jesussaddle
Power User
Sorry, I'm definitely rambling here cuz I'm a bit lost.
My guitar neck thru Rich Bich from early 80's has a 24 5/8 scale and I put in a switch to split the bridge humbucker. The guitar currently has a 3-way toggle.
I started inquiring about Active PU's because I'm looking to go quieter because my apartment has bad wiring. I'm not a fan of the sound of EMG's heard on Youtube videos.
I love my passive pickups for hard rock, up to maybe Judas Priest and Van Halen or Satriani.
But they're incredibly noisy despite having some pros try to limit that. (Probably apartment wiring issue - ground faults in a few places.)
Fishman's may be a solution since they probably will generate less hum. But I can't get my head around the artist series and various options and I'm intrigued by them all.
Do they have No hum? (See the wiring diagram note below on the Tosin after reading this: ).
"
5 months ago
So, I know it's 5 months late, but I wanted to let anyone else who was interested know that the FF single coil mode on the Abasi pickups at least is 100% a great sounding single coil... but it also has all the interference of my other single coils. Sure, it's less noisy, but basically, don't go in expecting 'single coil sound but with no interference'. Still sounds amazing though.
"
So it appears that on the McRocklin model they fixed the hum - but they're really not making much of this crystal clear on their website (and probably if they did it would hurt sales of some of their older models).
And I have seen some videos where the Fishman's sound good for cleans, and some where there are some videos showing off the sounds hotter lead situations, occasionally they don't sound as sterile as the EMG's. Especially when in "passive modes" they sound like they have much more dynamics and touch response.
As a guitar player I aspire to everything from hard rock to rock to jazz to metal to country and no one guitar can do all that, but because this guitar has the scale I'm most comfortable with I want it to be versatile. Now I'm using some Seymour Duncan humbuckers ("Fred" in the bridge, some very nice unknown SB in the neck position). The Fred's kind of remind me of the "chaos" that Fishman describes in some bridge voices in the artist series, like the Devon Townshend.
I was about to pick the Tosin Abasi's - but the split I have in the Bridge humbucker (single coil - bridge only) is not what the Fishman Tosin Abasi offers - Apparently in that Abasi Fluence artists set, if using a 5-way, the 2nd position wires so that the inside coils of BOTH the bridge and neck PU's are heard - And I think that arrangement is carried through to some of the other sets.
(I believe someone said its possible to split any of their humbuckers with custom wiring - which would be interesting
. )
The Townshend set has the single coil voicings the way I like them (not mixing the bridge and the neck in position 2 if on a 5-way selector). I right away gravitated to the clean sounds of the Townshend, and the Abasi is known for its clean tones as well.
I could basically do a coin toss and pick up one of several of these, because I just can't get enough of a picture from the direct examples offered by Fishman. I like to get the feel of a guitar tone if you know what I mean, working through various styles and various amps.
One random question - I asked Fishman but haven't heard back - is it possible to split the Tosin's so only the inner coil of the bridge pickup is audible? That's not the only reason I'm hesitant to get the Tosins. My playing style varies from low to high gain leads in both the bridge and neck - & from the videos the Tosin bridge voices both sound like if the volume pot was rolled off they would still be a bit cold and compressed. In one video the Tosins tried up against the Reyes set, and the Reyes set sounds warmer which I like (but the Reyes set has its own aims which are not exactly mine).
I'd guess that the Fluence Modern is more geared to people who mostly play metal (could be wrong), and that the Classic Humbucker Open Core might be a safer choice. But I'm intrigued by the choices and can't help feel like if I'm patient I may make a better decision if I don't rush.
The McRocklin seems like the Fishman set that would give me more of a spread between heavy and classic - and I think I could go with this although there are things I like about the Townshend and Tosin sets. The Townshend has a nice set of cleans - it offers the single coil bridge sound, which I need, but doesn't also offer the splits the way the Tosin does - The McRocklin seems to go the middle way, offering A true split (which evidently has some noise) between the
FROM THE MCROCKLIN 3-WAY WIRING DIAGRAM:
"Pickup Selector Function
1. Bridge Humbucker (Voice-1 or 2 Selectable)
2. Bridge & Neck (Single Coil Voice-3, Inner Coils, Noise Canceling)
3. Bridge & Neck Humbuckers (Voice-1 or 2 Selectable)
4. Neck (Single Coil Voice-3, Inner Coil)
5. Neck Humbucker (Voice-1 or 2 Selectable)
TOSIN ABASI 5-WAY SUPER SWITCH:
Switch Positions:
1. Bridge Humbucker (Voice-1 or 2 selectable)
2. Bridge & Neck Inner Coils (Bridge Voice-3)
3. Bridge & Neck Humbucker (Voice-1 or 2 selectable)
4. Neck Outer Coil (Voice-3)
5. Neck Humbucker (Voice-1 or 2 selectable)
DEVIN TOWNSHEND 5-WAY
5-Way Selector Switch Positions
1. Bridge
2. Bridge Single Coil
3. Bridge and Neck (Single Coil)
4. Neck Single Coil
5. Neck
(So note that in the above the McRocklin has the words "noise cancelling" for position 2 but not for position 4 (which is only the inner coil - so I imagine that this may be true of the Townshend, that the noise cancelling is not complete (if present to a degree) - but I can't explain why the Tosin doesn't offer noise cancelling in position 2. Maybe they omitted to make this clear).
The Townshend bridge modes incorporate a sound based on both 6 pole & hotrails magnets, described as "more chaotic". The Tosin bridge tones sound a bit too compressed and modified (mid-rangey). I would have liked to try both these and may have liked them, but the Youtube compression is making it hard to tell. So McRocklin may be a safer choice? Generally does anyone have experience with multiple of these fluence pickups that has advice?
