the mod squad
Despite being used by numerous top-level pros, active pickups are still far from the first choice for the majority. Dave burrluck wonders if us modders should think again…
There was a time in the history of the electric guitar when new technology was good. Forward-thinkers set about curing all the ‘problems’ of the electric guitars of the 50s and 60s using plastic, metal and laminate wood construction, complex – occasionally modular – electronics, improved locking vibratos, high-output and active pickups. Plenty of designers certainly took the instrument too far and forgot just how good those early designs were. But fast-forward to today and it seems that if a guitar or guitar part – improved or otherwise – strays too far from ‘vintage’, well, we’re just not interested.
When Fishman entered the electric pickup market in 2014, many such vintageinspired players and makers probably had a bit of a chuckle. Really? A new solid-core
active pickup concept with low-impedance output? That ain’t vintage. But five years on, Fishman’s expansive Fluence pickup range has a wide signature artist roster (which includes Tosin Abasi, Killswitch Engage, Will Adler, Stephen Carpenter, Devin Townsend and Greg Koch) and offers, not least to us a modders, considerable upgrade potential over our good old passive staples.
One of the many things that Fluence brings to the table is the ability to offer different ‘voices’ from the one pickup. It’s been a while since I’ve tested anything from the range and I’d initially looked at the Classic Humbuckers with two voices and a covered, rather modern-looking appearance. But the Classic Humbuckers are now available in an uncovered Open Core style (in black, white, zebra or reverse zebra) and they also incorporate a new third voice: “an authentic single-coil”, says Fishman, initially featured on the Killswitch Engage set (and has now also been incorporated into the covered Classic Humbuckers). So, not only do they look a
“Not only do they look a little more conventional but that third voice means 50 per cent more tone!”
little more conventional – you can barely even see the Fishman logo – but that third voice means 50 per cent more tone!
New UK distribution has also meant that the pickups are pretty much the same price as five years ago. A set of these Open Core Classic Humbuckers is £286 at full retail with major retailers offering them around £50 lower on the street. While that’s in a similar ballpark to, say, Seymour Duncan’s passive Seth Lover PAF-alikes, a set of active EMG Fat 55 humbuckers – albeit with no voice options but longer playtime from a single battery – costs around £100 less.
New Voices
So, along with the advantages of active in terms of low noise and without the loss of highs and the interaction caused by pots and leads and so on of the passive world, it’s the expanded function here that interests me. The neck pickup, for example, offers ‘Vintage PAF’ (Voice 1), ‘Clear, airy chime’ (Voice 2) and ‘Clear, vintage single-coil’ (Voice 3). The bridge is similar: ‘Vintage PAF’ (Voice 1), ‘Classic Hot Rod’ (Voice 2) and ‘Slightly overwound single coil’ (Voice 3). Try getting that lot from a pair of passive humbuckers.
How you wire up the set is pretty flexible. Due to the low-impedance output of the pickups, 25kohm pots are provided: two with pull switches, two without. Basic wiring diagrams are provided with the pickup set or, of course, at Fishman’s site. I chose the two-volume/two-tone diagram as I planned to mod a far-from-metal Guild Newark St Bluesbird. This diagram selects Voice 1 of each pickup with both pull switches down; pull up the neck tone and Voice 2 is selected on both pickups; and pull up the bridge tone control switch for Voice 3.
There are a few more tweaks to consider, too. Firstly, the High Frequency Tilt (HFT) offers a, “darker top-end, similar to the effect of using passive pickups loaded by a long instrument cable,” says Fishman. As shipped in Single-Coil mode, the default active coils are the inner slug coils, but you can change that to select whichever coil
you fancy. These features can be attached to more switches or bridged on the back of each pickup. Fearing that my head might explode, I decided to go with the standard setup and worry about the rest later.
This is more than a standard pickup swap: you have to swap out the pots and output jack, too, plus make sure you have space for a nine-volt block battery that should give you around 200 hours of playtime. It’s worth noting that Fishman does offer a rechargeable battery pack – in fact, four (universal, then for Strat, Tele and Les Paul) – but as the cavity in the Guild is oversized, I decided to stay old-school and use a battery, at least initially. While Fishman supplies the four pots, tone caps (0.22 microfarad) and a selection of wires that push-fit onto the pickups themselves, you will need to do a bit of soldering. I started by wiring the volume and tones and the output jack outside of the guitar, fitted those to the guitar then wired up the leads from the toggle switch (which is kept from the original wiring) and, finally, wired in the pickups themselves. If you’re a soldering novice, get help.
A Perfect Fit?
I think I once said for a Fishman brochure that their products always do what they say on the tin. That’s the impression with this pickup set. Everything works beautifully: the pots are very nicely tapered; the tone control roll-off does exactly what it should, pulling back the crisp ‘new string’ edge; and the three voices are distinct but don’t sound like three completely different guitars. The two pickups are very well balanced, too, in terms of output and tonal colour – something that can’t be said for every pickup set I’ve installed, especially in the murky world of PAF-style humbuckers where experiencing the original flavour can mean we often have to compromise with a neck pickup that’s too ‘big’ and a bridge pickup that’s too ‘small’ and thin-sounding. I simply set these by eye and left them alone. In fact, the only tweak was to wire in that HFT – you simply bridge two contacts on the pickup base – which subtly rounds out the relatively crisp high-end.
Getting used to the newly-voiced Guild during a day long rehearsal was easy. It might look Les Paul-ish, but the thinner body depth and chambered construction give it a lighter-weight feel and sound leaning towards an ES-335 with an appealing snap and clarity. The Fluence setup seems a perfect fit for the Guild, especially the single-coil voices, which are a huge improvement over the coil-split passive humbuckers that they replaced, with virtually zero hum pick-up. There is certainly a PAF-like tonality to the first voice with the clean ‘honk’ of the bridge and the almost delicate voicing of the neck that retains clarity with a clean lower midrange and a little bite to the attack. Voice 2 is a little hotter and thicker but still defined, especially the neck, although it’s the PAF and the single-coil voices that pretty much provide all that I need. Some hours later, I’m struggling to find any negatives.
Outside of the gigging world, however, the three voices make the Guild a seriously good studio or recording guitar. It’s not just the clean output signal but those voices mean you have considerable flexibility from the one instrument. This thing covers clean jazz to downright filthy rock and an awful lot in between. Okay, they do need powering, which – as straightforward as that is – will always be a deal-breaker for some. But get over that and this is a hugely impressive pickup system that has considerable potential way beyond the cliché that active pickups are solely for metal. If you’re looking for more sounds – and accurate ones at that – from one guitar, this Fluence set might be just what you need. Time to embrace the 21st century?
“It’s the PAF and the single-coil voices that pretty much provide all that I need… I’m struggling to find any negatives”