Fishman Fluence Modern Humbucker Pickup Set with Black Plastic Cover

This pickup is for fans of active modern metal pickups with quite a few options for flexibility. I had these pickups wired for 2x volume, 2x tone, the V1/V2 options set on the neck and bridge volume knobs to individually control each pickup, and single coil option for both pickups wired to the neck tone knob. The single coil options were wired in this fashion due to the slightly odd wiring scheme method that is required. If you made it through all of that mess so far, you know that the downside to these pickups is wiring and sheer number of options available. with that said, let's get to the tone.So, the bridge pickup on V1 sounds similar to an EMG 81 with a slight bit more of the low bass. there are no preamp compression issues normally heard on EMGs and Seymour Duncan actives. It is pure clean tone. this is noticeable when played through low gain amp settings. V2 has a bit more low mids and less upper treble. This is super clean through a low gain amp. through high gain, both settings are extremely useful and personify the ideal modern metal tone. it should be noted that V2 is not a Seymour Duncan JB tone, nor a DiMarzio Super Distortion tone. it is a modern passive tone that is a bit unique and highly usable.The neck pickup V1 sounds like an EMG 85 with no preamp compression. This is far more noticeable than the bridge pickup due to how badly the 85 compresses. This makes the neck pickup so much more useful. It sounds incredible on low gain and high gain. Again, super clean, no pre amp compression, and nothing but super clean tone. Unreal. The V2 for the neck pickup is a passive but medium-high output tone. This tone is incredibly usable and definitely a gem. Normally, I hate neck pickup tones. Apparently, I just never used a truly good neck pickup. The V2 is a great passive neck tone for high gain and for clean.Now for the fun part: the single coil tone options. These require some research into the wiring diagrams on the Fishman website. I highly advise using these pickups with this option. The single coil tones are unreal. I have a strat loaded with a Lace Rainbow set and the Fishman Fluence Moderns set to single coil have a tone very reminiscent on the Lace single coils. Delicate, responsive, absolutely beautiful on clean amp settings. The best part is that this tone changes when I switch from V1 to V2 on each pickup. This means that i have 4 distinct and extremely usable, excellent tones from each pickup. This is not a typo. 4 pickups in one (and I didn't wire in the High Tilt feature).I highly recommend these pickups to anybody who wants a solid modern high gain tone with flexible options for clean amp settings. These are going to be the new best for metal tone, and new best for flexibility.This review was made using a Mesa Triple Rectifier, an Ibanez NuTube Screamer pedal, and a Jackson King V 6 string guitar.

These are easily the best active, high-output “metal” guitar pickups out there right now. They sound clear and precise, and can do a range of tones from single coil cleans, humbucker distortion, or buttery leads. Plus they fit very nicely into my Harley Benton fanned fret 7 string.I would highly recommend getting them installed by a professional though, which will run you some more money, depending on where you go. It sucks, but it’s worth it to not mess them up, since they are difficult to install at home.

Firstly I have to say these things sound awesome. I wanted hotter output so my pinch harmonics really screamed and these things are wild. Absolutely incredible pickups. In my other guitar I have Seymour Duncans Blackouts and I have to say it is a very close contest between these two pickups; in my opinion for metal the Fishman's edge out the Duncans (although I would also rate the Duncans 5-stars).Now for two issues:Secondly, look at the shallow corners on the edge of the pickups. Compare this to the corners of traditional pickups which have a much greater radius. Although before ordering I measured the pickup cavities in terms of the width and height I did not think about the radius. I had to modify my guitar to make these fit - good thing I was planning on keeping the guitar anyway. Plus another thing was the sheer height of the pickups, I had to deepen the cavity. It was a lot of work and very stressful however in the end I came away with a result that looks fine from a distance but up close looking carefully you can tell that I've eaten away at the corners to accommodate these pickups.Thirdly there isn't much difference between voice one and voice two. You might read some reviews saying there is quite a difference and that's probably because on the back of the pickups there is a jumper which when shorted out will make voice 2's output -6dB lower. THAT is why some people notice a significant difference whereas others do not, I don't use the -6dB settings its useless to me but the option is there. My guitar has two knobs and although the wiring diagram suggested using one push/pull potentiometer (hereon: pot) and one normal pot - I went with two push/pull pots so I could wire in the 'High frequency tilt'. I didn't feel like it did a huge amount either. So just be wary unless you intend to use the -6dB jumper you might not notice a massive difference between the voicings, and you might not notice a massive difference with the high frequency tilt - the differences are subtle.But all in all for the price I paid and the work I put in I am one seriously happy customer. In the future should I ever buy a third guitar it will be my intention to take out whatever pickups are in there and replace them with fishman fluence moderns (unless something better comes along).