. Now, sure, you could just use the same guitar for everything, but that doesn't solve the issue many gigging players have with needing multiple guitars for different tunings. It also doesn't acknowledge the problem a lot of players encounter when they like the tone of a 6 string pickup, and want it in an extended range version like a 7 or 8 string but the extra cooper winding it takes to make a 6 string pickup changes the tone and output considerably, and the same problem happens the other way around. The Fishman Fluence solve that issue. You might not care about consistency or think that dialing in a sound is all that important, but most professional musicians and engineers would disagree with you.
Metalhead Productions hey man this vid was great. You did excellent job explaining these fishmans. Idk why this guys being a little bitch. But I’m gonna sub. Keep on rockin brother
hoping you can help me with your expertise. I am looking at a guitar that comes in 2 pickup options. One has Bare Knuckle brute force, the other fishman fluence. No idea which way I should go. I play classic metal, neo-classic. Think Randy, Yngwie, Lynch and such. I love high crisp gain. I rarely play drop tuning or thrash, but I like the modern gain tones. Which pickup should I go to?
@@MetalHeadProductions Fishman® Fluence Modern Humbucker. I am using a Boss Katana Head through a Peavey 5150 cabinet. I switch heads around to an old Ampeg VH140C and a 6505 mini. But with the PC software, I like the Katana the best.
@@95jersey hmm, well the output is pretty high on the moderns, especially on the active voicing. I usually went for voice 2, the passive voicings with those. Since you're not hitting the front end of the amp with pedals, the higher output might be what you want.
Awesome video sir! Great explanation of how the fishman fluences works, but I would like to ask you, in the tone comparison part, doesnt the seymour duncan sound much more "muddy" and with more Low-mids also because you compared an Flying V with an Explorer? Why am I asking this? Because I owned a Jackson King V and a Esp MX-250 replica, and the explorer had much more Low-mids than the V also... I am not trying to say that the Fluences sound better than the Duncans, I think that they do! I think the comparison would be better if you recorded both pickups installed in the very same guitar (with the same strings too, and also preferably using your V), then it would be better to compare.. What do you think? Also, that is the first video of your channel that I whatched. Awesome work! Congrats from Brazil!
not really, I have a comparison video up between several fishmans, the black winter, some blackouts and some emgs, all in the same schecter, and the black winter still has that pronounced low end. That v and the explorer are the same body and neck woods and are about the same weight so it wouldn't make much of a difference. th-cam.com/video/2p436uD5ASQ/w-d-xo.html
Eh, I'm not about that brand loyalty. I love my Duncans, the black winter and nazgul in particular, but I love my fishmans, and my bare knuckle pickups also. Lots of great gear out there and I'd never want to limit myself.
The active fluence sound cool, the passive not so much and the Seymour’s sound more hollow which is a cool thing too I rate em 1. Fishman active 2. Seymour custom 3. Fishman passive ( just doesn’t sound balanced to me)
that is a bit high for the setup you want. I'd say find a guitar in a store that has some Fishman Fluence in it so you can test them out for yourself before deciding if its worth it to you.
Too bad my guitar has passive pickups and I don’t know soldering that well and I don’t like paying like $500 to guitar center just to put in an active pickup.
it's not the wiring that costs that much, active pickups have to be powered by a 9v battery. that 500 bucks was to rout out a chunk of wood from your guitar and install a battery compartment. not a small job.
I have, they are pretty good. I've been fortunate to get to use a lot of gear from working in a guitar store, and in guitar manufacturing. About the only pickups I haven't gotten to try are the tons of small boutique pickup builders.
I don't want to be mean but the difference in sound between the two modes through studio monitors is negligible, i guess i'm the odd one out that didn't really like any of them. For transparency, i play a Duncan Sh-6, JB Jr., and a lil 59'er in one guitar, and EMG 707's in the other.
I disagree, I use Yamaha hs5 monitors and the difference is pretty clear. It also, has a different feel when you switch voicing. The passive voice is less compressed, a little lower on output and fuller on the low end. I love Duncan and certain EMGs, I used them for years
Fishman's support leaves a lot to be desired. They have all these endorsement deals, they should hire some more support folks. One of the things that stinks about the Fluence is they use 2.5M pots, and when you order a set, it doesn't let you configure it with long shaft or short shaft, or add switches, etc. They take FOREVER to respond to emails, took about a month for them to send replacement pots that would actually fit my guitar. The pickups are great, but everything else isn't.
You have no idea how sick I am of hearing about this. I didn't even know who he was until a couple months ago when someone said I ripped off his logo. I didn't rip off his logo, I've been on TH-cam for years with this logo. It's the old, pre emoji, way of doing the devil horns for metal. Our logos look alike but they mean different things.
When you did the voice things you had it backwards when you you said you were on passive it was actually active I believe what it sounded like so down on the tone pot is active and then up is possible ?
Oh I adore the black winter. I've owned a bunch and I currently have two guitars with it in there. Aggressive, cutting, and tones of mod range, which is where that nastiness comes from, which I love and works so good for metal.
Just my own opinion here, Fluence is great for high gain sound. But it really lacks the dynamics and delicacy of passive pickups in low gain tones, there's always this "stiffness" present no matter what amp, modeler or plugin I use. It's great to have, but I wouldn't use it as my only pickup.
I see that, yeah, I love that guitar. It was my main instrument for almost 5 years. I recently parted with it and some other gear to get a Schecter MKIII which will probably be here in a couple days, then I'll do a video for it on the channel.
Dude! What a fantastic review! It's rare that i watch any kind of gear review and have basically every question i went in with answered. Just out of question, can u get a versitile clean tone? Is this that long fabled pickup that will allow me to play blues and jazz and the flip a switch and turn my guitar into an instrument of immediate deathly brutality capable of taking toddlers out at 50 yards?
Yeah, you can get great cleans out of the second voicing, although, for the variety of tones you're after one of the signature sets might be better. The devin Townsend set have a high output metal voicing, an incredible could split voicing, and have a lower output rock/blue setting. The Keith merrow set has a mid output metal setting, a low output paf, and great coil split, and the tosin set has his metal setting, and several coil options for his clan and more jazzy sounds, like one of the settings splits the two inner could of the pickups. Hope that helps
4:29: that Tosin video you talked about, that was my turning point, that's when I was sold on Fluences never to look for anything else regarding PUPs...
