Fishman Rare Earth Single Coil

Single coil active with onboard preamp & watch batteries, high impedance, no volume controls.

Guitar: Martin 000-M
Modifications required: None
Pickup Replaced: None
Other pickups: None
Artists using: Don't know

Output: fairly hot
Amps: Old XR-600 Peavey PA, AR Acoustic amp
Tone: bright but not harsh, surprisingly natural for a magnetic pickup.
Perfectly natural treble, nice mids, bass is a little soft. Not quieter than the mids and treble, just rounder with a softer attack. I may shim it up on the bass side and see if that gets a little quicker attack.
Hum is negligable unless you put it next to a wall wart or Miller sign.
Style: varied
Unsuitable positions: none

Destroyed or Stolen: Would probably replace with same.
Playing: 20+ years
Other: I like this pickup a lot, and I was skeptical about magnets. I've used piezo pickups, and still have one on my Taylor 310 CE. I've never cared for the piezo sound OR the magnet sound, but I needed something that wouldn't bugger up my new Martin, so I gave it a chance. I was very pleasantly surprised. My only complaints are lack of volume control and adjustable poles. I fingerpick mostly. Installed level, the balance is fine, but the bass strings have a pretty round, soft attack. Not necessarily a bad thing for my purposes, but I can't seem to eq it enough to get a good snap on the wound strings. Shimming is an option, I just haven't bothered because I'm kind of liking the mellow bass. Given the great natural sound of this pickup, I can live without the super-snappy bass string sound. The volume balance between strings is perfect. No feedback troubles. Sounds arguably better (amplified) than my stock Taylor (amplified!). Unfortunately my Taylor is rapidly becoming firewood (don't get me started. They're hassling me on the lifetime warranty too... Apparently "lifetime" can mean more than one thing. But that's another review...)

Pickup features: Single coil,active soundhole magnet,powered by twin watch batteries.
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Ayers DCSM cutaway dread
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Artec MSP50(great pick up btw!)
Other pickups on guitar: Fishman Matrix 2 with classic 4 pre amp
Artists using this pickup: dunno,not bothered really.
You musical style(s): Acoustic Rock,blues,Jazz.
Reason for pickup change: Just wanted an active pup so I don't have to carry an external pre-amp to gigs.

Perceived output level: A fair bit hotter than the passive artec. Way louder but more headroom, you can hit the strings harder without distorting. I find this odd.
Tone: Pretty clear, not as magnetic sounding as the artec, which I can't decide is better or not!
Sonic evaluation: I am using it in my Ayers DCSM alongside the factory classic 4 system.
I have two outputs in the tail block,one under the other, and I run two leads into seperate channels on the PA...either my Johnson or the house PA at gigs if they have one.
I used to run my artec(actually still use my back up guitar this way) into a behringer tube pre amp then into a channel set flat on the PA.
Now I just run the rare earth and the undersaddle at the same volumes on each channel, but run the rare earth "dry" no reverb,and with bass and treble at 1 above cut,middle one below cut, and the undersaddle fairly reverby but flat on the PA because I can control it on the guitar.
Then I can select how much reverb on my sound with the volume on the classic 4.
Like I said, it doesn't sound as magnetic as the artec,I used to like the way I could make electric sounds on bends and lead lines by digging in, but still have a fairly acoustic sounding guitar whilst strumming etc.
The rare earth is far more acoustic sounding, as it is meant to be!
I usually keep the volume on my classic four halfway, meaning that the majority of my sound is coming from the rare earth.
It is nice for fingerpicking, and it's nice for strumming hard without hearing the nasty piezo attack transient.Using both together the piezo quack is buried a little.
I am fairly percussive,I smack on my strings alot to keep a beat.
The pickup isn't great for this as there is a funny click and the strings occasionally hit the top of the pickup.
I haven't noticed any humming yet,I know it's inevitable with a single coil, but as of yet no concerns...even under stage lights.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: It's a nice pick up, surprisingly acoustic like IMO. You could run this stand alone for any acoustic steel string style.

Comments: Well, I like that it has it's own pre amp...but the batteries have fallen out twice into the guitar when I slapped the strings at gigs.
Most annoying as this left me with only the piezo sound.
But I've now remedied this with some micropore tape!
I play out regularly and earn most of my living this way and have for years.I have lots of gear,probably way too much for my ability!
I like the sound and the output,the self contained nature of it.
I'm not worried about the lack of volume control.
It's a nice pick up no doubt, if it were lost or stolen I would use one of my artecs again until I had the funds to get the rare earth blend...just to try it.
But combined with the fishman undersaddle I am pretty pleased with my sound, and will not be specifically looking for anything else for a while.
I have to say, it is good in a totally different way to the inexpensive ARTEC's I have used the last few years.They look similar but the sound is entirely different, the ARTEC's are great,especially for the price and I think that the rare earth doesn't quite warrant the price difference,despite it being a nice bit of kit.

