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Fishman Fluence with other preamps

DangaDanga

DangaDanga

Mar 26, 2014
167
313
#1
Anyone use Fluence pickups with other preamps?

Since they're active pickups I feel like there are more compatibility issues but thought I'd check if anyone's done it with certain preamps. There's not as much talk or experimentation that I can find about Fluence bass pickups on the internet since they're relatively new and not as popular as the other brands in the bass world.

I'm working with a new build right now and playing with fun ideas in my downtime. The regular fluence preamp is good but I'd like to divide the battery power up a bit and put three pickups in the new bass for placement tones. Three pups + preamp + an LED kill switch is only about 20-30 hrs of battery life.

EDIT: Also Fishman mentioned the fluence preamp needs the battery wires to run through it so I can't divide battery power.
 
#3
Curious about this as well. But I do like the philosophy that fishman has taken with this system. It seems to me like they want to give more options beyond eq and then throw the simple 2 band eq in there just in case.
 
#4
I think it's not about replacing the preamp, but adding some. I don't see any active components in an electronic cavity in my bass, so I think the preamp is built-in the active pickups and everything else is passive controls and switches only. The question is if the combination of active FF pickups and some additional preamp makes a good sense. But why not?
 
#8
DangaDanga said:
Anyone use Fluence pickups with other preamps?

Since they're active pickups I feel like there are more compatibility issues but thought I'd check if anyone's done it with certain preamps. There's not as much talk or experimentation that I can find about Fluence bass pickups on the internet since they're relatively new and not as popular as the other brands in the bass world.

I'm working with a new build right now and playing with fun ideas in my downtime. The regular fluence preamp is good but I'd like to divide the battery power up a bit and put three pickups in the new bass for placement tones. Three pups + preamp + an LED kill switch is only about 20-30 hrs of battery life.

EDIT: Also Fishman mentioned the fluence preamp needs the battery wires to run through it so I can't divide battery power.
Click to expand...

Hi, I'd like to ask you what you mean by not being able to divide power

I am trying to do the 3 pickup configuration with fishmans too and i was thinking that putting 9V power of 2 pickups together to one 9V terminal on preamp would work. My thinking is i have 5 way switch where i can blend (N)eck (M)iddle (B)ridge in a way that:
pos1 - (N)+(M)
pos2 - (N)+(B)
pos3 - (M)+(B)
pos4 - ((M)+(B))+(N)
pos5 - ((M)+(N))+(B)
Meaning I would need to have power to all 3 pickups for position 4 and 5.

I'd also just hardwire the 9V into the preamp ( My train of thought is that since parallel circuit doesn't voltage I can just put wires of whether 2 pickups together and into preamp)
 
#9
olko said:
Hi, I'd like to ask you what you mean by not being able to divide power

I am trying to do the 3 pickup configuration with fishmans too and i was thinking that putting 9V power of 2 pickups together to one 9V terminal on preamp would work. My thinking is i have 5 way switch where i can blend (N)eck (M)iddle (B)ridge in a way that:
pos1 - (N)+(M)
pos2 - (N)+(B)
pos3 - (M)+(B)
pos4 - ((M)+(B))+(N)
pos5 - ((M)+(N))+(B)
Meaning I would need to have power to all 3 pickups for position 4 and 5.

I'd also just hardwire the 9V into the preamp ( My train of thought is that since parallel circuit doesn't voltage I can just put wires of whether 2 pickups together and into preamp)
Click to expand...

Yeah the two battery wires on one terminal will work. The only problem is with three pickups plus the preamp you'll end up with 20 hours or so of battery life. My idea was to separate the power supplies with one re-chargeable 9v for two pickups and another for the preamp with one pickup. Fishman told me this wouldn't work as the preamp would require all the pickups battery wires to pass through.

At the end of the day it wasn't worth it to me to continue on with it. Plus the sound I get with two pickups is pretty much perfect for me in my current bass.
 
#10
Reviving this a bit. I'm considering doing this in reverse. Emg pu with the fluence preamp. It seems like it should work using the contacts on the pre for the 3 wire fluence outs off the pickups. The other stuff is for voicing I believe. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
#11
avi said:
Reviving this a bit. I'm considering doing this in reverse. Emg pu with the fluence preamp. It seems like it should work using the contacts on the pre for the 3 wire fluence outs off the pickups. The other stuff is for voicing I believe. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Yup it should work. The preamp is designed for active pickups and you just need to feed hot/ground of the pickup or blend/switch with the battery wire through it. They told me it will even work with three pickups if you go that route. Take a look at their website for the wiring diagrams Support Technical Docs - Fishman . The Mike Inez pickup has a single pickup wiring.
 
#12
DangaDanga said:
Yup it should work. The preamp is designed for active pickups and you just need to feed hot/ground of the pickup or blend/switch with the battery wire through it. They told me it will even work with three pickups if you go that route. Take a look at their website for the wiring diagrams Support Technical Docs - Fishman . The Mike Inez pickup has a single pickup wiring.
Click to expand...
Cool! Thanks. They literally told me they didn't know how EMG PU's are wired. I was like...Oh sure.
 
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#13
I’m currently building a Warmoth G5 with 2 Fluence Soapbars and an Inez in the P middle. With the choices of peak frequencies, I’m not too worried about the lack of mid control, but I will have room for something like an EMG mid control if I decide I need it. I’m fairly confident that it will work, because I have tested combining Fluence guitar pickups with EMGs, and they worked fine together.
 
#14
I ended up not using the fluence pre after all. I was able to get a functioning khaz for my NS2a. So if anyone needs it let me know. Seller Iii got it from (on TB) said it was out of a Sarzo.
 
#17
ImmortalSoul said:
Hey, did you even try these pickups with an East Mid-sweep? I’m considering the same thing for a new build.
Click to expand...
This is two years later but I remembered the thread for some reason. The john east midsweep with fishmans rule. I use the lower band around 500k and the frequencies are kinda close with treble but noticeably different especially with distortion. It is noticeable in a live mix too
 

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