Fishman Pro-EQ Platinum Preamp

Bought it off that famous web based yard sale site - da'Bay. Downloaded the manual and remained stupified. Frustrated at first - then I read it again from a "sound tech" viewpoint. Made perfect sense on what you need to do get a good sound. The unit really came around and I am getting crystal clean and clear tone with my acoustic-electric. No feedback issues when dialed in. The manual if you take time to really read it lets you see this a mini-soundboard.

I am using a Seagull Artist Portrait Cutaway with the Godin II onboard system (has a bridge transducer and condenser mike in the body). The bridge transducer died and I replaced it with a LR Baggs Element. The tone I have is full and clean - no feedback in a room full of electrics even with the volume pot turned up on the guitar. It is totally quiet and I can strum any way I want without feedback or distortion. Setting the Smooth to eliminate the percussive quack and the Notch to clear the low end bass is the key. Tweaking is now relegated to adding a little more warmth.

FYI - I found that I could the Gain/clip function seems to work better under Phantom power than with a wall wart or 9V battery.

Since I have just started using it - I will carry a "standard" DI with me as a back-up. Once proven - will consider flying without one. Road worthy - remains to be seen.

No direct dealings with Fishman. Website - great and easy to navigate. All the data I needed has been there.

I've been in the music scene for over 20 years. Playing in my current on the road for the past 10. This pre-amp/DI will fit perfectly in my rhythm guitar role. It will allow me to switch from the Seagull to the Strat with no issues. (Current DI - I roll off the volume each time I put the guitar down to prevent feedback - this unit will eliminate that)
I would replace it with another if it were lost - but would also consider the LR Baggs Para Acoustic unit too. If there was one thing I would love it to have - an effects loop built in (the Baggs does).

As easy as it gets... But does not do what the manual says (You just can??t get the over load led working no matter how hard you punish the guitar... The compressor is a joke... The audio is so so... Changing from pre to post is no change at all, etcetera...

Come on! I paid more than 300.00 usd for this lame eq...

SOUND QUALITY???

fishman sometimes is sooo over-rated...

RARE-EARTH P/UPS ARE GOOD ANYWAY (AND EXPENSIVE!)...

YES... YOU CAN DEPEND ON ITS QUITE SIMPLE WORK (WHATEVER IT IS WHAT IT IS DOING 2CONTROL FEEDBACK, MAYBE?...

NOT IN TOUCH... IT WAS BROUGHT TO ME FROM THE STATES (FISHMAN IS NOT IN MEXICO)BY A FRIEND OF MINE... MAYBE HE GOT ME A LEMON...

I ALREADY GAVE IT AWAY... GET A 100 BUCKS A2 ZOOM DIGITAL UNIT... IT WILL GIVE YOU ONE MILLION TIMES MO9RE FEATURES AND WILL SOUND ALMOST ANALOG...

FISHMAN, OH, FISHMAN, THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME YOU DO IT TO ME...

This is about as easy as you can expect. It operates off of phantom
power from a mixing board, or off of a 9v battery. The LED is
convenient for setting the gain. The tuner send is also handy. It
does not include an FX loop. The notch filter is somewhat crude, it
only includes a frequency sweep.

If you have a cheap piezo pickup and you run your signal through cheap
cables and you play in a loud, noisy environment, then this preamp
should be sufficient. For anyone seeking superior sound quality, this
preamp is not going to satisfy.

It has been perfectly reliable. I have used it for several years.

I have not needed it.

I have owned this product for several years and have replaced it with
the Baggs PADI. Simply stated, it does not sound as good as the PADI and
it costs more.

Anyone with a basic knowledge of similar preamps shouldn't have a problem operating this one.

I used it in many live situations with several guitars, ranging from average quality to high end.The better the guitar, the better the sound, of course, but it never failed to bring out the best a guitar could offer.I like the fact that the (not so few...) money it costs are spent in a quality pro D.I. and preamp as opposed to "emulation" tricks...

Except for the plastic knobs (I don't know if they can survive some serious banging) the quality seems more than O.K.

I didn't need it at all...

I play as a side man for local singers and also in instrumental jazz and fusion bands.I consider this unit to be a fine solution for anyone who needs something portable (try taking it on a flight..) and doesn't want to caeey an army of heavy and expensive gear. Generally, though I have acess to many better (and pricier) solutions, I like this kind of simplicity on stage. If only they could make the input gain range to be better suited to some low output systems...(it has to reach peak level for the smooth function to operate properly)

Very easy to use. It works on phantom power (bonus points!!)

OK here's the story: My acoustic band was going on a cross country tour and we needed a bunch of preamps for passive acoustic pickups in various instruments. I bought a wide range of small portable boxes: the ART Tube MP, LR Baggs Para Acoustic, Boss AD-3, SansAmp Acoustic DI and Fishman Platinum. The Fishman pretty much sounded the worst. I was expecting it to kick ass on the upright bass (with Fishman pickup) but it did NOT. The best sounding preamp for guitar was the LR Baggs. We ended up using the Fishman for a backup acoustic guitar role. See my reviews of the other units for the winners (and losers) of the lowbelly acoustic preamp shootout.

We toured. It survived. I'm not so sure how well all the little plastic knobs would survive repeated outings.

don't know.

From the pre-amp shootout, this unit sounded the WORST and cost the MOST. A terrible value. I think the Fishman stuff in general is overpriced and overrated. Still, where else can you buy pickups for stringed instruments? Oh well. If I lost this one I would buy TWO LR Baggs para-acoustic DIs.

I bought this unit after reading the reviews of the other Fishman products here, and no one had reviewed the Platinum model. The unit is easy to use. It comes with a short manual, but if you've been playing over a month, you won't need it. It does contain some good sample settings for getting started.

I'm using this with my Taylor 515B and a Spyder 112 Amp from Line6. The unit is quiet, and transparent with the sound. I was using a Roland AD3 preamp, but it lacked the equalizing capabilities of the Fishman.
The unit has a volume control, an Input Gain, a Smooth (compressor)control, and a notch filter. It also has a ground lift switch to eliminate hum, and has a switchable pre and post XLR eq out switch, for using as a direct box. There are 5 slide faders on the unit. From left to right they are: Bass, mid cut & boost, mid freq, treble, and a brilliance slider that actually works without adding noise.
The unit has an XLR out on the side, an output, and a tuner send all on the same side. The other side of the unit has a 9vDC input (for using a Roland PSA adaptor, and the input jack of the unit.

This thing is built like a tank, and should last forever. I still take my Roland AD3 to gigs with me, because it's got a foot controlled chorus, and a foot controlled anti-feedback on it. The Fishman doesn't have the chorus on it, but it does have a manual feedback control on it. Unfortunately, you have to adjust the anti-feedback notch knob by hand. I would feel comfortable just using the Fishman Platinum unit by itself.

Never used them. Don't think I'll have to.

I play acoustic pop music, and play coffee houses and bookstores, and churches, and block parties... I've been playing since 1976. If this unit were lost or stolen, I'd buy another. It's a bit pricey, but well worth the money.
Now for what I think should be done to make it better. This unit is a floor unit, and the overall volume knob is a knob, and not a slide fader. This means that I also have to carry a Morley volume pedal with me to adjust the volume. My only complaint about the unit is that I wish I could control the volume of the Platinum with my feet, instead of with a separate volume pedal. Maybe I'm just picky about it, but I consider myself a pro, and I don't understand why everything else about this unit is well thought out, except that volume knob. Anyway, as a whole, the Fishman Pro-EQ Platinum is the best available off the shelf Preamp, EQ, DI for the acoustic that I could find, although it seemed a little pricey for what I was getting.