Tosin conducts an extensive pickup shootout, comparing his new Fishman Fluence signature series pickups against various popular pickups. Videography by Guitar Messenger: www.guitarmesse....
True. That's exactly what I thought... They just have more clarity. I found that they sound almost too harsh, which is exactly what you want out of a pickup. Better to have too much than not enough.
Time // Song Name // Position // Pickup A/B 1:59 "Point To Point" (2nd Position) A 2:13 "Point To Point" (2nd Position) B 2:28 "Another Year" (2nd Position) A 2:37 "Another Year" (2nd Position) B 2:47 "On Impulse" (2nd Position) A 3:03 "On Impulse" (2nd Position, Coil Tapped) B 3:17 "Lippincott" (4th Position) A 3:32 "Lippincott" (5th Position, Split) B 3:46 "Tempting Time" (2nd Position) A 3:59 "Tempting Time" (2nd Position) B 4:10 "Air Chrysalis" (4th Position) A 4:27 "Air Chrysalis" (4th Position) B 4:42 "Modern Meat" (5th Position) A 4:59 "Modern Meat" (5th Position) B 5:17 "Arithmophobia" (5th Position) A 5:31 "Arithmophobia" (3rd Position) B 5:44 "Woven Web" (2nd Position) A 5:55 "Woven Web" (2nd Position) B 6:05 "Ectogenesis" (2nd Position) A 6:15 "Ectogenesis" (2nd Position) B 6:25 "Thoroughly At Home" (4th Position) A 6:33 "Thoroughly At Home" (5th Position, Split) B 6:41 "Kascade" (2nd Position) A 6:54 "Kascade" (2nd Position) B 7:07 "Inner Assassins" (2nd Position) A 7:15 "Inner Assassins" (2nd Position) B 7:23 "Tooth And Claw" (1st Position) A 7:35 "Tooth And Claw" (1st Position) B 7:47 "Tempting Time" (1st Position, Voice 2) A 7:59 "Tempting Time" (1st Position) B 8:11 "Nephele" (4th Position) A 8:19 "Nephele" (1st Position) B 8:28 "The Glass Bridge" (4th Position) A 8:37 "The Glass Bridge" (4th Position) B 8:47 "Ectogenesis" (2nd Position) A 8:58 "Ectogenesis" (2nd Position) B 9:08 "Kascade" (4th Position) A 9:20 "Kascade" (2nd Position, Split) B 9:34 "Tooth And Claw" (1st and 5th Position) A 9:47 "Tooth And Claw" (1st and 5th Position) B 10:00 "The Glass Bridge"(1st and 5th Position) A 10:13 "The Glass Bridge"(1st and 5th Position) B 10:25 "CAFO" (5th Position) A 10:33 "CAFO" (3rd Position) B 10:42 "CAFO" (5th Position) A 10:53 "CAFO" (5th Position) B 11:03 "CAFO" (1st Position) A 11:18 "CAFO" (1st Position) B 11:53 "Victory Smile"
I wonder what the Fishman's sound compared to Dimarzio D Axtivator X pickups; A lot what Tosin described about the Fishman pickups, I thought too when I first tried these Dimarzio's; that's why these are my go to pickups. But I'm open to try something new.
The Hard Problem to me the fishman just sounds like a loud single coil... i prefer single coils for cleans.....but like most single coils, the fishman sounded thin at higher gain...i still stick with duncans and di marzio as i love high gain and for me they do it best
I must say I'm feeling the same way. I would like to have them make a pickup that has a smooth sound to it. I currently have a D Activator in my guitar, but I'm having a hard time convincing myself to go the hi fi route.
@@torchlord11 How does the D Activator sound in single coil? I’ve heard it full hum bucker distorted with the clarity I want but I’d like a chime strat style sound from the split position in clean and overdrive without being brittle.
@@theders8590 It's been years since I've used my D activor pickups so I can't really help you there, sorry. I currently use the Blaze pickup which is a little more scooped in the mids giving more bass frequencies then the D activators.
The Fishman sound good to me, but they overcompensate the low end by compressing the signal a lot, which is a good thing for this band. For those jazz chords, I like the Dimarzio pickups better.
At least they aren't dead sounding in the low range. The Bareknuckles in the Aristides just sounded so flat in the low range. The Dimarzios were better, but the low range punch of these new Fishmans are nuts.
