The main reason I wanted to change to Fishman Fluence was because of the noise level. They are VERY low noise! I have eliminated the need for a noise gate. Installation is pretty much the same as any other pickup with push-pull pots, except for the battery and input jack. Still, not more difficult than passive pickups. Now for the tones. What glorious tones they are! The bridge pickup is amazing with distortion. Very rich and full harmonics and articulate single notes. Voice 1 is comparable to an EMG but in my opinion has more body and definition. Voice 2 is almost exactly like a Seymour Duncan Invader, but not as muddy lows. Voice 3 is basically a hot strat. The neck pickup was the biggest surprise. With distortion it's great at playing leads, but the real strength of the neck pickup is the clean tones. All 3 voices are absolutely amazing. Voice 1 and 2 are hot humbucker tones with voice 2 being a deeper equalization. Voice 3 is one of the best single coil tones I've ever come across. I used the jumper cables that were included on the neck pickup to set it on low gain. It doesn't sound like it is low gain, but like I said, it makes the best clean tones I've ever heard. I was very weary about changing to active pickups because I have tried EMG and I do not like them at all, but I bought an Ibanez that had them included, and was amazed. That was when I decided to get a pair for my Les Paul and I must say that the version 2 are improved upon and the alnico magnet neck pickup is an absolute dream! Highly recommend!
