Fishman Fluence Single Width and Classic Humbucker pickups review demo
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ต.ค. 2024
- Reviewed in Guitarist magazine issue 394.
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i think im one of the few people who actually preferred the fishmans in this video, you kept them in the vintage voicing the whole time which actually sounds like a very good example of a low output strat set, while the seymour duncans are probably overwound given that they sound significantly darker/warmer.
Nice to see a review that compares the different pickup types, rather than just demoing the new ones. For me, the Strat sounded more pleasing.
Just had a set of the Fishman Fluence single coils put in my American Deluxe Strat. So far, so good. Love how they are very matched in volumes (even in positions 2 & 4) and don't lose top end when rolling back the volume knob.
Wes
I'm honestly astonished at how familiarity, association, and expectation influences my perception of tone. I've been obsessively listening to different examples and comparisons of the Fishman Strat pickups and my opinion of them has gone all over the place. At first, I considered any perceivable deviation from a classic single coil tone to be a shortcoming, but after listening to them for so long, I realized a couple things: they often sound much more similar than I initially realized, and I genuinely really like their own individual tone quality for what it's worth.
I was like you too. Now we've got to go through the difference between the normal settings and those called the Texas Boost. Switchable from the guitar. P
I've been playing guitar for 50 years and the Fishman's are very close to the Duncans. I like BLIND comparisons much better, because the "power of suggestion" is taken out of the equation. You don't "hear" a better sound because you don't know which is the brand name and which isn't (and yes, the power of suggestion is a very real thing). A blind comparison forces you to make up your mind as to what sounds better without knowing which is playing until the end of the comparison. You have to be completely honest with yourself in choosing which sound you prefer. But at any rate, good video. Thanks.
Fishman make a great product, no doubt about it, and these pickups are certainly very innovative.
For me though the Duncan loaded Strat sounded better by a country mile.
Egregious Yeah, I thought the strat sounded better also.
***** If that's how it sounded to you, fine. The Duncans sounded much better to me.
Telling strangers on the internet what you think is fine, telling them what they think is the path to an argument.
+St. Hugh You're right. Is that what you want to hear? Will that make you feel all better and superior?
There's so much laughable nonsense in that post it's a waste of time to even address it. Lying? I stated opinion. OPINION. I don't care who you think you are chum, you're in no position to be telling anyone else their opinion. Your patronising nonsense is almost tragic frankly.
Go ahead and think you've won this. You can tell everyone all about it. 'I was right on the internet!' you can cry out and everyone around you will laugh, smile and say 'well done you!'. It'll be lovely. Really. You can feel really superior.
On a serious note, save your energy. You're not going to get anywhere with me, and if you wish to keep up such disrespectful tone this whole comment chain is going to end up a very nasty little exchange. I'll see to it that it does.
Maybe dwell on the fact that your problem with my post was that is was hyperbolic, yet your replies have been tragically full of it. You're so full of what everyone is wrong on, a little self-analytic gaze at your good self wouldn't go amiss.
Have yourself a lovely Christmas.
Now fuck off.
+St. Hugh Then kindly leave me in peace in my little box and take your nonsense to someone who is interested.
+Egregious Why can't you take constructive criticism like a man? I mean, really, a country mile? That's just a stupid thing to say.
What a great review, thanks! I was thinking about the single coil shaped ones, you can hear subtelties but the response is so flat the vintage just sounds more flavorful.
These are really innovative and practical in design. I think I'll always prefer period-correct single-coils from Fender and Seymour Duncan. BUT, for a working musician dealing with strange electrical interference and needing a consistent and predictable sound, the Fishman pickups are far more practical and better.
One of the biggest advantages of the fluence pickups is not apparent in this demonstration. They eliminate 60 cycle hum better than even regular humbucker. Were you using a noise gate on the Fender?
I have always preferred the sound of single coils but rarely cranked up the gain because of the added hum. With the Fluence pickups in my Strat, I use much higher gain settings and can now go from a from a clear clean sound with a feather light touch to a distorted roar just by digging in.