I thought the Fishmans sounded very dynamic. You can especially hear the variance on the Modern Meat excerpt at 4:43. Tosin's playing dynamics, especially in his hammer on's/pull offs are *extremely* consistent when he wants them to be, and can be mistaken for compression, especially with what seems like active-PU level output on the fluences....of course, he could have had the Fluence's set in "modern" mode, which emulates active PU's, rather than passive mode here, but that would defeat the purpose of the shootout.
They do make a lot of different types of Bare Knuckle with a lot of different voicings after all. But yea, it's disappointing to see nonetheless. They are still really expensive pickups regardless of the set with that boutique brand, lol.
As a builder, I have tried many sets of BKP's - from Painkillers, to Stormy's to Black Hawks and Rebel Yells. I put DiMarzios and OX4's in my own guitars. What can I say?
I feel exactly the same. I'm sure with the way they are designed they are consistent between 6, 7 and 8-string. It's a hard choice between these and the Devin Townsend set.
My only issue is that they can't fit in my 827 without some routing, I'm terrified to do that so I'll probably pick these up in a few years when I get a new 8 string.
The Ibanez TAM-100 sound test with Dimarzio's Ionizers: 3:32 Lippincott 4:59 Modern Meat 6:33 Thoughly at Home 7:15 Inner Assassins 7:59 Tempting Time 8:19 Nephele 10:13 The Glass Bridge 10:53 CAFO
The thing i love about the Fluence set, is the fact that they can sound more like the record, than the actual guitar that was used to play on the record... Its like they've got the full preamp+mix+master in the pickups themselves.
He's right, those other pickups sound good too, especially those DiMarzios. The Fishman pickups sound like the way the music sounds in your head. Especially on stuff like On Impulse and Point To Point, songs that were definitely not recorded with as high fidelity as their last 2 albums.
They certainly sound a lot louder. I know that the output in fishman pickups is always really high. It'd be a better comparison if they gain matched the different guitars in post
Did he simply play the non-Fluence pickup guitars with lower volume? He's one of my idols when it comes to guitar playing and songwriting but idk...something's off here. P.S. That last demonstration was jokes lol. Thought it was a video malfunction of sorts.
Matthew Ramroop What you're hearing is the sound of each pick up into the exact same tone. Any difference is volume is simply the way that particular pick up sounds.
Tosin Abasi Thanks man. I always hear how Bare Knuckle pickups are the "superior" passive pickup, so when the Dimarzios outshined the Bare Knuckles, I was taken a bit off guard. P.S. The Fluences' passive tones are, of course, second to none, and while I'm not a huge fan of active pickups, the idea of having active AND passive tones IN ONE PICKUP is pretty innovative to say the least.
Matthew Ramroop Pickups are just the same thing with different configurations. There shouldn't be too much difference Except there are special designs.
Different pickups are definitely hitting the amp with varying degrees of gain, so you're right. But of course 1) that's just a function of the pickups themselves, 2) you could probably adjust pickup heights to achieve true unity gain across the board but just think how tedious that would be lol And honestly, idk if anyone could convince me these aren't the best damn sounding pickups I've ever heard regardless of this small stuff...
Maybe I am biased towards the Ionizers, but they sound really good to me still. The fluence is amazing don't get me wrong, but there is a quality with the Ionizers that speaks to me a little bit more. I would still like to have a set of fluences but I wouldn't swap the Ionizers for them.
To me the fishman sound louder and less midfocused. Having more low and high end probably makes them better suited for extended range guitars, but the volume differences doesn't make for an unbiased comparison
@@Acepilot1312 I think it's amazing. Although, I would have loved to hear more clean parts in it and some transitions could be smoother. However, Red Miso is a masterpiece!
Would it be possible to do comparisons using the same guitar, but with the different pickups? It is unclear how much of the tone difference is the guitars vs. the pickups.
I see so many comparisons being made to passive pickups when in reality the Fluences are not passive they are active pickups. Now I agree that they perform remarkably and they have a tonal voice that is simply astonishing by comparison to some of the top dogs in the passive pickup realm. I would like to see how they compare to other active pickups on the market like the ever acclaimed EMG's and such to see if the Fluence's have all the bases covered. I haven't seen these compared to any other active brands of pickups and it has me intrigued as to why not? You sir are an amazing artist and of all the pickups that were compared to the Fluence in this video I would say that the DiMarzio equipped Ibanez was the second best sounding for clarity of tone and dynamic response to your playing style. It was also the closest to your Fluence equipped guitar's range.
