• Fishman Sonicore Pickup Explained
• Fishman Classic 4 Pickup Review

Sep 21, 2009. I went with almost all B-Band stuff in my guitars as I found that they sounded better than almost everything else I've tried and heard in the past. I think they may have the best sounding affordable under saddle pickup out there. BTW I think they (B-Band) make a retrofit preamp that will fit in. NEW Fishman Classic 4T Acoustic Guitar Preamp Pre-Amplifier Pickup for Fender ft. See more like this Fishman Fluence Classic Humbucker Pickup Set - Brushed Stainless. Get it by Fri. Save fishman classic 4 to get e-mail alerts and updates on your eBay Feed. Search refinements.

• New life

  I thought that my Kingman acoustic bass was down for the count. The pickup system conked out and I was considering buying a new guitar. Finally, I decided to order a Fishman system. Not being a tech guy, I figured on paying my guitar guy for the install. At the last minute, I decided to tackle the job. Thank goodness! The install was complete in an hour and the guitar has never sounded better. When it comes to customer service, Sweetwater is number one.

• Blown away

  I've owned nad played acoustic guitars before, but mostly I play electric guitars. I've also had acoustics with sound hole pickups and under the bridge piezo's. Never owned or rarely used Fishman products before. I have an inexpensive Mitchell MD100. It's typical of mass produced Chinese low end guitars. I first made it playable by doing a full set up. This included fret leveling, recrowning and polishing and D'adario light strings. The tone and projection wasn't bad and had a fairly wide sound with a nice balance of bottom and highs. Adding a bone nut and bridge made that a lot better. So now I have a decent acoustic. Finally I wanted to make it playable thru an amp. Not really familiar with Fishman products but knowing they have been doing this a long time, and have a very good reputation, I decided to go with this 301 system. Took me a good 6 hours or so tto cut the hole for the control unit, drill the hole out for the jack, file down the bridge and install everything. Now I get to test drive this thing. plugged in to a Vibro Champ with a 10' speaker on the clean acoustic setting, added a little reverb, and dialed in all the settings and finally got it set up to my likeing. Hit an open C chord and went ' That is sweet, WOW!' I was surprised. It sounded way better than I expected. I was using mostly the mic with just a touch of the pickup. That little tiny mic is no joke! It has a very natural sound with lots of bottom and crisp highs.Doesnt sound electric. There is no hum, buzz and very little white noise. Has a really good signal to noise ratio. The tuner is pretty agreeable with my Korg tuner. the EG adjutments are nice and give me different flavors. the phase switch is cool, I notice that one setting works better with my guitar. The jack, strap connecter is beefy and looks nice. Fishman has been doing this kind of acoustic stuff a long time, I must say they're pretty good at it. I have a lot of guitars, mostly electrics. This device has inspired me to get more into my acoustic. It exceded all my expectations.

• Fishman upgrade

  Now my Martin sounds fantastic amplified.Easy to operate,doesn't sound brittle or honky.Played thru a PA,Fender Acoustitronc amp,Roland Mini Acoustic amp & my home studio system.I'm very satisfied with the Presys+ Preamp.

• Phenomenal difference!

  Seriously happy - so far - with the Presys+. I replaced the aging electronics in my 1994 Yamaha APX7, used a dremel, other tools to make the cuts. Despite thin body of the APX7, the preamp fit in nicely after sanding down the braces on top/bottom (very slightly) in order to make it fit.
  Don't be afraid to do the install yourself if you are confident using a Dremel and making good cuts. I began by cutting out the dimension PDF (which did NOT come in the box, BTW, had to get it from the Fishman site (which is easily navigable)). Taped the cutout to the guitar and proceed to carefully drill holes just inside the lines around the perimeter. Here one can use a narrow cutting tool to cut out the roughly drilled section.
  Here's where the Dremel came in, once the section was removed. I used the dremel sanding head to smooth things out until the Presys+ fit. Hardest part was the jack. Removed the original, and installed the new one. Had to have one of my kids reach in and start threading the washer and nut on to the point where I could do a pull/pressure tighten. I'm sure there's a tool for that, but I don't have one.
  Worked perfectly once installed. Tuned up the guitar with the built-in tuner. Not sure the penny-accuracy of this thing, but it removes the need to have a foot-pedal tuner for this guitar. Perfectly happy with the tuning. Very accurate to my ear.
  Plugged in to my Fender Acoustasonic Junior and began dialing in proper settings. At first it was VERY bright sounding, almost too bright. But playing around got it dialed in beautifully.
  GOOD GRIEF what a difference this Fishman makes compared to the original electronics. Difference is night and day, can't wait to play plugged in to church sound system.
  I have to admit, I LOVE the new sound of my Yamaha. I have had this guitar since '94 and don't think it has ever sounded so good.
  Disclaimer, sort of: I also own a Taylor 412CE L7 which has been my main guitar for about 6 years now.
  Plugged the APX7 into my amp and couldn't believe it. I unplugged it and got the Taylor, plugged it in to compare. Are you KIDDING me? The Yamaha sounds much better - with an older set of Elixer nano PB 12s. Seriously. But realize I said PLUGGED-IN. The Taylor sounds much better NOT plugged-in. The Taylor is made of higher-quality woods, etc. But the Expression System, despite having several sound pick-ups, does not produce as good a sound - plugged in. Based on my ear test.
  Never thought that'd ever be the case. Main reason I bought this is that my Yamaha has been my on-stage backup, but has been having electronics difficulty thus unreliable as a backup. So I just wanted reliability in my backup, that's all.
  But now that I've made the change to the Presys+, I like the sound plugged-in SO much that I'm probably going to use the Taylor as a backup, at least at first. I have always liked how Yamaha APX guitars play, the body thinness, neck, etc. The 412CE is a shorter neck, and plays incredibly well, too. But.....
  Who knows? With the Presys+ added, things may change and put the Taylor in the passenger seat for plugged-in situations on a more permanent basis. I can't believe I said that.

