fishman rare earth blend

[Trev]

hello fellow avalon tone purists!

im looking at changing my pickup in my A320 from the undersaddle matrix to the Rare earth blend system- humbucker and mic.

i was looking at adding a rare earth humbucker to the matrix but apparently fishman indicate that id have impedance issues doing this? unless i get a preamp to even out the two signals as id have a stereo output from the guitar? all very complicated i think!

any one have a rare earth blend fitted? and what you think of it tonewise-better than the matrix? i play in churches mainly and allot of them have fairly highish stage volumes.

or does anyone know any pickup genius's i can email/contact who might be able to help me?

cheers

Trev

[Dattan]

Hi Trev!
You might want to check this site out:

http://www.dougyoungguitar.com/pickuptest.htm

Scroll down a bit to the Fishman pick-ups, and there you have samples of the Rare earth. Personally, I think I prefer the sound clips of the undersaddle pick-up/internal mic, but that's a matter of taste, of course.

Chris C and the Greypicker, although your Stotzem signatures havn't magnetic pick ups, but the "regular" Stereo blenders, do you guys have any opinions about the Fishman blenders in general you'd like to share?

[chris c]

The stereo blender is an excellent system, very natural and versatile. It's a pleasure to play, and I do it even at home when I don't need amplification. When the mic is on, feedback can occur at high volumes but the right EQ, and the notch filter and phase switch effectively deal with it.
But I wouldn't install it in a Legacy premier, so I understand that Trev is looking for another system...

I don't have a rare earth blend so I cannot compare but I guess you will have the same feedback issues at high volumes with the internal mic, but no controls on the guitar to deal with it (except to turn it off). Also I've always wondered if the weight of a magnetic pickup couldn't affect the sound of the guitar unplugged ?

[Nige]

Hi guys. I have a couple of Rare Earth Blend Humbuckers, one in my Avalon L335c and the other in my Simon & Patrick Pro. I almost always use them set at 50% each mic/pickup. The only time i have any feedback problems is if i use high mic biased settings that is-any more than 75%mic/25%pickup. Its worth noting though that I am only perfoming solo so do not have to compete level wise with a drum kit or other guitarists /keyboard players. In that situation I think undoubtedly an undersaddle pickup would be much less troublesome. For me the Rare Earth Blend produces a very natural warm sound thats the closest to an unplugged acoustic guitar tone.

One observation I have made though is that the physical presence of a piece of plastic across the sound hole does have a small impact on the volume and tone of the guitar when unplugged. Its really down to how much you play unplugged or through an amp. Hope thats been of some help guys.
Nige