I agree. They're addictive to play feel wise . They have so much attack and a crazy dynamic mid range , even more touch sensitive then both passives and actives . Its made all my other guitars feel boring to play now some of which have 400$ bare knuckles . Everything else sounds almost monotone / flat sounding compared to fishmans . It's messed me up for life lol.
That Aristides with the Bareknuckles sounds like trash. Although it's totally the epitome of dream guitar for lots of the internet prog metal heads I've come across lol.
I saw the teaser on Instagram, and I'm still surprised. I am a passive guy, and I was always like "man, actives suck :^(" and I've tried multiple Blackouts, and multiple EMGs and never really clicked with them... but Fluences wow. Your guitar tone has never sounded better.
I guess that it works mainly for the AAL sound. There is no need in that bass output with having a good bass player. Basically guitars are the instruments that should be aimed more to mid range - it helps to cut through much better. And these ones lack a bit of that though - too thin for me. Nasgul was much more punchy in the mids, though it was in the guitar that costs like 4 times less. The lack of uncompressed bass is only a "+". And the comparison is with the random pickups. Previously you've had EMG 808 and Pegasus, but there are no such pickups in the comparison.
Dear Ibanez: thanks for constructing and prototyping everything before i took it off for my own thing lol. Extremely talented dude but boy did he yank some of the majors around. Missing in action: His beautiful 8 string PRS for example hahaha
Paul Reed Smith himself stated that him making Tosin an 8 string was not for an endorsement deal but because "he respects him as a player". Now whether that's true is a different thing
Even with the phone speakers you can hear the clarity and articulation in the pickups. It's like Tosin said "it sounds like you have a fresh pair of strings" super glassy and clean
People still giving a lot of love to the Dimarzio's - in this comparison the low end between the Fluence and Dimarzios is the difference with and without gain. They both sounds killer but the Dimarzio's can't hang with bigger, more articulate chords. Listening to this on Audio Technica M50x headphones and the low end to my hears is over taking the other notes. Fluence are super balanced. Really dig them. Well done man!
Sounds a lot like the examples weren't normalized to the same loudness. It's hard to get a great apples-to-apples comparison when the passive pickups sound a few decibels quieter than the Fishman pickups. The human ear tends to perceive louder as better. And I'm sure the Fluence pickups do put out a lot more volume than the other pickups. That also means their going to drive your rig harder as well, which may be another reason why they sound so well. Still, I'd like to hear these comparisons again but with the audio edited to boost the other guitars to a similar loudness. That said, those pickups do sound freaking awesome. I'm really hoping I can find a good guitar with Fluence pickups out in the wild that I can try out myself someday soon. I completely agree with what you said (in a different video, I think) about them bridging the gap between single coils and humbuckers very well and sounding way more realistic when compared to a humbucker with the coils split.
oddfellowfloyd lol to me the Duncan's and bkp are simply not designed for this "finesse" style of playing. Especially that particular Duncan set. It's made for metal
I recently bought Tosin's 7 string set for my Legator OT7F :-) Getting installed by my local shop over the next couple weeks. I imagine their tech will have some fun with it as he doesn't usually get Fishman jobs. It's cool to get an idea of some of the tones I'll get from this demo. Not that I will be able to play like this though! Going for the Fishman recommended wiring scheme, which I believe is what Tosin uses just with a tone pot in the circuit. But I have worked out my own little addition to the wiring - a 2nd push pull that will give me 3 further positions: bridge single coil in position 1, bridge single coil & neck humbucker in position 3, and bridge humbucker & neck single coil in position 4. Will be interesting to hear what those combination humbucker/single positions will sound like! I really enjoyed the sound of the Fluence Moderns in a previous guitar that had a mahogany body, lots of low end chunkiness. But the Legator OT7F is a brighter guitar with alder body/maple fingerboard so they seem to lose a lot of the dry growl I heard before. I was really surprised to hear how much difference the tonewood actually makes with active pickups. I couldn't make back the tone I liked with EQ'ing alone, so it seems like Tosin's Fluence set is the best solution. I use coil splits on humbuckers a load also so having the dedicated single coil voices (2 very different single coil sounds in Tosin's set apparently!) will be a bonus too. The Fluence Position 4 sounds particularly great in this demo. Has that single coil spank but still enough grunt & low end to play heavy riffs on too.
