Fishman PRO-REP-103 Rare Earth Blend Pickup

Bought this to use on a 60’s 12 string Framus acoustic that I repaired and refurbished. Works great and much better sound than I expected. Decided to try it on my 2015 Taylor 616CE and WOW!!!!!. Sound is superior to the mic
pickups standard on the Taylor. While their system is good, the Fishman gives a much clearer and improved
voice. WELL WORTH THE MONEY

A phenomenal acoustic pickup. You get what you pay for. The range of different tones this pickup can give a guitarist (along with outboard Processing) is second to none. Other reviews have stated limitations, like wishing the pickup was wired for stereo output. It is. Plug a TRS cable in, split to two TS and you get each element on a separate channel. Also, another review stated the desire for a volume knob – I don’t view that as a limitation – any number of outboard processors can serve that purpose, and the real estate is much better served for the blend dial.

I was blown away by the reproduction of the natural tone of my guitar the moment I plugged it in. And the fact that if I wanted to I could dial in “all humbucker” is great too, if I feel like sounding like old Dave Matthews.

Very, very happy with this purchase.

Hey banjo players! Dont waste your time with these reveiws – they’re mostly irrelevant to the banjo pickup – Bad Amazon! They are mostly for guitar or something else!
These humbucking pickups are good, but expensive, and if you shop around can be cheaper elsewhere! Make sure before you buy that the box contains a small metal foil strip, essential, for fixing to the inside of the head (the banjo head! Silly!) to pickup the heads resonance – get a banjo friendly tech or luthier or even your local banjo specialist (if you’ve got one) to fit it. The pickup can be mounted on most banjos that have an internal rod or rail (or two, is easier) if you’ve no rods inside, speak nicely to your tech!
The Fishman pickup is magnetic and only works well with metal ie steel or steel-cored string but it does make your banjo sound like a…..well…. a banjo!

This pickup allows you to blend the tone from the mini-humbucker pickup with the directional condenser mic to achieve the most natural tone possible. I cannot imagine getting a more natural amplified sound of an acoustic guitar without investing significantly more time and money in pickups that require permanent modification (i.e. under-saddle pickups) to my instrument.

Beyond outstanding acoustic performance, the Fishman offers TWO distinct advantages to other pickups:

1. Non-permanent installation enables you to switch it between multiple instruments. I actually purchased additional end-pin jacks and wired a permanent pigtail with mini-xlr connectors into each of my guitars.

2. The pickup will output blended sound when a mono plug is inserted into the endpin jack, but when a TRS (stereo) plug is inserted, it outputs discrete signals from each pickup to separate channels!

Currently using this on my Martin OO-28 with great success. Tone is very true to the acoustic guitar. Not as tinny sounding as others I have used in the past. (I go way back to the original Barcus-Berry stuck to the top of the acoustic guitar with putty). Keep the on-board volume control turned all the way up and work out your amp etc. settings from there. I experienced very low susceptibility to feedback this way. In addition, the pickup does not seem to be very sensitive to my touching the cable while the pickup is mounted. I am hanging the cord from the guitar’s soundhole since I don’t want a permanent installation. I am routing the output into a Fender Frontman 65R amp after my pedalboard which most importantly includes an MXR Dyna Comp compressor at the top of the chain. I use a small amount of compression at all times. I am impressed by how well the signal from this pickup can be altered with Chorus, Phase, Delay and a 12-string simulator. Haven’t done much experimentation with distortion but I am adding just a bit of drive on the amp.

I’ve been a two pickup guy for a long time. This sounds great. I’ve got it on two of my guitars (a 6 and a 12).

Quality sound. Bracket for holding plug needed adapting. Something to be aware of is that you will need a pre-amp component. I use the one on my PA system. Makes it hard to adjust volume. There is a Fishman component that does this.

Great sounding pick up only flaw i have found is the batteries could be secured better as i had one fall out mid gig not ideal. Fallen out agai

It really has a good acoustic sound. It is true that I have to put volume really high to use it, but in my only 15w amp sounds great.

Don’t worry about the type of sound, you can always use the amp Equalizer to modify that. I put more treble for some songs and more bass for others for example, that’s not an issue.

I choose this one over the L.R Baggs just because this one has no feedback, and I prefer de Humbucker pick ups.

Really easy to install, it doesn’t bother you when playing, and ir really captures a good acoustic sound, not that electric sound most pick ups have.

This is a safe purchase.

othing wrong with the product,but simply did not fit my guitar so I had to return it.

