FISHMAN FLUENCE MODERN - 1 Year ON - Pro guitar player REVIEW - The Good and the bad!

Fishman Fluence pickups are a new and innovative pickup design. They come in several varieties. six, seven and eight strings, have a host of artist endorsed models, a "Classic" range and these the "Modern."
In this video I demonstrate the strengths of these amazing pickups and talk about their fatal weakness too!
I show you how the Fishman Fluence modern Guitar pickup can handle a whole range of tones from clean, funky warm, jazzy to slightly driven blues tones, crunch rock tones, full on distortion and go for it rock and metal lead tones! I demonstrate both Voice 1 and Voice 2 on the neck and bridge pickups as well as show you how they sound when you split the coils.

[@dylanlamarre3768]

This is super helpful. Almost all the Fluence Modern reviews I have seen are from metal / djent players doing chugs and shreds. Even when they do "cleans" they do it in the context of "metal clean", which is kinda a really "cold" clean. It's great to hear someone demo them in a blues/rock/pop context going for a warmer tone and more nuanced gain. They are much more useable than I previously thought.

[@kristoferpadilla4474]

Agreed I’m so thankful i ran into this video as well. Definitely more interested in the pickups now. You can basically play anything it seems lol

[@deathmagneto-soy]

If you're looking to give the coil split a boost you could always stick a 1.1k resistor in series. It's called a partial split. PRS use this on one of their models and it works well.

[@voa.aquino]

Thanks

[@johnsguitarmusicanddemos]

_I’ve always felt the voice 2 reminded me of almost a Seymour Duncan JB pickup. 🎸🏆🎥🎶 Excellent job showcasing the pickups. Definitely something someone like me needs…. I loved using voice 1 for metal or voice 2 for hard rock. M_

11:39 the "thing" is what's called the jumper, and it's stuck on to the "pins"

[@glendoggett9670]

I really like their Strat SSS set, noiseless and jangly vintage goodness. Voice two for hot TX sounds. Just don’t forget to unplug your cable or wireless bug or you will run down the battery. So I have heard.

[@ophiuchus1970]

Try the Matt Heafy moderns. They have a dedicated single coil voice it might fix your issue with these pickups.

[@leonbrownmusic]

I got the Abassi set in the end. Vid to follow.... Oh and just ordered the classics. I see a shootout happening!

[@LFCiS]

Thank you for the video! Excellent job! Did you try to split with "passive" voice 2? It should remind more single pickups! I will install them in my handcrafted Jaden rose guitar next week (replace the 81-89 set)! I will come back after the tests!

[@leonbrownmusic]

If buy the latest version they have a much better single coil "voice" unlike the early ones.

[@LFCiS]

@@leonbrownmusic"Unfortunately," I have already bought version 1! Anyway, my primary purpose wasn't the single-coil glassy sound! I already have guitars for that!

[@grim..sentinel9500]

I play tons of metal. And when tone matching some of my favorite bands (AIC, SOAD, etc), I’ve found that the single coil gives it that extra punch! For just pure distortion, I use the humbucker mode. I don’t know what “proper” (whatever that means) single coils sound like, so for me, coil splitting is just 2 more voices to play with!

[@ashchase8340]

Moderns have been tweaked and redone for single coil option for Voicing 3 instead of HF tilt switch Try a newer set, the circuit boards are made in USA now

[@marcelo_campitelli]

this is exactly right, just one detail: you wouldn't use the HF tilt switch for single coil sound on the older ones, you would use the coil tap solder point

[@VanjaSpirin]

Never trust somebody who says few times that he doesn't play metal, with a floyd rose guitar. There is something fishy and sinister in it :)

[@bluematrix5001]

Leon, which Fluence do you recommend for a Modern Rock Guitarist with Pop Vibes, Alternative but not Metal Chugor ultra Metal sounds? I want Modern Silky High Gain lead Sounds as Bluesy Pop Tones... Thanks...great video

[@JeighNeither]

You want an HSH set of Fishman Open Core Classic humbuckers w/an single width SSA single core in the middle. The modern's that he's using are metal pickups. The Open Core Classics are the versatile ones, that you split for Strat tones but that can still do metal with the bridge humbucker in it's third voicing.

[@rofflestomp684]

Who owns one guitar?

[@SpookyApparition]

I just bought my first guitar with multiple voices and push/pull pots... is the difference usually that small? I was expecting something a lot more dramatic. I can hardly tell the difference, honestly.

[@leonbrownmusic]

The humbucking bridge voices on the moderns is in my experience quite dramatic when compared to for instance the classic set. Other sets have a single coil voice that can be very different. It's essentially just a different eq curve in the preamp. What were you expecting?

