Ordered some Fishman Fluence Pickups; will these ruin my TW Life?

[bcmatt]

So, I got obsessed from watching this video:

Particularly at the 5:30 mark. So, I had to order the Scott Lepage pickups. They are on the way... but they are some weird active pickup sort of voodoo with 25K pots. They seem to have no capacitance into the front of the amp and they don't lose treble when you turn down the volume pot. All of this seems like asking for trouble when using my Express and Liverpool. First of all, I run my TWs with the bright switch on full and a long patch cable for the extra capacitance (in order to tame the high end fizz while getting the chimey clean to mean thing from the guitar volume knob).

So, does anyone have experience trying to use Fishman Fluence pickups with a Trainwreck circuit? Was it a disaster or do they work?

[xtian]

No experience with Fluence humbuckers. But I have one Fluence P90, a Tele set, and a Strat set. I LOVE them. No hum, great tone, super smooth taper pots, tone switching.

[bcmatt]

No experience with Fluence humbuckers. But I have one Fluence P90, a Tele set, and a Strat set. I LOVE them. No hum, great tone, super smooth taper pots, tone switching.

So, it sounds like no regrets?
Do you use them with an express or liverpool?

[xtian]

So, it sounds like no regrets?
Do you use them with an express or liverpool?

No regrets. The only "con" is having to charge the batteries occasionally.

I don't play a TW, can't comment on impedance matching issues.

[JD0x0]

What's the issue? Compensate with EQ and volume changes, if you need to. Active pickups aren't much different than using a preamp/boost/gain/EQ pedal with passives, which thousands of people do with thousands of amp circuits.

[dorrisant]

I just did a mega setup for a Strat with a set of Fluence. It turned out great. It was not harsh at all. It was in the normal range you'd expect. If you were playing a bright amp, you could roll off the treble just a bit and it was fine. I did not test with an Express... Didn't have one at the time. Ironically, I just finished building one the other day and would have tested with it if I could.

I was impressed that they pretty much held up to the hype. That guitar is the customer's new favorite. "This guitar play and sounds like a dream". His words, not mine.

[bcmatt]

Well, I ended up switching to Gibson Historic pots several years ago with 50s wiring on my humbucker guitar with lower output Alnico II pickups in order to get the Express to respond to the controls more like Glen K's amp. It made a big difference. Also, I use a longer patch-cable because the extra capacitance helps smooth any top-end fizz.
The amp gets it's versatility on the guitar controls from being balanced just right with the full on bright switch, etc.
So, I'm just curious how these pickups (with their lack of any capacitance on the front of the amp) are going to respond. If no one has tried them with an Express, I guess I can report back in a few weeks.

My suspicion is that they will sound great in most amps, but they will cause the ease of control over an express to be lost... since that seems to be a more finicky balance.

[dorrisant]

Maybe, be prepared to add guitar cable length... ?

[bcmatt]

Maybe, be prepared to add guitar cable length... ?

I'm not sure how this works, but I thought the Fluence people claimed that they eliminated cable length being a factor, because the pickups act more like a buffered signal... I don't know. We shall see...

[dorrisant]

Maybe, be prepared to add guitar cable length... ?

I'm not sure how this works, but I thought the Fluence people claimed that they eliminated cable length being a factor, because the pickups act more like a buffered signal... I don't know. We shall see...

That's why I put a "?" at the end...

[bcmatt]

Maybe, be prepared to add guitar cable length... ?

I'm not sure how this works, but I thought the Fluence people claimed that they eliminated cable length being a factor, because the pickups act more like a buffered signal... I don't know. We shall see...

That's why I put a "?" at the end...

Definitely worth a try!

[Mark]

I like the first set of pickups best. Phillip Mc Knights playing has gotten noticeably better too.

What are you putting the pickups into?

[dorrisant]

Deleted

[JD0x0]

If you don't want to mess with long cables, you can add a controlled amount of capacitance with a capacitor. Put it on a switch, if you like. The G&L's S-500's did this with a fixed capacitor, as I guess the stock MFD pickups were a bit icepicky, so they added 1000pF capacitance to the pickups to fatten things up.

[bcmatt]

I like the first set of pickups best. Phillip Mc Knights playing has gotten noticeably better too.

What are you putting the pickups into?

It's my crazy guitar that I have modded to death. It was a used Blackburn Custom Relic (1 out of 100). I bought it used in a guitar shop in Kelowna and never heard of it. It was an aged-white SG style guitar made to look vintage. Seemed like a decent job. But, I had since replaced all the hardware as well as turning it into a semi-hollow with a thin rosewood top. Also added a Bigsby B6. I had every type of pickups in it until I settled on some Gibson 57 Classics for the last decade. I guess I was looking for a lower output Alnico II humbuckers.

20200331_192402.jpg

Last week I moved the 57 Classics into a 70s Guild Acorn that I have been babysitting for a friend for a few years. It was a huge improvement from the stock Guild pickups to my ears. (Obviously due to my preferences). This guitar sounds noticeably better with these pickups than my guitar did and it's nicer to play I'd say too. It was a more premium feeling instrument than mine with the binding etc.

20230713_090804.jpg