I'm thinking about it getting the Tele set up w control plate Greg Koch sig set I think I love playing my Tele but rarely do cause of the inherent pup probs
i have a custom strat i built. i wound my pickups. i used traditional materials and methods throughout. i shielded the electronics cavities with some pretty heavy copper but other than that its vintage 50s spec down to the caps and pot values even the wire. i have no noise problems at all even when i do stuff like iron maiden through a cranked marshall. the guitar is a beast. i wound the center pickup RWRP (reverse-wind reverse-polarity) so the 2 and 4 positions are humbucking. 2 and 4 are the sweetest selections on this guitar they sound so sweet with a ton of "quack". of course 1,3 and 5 are not humbucking so there is a tiny bit of noise but nothing you have to worry about if you're good on the volume knob during breaks. they're heavily overwound. bridge is about 7.1k, middle is 6.9k and neck is 6.7k. they're really snotty and nasally with a big mid hump. perfect for rock, blues and country. the noise these pickups make through a cranked marshall is really reasonable. it really depends on where you are some HID lighting systems are notorious for being extremely noisy no matter what pups you have.
these pups certainly sound good but the price and the hype is kind of too much for me. rechargeable battery have to put the cover on everyone knows you never keep a strat with the vibrato cover on. these fishmans sound like a vintage wind in the high 5k to low 6k dc resistance range. sounds like A5 magnets. pretty typical sound. they seem to have a bit more top end than typical low output singles i think that's on purpose its something we look for in a good pickup. they're a bit too scooped to me. i really like the mid hump nasally snarl of a good overwound bridge and neck pickup. a really hot neck will give you SRV tone without even trying but you still get the highs and the punch you expect from stock vintage wind. I think the best part of this design and the overall approach is consistency. with the right manufacturing methods every pickup can be exactly the same. for me this is a departure from the mojo i grew up seeking. you find mojo where you find it you can't look for it you don't know what it is till you find it. these pickups in the right guitar might expose mojo you didn't know existed. im getting a set of the gristlemaster p90 and the singles and the humbuckers. they sound great to me.
I too like better the sound of Duncans. However, what Mick is doing is comparing the set of Antiquity Texas Hot vs the first voice of the Fishman's, but then he pulls the knob and the second sound in the Fishman's is the Texas voice. That second sound compared to the Duncan's is quite similar. I easily told the Duncan's apart from the Fishman's doing a blind test but it is because the first voice of the Fishman's is so different. Try listening to the second voice and then quicky go back to the Duncan's and you'll see how similar they are!
I wanted to like the fishman better but those Duncan's damn.
Yep.
Damn, what a sound!!!
Duncan makes an active strat pickup that is phenomenal, but you never hear about them. its called the livewire classic
Holy cow, voice 2 on the classic neck humbucker sounds awesome.
Fishman Strat replacements sounded very good. VERY close to the Duncans, but more hi-fi! I liked them.
The humbuckers, afaic, weren't much chop. Sounded unremarkable!
I have them. EXCELLENT pickups.
I still can’t believe Mick removed the Antiquities from the blue Strat!
no he didn't. 2 different guitars are being used here
@@imandan1966 this video is very old. Over a year ago he replaced the Antiquities with Ron Ellis pickups (checkout the Strat Vlogs on TPS channel). I think that Blue, as it sounds in this video with the Antiquities is my favorite. Hence my surprise that he moved on from this configuration.
i have a chibson LP with 35 buck dragonfire pickups that kicks the snot out of my authentic PRS with its demarzio crunch lab and liquifier pickups. kicks the snot out of them. so sometimes its just luck
The Duncan Antiquity loaded strat just sounded better to my ears. Nothing against the Fishman pups, but I felt like I could really hear a positive difference with the Duncans. Very nice demonstration by the way.
The Fluence single coils really sound great, but nothing really holds a candle to Duncan Antiquities
Pickups don't have hands.
Do the Duncan’s Hun at all ? The Fishman’s don’t.
For noiseless pickups, they sound very good. Obviously, if your in the market for noiseless, you wouldn't be looking at the Duncan's in Mick's Strat. I actually preferred the sound of the Fisherman's when using the AMP side of the TP pedal. What you lose, from the Fishman pickups, is bottom end. I have Greg's signature Fishmans in my Tele. Great sounding. But, like these, there's definitely a roll-off of some bottom end. Determining if that's good or bad will be based on if you play in a band or not. The rolled off bass, helps when the amp is cranked, as I tend to roll off bottom end anyway.
Great post, I think a lot of folks forget about the noiseless part of the debate. I play in a large theatre environment (until lockdown) and as you probably know some venues are very clean power wise and others (typically older venues) have dirty power and noise issues in general. For a large part of the show (almost half of the total run time) I'm using my single coil 52 reissue, I'm pretty lucky as it's a pretty quiet one as far as hiss goes. Earlier in the year I had the opportunity to use the Fishman pickups loaded in my best friends strat (ash) and I was instantly convinced for live and loud situations. It was by far my favourite noiseless solution. Another thing that I really liked about it was with regards to what you said about the low end, I play with a standard rhythm section plus keys, backing vocals (3) and a brass section (plus lead singers). Every sound engineer I've worked with during soundchecks throughout the month or so I borrowed the guitar preferred the Fishmans and said they cut through better and sounded tighter. I wouldn't use it over my 52 in the studio but for live these pickups kick ass.
