Fishman Fluence Single Width and Fluence Classic Humbucker

June 2015 Guitarist 99
FRET-KING CORONA 60 & 70 FLUENCE EQUIPPED £1,699 EACH
ElEctrics
go from full-on to quite a
reduction with only a small
travel of the pot. The Fluence’s
volume control on both Fret-
Kings is like a fader on a mixing
desk: it’s very nicely graduated
and reduces the volume
without tonal change. But, if
you want to lose some highs as
you turn down, you can’t. The
tone controls could be a little
more effective, too: the
high-end roll off, especially on
the lower bridge pickup tone,
takes time before it’s noticeable.
Think ‘classic humbuckers’
and you immediately imagine
a Les Paul. As good as the
Corona 70 is, it isn’t a Les Paul –
although, for many a player,
a Strat-style body with
humbuckers… Well, it’s a pretty
classic hot-rod recipe, isn’t it?
some classic rock amp gain, it’s
subtle but noticeable: the
bridge’s second voice is mid
pushed with a high-end roll-off,
a little juicer hitting the front
end of your amp, too. The neck’s
Voice 2 is slightly more open in
that it seems to bring down the
upper mids a little – a very vocal
lead voice indeed, especially
with some more gain underfoot.
Switch hats and plug directly
into a small PA or acoustic amp
and, well, if pristine cleans or
clipped funk are your thing this
is the way to go. On the Yamaha,
For reference, we loaded a set of
the Fluence CHs onto a Yamaha
SG1820 and with just Voice 1 it’s
a thumpingly huge single-cut
voice with all that low end and
lower midrange girth of a good
’Paul. Back to the Corona 70 and
we hear a tightened low end
with a little more upper
midrange push. Either would be
welcome in this writer’s
collection. While the Yamaha
suggested classic Kossoff and
the like, the Corona 70 jumps a
decade and suggests early EVH.
Switch to Voice 2 and, with
it really nails an older jazz tone,
especially as we’d wired in the
HF Tilt, again subtle under gain
but more pronounced in this
‘studio’-like setting. Both the
Corona 60 and 70 sound superb
here, too.
Verdict
Our host Fret-King Coronas are
seriously good guitars. If you
can’t find your fit with their
obvious competition, we
suggest you check ’em out. But
the real innovation here is the
Fishman Fluence pickups and
the question is, does the world
need yet another electric guitar
pickup, especially one that
bucks the zeitgeist and is active?
So many of us ‘hear’ pickups by
looking at their specifications
and simply won’t touch an
While the Yamaha suggested classic
Kossoff , the Corona 70 jumps a
decade and suggests early EVH
Power Packs
FLUENCE pickups need
power, and they can use
either a standard nine-volt
battery – which offers 250
hours’ continuous use for the
Single Widths and 200 for the
Classic Humbuckers – or
three optional rechargeable
battery packs. One, as fitted
to our Coronas, is like a
thicker vibrato backplate;
the second pack functions as
the rear control cavity cover
for a Les Paul, and there’s
also a smaller universal pack
that can be mounted, for
example, inside a back cavity.
All are rechargeable via USB,
a complete charge from zero
taking three hours or less,
and continuous use time is
similar to the quoted nine-
volt times. While we can’t
complain about these quoted
battery use times, EMG –
Fluence’s obvious competitor
– quotes far longer times:
1,500 hours for its full-size
humbuckers and 3,000 for
the ‘single-width’ pickups,
such as the SV. EMG also
offers outboard powering.
Fluence pickups can be
powered by mounted
rechargeable battery packs
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GIT394.rev_fret.indd 99 16/04/2015 14:22