Even much better then some of guys (some metal heads) who are making pickup comparison on heavy distortion, which belongs to category hearing impaired, slightly saying.
The fucking guitar was brighter than the blue retina scorching LED on my MXR Fullbore Metal. Jesus. Fishman are good pickups. But with today’s equipment you can make any pickup sound like any other pickup. Flavor of the month. Whatever floats your boat. So long as you go hard, I don’t care if you use Chibson pickups 👊🏻
They are more powered pickups to switch between voices than active. all pickups, regardless of type, have a particular voice, and no, actives aren't about hi-fi sound, actives have weaker magnets with a preamp to boost the signal for higher sustain. That is why they were designed. The Fishman voicings aren't BS, the coil tech as opposed to tradition cooper wrapping, allows the pickups to isolate frequency ranges and to increase or decrease overall output changing the tonal output, feel and response of the pickup from voice to voice.
Fluence sounds more alive than enything. You can hear all the hatmonics and the sound is not loosing its tone whatsoever. I will buy them for suuuuuure.
That broken English sounds either like you're having a stroke or as if you're very very stupid. But hey, who can blame ya? English is a _very_ obscure language that is not spoken in a lot of places and definitely not taught in schools the world over.
Absolutely love your channel and what your doing your definitely a metalheads metalhead. Have no fuckin idea how stevie t has a million subscribers.Stick to your guns and keep doing what your doin and don't compromise just for subscribers.\m/
Arch Druid thanks so much. I really do appreciate that. I have some cool stuff coming for the Keith merrow fishman pickups and the Randall Satan 50 watt. Thanks for the support
IF you can get a hold of the new Axe fx 3 try demoing it together side by side or combined with the Kemper and different rack mounted power amps with different tubes(6L6,EL84,KT88 etc.) by different companies(Mesa Boogie,Engl,Carvin etc.) Also if you can, demo the new Marty Friedman and Kirk Hammet signature EMG pickups. \m/
Do I hear Behemoth in there? Finally someone playing som Behemoth. These guys don't get nowhere near enough recognition. I think the Fishmans sound amazing compared to the custom SD Blackouts. Now, grated, I do think you use a bit too much gain and/or bass frequency on your amp (at least that's what it sounds like to me). No offense, though. Just my humble opinion. Keep being awesome. :)
Okay, so. When you played your clean tone, I was very upset. Not with the tone, but because i have the same guitar, and your top looks 1000x better than mine. It might as well not even be a quilted top.
More winds for more output makes for shrill highs? Nope. Exact opposite, the more turns of wire or any other change to increase inductance and thus output takes away from the top end. This is the key compromise in pickup construction.
you just going to ignore the entire part immediately after that where I talk about muddy low end from more winds or the problem with making 6 string pickups 7 string? cool. Btw, this is true depending on the magnet and blade type. the black winters, which I talk about here, extremely high output, have the thick low end, but also gets fizzy and a little harsh on the high end, the jupiter pickup is even higher output than that, both pickups are ceramic, but the Jupiter has blades, and it is extremely ice picky on the top end. In contrast, the nazgul is lower output and also ceramic, but has less high end than either the black winter or the jupiter. the point is when you boost the signal, even if you over wound the pickups to the point where you loose a dramatic amount of high end, lets say everything over 8k, the high end and upper mid frequencies, like 7k, are still hitting your pedals and amp way more than they would otherwise. you boost 7k on your guitar in a mix, a little can add some nice top end, you add any more than a db or two, that shit with sound shrill af.
@@MetalHeadProductions Given the cutoff frequency of a hight outout pickup is at around 2kHz when installed in a guitar, you might want to revise those numbers.
@@rowlandstraylight ...news to me. Someone should tell this SD chart.... www.seymourduncan.com/blog/product-news/pickup-comparison-chart My point stands, like with the black winter. Super hot, has a lot of 6k, and it has a tone of fizz.
I once bought a replica mayoness from China for like $500 USD the pickups it had sounded like bare Knuckle juggernauts. I found it hilarious lol I tried to return the damn things to the uk and it was a pain :( I sold them for a $20 loss on amazon. which was ok for me. The bad thing about those pickups was that I got them wet when I spilled water on them by accident. That killed them and they never worked afterwards. I tried putting them in rice for like a week and it did nothing. I was sad :( I never bought a bare knuckle ever again because the return policy and customer service was horrible kinda like hipshots. They don’t answer your emails and ignore you for the most part after a problem arises. I don’t know to much about Fishman. They did answer my questions on a video tho :D some demos I’ve seen of Fishman make them sound good but others don’t :/ not really sure how they sound might just be the way they play or their set up. I do like that they have different sound options, although to me they kinda sound the same. Maybe Apple airpods don’t pickup the differences. what I would love to know is if the pole pieces rust after some time. Nowhere on their website does it state what the pole pieces are made of. I really hope it’s stainless steel. rusty pickup poles look ugly.
I know the fishmans rule overall. With my current rig lack everything the black winter I believe will cure. I swear I will be back to tell you all what the results are. My rig sucks. Its a fernandes sustainer with a jb. Into a moorer diesel preamp and into a dispatch master, a chorus ensemble. Into an Eventide then into a quad from behringer. I forgot the carvin stereo power amp.
@@MetalHeadProductions , Every active pickup lacks dynamics compared to passive, total respects and all there are some that maintain dynamics like the emgs in Mr Fujioka-sans 7 string but overall they'll always be lacking in response to ones respective picking style. Passive pickups in my case sound so much better in my rig then my Fishmans, I respect what there doing but to me they sound and look like there made to entice the teenage "metal core" audience. There a good piece of engineering and I can see them being used allot more in the future but to me they take the diversity out of tone. Interesting video by the way, It's cool to here these things going on in the guitar world.
These aren't really active. I like how Keith Merrow puts it, that they are powered for switching voices. His pickups, for example, which I use for my main sound, are passive in every way except that you can switch voicings. The standard Fishman fluence modern set has active and passive voicings, and the active is more compressed and because of that has less dynamics, but the passive voice really opens up dynamically, which is why you get a lot of low end bloom with those like you do with duncans. There are a lot of Fluence pickups. Maybe the keith set, or the tosin abasi set would have been better for your picking needs, but hey, Duncans rule too. \m/
@@MetalHeadProductions , True, I'd say the circuit board in the Fishmans still no matter what voicings sounds a little active but we're all different right? I've got a SD Jazz 7 and a 59 in my Ibanez currently which goes well with my Boss head and cab.