Well god damn, these active strat pickups sound just like regular strat pickups! Very cool. Some other active strat pickups (EMGs) get about 80% the way there but if you're looking for a traditional strat sound, they don't get quite there - that said I love their sound and versatility.
2:47 SD Antiquity
3:00 FF Voice 1
3:11 FF Voice 2
3:52 SD Antiquity
4:00 FF Voice 1
4:11 FF Voice 2
4:39 SD Antiquity
4:50 FF Voice 1
5:02 FF Voice 2
5:40 SD Antiquity
5:57 FF Voice 1
6:13 FF Voice 2
7:04 SD Antiquity
7:16 FF Voice 1
7:29 FF Voice 2
Totally missing the point of these pickups. It's not supposed to be compared with a humbucker. That tone difference has been discussed to death. The point of these pickups is to get a really crispy single coil sound without the hum and noise. This is what they do well.
The only way to test pickups is to put them in the same guitar, same wood, strings etc...But in a blindtest I'm not sure to find a difference between Fishman and Duncan, if you don't know it...
Do pickups actually PICK up wood?
Absolutely 👍 That blue strat of Mick's has all the good stuff on it Most pup's in that axe would shine
I've listened to a few of these demos, and from what I can hear, Fishman did a really good job reproducing the clarity of a great single coil. A little TOO good. It definitely sounds higher fidelity, even with higher gain. String definition also seems more open and chimey. If you're a dynamic player, and like to play altered and extended chords, these will probably work really well.
The Duncans sound meatier, but you can dial back the tone on the Fishmans to darken them up.
On the downside, it's a proprietary battery. I hate that shit.
The battery pack is optional, you can hook up a 9V under the pickguard.
All sounded good, but none beats the original standard single coil. So mellow and musical. I can handle the hum wihout doubt.
I actually own these Fishman Fluence pickups. They are the real deal. They sound clean and fat at the same time, a very rare feat. And no pickup that I know can have the note separation these Fishman Fluence have, period.
On their own they may sound decent but here in an AB comparison the Fender Strat with Duncans has so much more life and body!
How does the single-coils work with the humbuckers and a single volume/tone configuration? That's what I have and it appears to be what your guitar has...
Fluence sounds absolutely sublime. Better, cleaner, sparklier than Duncans. True Strat tone.
Mario Krušelj I agree about the sparkle part. I think that's why I don't like them. It's like nails on a black board.
That's exactly what I love about them! It's like a heavy blanket was removed from the amp.
Which kind of duncan antiquity in that strat? Is it a Texas Hot or Surfer?
Texas Hot, he says it in here
th-cam.com/video/5sQUvWHXz74/w-d-xo.html
Seymour's "Surfer" set is my all time Favorite for a Strat.
What I can't understand is why some people spend close to a thousand bucks a set because they are made by a special Gnome living just out side of Corona in a large hole.
A fender tem o som perfeito
Top 👉🏽👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I found that SD sounded better but the fishman were too bright in this mix which I think can be adjusted by turning down the tone control, I 'll buy the fishman because of the noiseless capability.
Which antiquities were they? I'm guessing texas hot, but I could be mistaken.
The Bedroom Virtuosos are full onboard here.
I like the Duncans more simply because they sound familiar. The fishmans, which I've been looking into, sound kinda like a tin can to me. Perhaps in the right context but for what was being played, the Duncans, hands down.
The fluence is the best single coil pickups ever , ive installed a bunch for different customners and each time I am amazed by them
Yeah,the Fishman sounds great & all & definitely have the market cornered on making Acoustic guitars sound amazing through a pa or making an electric sound acoustical for live mixes,however it seems like having all that technology involved in a set of pickups is just asking for trouble imo.. The passive wound p'ups sound better,are way easier to produce,cheaper,less things to go wrong at any given time..Sometimes technology is needed,sometimes its not...Maybe i'm jaded but i like my tone oldschool..I'm not a fan of active pickups at all. They got it right in 59, an old Les Paul or Strat through a Fender or Marshall tube amp is the tone we all want to hear,no need to complicate things & "improve" on an established sound of good ol' rock & roll.
