Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker Magnetic Soundhole Acoustic
Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker Magnetic Soundhole Acoustic Pickup PROREP102
| Weight: | 249 g |
| Size: | Small Medium Large X-Large 2X-Large |
| Dimensions: | 16.76 x 12.7 x 6.86 cm; 249 Grams |
| Brand: | FISHMAN |
| Model: | PROREP102 |
| Colour: | MultiColored |
| Batteries Included: | 2 LR44 batteries required. (included) |
| Manufacture: | FISHMAN |
| Department: | Music, instruments, instrument accessories |
| Dimensions: | 16.76 x 12.7 x 6.86 cm; 249 Grams |
| Origin: | USA |
| Size: | Small Medium Large X-Large 2X-Large |
I use this with an HX stomp to get “electrified” tones with fuzz distortion and overdrive.
No feedback from this.
I don’t even find the treble as off putting as some have mentioned, but then again I apply a fair amount of eq through my helix pedal chain.
I ended up replacing this product three times. The first time I got an ope3n box with a damaged product. I happens. Not a big deal. I returned the product and ordered it again. The second delivery included again an open box with a used product. This time there was a thank you sticker on the box thanking me for agreeing to “give the product a second life”. The problem was that I purchased a NEW product at the price of a new product! I don’t think this is legal. So I called Amazon support and asked to return the product and get a NEW product in a sealed box as it should be. The support rep promised to add a note to the order for the Amazon warehouse. The third delivery came in an open box with no instructions and the pouch was missing. I surrendered but I am not happy. I am all for selling items in open boxes but they should sell at a lower price and the buyer should have to choice to buy them or buy a new product. What Amazon is doing here is not OK and that is why I gave 3 stars for the “Value For Money”.
Now to the product itself that is great! It produces a beautiful 3D sound that I absolutely love. Before the Fishman I used the build in pick-up. This Fishman is a complete different world. The blended microphone Adds the wooden echoing sound to the typical flat sound coming from the magnets. The range captured and amplified is also impressive with deep bases and clear highs.
The installation is simple but tricky. I bought this product and not the competition because I did not want to spend hundred of Dollars on a professional installation. For a non-professional installer like me the instructions were not sufficient. There is one sentence about fine-tuning the high and low sounds. I tried to follow this one sentence to my best understanding but did not hear any difference in the sound. The pickup plug is designed for in guitar placement and thus, does not have a none intrusive option. I had to improvise. All in all, I would recommend this product to anyone who loves the acoustic sound.
Excellent. Installed into a favourite acoustic guitar for some upcoming shows this is a fabulous pickup system utilising a very slim pick up in the sound hole that doesn’t compromise the acoustic properties of the guitar and a microphone in the body. You can blend these together to tweak your sound. The sound quality is far superior to a Piezo system, which I personally dislike for its toppy unnatural sound. There are cheaper pickups on the market but this is really worth installing. I read someone here complaining about the volume output. That is nonsense it works great directly inputted into an amp or PA and if you want a bit more control use a floor standing preamp. Great product!
p.s. don’t ask me about fitting, I got someone else to do that!
Purchased this a while back. Installed it in a high end vintage guitar. Works perfectly with a great dynamic response. Can’t wait to get back out gigging with it again.
My Yamaha acoustic guitar (FS72OS) is certainly not top of the range, and I wanted a pick up to enrich its sound and give more volume and projection. I like physically playing the guitar, and especially like the feel of its neck, but its sound really does need augmenting – especially when playing live. The Fishman PRO-REP-103 Rare Earth Blend Pickup gave me exactly what I wanted, and a bit more. Okay, so it can’t magically make an inexpensive guitar sound like a top-notch instrument, but it certainly makes an inexpensive guitar sound absolutely fine – especially in a live performance situation.
I always use Fishman rare earth.They give the true sound of the wood
There’s a couple of things I don’t really like:
#1: Changing the battery is pretty awkward, you basically have to totally uninstall the unit to change them, and they are a weird size. It’s like 3 watch batteries. Why not just put in a AAA? There was enough room for that.
#2: The cord that connects the pickup to the Jack is pretty flimsy, very skinny and not well-shielded or strong. I have a Dean Markley single-coil acoustic pickup and on that thing the cord is literally twice the thickness.