Yes, it is a sponsored video. I get it, people go from passive pickups to Fisherman's Friend but these are overhyped pickups nowhere near EMG. Yes, the pros with their racks of effects can cover up the differences and live with it, they do it for the money they get for turning in gullible newbs to the company. Or I might be totally wrong, as this is an opinion.
Um, no it's not sponsored. I got no money or anything free for this, I just work in the industry and these are the first actually new pickup designs in decades. Also, EMG get wrecked by these, absolutely no contest. A lot of the pros that switched to these left other, bigger sponsorship deals, like tosin, and keith merrow left a job with SD for these. This isn't about tricking "newbs" it's about good sounding pickups that are the first real advancements in pickup technology since the active pickup. I've done the comparisons myself, and the improvements were so drastic I've been switching all my pickups to fishman, and live I got to hear Tosin loop his old signature dimarzios and his new fluence and the sound difference made the entire room literally gasp.
Don't watch this old trahs, I have an updated and much better video on why Fishman Fluence pickups are different.
th-cam.com/video/5_H1DNtbZOk/w-d-xo.html
I just realized he has long hair
thanks egg
Definitely stoned! 😆
lol me too
his hairline is, unfortunate. i was in the same boat six months ago, i saved my hairline by getting it cut
Just 6 years ago, huh?
As a heavy gain user who previously only played passives (not even top of the line passives) for over 15 years I immediately loved the sound of the Fluence Modern. I see some people dislike their 'perfect' artificial tone so maybe it's a matter of taste but when I heard the vibrant and aggressive tone of the mid and low bar chords I was in love. I enjoyed how they sound unique and colorful compared to anything I've played before
That's me lol. The fishmans sound too artificial for me. That's said I'm thinking about getting a guitar with them. I think in a stereo setup with 1 guitar running fishmans and one running duncans or dimarzios the combination might be really nice
I love the sound of Fluence Core and Modern.
@@Slidezy, try a mix with two different amps with complimentary tones. That's when, imho, Fishman pickups shine.
That was a MIGHTY white guitar... 10 minutes later and my eyesight still has not been fully restored.
I know! That guitar should be named Gandalf the White
Overexposure - The Musical
Thanks for the comparison. I still prefer your Black Winter CS. Your sound has more character with them and the deep mid/bass range delivers more umph/push. Maybe the Fishman's are too perfect for \m/ . . but definitely fantastic for cleans
Damn, my video quality used to suck! I looked awful.
Remember, decent lighting and a camera that isn't a potato will do wonders for you, kids.
I love my Fluence open core pickups! They give me everything I love about a good passive PAF but with consistency and greater versatility. The Moderns are cool, but they do sound just a bit too HiFi for my liking in E standard, though they do sound great in C# and below.
All I wanted was a good PAF guitar, and somehow I ended up here, with a Scott Lepage Fishman Fluence. The PAF tones are great, the "overwound" voicing is great, and the so called "split coil" is the only one I ever heard that actually sounds "normal". Plus it's not really single, so it doesn't even hum. The graveyard of cheap humbucker guitars I returned to GC is absurd. I feel like a jerk, but oh well.
also the pots matter just as much as the pickups, you can slder in capacitors in line between the pots and pickups to tweak the tone and roll off
I like that even though the Fishman pickups are active, they can achieve "active" or passive tones, depending on the model. Since they are all active and have low impedance outputs, the tone doesn't change whether you use a long or short cable or a wireless system. That's pretty cool! The challenge with passive pickups is that your resonant frequency moves around when you change cables, depending on the cable capacitance. Sorry, I know it's nerd talk...
Pretty much, though thank you...
I'm getting a new guitar with fishmans equipped and was worries about the pickups, this video was very informative... thanks
Nice video. After watching some other videos about these pickups I found myself asking "but why?" because they never really explained it. You've answered all my questions and even gave me a chuckle or two. Cheers!
Troy Jeffrey I'm glad I was able to answer your questions and I'm glad you liked the video \m/
same here subbed
Fishman yes but would never try EMG, because "active iz sux" and so sterile and removed, right? So after years of stubbornly spending on passives, you realized that all the artists using EMG were in the end right?
I got an 8 string set and I've never looked back. Fantastic pickups. The only thing I would change in the low output. I tune down to DGDGCEAD and the lows require a lot of cutting to be tamed. But then again they are voiced for two steps or one step if drop E higher than what I tune to.
I'm freaking loving my Fishmans in my Ibanez Scott Lepage. I normally don't go for signature guitars, but his straight forward switching attracted me, and have not disappointed. As far as I know, only the Epiphone Prophecy guitars feature these with basic A, B, C switching, aside from Scotts guitar. Most have some kind of 5 way, or pull pots, with weird controls, that don't do ALL of the things (all three voices, in all three positions.)
The explanation is amazing. The demo....well... I find the Black Winter more dynamic. Pulling out 80 and 160 Hz or just rolling down Bass by 1.5 on the regular EQ would bring it into the voice realm of the Fluence, who sounded good, but was also missing a little realness. So with your custom shop Seymour Duncan you'd have a similar voicing with more bass, AND have more dynamics (not ALWAYS what everybody wants). That's not necessarily as bad a thing as you make it sound :-).
I have plenty of Dynamics with my fluence. That's one of their biggest selling points. Love my duncans too
@@MetalHeadProductions Agree.
I've been a Seymour Duncan fangirl for almost 20 years (I dropped JB/Jazz in almost everything I own, including my Kiesel DC600). I was going to go with a JB/Jazz for my Osiris I ordered earlier this year, but when Kiesel had Fluence Modern pickups fully wired and installed for a $200, I couldn't say no (because it would have been a $50 upcharge on top of buying a JB & Jazz to ship to them). Fluences are absolutely monstrous and I love the clarity and tone. Duncans are still great if you want a more traditional tone, but damn, I'm impressed with Fishman (I was and still am an avid EMG hater after having 4 shit-sounding guitars with stuff ranging from 60s to 81s to 85s). Seymour Duncan's LiveWire set (basically an active JB and Jazz) is also really good (I have a Dave Mustaine signature with them...love the tone!), but if I had to choose one pickup to play and nothing else, it's probably a set of Fishman Fluence Modern.
