Fishman Rare Earth Bass

Pickup features: Single Coil Active
Impedence or other specs: Low

Model of guitar or bass: Eston Fretless Acoustic
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Under Saddle Piezo
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Acoustic Rock, Folk
Reason for pickup change: I hated the raspy trebly sound the undersaddle piezo made. Just Horrible!!!! and the feedback at volume.

Perceived output level: Not very hot
Tone: Much better balanced than the piezo. Far more like an upright.
Sonic evaluation: I play through a Laney RBW 200 for church and a Behringer 300 watt head and 1x15 cab for stage. The sound is huge, smooth, warm and far less prone to feedback!!!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Suis the songs that require a blooming bottom end like an upright. Perfectly!!!

Comments: Best investment I have made!!

Pickup features: Active Single Coil?
Impedence or other specs: Active low outputt

Model of guitar or bass: Guild B30 Fretless ABG
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar: Stock Fishman Piezo with Fishman/Guild Pre-Amp
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Eclectic
Reason for pickup change: I hate Piezos. I longed for something smoother without the treble peak, microphonics and feedback. I use magnetic pickups on my acoustic guitars too.

Perceived output level: Active, with no volume control. Output is not hot. I don't expect it will overdrive an acoustic setup.
Tone: Balanced, smooth,, with some loss of the acoustic sound.
Sonic evaluation: I tried it first with D'Addario phosphor bronze round-wounds (Fishman claims the pickup is balanced for phosphor bronze). The E string was boomy, and output fell off moving to higher strings. With no adjustable pole pieces, this is a problem. I switched to LaBella Deep Talkin' nylon tape wounds (the bomb for fretless ABGs). The output remained about the same, and output was balanced on all strings. The pickup is much more immune to feedback than the piezo. With my Workingman's 15 set flat, the output is a bit bright, but it EQs well. Through headphones, the pickup sounds great with the amp flat, and the instrument's acoustics come through well. It sounds much better than the piezo, and you don't get that sick transient on the attack.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: The pickup would be useful for live folk/bluegrass setups and other music where it is matched with acoustic guitars. My Guild would feed back trying to keep up with drums. A smaller bodied bass, e.g. Carvin, might work. The pickup does a great job through headphones, and would work well for recording if you don't have a good mic and a quiet room.

Comments: I'd this pickup again. I've played for years, and I suck, but I'm an equipment and tone freak. Who else do you know with a fretless B30, tapewounds and a magnetic pickup?
I can play louder with this pickup, it's great with headphones, and great for recording.
DiMarzio has a soundhole adapter for their pickups, but the Fishman is tuned to give you natural sound, and it blocks the soundhole very little.
You may have a problem with this pickup. The top of the pickup is almost 1/4" above the top of the top, even if you remove the little cork pads that are intended to protect the top, so a thin fingerboard might not clear it. Without adjustable pole pieces, you are somewhat at the mercy of your strings and setup with regard to the balance of the output level from string to string. Maybe you can shim it. I wouldn't be able to. If you have a thick top, you'll need a few thin washers to follow their installation instructions. For $0.25 a unit, Fishman could include them with the pickup. The manual is on-line.
Fishman states that the pickup isn't compatible with their piezo preamps, and wiring both into a stereo jack would be tricky. You'd need a diode in one of the switch wires since the magnetic pickup runs on 3V, and the preamp runs on 9V, and the wires will want to sit at -3V and -9V when the cable plug isn't inserted, so you can't just short them together. I'm going to run the magnetic pickup into the piezo preamp, but it won't be easy. Don't try it unless you know Thevenin's shoe size.
This pickup only rates a 10 if it actually works in your bass. The box comes unsealed, and you can easily try it, put it back in the box, and return it with all packaging in original condition.