Pickup features: Active single coil soundhole magnetic pickup
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Taylor 414 acoustic guitar
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: unknown
You musical style(s): Acoustic fingerpicking with open tunings
Reason for pickup change: No change, just needed to plug in for gigs, and not modify the integrity of the guitar's construction.

Perceived output level: Bright and ballanced as well as hot
Tone: Bright, and with good amp/eq it is balanced well
Sonic evaluation: To my ear, this pickup sounds good with a Taylor 414 plugged in a SWR California Blonde. I also have tried it through a LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI to take off the edge of the brightness, but it adds the notch filter which gives it a muddy sound. I prefer to plug in straight through the SWR for best results. Almost no EQ adjustment is needed. Oh, the hummmm is not that noticeable even at high volumes with the SWR.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This pickup sounds great with fingerpicking. The hight position needed to be adjusted to get a balanced sound

Comments: I like and trust my Fishmans a lot. I have tried the Semour Duncan Mag Mic and it sounds great, but I would not pay the extra $100 for the mic, which is not adjustable to different locations in the body, and feeds back like crazy. I have been playing for over 25 years. I prefered Fender Strats vs Gibson Humbuckers in my early years. For the Acoustic fingerpicking, I prefer the single coil vs the humbucker. I have a Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker which sounds very warm with my rosewood Martin. But for a sound that can reproduce the bright chours like sound of the Taylor 414, the single coil Rare Earth sounded best. I also, have Fishman transductors in my Martins and they too sound good. I would like to have a volume control on the Rare Earth, this would save me money and hassels of hooking up a volume pedal from the SWR's effects loop.

Pickup features: Single coil active powered by two watch batteries
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Guild JF30
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: passive single-coil magnetic
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Country, acoustic rock, contemporary acoustic
Reason for pickup change: Improved response (the passive magnetic pick-up did not reproduce the high frequencies very well) and a hotter output due to the Fishman preamp.

Perceived output level: The output is substantially hotter than a passive pickup.
Tone: The tone tends toward bright but includes all frequencies.
Sonic evaluation: I am using a Guild JF 30 jumbo maple into several acoustic guitar amps and through a good PA system. When initially installed, the bass strings were relatively weak in volume. Since the Fishman does not have adjustable pole pieces, this imbalance must be corrected by shimming the pick-up at the bass side (a nuisance) and is supposed to be done by obtaining a shim kit from Fishman (a bigger nuisance: how much could it cost to include the cork shims with the pick-up). After shimming the bass side of the pick-up mount, the sound was much more balanced.
The sound quality is very good and a great improvement over the old passive type.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: My music requires a combination of strumming, picking with pick and fingers, and finger picking. The Fishman works very well.

Comments: While I am generally pleased with the Fishman, I have three complaints: first, the Fishman does pick up 60 hz noise (typical of single coil designs). I probably should have spent the extra $30 to buy the humbucker Fishman. Second, the absence of adjustable pole pieces is a negative: while the string balance I have obtained with the Fishman is acceptable, shimming the pick-up is not a very elegant way to balance the bass/treble volume. Third, I like to have a volume control which the Fishman does not have.
If I had to replace the Fishman, I would probably get an EMG ACS. I have one in my Larrivee and the sound is almost the same as the Fishman. The EMG is priced the same as the Fishman single-coil and cheaper than the humbucker, does not have a hum pick-up problem that I have noticed, includes adjustable pole pieces, and includes a volume control.
In short, the Fishman is very good, but the EMG ACS is better.

Pickup features: active single coil soundhole pickup
Impedence or other specs: quick mount, low profile, powered by two watch batteries

Model of guitar or bass: Martin D-28
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Twin piezo hot spot/passive magnetic soundhole pickup
Other pickups on guitar: None
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): melodic
Reason for pickup change: unhappy with performance of previous pickups:
to little signal, to much feedback.

Perceived output level: Wonderful output level; even better than I hoped.
Tone: Very crisp and fairly well balanced. Overall quite good.
Sonic evaluation: No percieved signal drop when switching from elect to acoust w/Fender Roc-Pro 100 Head and aluminum cone 4-10 cab.
Sounds pretty clean. I have an acouts preamp on order and
am hoping that will sweeten the sound even more.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play melodic and clean; this pickup gives good gain with tonal clarity.

Comments: I have tried passive soundhole pickups; their output is okay, but
the sound is pretty flat and they feed back. I can't get enough
signal from piezo spots. I wanted something non-invasive to the
guitar with as much clarity and output as possible. The Fishman
Rare Earth single coil is more expensive than the other pickups
I have tried, but I took the risk on Fishman's reputation. I am glad
I did. It has a slight noise floor, but crisp sound and impressive
signal output. I haven't had any feedback problems at all, and
don't currently have a feedback elimination channel a la acoust
amps/preamps. This pickup allows me to even go direct through
the mic preamp of my multitrack and capture an excellent sound.
Quick, easy, and pristine. I am now a Fishman loyalist.