I’ll stick with SD’s. (I run JB CS/ whole lotta CS. Both tapped and a tapped tone pot for phase shift in an old ESP/LTD ev400vf ) but if you want the good stuff (as you seem to already know) you can’t buy off the shelf. 😎🎸🎶✌️
Dream wife
Funny story, Mustaine never even liked those pickups, he used them solely to promote them and make $$. He's back using passives again.
@@khayrobs I wanted to get the Tosin's for my 7 string but FKN Fishman only makes them in active housing size. They don't make the Tosin's in passive size, so they won't fit in my guitar :[
I disliked emg 81/85s as well but really enjoyed the 57/66 combo, which you didn't mention.
Man, that's a great video! Thank you for shooting it out A/B with Black Winter, that's my favourite humbucker... You helped me make a decision on my next guitar setup!
Definitely sold on Fishman pickups definitely going to add it to my les Paul or my Jackson
Thankyou for your video lately I've been hearing everyone "talk" about Fishman pickups but I couldn't figure out the reason why. This video clearly showed the why! I am an EMG707 fanboy for like forever and I am going to make a change. Thanks.
Killer, glad I can help. When you get a set of Fishman, it's important to tweak your amp settings for the clearer sound. You will amazed at how much high end you were having to add to you 707s.
Nice video, but ..to compare those pickups you should mount on the same guitar or model with the same 95& same setting, adjusting pickup heights(not easy task) and then make comparison with at few different rolls of volume potentiometer and all it on clean(some spacious effect is ok), overdrive and high gain lead and rythm. There can be heard huge difference with all nuances as well.
This was a general discussion about the pickups as, not an in depth comparison. I have other videos up where the pickups are in the same guitars, setup the same with 500k pots for the comparison. Also, the guitar really isn't making the difference you think it is. At most some sustain and resonance are effected by the construction and wood choices, at least with electrics, acoustics are a different story. There is a lot out there busting the tone wood myth for electrics, so this video was fine in just showing that the pickups didn't have the clarity issues passive high output pickups deal with.
Here are some links to me comparing these pickups and more in the same guitars with the same setup
th-cam.com/video/2s53N_m-iyY/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/2p436uD5ASQ/w-d-xo.html
Is it just me or do the Fishman pickups sound somewhat digital-like? Like how a modeller sounds harsh on the top end and synthetic?
The moderns, being that they're going for a better active pickup, have the same complaints be do about EMGs with top end. People think it's "sterile." The moderns are just less compressed and can have more low-end than something like an 81.
Personally, I prefer the Keith merrows, Devin Townsends, classics and Willie Adler sets. Those I would say definitely don't have that sterile too end.
As for sounding synthetic, no I don't think so. They sound hi fi for sure, and clearer than your average pickup and that can throw people off.
@@MetalHeadProductions Thanks for the reply man!
Yeah makes sense, same way people gravitate towards a "normal" guitar speaker rather than a FRFR...
Myself I'm finding myself leaning more towards something like the 57/66 set, coupled with a V30, searching for that mid boost.
But it's good everybody has different tastes, otherwise it would all sound the same.
Rock on!
@@Scarrus666 57/66 EMGs are the best EMG make, in my opinion. I'd really recommend, if you ever get the chance, something like the classics from fishmans are really killer.
@@MetalHeadProductions Yeah, that 57/66 set does sound awesome! I might look into the fishmans too, a friend is getting them, I believe, so I'll get to try it out at least.
From 2 Epiphone Prophecy series guitars and 1 Schecter , all 3 bombed out . The pick ups
Are what I am referring to. Comments or thoughts
Yeah, this was definitely informative. I’m getting to the point where it just seems to NOT make sense for a regular p/u.
Thanks a million, man! This is ace!
Excellent video. Thank you for what you've given us here.
Thank you, I just wish I had done this with my current camera so it looks better.
It's gold where it counts!
@@thepricklyseed ah, well thanks man, I appreciate that
Interesting. The Fishmans sound "tighter" with a more focused, almost studio like low end.
Love the Ben Sahar riff; thought it sounded familiar at first but took a minute to put the name to it.
Am I correct that you can't simply swap EMGs for Fishmans without sacrificing one of the voices on the
p/u?
The fishman connections and pots are different so they don't give swap over, very unfortunately
@@MetalHeadProductions thanks for the reply. Essentially if you're buying used Fishman pickups you want the complete package . Also since these pickups are voiced differently, you can't simply swap one set for another either?
@@alex1982maple some of the wiring on these sets will be just fine to swap around. I've done that with a few, but some of them either have more voicings or coil splits so some of that won't work. If you're getting used you'll need to buy the pots you'll need, and those pickups need the two cables that plug into each pickup to come with them
I prefer passive pickups but these are the best actives I’ve played for sure
Thank you
That custom black winter sounded muddy as hell.. Ive read mixed things about fishmans, some insist they sound artificial or puny, but Ive heard some beautiful demos. I should really take a deep dive into fishman pickups. They sounded good in this demo.
Where do I sell my body to get these? First time I hear them, it's totally a game changer, I think it's worth the risk.
I'm not really a metal guy , at best I enjoy playing progressive rock leads , jazz , fusion etc. In the past I've enjoyed dynamic tones with passives , and fishman pickups just deliver that in spades. From the moderns , classics and the Abasi set. They have this really nasally mid range that's unlike any pickup I've tried. They have this snappy warm feeling that I'm addicted to now. They do have a high-fi and un real sound but in a good way , very pleasing analog way. Every new guitar going forward will be with fishmans .
I might modify my strat with fishman pickups but i got to route out a battery compartment I originally was going to put EMG pickups due to Metallica but Metallica might change pickups to fishman watch it might happen
Give me a 1pusspull n 1tone n a Fender 3way Swatch blade.i cant find it.fushman is no help.pls.pls.
Just use the pots that come with the pickups and a three way blade switch you can buy at any guitar store.
@@MetalHeadProductions yeah but i need a schematic.iam a noob.n my guitastore wants140€ ...
I loved the first passive voiced
That was awesome and very informative. Kudos on just straight up no bullshit, this is how it is. I'm 2 days away from receiving my Schecter sls c7 elite multiscale with the fluence modern's. Can't wait. 🤘 hope to have a similar positive outcome as this will be the first time having Fishman...
you wont be disappointed
How do you like the guitar?