• Clear & true total representation

  There is nothing I can say about this unit that would be considered negative save for its installation. This is not an issue that should discourage anyone from buying this and having it professionally installed. I however, decided that I would install it myself. While it seems fairly straight forward there are a few issues that the layperson should be aware of when installing one of these in their instrument. While important, these issues have little (if anything) to do with the product in question and more to do with understanding where to make the crucial cuts in their guitar and why. The product itself is a definite upgrade to what I have been used to dealing with in instrument amplification over the past 25-30 years. I installed it in my Martin acoustic guitar and was floored (floored, I tell ya) by the scope and diversity of achievable sonic results. By far, it is the best purchase I have made since... well, since buying the Martin guitar (something I lucked into as I have never really been able to afford one. But one person's desperation for bail money is another person's chance to own a quality instrument on the cheap). The phase and notch filter are essential when playing a wide variety of venues where the ever-changing dimensions of different rooms (size/shape/capacity/voodoo curses etc.) can make it a challenge to avoid that overall boxy tone that the cursed mid-range demons enjoy constantly tormenting us with. Once the unit is installed [correctly] and you plug in the instrument, you may notice a very high-pitched tone. This is not the pickup or the instrument. This is you squealing with delight at how even and smooth every string is amplified. Honestly it is the only time I have been able to hear every string with total representation. You can't miss with this one. Will be buying a second one for my jumbo guitar very soon.

• Fishman Presys+ Preamp and Pickup System

  Overall this works very well. Installation was fairly easy. I needed to slightly enlarge the hole for the preamp, as I was replacing a Fishman Classic4 that had finally stopped working. The under the saddle Sonicore pickup was slightly thicker than the Piezo pickup that was previously there. So I had to sand the bone bridge down a bit, and probably still need to sand it slightly more. The tone is better than the previous classic4 preamp that came with the guitar. The one thing that prevents me from giving it a 5 is the price. I think this is a bit pricey. I could do without the tuner, but in case I forget my clip on tuner, it is there. I do note that other music stores that carried this was hard to find. I would not recommend getting one of the very cheap Chinese knock-offs that are all over ebay. I will update this in 6 months or so, as I play with this out on gigs.

• Fishman Preamp

  Very satisfied, sounds great and easy installation, Would highly recommend this product. The folks at Sweetwater were helpful.

• Sounds like a piezo

  I like the looks of the unit, and it feels solidly built, but I really wish Fishman would just release an after-market retail version of their Presys Blend pickup. This unit is just an under-saddle piezo, whereas their Blend has the piezo plus a mic to give it more ambience and life. Sadly the Blend is only available to OEMs. There are Chinese sellers online that claim to be selling the Blend, but I got two units from one such seller and both were defective (had a buzz that wouldn't go away). YMMV. On the plus side they were only about $30!
  The tuner works pretty well, but the 'sharp' indicator is really small and easy to miss. And it doesn't do a very good job of differentiating between just slightly flat and way the hell flat. It could use blinking speed or something to give a hint of that. As a consequence it's really easy to overshoot the note.

Fishman Sonicore Pickup Explained

• Fishman Presys+ Preamp and Pickup System

  Item ID: PresysPlusAcoustic Guitar Pickup System with Built-in TunerMore Info...

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  List Price: $309.99

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Fishman Classic 4 Pickup Review

I've got a Guitar Works acoustic with a Fishman Classic 4, four band EQ preamp. When running it electric lately I noticed the preamp is not amplifying the big E bass string. All the other 5 strings amplify fine and the EQ boost and lowers frequency's but the EQ slider for the bass don't work. Playing electrically, the bass string is out of the mix.