My guitar neck thru Rich Bich from early 80's has a 24 5/8 scale and I put in a switch to split the bridge humbucker. The guitar currently has a 3-way toggle.
I started inquiring about Active PU's because I'm looking to go quieter because my apartment has bad wiring. I'm not a fan of the sound of EMG's heard on Youtube videos.
I love my passive pickups for hard rock, up to maybe Judas Priest and Van Halen or Satriani.
But they're incredibly noisy despite having some pros try to limit that. (Probably apartment wiring issue - ground faults in a few places.)
Fishman's may be a solution since they probably will generate less hum. But I can't get my head around the artist series and various options and I'm intrigued by them all.
Do they have No hum? (See the wiring diagram note below on the Tosin after reading this: ).
"
5 months ago
So, I know it's 5 months late, but I wanted to let anyone else who was interested know that the FF single coil mode on the Abasi pickups at least is 100% a great sounding single coil... but it also has all the interference of my other single coils. Sure, it's less noisy, but basically, don't go in expecting 'single coil sound but with no interference'. Still sounds amazing though.
"
So it appears that on the McRocklin model they fixed the hum - but they're really not making much of this crystal clear on their website (and probably if they did it would hurt sales of some of their older models).
And I have seen some videos where the Fishman's sound good for cleans, and some where there are some videos showing off the sounds hotter lead situations, occasionally they don't sound as sterile as the EMG's. Especially when in "passive modes" they sound like they have much more dynamics and touch response.
As a guitar player I aspire to everything from hard rock to rock to jazz to metal to country and no one guitar can do all that, but because this guitar has the scale I'm most comfortable with I want it to be versatile. Now I'm using some Seymour Duncan humbuckers ("Fred" in the bridge, some very nice unknown SB in the neck position). The Fred's kind of remind me of the "chaos" that Fishman describes in some bridge voices in the artist series, like the Devon Townshend.
I was about to pick the Tosin Abasi's - but the split I have in the Bridge humbucker (single coil - bridge only) is not what the Fishman Tosin Abasi offers - Apparently in that Abasi Fluence artists set, if using a 5-way, the 2nd position wires so that the inside coils of BOTH the bridge and neck PU's are heard - And I think that arrangement is carried through to some of the other sets.
(I believe someone said its possible to split any of their humbuckers with custom wiring - which would be interesting
. )
The Townshend set has the single coil voicings the way I like them (not mixing the bridge and the neck in position 2 if on a 5-way selector). I right away gravitated to the clean sounds of the Townshend, and the Abasi is known for its clean tones as well.
I could basically do a coin toss and pick up one of several of these, because I just can't get enough of a picture from the direct examples offered by Fishman. I like to get the feel of a guitar tone if you know what I mean, working through various styles and various amps.
One random question - I asked Fishman but haven't heard back - is it possible to split the Tosin's so only the inner coil of the bridge pickup is audible? That's not the only reason I'm hesitant to get the Tosins. My playing style varies from low to high gain leads in both the bridge and neck - & from the videos the Tosin bridge voices both sound like if the volume pot was rolled off they would still be a bit cold and compressed. In one video the Tosins tried up against the Reyes set, and the Reyes set sounds warmer which I like (but the Reyes set has its own aims which are not exactly mine).
I'd guess that the Fluence Modern is more geared to people who mostly play metal (could be wrong), and that the Classic Humbucker Open Core might be a safer choice. But I'm intrigued by the choices and can't help feel like if I'm patient I may make a better decision if I don't rush.
The McRocklin seems like the Fishman set that would give me more of a spread between heavy and classic - and I think I could go with this although there are things I like about the Townshend and Tosin sets. The Townshend has a nice set of cleans - it offers the single coil bridge sound, which I need, but doesn't also offer the splits the way the Tosin does - The McRocklin seems to go the middle way, offering A true split (which evidently has some noise) between the
FROM THE MCROCKLIN 3-WAY WIRING DIAGRAM:
"Pickup Selector Function
1. Bridge Humbucker (Voice-1 or 2 Selectable)
2. Bridge & Neck (Single Coil Voice-3, Inner Coils, Noise Canceling)
3. Bridge & Neck Humbuckers (Voice-1 or 2 Selectable)
4. Neck (Single Coil Voice-3, Inner Coil)
5. Neck Humbucker (Voice-1 or 2 Selectable)
TOSIN ABASI 5-WAY SUPER SWITCH:
Switch Positions:
1. Bridge Humbucker (Voice-1 or 2 selectable)
2. Bridge & Neck Inner Coils (Bridge Voice-3)
3. Bridge & Neck Humbucker (Voice-1 or 2 selectable)
4. Neck Outer Coil (Voice-3)
5. Neck Humbucker (Voice-1 or 2 selectable)
DEVIN TOWNSHEND 5-WAY
5-Way Selector Switch Positions
1. Bridge
2. Bridge Single Coil
3. Bridge and Neck (Single Coil)
4. Neck Single Coil
5. Neck
(So note that in the above the McRocklin has the words "noise cancelling" for position 2 but not for position 4 (which is only the inner coil - so I imagine that this may be true of the Townshend, that the noise cancelling is not complete (if present to a degree) - but I can't explain why the Tosin doesn't offer noise cancelling in position 2. Maybe they omitted to make this clear).
The Townshend bridge modes incorporate a sound based on both 6 pole & hotrails magnets, described as "more chaotic". The Tosin bridge tones sound a bit too compressed and modified (mid-rangey). I would have liked to try both these and may have liked them, but the Youtube compression is making it hard to tell. So McRocklin may be a safer choice? Generally does anyone have experience with multiple of these fluence pickups that has advice?
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