I dig them, but still would pick an Alumitone Classic neck humbucker with coil tap and a Deathbucker bridge over them.
Have you compared to the Lace Alumitones? They have a similar thing going on. I liked the ones I tried; had a very interesting articulate attack that I haven't experienced in any other pickup.
I haven't, those are a whole different animal and function pretty differently than really any pickups. I have been thinking about demoing those and giving them a shot though.
@@MetalHeadProductions They're worth a try for comparison's sake. They will likely end up in one of my guitars because I liked what they did, but I don't think they would be my "do everything" pickup. But I did prefer them over EMGs, they had alot of that what I like about EMGs, plus a little extra, plus the bonus of being totally passive.
Do the tosin abasis have pole pieces inside? Do they have to align with the strings? I need to install them in a miltiscale guitar but im afraid they wont line up correctly.
I don't believe it's pole pieces inside, most of tosin's abasi guitars are multiscale and have his pickups in them so it shouldnt be an issue for you.
I got the killswitch engage set in my drop c guitar, now I swear by them
Those are crazy tight
@@MetalHeadProductions tighter than a ducks asshole
Great Video, and this is actually every reason why I'm NOT USING Fisherman Fluence. Personalty and imperfection to me is perfection in itself. I dont want anyone to have the exact same tone nor do i want someone else, being close enough yet still having your own voice i feel is more important and more needed now than it ever has been before. Everyone is sounding the same these days.
Am sorry dude but that is the most retarded shit I've heard for not using fluence! Lol. You can still make you're own tone and style type just by adjusting you're amp or pedals, scales ect.. That's like saying all the old dinosaur rock sounded the same since they all had PAF pickups. I do understand the logic of you're argument but I think later fluence might let regular folks mod they're pickups to their own specs like they're doing to the guys being endorsed.
@Toxic Potato and the pickup does work lol
By your logic everyone who plays a keyboard sounds the same as eachother
This is absurd logic in this context
What are you talking about?All pickups are used by everyone lol.Make your own pickups.
I just bought a Schecter SLS Evil Twin E-1 guitar. It certainly is different. It has the Fishman Fluence Modern set. They sound great but the problem I have with them is that I don't get a lot of low end that sounds clear. It gets kind of muddy. I don't get the same tone from my other guitar that have passive pickups. I have a Schecter Guitar Research C-1 Platinum Electric Guitar Emerald Burst with an EMG 81 (Bridge)/85 (Neck), it seems the EMG 81 is more pronounced. I am looking for that vintage classic rock sound, i.e., AC/DC, Foreigner, that kind of thing. What are your thoughts on Fishman Fluence Moderns? Thank you for posting this.
If you're are looking for a vintage classic rock sound you should take into consideration PAF clones pickups.
Fishman Moderns are arguably among the most versatile (if not the most versatile) pickups out there, but they still remain active pickups with their specific type of sound and focus.
Those are made to sound tight in the low end and precise (same as EMG81s even tho Fishmans are a little tighter), you kinda want the opposite for an AC/DC-ish tone, meaning a looser less precise bottom end and a lower output (like a much lower output, a vintage output) with less compression.
For some pickup suggestions, you could try with a Duncan 59B, or if you can spend a little more a Bare Knuckle Riff Raff.
If you prefer actives you can try with the EMG57/66 set, those are based on PAFs, but still they won't get you much better results than an 81 or a Fishman.
@@minstrel9806 Hey thank for that Information! Thank you so much again!!
Dude thanks I just ordered 6 sets for my guitars done with dimarzio and Seymour..
Great explanation man, keep it up!😊👍
Nazgul is still my favorite pickup.
still one of my favorites too.
I don`t care how they sound but how they feel to play.
spot on
Each guitar having its own voice is part of their charm, and the main reason most guitarists have and use many guitars. Differences between two identical copies of the same guitar model would be nowhere near drastic enough (let alone noticeable to most people) to require the sound engineer to compensate, but most performing artists are not actually bothered with duplicate guitars and instead carry different guitars. Their signature sound is not defined by the pickups or their guitars. The same setup will sound different from one gig to the next as the room differs no matter how much the sound engineer tries to compensate, so any obsession about micro-details of pickup sound is moot and only noticeable in a sterile and reproducible environment like a home studio.
Having a consistent sound is really important, and starting with a good base, your pickups, you can tune and shape your tone from that base. By that logic why use different pickups at all? why doesn't everyone use a JB or EMG 81 if engineers can just fix it in the mix? How they feel is important, how they respond, all of it, not having to fight with your guitar and EQ the hell out of it to get to the sound you want, all super important, and I dont care how the good the engineer is, if your pickups are muddy, undefined and lack clarity, they cant add clarity.
there is a video of Tosin Abasi at a clinic at pitbull audio in san diego. he looped his old signature guitar with his old dimarzios, then he looped his then signature model with his FIshmans playing the same song. He switched between the two loops, and speaking as someone who was there in the room, the difference in clarity and tone was not just noticeable but drastic.
Read again what I wrote instead of posting a prefab response that has nothing to do with what I said. I did not say all pickups sound the same, nor that it can just be fixed in the mix. I said that the differences in sound between guitars are actually desirable by most guitarists and do not need to be compensated for.
Nothing wrong with liking how a fishman works or sounds. But dissing traditional pickups for "inconsistencies" is BS. Two guitars will never be identical (each piece of wood is unique) so it is irrelevant if the pickups in them are identical. In fact I suspect the manufacturing tolerances of pickups are much tighter than those of wood.
If you desperately want consistency in a studio recording, just use the same guitar, why change it? In a live setup in a rock/metal context nobody can tell the difference between your main and back up guitar, unless you get extremely different guitars, in which case you are at fault, not the pickups.
I read what you wrote and this isn't a prefab answer. I didn't even imply that all pickups sound the same, I was just saying from the point you were making, why even have pickup options, why doesn't everyone use the same pickups.
Ah, you got ass hurt because you thought I was dissing traditional pickups. I love traditional pickups, man, and I've used tones of them across most brands. It's not dissing them to acknowledge their limitations. With electrics, the wood is negligible for tone. The sounds is an electromagnetic response and doesn't have anything to do with the wood. If we were talking acoustics that would be a different story, but we're not. At most it will effect how long a string will resonate.