those fluence pickups have beautiful and rich cleans. And only in the regards of clean, in order from worst to best I'd have to say: bareknuckles dimarzios duncans Fishmans
Hey there, Tosin! Not sure if you see these comments here, but I wanted to ask how do you get the second and fourth position on the fishman abasi to sound so clean with a more aggressive tone (im pointing more towards the tone on the woven web example), it almost sounds like it is totally noiseless. I have an abasi emi 8 and a custom 6 string and both of them with your fishman humbucker on the bridge, and position 2 is extremely noisy. Even with a strong noise gate, whenever im actually playing there is so much noise its almost unusable and it ends up being super frustrating because the single coil tones on those pickups is by far my favorite sound. I guess my studio is very noisy since it has so many electronic appliances around but I'm always surprised whenever I see you playing in those positions and it always sound super clear. I would expect at least a little bit of noise under it, but it never shows up. Can you share what is going on in the signal flow so that it sounds super clear like that? Thanks
I like that you're willing to 1. Change when you find something better. 2. Straight up compare with your old stuff. I feel like a lot of signature stuff just gets updated for the money every once in a while. The fact that you compare them honestly shows that you're just in it for constant motion and progression, not just searching for the last 1959 rusty bobbin or putting your name on a pickup cover. I'm not really an AAL fan at all, but when Tosin speaks I listen. Best player alive or ever, period.
I saw Paul Waggoner playing Bare Knuckle Black Hawk pu's, which also tried to link both active and passive worlds, but on a passive basis (this Fluence is basically active, right?). That time that one impressed me as much as no other pu before. I would be amazed to see a comparison of that BK and this Fluence. Anyway, an incredible job from Tosin, as always!
Honestly for Kaskade I think the Bareknuckles sound better, you can hear more transients in Tosins attack. That said, Tosin can hear the inconsistencies with the RPM of a ceiling fan. I'm sure I'm wrong. The Fluence pickups sound great to my ear, definitely a little more compressed than the traditional pickups. The split coil sounds are definitely not as quiet, either. With all of that said, there's something to be said for hearing the pickups in isolation and even more to be said about hearing the pickups in the mix, because that's what matters. I think the sound of these Fluence pickups is even more contextualized in the mix.
Interesting sound coming from all of these, I guess they can all fit in the EQ you just gotta tweak each one of them towards their defining qualities. Overall I think the Bare knuckle sounded the least favorable to my ear which is surprising to me. Your guitar clinic at Giovanni's in Edmonton a couple of years ago was really informational also, was one of the best learning experiences of my life. Thanks for being such a huge inspiration over the years.
I'd have to say those fluence's are amazing..sound clarity and richness... Again though if I have a 16th of the skill and finesse of Tosin I'm sure it'd all sound amazing.
Fluence sounds great on cleans. For gain im definitely still preferring the dimarzio and knuckles. The bass response of the fluence seems really unnatural. It's like too clean.
Each brand of pickups has many versions, right? So which version is he using? DiMarzio Super D, or Evolution, or PAF, which? This whole thing baffles me, it seems random and non-specific, and why not try all the brands of pickups they're testing with each song bit? Still love the video, very interesting and informative.
The sound differences between the guitars is too great. They sound so different that they sound like different presets, different input levels, more wet, more dry, they just sound too different on this end to form any kind of a reasonable opinion. But, you're there in the room, I'm sure that it's plain as day to you. Most of them sounded quite delicious, just different. From what I might be discerning, but am not certain of, the Fishman's probably do sound best.
I feel like the Fluences have more consistence in the notes and it sounds more compressed but still pretty articulate for an active pickup, although i feel like the bareknuckles sounded better and clearer tbh.
ok, I purchased Fishman Abasi Signature set in GuitarCenter and installed it on my Schecter Demon-8 guitar. Here is a test comparing Schecter Standard Active pickups and these pickups (Fishman) link: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Y8bdxBvNzW8.html
IMO the fishmans sounded great, but i much prefer the sound of the Dimarzio pickups. They definatly dont sound as clear, but they sound much less harsh. If i had to rank them, id go Dimarzio Fishman Seymour Duncan Bare Knuckle
![Tosin Abasi's Fishman Fluence Signature Pickup Shootout [4K]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