[@SpookyApparition]

@leonbrownmusic I was anticipating a dB change and some kind of EQ change... I tried again this weekend and can't notice *anything* from the bridge pickup. Worried that they're installed incorrectly and I have no idea how to fix that, ugh.

[@JeighNeither]

Did you ever sort it out?

[@temorinkaari]

I checked the schematics of moderns, and you can split to either outer or inner coils. Have you tried switching it up to see if it sounds better?

[@leonbrownmusic]

Yea. It doesn't! 🤣😂 The Moderns do a split. The other models have a fully dedicated single coil voice.

[@temorinkaari]

@@leonbrownmusic thats extremely disappointing. Was thinking about getting a guitar with fluence moderns, so was doing some research beforehand, and one of my prerequisites was that they have to have a proper singlecoil sound so i could get some telecaster'ish tones out of it. Guess i'll have to look for another guitar then 🤔

[@Billyvergissdasnicht]

@@temorinkaari they are made for metal (mostly) so no telecaster´ish sound... duhhh! XD

[@temorinkaari]

@@Billyvergissdasnicht you would be surprised how many current metal bands actually use single coils/splits in their songs. And as far as i know, all other fishman sets can be split. Im mostly confused about the Matt Heafy set, which is exactly the same as the modern set, but also has split coils, but i couldnt figure out if its a separate voice or if it just has a more simple way to be split

[@deathmagneto-soy]

@@temorinkaari - The Open Core Classics have 3 voices. One of those voices is single coil.

[@EePingLiang]

Hi, can you provide the wiring diagram for your setup? Thanks

[@leonbrownmusic]

Sorry man I never made one. I just wired it with a superswitch and used the fishman website to figure out what each terminal did and hooked them up one at a time.

[@EePingLiang]

@@leonbrownmusic Thank you.

[@virtuosomaximoso1]

Personally I hate them. I've bought just about every aftermarket high gain pickup. They're plain and a bit weak in response. I want the pickup to scream and squelching. I need it to have weird unwanted harmonics for character.

[@MaestroJericho]

Same I've had the Moderns/CLassics/Abasi/Devin sets. I'd get a guitar with em and eventually dislike them after a while. It's more noticeable when I switch guitars and notice the lack of dynamics. Plus it doesn't have that rawness of EMGs

[@kiloxman117]

I have a pair of moderns for sale for an 8 string I’ll sell them cheap haha

[@JeighNeither]

You want Fishman Fluence Open Core Classics for this kind of music. Modern's are really made for the metal crowd. They're very flat sounding.

[@bluematrix5001]

The Split sounds very good, but not like a Split pickup, sounds very full

[@diegolatorre6793]

Are you the tone god? This sounds like, nine guitars.

[@leonbrownmusic]

🤣😂🤣😂 it's not nine I promise!

[@Thewatcherinthering336]

Not gonna lie, I don’t feel that’s a fatal flaw. If you want a single coil sound then don’t use humbuckers. Coil splitting is stupid to begin with. I think splitting coils is really on the verge of demanding too much and having over expectations even though the capability is there. If you really need all those silly options out of 1 guitar you’re doing it wrong…..

[@SpookyApparition]

but what is the point of having two voices that are so similar? I really like the sound of both the neck and bridge Fishmans in my guitar, but voices 1/2 are almost identical to my ears.

[@BeesWaxMinder]

I agree and anyway I don't see why people coil split all when they've got two coils they can do it in parallel🤷‍♂️

[@jeffreyquinonez8964]

@@SpookyApparitionI definitely hear the difference when im doing modern metal riffs. Voice ones tight af. Voice 2 is bassier and fuller. Sounds looser

[@jeffreyquinonez8964]

@@SpookyApparitionI definitely hear the difference when im doing modern metal riffs. Voice ones tight af. Voice 2 is bassier and fuller. Sounds looser

[@jab197]

I feel like it could be consider a flaw now, especially with how much better the split coil sounds are now when you compare them to something newer like the Tim Henson signature set and Scott Lepage signature set, super nice sounding split coil tones.

[@andriimotsyk3018]

They suck and sound compressed

[@michalkysel4351]

He’s an pro-level and he know, what need guitar sound in the professional band context. Some level of slight compression is needed for “sitting in the mix”! If is dynamics too exagerated, you should be drown in the band sound, but some notes will jump over all other instruments. This is not, what you need in the band for sounding consistently. Guitar dynamics is important, but it need to be limited in some useful range. These pickups sounds great!

[@andriimotsyk3018]

​@@michalkysel4351 uh yeah. And preamp is so $hitty that overdrives itself to cracks. Seymours are good. These are muddy plastic sh1t Professional youtube bull$hitter

[@Hmmm7512]

Yes they suck!

[@Hmmm7512]

For metal that is

[@SlickCat]

Yeah, pickups will a million sounds and masters of none. 🙄