Now, sure, you could just use the same guitar for everything, but that doesn't solve the issue many gigging players have with needing multiple guitars for different tunings. It also doesn't acknowledge the problem a lot of players encounter when they like the tone of a 6 string pickup, and want it in an extended range version like a 7 or 8 string but the extra cooper winding it takes to make a 6 string pickup changes the tone and output considerably, and the same problem happens the other way around. The Fishman Fluence solve that issue.
You might not care about consistency or think that dialing in a sound is all that important, but most professional musicians and engineers would disagree with you.
Kimon Froussios he’s just helping us out with understanding the difference in pick-ups. The dude did a great job. Quit being a cocky little shit head.
Metalhead Productions hey man this vid was great. You did excellent job explaining these fishmans. Idk why this guys being a little bitch. But I’m gonna sub. Keep on rockin brother
If I got a fishman modern 7 pickup, would I need to have a battery put into my guitar? Beautiful snow falcon by the way, dont see those often
Jonezzzzzzzy yeah they need a 9v battery, or they have an option usb rechargeable battery you can get
Just like the oruginals made by EMG, you need a battery.
hoping you can help me with your expertise. I am looking at a guitar that comes in 2 pickup options. One has Bare Knuckle brute force, the other fishman fluence. No idea which way I should go. I play classic metal, neo-classic. Think Randy, Yngwie, Lynch and such. I love high crisp gain. I rarely play drop tuning or thrash, but I like the modern gain tones. Which pickup should I go to?
which fishman fluence? what amp and pedals are you using?
@@MetalHeadProductions Fishman® Fluence Modern Humbucker. I am using a Boss Katana Head through a Peavey 5150 cabinet. I switch heads around to an old Ampeg VH140C and a 6505 mini. But with the PC software, I like the Katana the best.
@@95jersey hmm, well the output is pretty high on the moderns, especially on the active voicing. I usually went for voice 2, the passive voicings with those. Since you're not hitting the front end of the amp with pedals, the higher output might be what you want.
Awesome video sir! Great explanation of how the fishman fluences works, but I would like to ask you, in the tone comparison part, doesnt the seymour duncan sound much more "muddy" and with more Low-mids also because you compared an Flying V with an Explorer? Why am I asking this? Because I owned a Jackson King V and a Esp MX-250 replica, and the explorer had much more Low-mids than the V also... I am not trying to say that the Fluences sound better than the Duncans, I think that they do! I think the comparison would be better if you recorded both pickups installed in the very same guitar (with the same strings too, and also preferably using your V), then it would be better to compare.. What do you think? Also, that is the first video of your channel that I whatched. Awesome work! Congrats from Brazil!
not really, I have a comparison video up between several fishmans, the black winter, some blackouts and some emgs, all in the same schecter, and the black winter still has that pronounced low end. That v and the explorer are the same body and neck woods and are about the same weight so it wouldn't make much of a difference.
th-cam.com/video/2p436uD5ASQ/w-d-xo.html
Seymour Duncan pick ups are the only things I will ever use, screw any other pick up to include EMG.
Eh, I'm not about that brand loyalty. I love my Duncans, the black winter and nazgul in particular, but I love my fishmans, and my bare knuckle pickups also. Lots of great gear out there and I'd never want to limit myself.
And im here with my broke ass looking at pickups I cant afford... Ahahahuhuhu
Big mood
That's a damn good metal tone
The active fluence sound cool, the passive not so much and the Seymour’s sound more hollow which is a cool thing too I rate em
1. Fishman active
2. Seymour custom
3. Fishman passive ( just doesn’t sound balanced to me)
Will a couple ir set, though im not sure which ones, the modern or the KSE set, any recommendations?
I prefer the moderns, personally
Really interesting and informative dude, thanks for that 👍
Oh, and nice shirt!
Are there any pickups "similar" to fishmans? 300€ for a set is bit expensive for me
Nah, Fishman are the only ones that do what they do.
But FF pickup sets are quite expensive. (I need 2 Single Coils and 1 Humbucker Pickup+Battery Pack)-about 450$
that is a bit high for the setup you want. I'd say find a guitar in a store that has some Fishman Fluence in it so you can test them out for yourself before deciding if its worth it to you.
It’s kinda funny how he is using music is win’s logo but with a lower case m 😂
it's the devil horns logo
Too bad my guitar has passive pickups and I don’t know soldering that well and I don’t like paying like $500 to guitar center just to put in an active pickup.
Aaron’s a Guitar Fan go to a local music store and check craigslist for local luthiers
it's not the wiring that costs that much, active pickups have to be powered by a 9v battery. that 500 bucks was to rout out a chunk of wood from your guitar and install a battery compartment. not a small job.
Good job! hello darkness and Bob Ross pretty damn funny. The clean sounded amazing. I learned something today go figure!!
m k thanks, I'm glad you liked the video and learned about these killer pickups. That clean is the best clean I've ever gotten out of a pickup
Great vid my dude. I'm swapping the Duncan Sentient Nazguls for the KSE Fishmans in my Mayo Duvell baritone 🤘🤘
rad, you'll dig them. nice and tight even on those low baritone tunings
@@MetalHeadProductions hell yeah man, can't wait. I'll link ya a video of the guitar they're going in 🤘
@@MetalHeadProductions th-cam.com/video/LDbbYhOAUYo/w-d-xo.html
@@Sk8Riffer damn that mayones, big jelly
@@MetalHeadProductions haha dude I love my Duvells. I have another with Bareknuckle Ragnaroks, sounds fucking aggressive as hell 🤘🤘
Lace pickups are pretty bad ass pickups. The lace alumitone pickups you should try for sure.
I have, they are pretty good. I've been fortunate to get to use a lot of gear from working in a guitar store, and in guitar manufacturing. About the only pickups I haven't gotten to try are the tons of small boutique pickup builders.
I don't want to be mean but the difference in sound between the two modes through studio monitors is negligible, i guess i'm the odd one out that didn't really like any of them. For transparency, i play a Duncan Sh-6, JB Jr., and a lil 59'er in one guitar, and EMG 707's in the other.
I disagree, I use Yamaha hs5 monitors and the difference is pretty clear. It also, has a different feel when you switch voicing. The passive voice is less compressed, a little lower on output and fuller on the low end.