After experiencing a few challenges with the Piezo pickup in my Takamine G Series (a mismatch of volume on each string, sometimes the B string would be over loud, while the top E was inaudible, then after a string change the A would be too quiet and so on and so on) i decided to install the Fishman rare earth, it was dead easy to fit, is unobtrusive and sounds wonderful. The first gig with it made me aware of what had been missing in the past, i noticed a warmer tone with a more percussive attack, in fact i was listening so closely to the new and improved sound that i totally forgot all about the lyrics that i was supposed to be singing.

I’m glad I finally spent the money for this. I play an acoustic Ovation 12-string in church worship, and have used a variety of both passive and powered soundhole pickups for decades. This is it, Powerful sound that perfectly picks up the acoustic sound with no tinny or other distortions over the whole range of strings. It can be mounted via end-pin or just cord out of the sound hole, which is what I’ve done so far. The cord is actually smaller and less obtrusive than other soundhole cords. The pickup does protrude a bit higher than other pickups I’ve used, but an adjustment on the high-string end of the bridge – maybe a sixteenth of an inch – lifted the high strings clear. Normally I keep them barely off the frets. This was the best thing I ever did for my Ovation!

It took some effort and Youtube but it sounds beautiful.
I had to get rid of the adjusting screw knobs and grind down the screws to lower the bridge enough for the strings to be at the right height from the frets. You also need to cut the grooves in the bridge for the strings. Used my old bridge as a pattern.
I also had to wrap something around the patch plug to keep it from flopping around in the clip that holds it to the instrument.

The pick-up has been the best purchase I have made since buying my fiddle. A previous pick-up I had been using didn’t allow my fiddle to be distinct among the sound of other instruments in the band, but now the true sound of my fiddle can be heard clearly as we play.

Easy install awesome sound with NO background noise. Worth the money 100%

Update: After a few months I still think this is one of the best sounding acoustic pickups you can get. For me…… & I think this maybe because I leave it plugged into the amp……..I go through batteries every 3 weeks or so. Also be careful not to put too much pressure on the small plastic tabs that hold the batteries in line. They will break easily.

Still cannot believe the sound am I used to be a real snob about using a mic only for my acoustic.

This is a great sounding pickup in a Martin HD-28. But I was too retarded to figure out that to install it in my guitar. There is a black plastic spacer that needs to be removed from the endpin jack threads. The spacer is there for using it without installing it permanently but the jack won’t fit in the guitar endpin hole with the spacer in place. So I contacted Fishman about this issue and they stuck with me through email until I figured it out. I give strong appreciation for the good customer service. But as for the pickup, this sounds fantastic. Clear, bright, balanced. Better than the passive PRO NEO version which I also tried before getting this. Definitely worth the extra money.

This isn’t going to be a perfect solution for everyone, but the sounds quality is really good and it stays out of the way without altering your guitar. I put it in a Martin auditorium acoustic and it’s exactly what I wanted. Since I use a multi-fx pedal I can do my noisegate/tuner/compressor/eq there without having to alter my beloved guitar.

ARRIVED BEFORE TIME AND IN PERFECT CONDITION. THE FISHMAN RARE EARTH HAS A GREAT SOUND ON A GIBSON ACOUSTIC GUITAR. FIT JUST RIGHT IN THE SOUNDHOLE. I LOVED THE SOUND. WILL BE TRYING ON MY OTHER ACOUSTIC GUITARS.

Slightly awkward to fit. It requires a bit of fiddly soldering and customising. Great sound though. Much better than the transducer I was using before.

fishman picups, are the best on the market .I use them in Guitars and violins as well,very good product. i well buy more

I got this pickup so I could run my banjo through my effects pedals. Banjos, by their nature are harsh, and amplified, even more so. I like what I can do with a looper and reverb.

I used a Baggs M1A for about a year before I switched to this. i heard lots of people say that the Baggs was the better pickup but, as soon as I used this, I was sold. The Baggs may sound better in some guitars but, in mine, it’s not nearly as clear or as bright as this. At first I tried the Fishman single coil, which also sounded great, but I had to get the humbucker after experiencing too may problems with 60 cycle hum.

I like the fact that it can be “partially” installed with the cord coming out of the sound hole or it can be easily installed on a more permanent basis by cutting the cord to length and running it inside the guitar body through the end pin hole (which will have to be enlarged a bit). Either way, once plugged in, it sounds great. This pickup maintains the great acoustic sound of my guitar, a Blueridge BR-160. I installed some Fishman “under the saddle” pickups in a few Martin guitars and this pickup sounds just as good, if not better. If you don’t mind the pickup visible in the sound hole, this is the way to go. Another nice thing about it is the ease of changing out the batteries as compared to the undersaddle type pickups where the batteries are attached to the inside body of the guitar.