Agreed
dicktwitchy the fishmans are clearer and sound great, but every time he goes back to that strat, there's a warmth
+dicktwitchy ~ That "warmth" is called a lack of highs. Not saying that's a bad thing, but that was the only difference between the two.
The FIshmans really shine when you start piling on gain and or pedals. The noise isn't there. No way to do that with regular single coils. Not that you necessarily need to do that.
Nice pickups - BUT where the heck can we get some FretKing guitars across the pond?! I would have somebody else bob your uncle to get my hands on that T style guitar I've seen Mansquatch Greg Koch dragging around the interweb!!
The Antiquity's were superior in every aspect...The Fishman are "colored" and battery powered...not bad, but not Vintage Tone.
Strat with the Duncans sounds way better. Thicker bottom end for sure.
what's the name of strat that looks like fender strat ??
I think Fret King.
Duncan all the way all day
I honestly don't know if I prefer the Strat or the pickups that are in the strat.
You called this out at the top, but we're kind of left with an apples to celery comparison.
They all sounded good in there own way.It just depends on what sound your going for.
Makes me want some Antiquities!
Damn! Those Duncans!!!! *drool
+ALT3REDB3AST ~ I've yet to hear a Duncan that was worth a darn. There are a dozen better choices.
0:28 "... installed in this F--king guitars here..." lmao
He said “Fret King”, which is the brand of guitars he is using in this demo.
Hahaha
Have you guys heard of Alumitone pickups? Now that's a different design, and it's passive too.
+Shoes Too bad they look like shit
+Sin sin sinner yeah but other Lace pups looks great thou.
When you say antiquities, you say texas hot or the other one?
there is only one I believe.
so which is which?
chas latorre He literally explained at the very beginning of the video...
Fishman. Never noise. Ever. Gpt em.
The tones of the American Vintage Strat destroy the other one. No contest.
That cleaner thinner sound coming from the Fishman would probably be exceptionally well-suited for a guitarist who is heavily into effects - especially modulation or delay. But for a straight-forward and workmanlike guitar sound, I'd have to agree with those others who much preferred the passive Seymour Duncan Antiquities installed on your Strat.
In fairness, they sound quite nice to my ears. But I think Fishman might have found "a solution" for something that isn't a really problem. At least with the current crop of these pickups. Maybe once they get into some of the unique voicings and speciality configurations they've been dropping hints they plan on releasing, the whole concept will find a place in a working guitarist's kit. Until then, I think, as things stand right now, it's more interesting for what this new design promises rather than what's actually been delivered.
No idea what is going on here, no indication which is which pickup.
what is great tone ?
A) the ear and the brains perception of great tone is highly subjective .. Reputation can influence as much as anything else .
B) a great sound on its own may be not so great when mixed into other sounds . Vice versa that too ..
C) most of the tone comes from the player ,not the equipment
D) a pickup that can produce good tones with less noise/ hum can be an advantage in a real world studio , stage environment
E) pickups without batteries are less likely to spontaneously break down on stage .. But metal players have been dealing with this technology successfully so is it an issue .
F) tone is like personalities .. There is no "right type "
The Kaveman I would have said the same thing before I bought my first set of fishmans pups. They are incredibly customizable an can sound like anything out there but do so much more consistently.
Also active pickups going out on stage would only happen after months of neglecting to change the battery. Your more likely to have a string break or a bad ground/bad venue power causing issues with amps an pedals. I happily still use passive pups in some of my guitars. But it's in the way people collect old cars even though newer nicer models are way better. I'd be fine using just fishman pups and fine using the right passive pups but with fishman pups I'm much more likely to get consistence in the tone im after.
Damn, those antiquities. (:
Two thumbs up for Seymour Duncan. Yes the Fishman are different not in a nice way and not close to vintage. EMG is the one that should be worried if any.
Do you really know what "vintage" is? Vintage can sometimes mean awesome, but also can mean inconsistent and. believe me, many single coils from that era sound very different from one another. Thus, the term "vintage" is just a marketing ploy and an audio placebo.
Fender with Duncan's all the way here I'm afraid
The Fishman flatulence burstbuckers are particularly explosive with a nice, wet, brown sound.
I have to say the vintage duncans sounded better. It’s like the difference between a tube amp and a transistor amp.
No. BTW, many people love transistor amps more than tube amps, so your analysis it's just based on personal bias and not reality
@@ArielCardona Go wash your room and clean your benis, bucko. You have a girl's name and homosexual opinions that no one appreciates.
@@fivefingerfullprice3403 idiot. Ariel is a MALE name. It means LION OF GOD in Hebrew. But saying that to a POG is probably worthless.