I love Duncan and certain EMGs, I used them for years
Fishman's support leaves a lot to be desired. They have all these endorsement deals, they should hire some more support folks. One of the things that stinks about the Fluence is they use 2.5M pots, and when you order a set, it doesn't let you configure it with long shaft or short shaft, or add switches, etc. They take FOREVER to respond to emails, took about a month for them to send replacement pots that would actually fit my guitar. The pickups are great, but everything else isn't.
Man, that sucks. I personally havent had that customer service issue, but it sucks you did.
I'm going to ignore the fact that your logo is the music is win logo and enjoy the video...
You have no idea how sick I am of hearing about this. I didn't even know who he was until a couple months ago when someone said I ripped off his logo. I didn't rip off his logo, I've been on TH-cam for years with this logo. It's the old, pre emoji, way of doing the devil horns for metal. Our logos look alike but they mean different things.
@@MetalHeadProductions fair enough, I wasn't sure if it was another thing like other Irish TH-camrs saying top of the mornin'
When you did the voice things you had it backwards when you you said you were on passive it was actually active I believe what it sounded like so down on the tone pot is active and then up is possible ?
I had it wired to be passive as down because I used that most often and up was active since I didn't use that as much.
If you listen closely the passive has a fatter low-end for sure.
I actually like the "dirtyness" of the BW, which is interesting because it is one the cleanest humbuckers i´ve heard so far.
Oh I adore the black winter. I've owned a bunch and I currently have two guitars with it in there. Aggressive, cutting, and tones of mod range, which is where that nastiness comes from, which I love and works so good for metal.
Just my own opinion here, Fluence is great for high gain sound. But it really lacks the dynamics and delicacy of passive pickups in low gain tones, there's always this "stiffness" present no matter what amp, modeler or plugin I use. It's great to have, but I wouldn't use it as my only pickup.
Its a fuckin metal pickup...
That’s nice but they don’t go in a strat without a aftermarket pickguard , and it’s cool to not have the exact same 🙂
Was that a Brendon Smalls Signature V?
Yes, and it plays great
Awesome! Hes such an underrated musician. Great video btw!!
Incredible musician and song writer, and thanks, I really appreciate that \m/ \m/
btw, is that a JL-7 in the intro?! Damn, i love you. I own one aswell, as you can see in my profile picture!
I see that, yeah, I love that guitar. It was my main instrument for almost 5 years. I recently parted with it and some other gear to get a Schecter MKIII which will probably be here in a couple days, then I'll do a video for it on the channel.
Dude! What a fantastic review! It's rare that i watch any kind of gear review and have basically every question i went in with answered. Just out of question, can u get a versitile clean tone? Is this that long fabled pickup that will allow me to play blues and jazz and the flip a switch and turn my guitar into an instrument of immediate deathly brutality capable of taking toddlers out at 50 yards?
Yeah, you can get great cleans out of the second voicing, although, for the variety of tones you're after one of the signature sets might be better. The devin Townsend set have a high output metal voicing, an incredible could split voicing, and have a lower output rock/blue setting. The Keith merrow set has a mid output metal setting, a low output paf, and great coil split, and the tosin set has his metal setting, and several coil options for his clan and more jazzy sounds, like one of the settings splits the two inner could of the pickups.
Hope that helps
4:29: that Tosin video you talked about, that was my turning point, that's when I was sold on Fluences never to look for anything else regarding PUPs...
Even much better then some of guys (some metal heads) who are making pickup comparison on heavy distortion, which belongs to category hearing impaired, slightly saying.
The fucking guitar was brighter than the blue retina scorching LED on my MXR Fullbore Metal. Jesus. Fishman are good pickups. But with today’s equipment you can make any pickup sound like any other pickup. Flavor of the month. Whatever floats your boat. So long as you go hard, I don’t care if you use Chibson pickups 👊🏻
Thanks! Very informative video.
As for all the BS on "voicing" - aren't active pickups about not really having a voicing, more of a hi-fi output compared to passives?
They are more powered pickups to switch between voices than active. all pickups, regardless of type, have a particular voice, and no, actives aren't about hi-fi sound, actives have weaker magnets with a preamp to boost the signal for higher sustain. That is why they were designed.
The Fishman voicings aren't BS, the coil tech as opposed to tradition cooper wrapping, allows the pickups to isolate frequency ranges and to increase or decrease overall output changing the tonal output, feel and response of the pickup from voice to voice.
EMG do tend to have a flat EQ, esp the 81. Some people think that robs them of character, but they do work well for many others
Jim Wagner Pickups are amazing! Those pickups actually won the biggest pickup shootouts
Thanks bro good video.
Great video, I love the cleanliness of the Fishman's, because I can make them dirty AF too.
is that matthew heafy signature v?
as far as I know he just has signature LPs, this is the Brendon Small Snow Falcon.
@@MetalHeadProductions oh,yeah ... if it was matt heafy,there would be emgs,yeah. tnx.
I did add the Fishmans later to this. it comes with gibson burst buckers.
Your SDs sounded better witj more character and dynamics imho
where the Hell is this guy looking at all the time?
better question, why to you care?
Probably the monitor on his camera and notes
i play black winter as well....love em...
@PANCHITO13 I don't see why not...?I don't play black metal..
OOOOh, is that a Snow Falcon that you're playing?.
yeah okay palm mute is different
what?
Fluence sounds more alive than enything. You can hear all the hatmonics and the sound is not loosing its tone whatsoever. I will buy them for suuuuuure.
Sarcasm?
That broken English sounds either like you're having a stroke or as if you're very very stupid.
But hey, who can blame ya? English is a _very_ obscure language that is not spoken in a lot of places and definitely not taught in schools the world over.
Absolutely love your channel and what your doing your definitely a metalheads metalhead. Have no fuckin idea how stevie t has a million subscribers.Stick to your guns and keep doing what your doin and don't compromise just for subscribers.\m/
Arch Druid thanks so much. I really do appreciate that. I have some cool stuff coming for the Keith merrow fishman pickups and the Randall Satan 50 watt. Thanks for the support
IF you can get a hold of the new Axe fx 3 try demoing it together side by side or combined with the Kemper and different rack mounted power amps with different tubes(6L6,EL84,KT88 etc.) by different companies(Mesa Boogie,Engl,Carvin etc.) Also if you can, demo the new Marty Friedman and Kirk Hammet signature EMG pickups. \m/
Blown. Away.