As with all products, some reviews are critical and some are full of praise. Based on the high ratings and several reviews from pros mentioning how good the sound was, I went the extra from around $79 to get this one, and I love it so much that I shortly bought a second, so I could put one in each of my two beautiful sounding Martin acoustics. I play them through a Roland Mobile Cube (the little short and wide one you can find here), and am extremely pleased with the sound as well as what I can get out of the Roland. It has several choices of effects, including plain acoustic, electric, over drive, distortion, chorus, delay, and reverb, and PLENTY loud enough for the small place I live in; even better with phones on!

Mounting tip: You can probably mount it without pulling the strings, unless you want to change them. I had just put on new sets and wanted to keep them on. Just loosen the tension up as much as you can without the string popping out of the tuning pegs. You may be able to reach your arm through the sound hole to mount the output jack; I did on the six string. But the 12 string was more difficult, so after loosening the strings, I carefully pulled out the pin and removed the string, put it aside, then re-inserted in when the job was done.

For drilling, use the stepped type drill bit which will drill multiple hole sizes, chucking it (for the Martins) so the drill just catches about 3/8″ to 1/2″ of the shank; otherwise, the drill chuck will hit the guitar before the drill goes all the way through. You will need to go all the way up to 1/2″ hole size. DO NOT TRY TO USE A REGULAR or any other type bit, as you will almost certainly split the wood. Not nice!

BE SURE TO PUT TAPE ON THE BOTTOM OF YOUR GUITAR around the hole, so if you do slip, the damage will be limited; and go nice-and-slow, with constant speed, on a the LOW speed setting for a cordless. Put a small bit of Beeswax on the outside of the bit and the cutting edge to reduce friction, “grabbing,” and make for a MUCH better cut.

Here’s the tricky part: find an old wooden knitting needle, wooden dowel, a very long bamboo chopstick, about 14″ long. At the business end, you want 1/4″ diameter and of course, smaller than 1/2″ at the large end. With everything ready, unwind the pickup wire fully, letting the pickup dangle on the table top (hope you put a towel under there), and with one hand put the output jack through the sound hole. Now with the other hand, insert the 1/4″ knitting needle, dowel, whatever, through the hole you drilled and up towards the Sound hole, where you will insert it, while twisting slightly, into the pickup jack – the part that will go through the hole. Smoothly pull the knitting needle or dowel, etc, back through the hole (you did remember to remove the nuts which hold it in the hole before starting, right?), and twist slightly to remove the jack from the dowel.

This turned out to be so easy that I did it several times until I had the exact length of the mounting nuts perfect. So, tighten down the assembly with your fingers (no locktite, please), mount the pickup in the hole, then shorten up the cord and wrap it up with a Velcro type, multi-use fastener for easy removal and battery replacement. Put the strings back in, tighten the tuners, tune – be sure to adjust the sound level to “high” as the manual suggests – then plug and PLAY!

I recently bought a Martin D-18 and never intended to have it electrified, but love the guitar so much I wanted to use it live. In the past, I have always gone for Headway pickups, but this means drilling the area under the saddle and my guitar has the vintage style saddle that sits in a slot that’s open at both ends. This makes adjusting the saddle in any way a very skilful operation – skills I do not possess.

So I looked around and read some very positive reviews about this soundhole mounted unit and thought I’d give it a go.

This is the first Fishman pickup I have ever bought and my immediate impression was positive; well packaged, detailed fitting instruction and a very solid feel to it (apart from the flimsy arm the mic is attached to – all the other comments about this are spot on). Initially, I was going to just have the wire dangling from the soundhole, rather than fit the thing more permanently, but I had nightmare visions of standing on the lead and ripping the front out of the guitar so decided to fit the endpin jack.

The instructions talk about using reamers and stuff to enlarge the hole, but if you have the correct final drill size, it’s relatively easy to use increasing drill sizes as a series of pilot holes until you get to the final size (half inch, I think, but don’t quote me). After shortening the lead wire – leaving enough spare to remove the pickup to change the batteries – I just used a length of solder wire to reach through the end hole and pull the jack through. Once tightened and with the decorative jack surround in place, you’re done.

By the way, StewMac.com do a clever little device the allows you to replace the jack with a standard endpin if you decide to de-electrify at some point.

Plugging in to my Headway preamp the tone is good if lacking in treble a bit. EQ adjustment soon fixes this and it’s possible to get a very pleasing tone blending a little mic with the pickup and perfectly good for an amplified acoustic (which I never find truly authentic sounding, but good just the same).

This was a good solution to electrify my Martin, but I do wonder if they’re worth the extra you pay for it having the mic.

This pickup is sweet! You get a nice, crisp sound out of it. I personally play it with my Martin guitar in a rather large church. It is perfect for that.

EDIT: Nearly three years later, being put through extensive use, I’ve had to replace the batteries only once.