@@ArielCardona Lol, believing anything a jew says. Is that what you told everyone growing up who made fun of you for your girl's name? I do like how you didn't deny the fact that your opinions are homosexual.
Let's face it, you don't buy active pickups because you're trying to replicate a specific tone. If you only want that Strat tone, the easy way is to buy those pickups. I use EMG SAs in one Strat and though they're pretty ordinary as they stand, they provide enough balance of frequencies that with some tweeking at the amp or on EQ they can be made to sound like any Strat pickup. Actives tend to be better suited to sound engineers than guitarists.
Trouble is, with a traditional pickup, if it goes tits up, it's easily fixable without costing a fortune - rewind/magnet recharge... Those Fluence pickups would be in the bin and you'd need to buy a new set. The question really is, how would they cope with touring with a guitarist who sweats a bit?
Seems a bit like reinventing the wheel and ending up with a wheel! Clever but entirely unnecessary as the end result is so similar to traditional pickup sounds
Kerry Moore I thought they were quite different sounding. I preferred the Duncans, but I can see how someone would prefer the Fishmans.
That said, the point is to reduce or eliminate hum and noise not make the best sounding guitar pickup.
Kerry Moore Unnecessary until you consider that there is a serious world shortage of copper, so ten years from now you might not have the option of having a mile and a half of copper wire inside your Strat.
+Henrik Petersson (Fruitful Life) You can get the hum out of single coils if you research it ... Suhr does it..... though they didn't invent it... Jeff Beck uses Suhr pickups not fender....
Alien SexGod I know that there are other noiseless single coils out there. Lace are probably the most widely used.
Henrik Petersson
lace sound like rubbish. I have some for sale cheap if you life. Nothing beats the tone of classic vintage 59 strat and then get the hum reducing system.
Fishman single coils sound way better than the duncans, technology over cork sniffing always wins
Erik Ceman If you're sniffing corks perhaps. But if you're critically listening, technology doesn't automatically triumph every time. Quite the contrary in fact. ;-)
senacht I always listen everything critically, to my ears fishmans sound way better, + they don't buzz like crazy, so technology triumphs over vintage shit... (for me at least)
Well...being somewhat "vintage" myself, you're probably hearing better than I am so maybe they do sound better. But to my semi-trashed "stage ears" (far too many hours in front of those huge amplifier stacks we used back when) the Fishmans didn't seem to be all that wonderful.
FWIW, vintage doesn't automatically trump tech in my book either. Lots of vintage equipment and technology is junk by today's standards. And, like the old song said: "I like what I like." As do you. So whatever works. ;-)
senacht Who's to say what sound good or bad? They sound different(ish), but nothing that a tweek of the amp couldn't cure.
They both sound like Strats and I could definitely get the same sounds from either one of them.
+Erik Ceman
It's too bad they're not installed in the same guitar.
It's About The Taste..
i just like regular fender
The comments section is a fucking blood bath 😂. Entertainment for days.
The Seymour pickups sound better to me.
the fluence sounds kinda like new strings but not in a good way.. ploinky. is that a word?? it is now. too ploinky for rme
What's the point of new technology emulating existing technology? If they were really innovative, they would use their innovation to make a pickup that DOESN'T try to sound like every other strat.
DiatonicVids Because people want a guitar to sound like they are used to a guitar sounding. That's the simple truth. People like guitars because they sound that way.
To be honest, an ultra clean linear guitar pickup doesn't sound very good.
The point with this new technology is to reduce hum and noise. It would have been nice if they actually put this feature to a real test in this review.
DiatonicVids The market wants the advantage without the compromise. It's part of the American culture. I don't think they'll be wildly adopted. I don't hear a why for them.
It's not completely emulating existing tech. If your home studio was in an old house with old wiring, so that every time you plugged in a guitar with single-coil pickups you heard tons of 60 Hz hum and buzz, you'd understand which part of the existing tech some of us do and don't want emulated. If I could find pickups that do emulate the single-coil tone, but don't emulate its noise sensitivity, I'd happily pay a premium for them. This demo is giving me pause about the Fluence pickups, though. Clean as I'd hoped, but kind of clinical with a bit of harshness compared to the SDs. Darn.
We expected to listen to different pickups. But then we listened to different guitars.
Not even close..... Duncan's by a mile!
if it aint broke dont fix it. pass
Yeah, God forbid Leo Fender created the Stratocaster because we wanted a more comfortable guitar
im poor so… gfs here i go … omg
Less talking more playing.
All 3 don't sound good.... all 3 are muddy in the lows and mids
some Duncans for me please....