Do I hear Behemoth in there? Finally someone playing som Behemoth. These guys don't get nowhere near enough recognition. I think the Fishmans sound amazing compared to the custom SD Blackouts. Now, grated, I do think you use a bit too much gain and/or bass frequency on your amp (at least that's what it sounds like to me). No offense, though. Just my humble opinion. Keep being awesome. :)
Why do you look everywhere but the aperture
I have ADD, Aperture Deficient Disorder.
better question, why do you care?
Okay, so. When you played your clean tone, I was very upset. Not with the tone, but because i have the same guitar, and your top looks 1000x better than mine. It might as well not even be a quilted top.
I got really lucky with that top
More winds for more output makes for shrill highs? Nope. Exact opposite, the more turns of wire or any other change to increase inductance and thus output takes away from the top end. This is the key compromise in pickup construction.
you just going to ignore the entire part immediately after that where I talk about muddy low end from more winds or the problem with making 6 string pickups 7 string? cool. Btw, this is true depending on the magnet and blade type. the black winters, which I talk about here, extremely high output, have the thick low end, but also gets fizzy and a little harsh on the high end, the jupiter pickup is even higher output than that, both pickups are ceramic, but the Jupiter has blades, and it is extremely ice picky on the top end. In contrast, the nazgul is lower output and also ceramic, but has less high end than either the black winter or the jupiter.
the point is when you boost the signal, even if you over wound the pickups to the point where you loose a dramatic amount of high end, lets say everything over 8k, the high end and upper mid frequencies, like 7k, are still hitting your pedals and amp way more than they would otherwise. you boost 7k on your guitar in a mix, a little can add some nice top end, you add any more than a db or two, that shit with sound shrill af.
@@MetalHeadProductions Given the cutoff frequency of a hight outout pickup is at around 2kHz when installed in a guitar, you might want to revise those numbers.
@@rowlandstraylight ...news to me. Someone should tell this SD chart....
www.seymourduncan.com/blog/product-news/pickup-comparison-chart
My point stands, like with the black winter. Super hot, has a lot of 6k, and it has a tone of fizz.
I once bought a replica mayoness from China for like $500 USD the pickups it had sounded like bare Knuckle juggernauts. I found it hilarious lol I tried to return the damn things to the uk and it was a pain :( I sold them for a $20 loss on amazon. which was ok for me. The bad thing about those pickups was that I got them wet when I spilled water on them by accident. That killed them and they never worked afterwards. I tried putting them in rice for like a week and it did nothing. I was sad :( I never bought a bare knuckle ever again because the return policy and customer service was horrible kinda like hipshots. They don’t answer your emails and ignore you for the most part after a problem arises. I don’t know to much about Fishman. They did answer my questions on a video tho :D some demos I’ve seen of Fishman make them sound good but others don’t :/ not really sure how they sound might just be the way they play or their set up. I do like that they have different sound options, although to me they kinda sound the same. Maybe Apple airpods don’t pickup the differences. what I would love to know is if the pole pieces rust after some time. Nowhere on their website does it state what the pole pieces are made of. I really hope it’s stainless steel. rusty pickup poles look ugly.
Can I put Fishman Pickups into a guitar with only a volume and a tone knob or do I need two of each?
most defiantly. I have them in two guitars with one volume and one tone, and I have one setup with just one volume.
@@MetalHeadProductions Alright, thank you for the advice. Great Video 🤘
I know the fishmans rule overall. With my current rig lack everything the black winter I believe will cure. I swear I will be back to tell you all what the results are.
My rig sucks. Its a fernandes sustainer with a jb. Into a moorer diesel preamp and into a dispatch master, a chorus ensemble. Into an Eventide then into a quad from behringer. I forgot the carvin stereo power amp.
are you coming back?
Nice Feared shirt. Ola is the man
Fishman pickups sound shallow and lack any dynamics, I sold mine for Seymour duncans, sorry they just sound so shallow.
seriously? I mean to each their own, but I would never say they are shallow, and they definitely don't lack dynamic range.
@@MetalHeadProductions , Every active pickup lacks dynamics compared to passive, total respects and all there are some that maintain dynamics like the emgs in Mr Fujioka-sans 7 string but overall they'll always be lacking in response to ones respective picking style.
Passive pickups in my case sound so much better in my rig then my Fishmans, I respect what there doing but to me they sound and look like there made to entice the teenage "metal core" audience.
There a good piece of engineering and I can see them being used allot more in the future but to me they take the diversity out of tone.
Interesting video by the way, It's cool to here these things going on in the guitar world.
These aren't really active. I like how Keith Merrow puts it, that they are powered for switching voices. His pickups, for example, which I use for my main sound, are passive in every way except that you can switch voicings. The standard Fishman fluence modern set has active and passive voicings, and the active is more compressed and because of that has less dynamics, but the passive voice really opens up dynamically, which is why you get a lot of low end bloom with those like you do with duncans. There are a lot of Fluence pickups. Maybe the keith set, or the tosin abasi set would have been better for your picking needs, but hey, Duncans rule too.
\m/
@@MetalHeadProductions , True, I'd say the circuit board in the Fishmans still no matter what voicings sounds a little active but we're all different right?
I've got a SD Jazz 7 and a 59 in my Ibanez currently which goes well with my Boss head and cab.
boss katana head? and that's cool. the willie set are based on the JB and 59, but unfortunately aren't 7s.
Yes, it is a sponsored video. I get it, people go from passive pickups to Fisherman's Friend but these are overhyped pickups nowhere near EMG. Yes, the pros with their racks of effects can cover up the differences and live with it, they do it for the money they get for turning in gullible newbs to the company. Or I might be totally wrong, as this is an opinion.
Um, no it's not sponsored. I got no money or anything free for this, I just work in the industry and these are the first actually new pickup designs in decades. Also, EMG get wrecked by these, absolutely no contest. A lot of the pros that switched to these left other, bigger sponsorship deals, like tosin, and keith merrow left a job with SD for these. This isn't about tricking "newbs" it's about good sounding pickups that are the first real advancements in pickup technology since the active pickup. I've done the comparisons myself, and the improvements were so drastic I've been switching all my pickups to fishman, and live I got to hear Tosin loop his old signature dimarzios and his new fluence and the sound difference made the entire room literally gasp.
Fluenece Modern