#3: The end of the cord is really awkward, it’s attached to a female jack so you can “permanently install it” I personally would have prefered a male so I can just plug it in but this is minor
#4: It’s pretty annoying that you have to unplug the guitar every time you use it or else you will quickly burn out the battery and have to uninstall it again to change those weird batteries. You see the circuit is active when it is plugged in. I think a little “on/off” switch for $300 would have been nice and convenient, so I don’t have to fumble with the wires constantly and I don’t have to worry about running out of battery. Supposedly those batteries only last 100 hours. Well, that’s about 5 days if you accidentally leave it plugged in.
#5: requires a small screwdriver to install. Not a huge deal, but it’s annoying. You can’t just pop it in and pop it out like you can with the Dean Markely. And since you need to change batteries, you WILL be installing & uninstalling frequently.
I won’t be returning it, but starting to consider just using the Dean Markely again. The sound wasn’t THAT much better with the Fishman, and the Dean Markely installs & uninstalls without any tools, and doesn’t have a battery.
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!
Facil de instalar – Ya sea que la quieras permanente o temporal no tendras problema puedes hacerlo tu mismo.
No suena metalico – Al menos para mi yo estaba en busqueda de una pastilla que pudiera replicar ese bello sonido de una guitarra acustica sin sonar metalico y molesto para los oidos de todos. Y esto es gracias al microfono integrado que le ayuda a tomar el cuerpo de la guitarra, por lo cual mientras tu guitarra sea de mejor calidad, mejor va a sonar.
Regulador de sonido – tiene una perilla que al girar (izquierda, centro, derecha) puedes decidir si quieres solo sonido de la pastilla o solo microfono o 50/50.
La vdd 50/50 es la mejor opcin incluso hace un clic cuando ya estas a la mitad.
Ademas cuenta con un interruptor para si quieres Mas o Menos bajos del microfono. (esta opcion la vas a notar cuando grabes en tu DAW y sera de mucha ayuda)
El sonido al grabar es muy limpio – A menos que le grites directamente a la guitarra el microfono no captara el sonido del ambiente.
No feedback – Eso sin duda es lo que mas aprecio de esta pastilla, no tiene ese molesto ruido por acercarte mucho o esa estatica que te hace sentir tan chafa no estan presentes, esto no suena hasta que tocas, fin!
Contras :
No le doy las 5 estrellas por estas razones.
1.- Usa pilas de tamagochi (osease no imposibles de conseguir pero molesto de buscar) una simple pila AAA habria sido suficiente y genial pues compras recargables y listo.
2.- Creo que $3000 pesos es un precio mas considerado y justo.
3.- El boquete que le tienes que hacer para instalacin permanente es inmenso, si tuviera la guitarra martin que quiero ni de chiste se lo hara. No se nota para nada ya terminada la instalacin pero si duele el proceso pues en tu mente piensas “facil pudieron hacerlo mas pequeo”
A great fit for my OM solid spruce/rosewood guitar. Quality pick-up producing a great authentic acoustic guitar sound. One of a few elite pick ups that do a superb job.
I’m really happy with the sound of this via a Fishman preamp, but not straight. The only difficulty was fitting the bridge which took a long time.
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
This is a superb product – not cheap – but you pays your money and reap the rewards.
Brilliant, no hum (obviously) and good sound, though sound not quite as great as a single coil rare earth.
othing wrong with the product,but simply did not fit my guitar so I had to return it.
Excellent pick up for acoustic guitar. Easy to fit, simple to use and produces a high quality sound. Perfect for recording and public performance. I would highly recommend this for any budding musician. Money well spent.
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.
Best acoustic pick up I’ve ever heard! Superb quality and easily installed.
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.
Amazing pickup. Being able to blend the 2 different pickups is lovely. I have it installed on my Martin D15M. My only issue with it is that it is a little on the quiet side when plugged into my amp or sound card for direct recording which unfortunately means turning up the gain considerably and then getting a bit of a hiss.
This is the first acoustic pick up I have tried, so much easier than messing about setting up a mike set up plus it it gives sound options that the mike doesn’t, I like a mix of about 60% humbuck but it’s nice to have the option to change that. Using with a Roland AC33 and really likeing the sounds.
Great sound. Fishman nailed that. However, it’s a really primitive design, and the device looks like it was made in someone’s garage. The box it arrived in was made for a different device with grooves to receive other pieces of equipment. I initially assumed that there was something missing.
Thankfully my banjo has two rods. If it hadn’t, the instruction recommended how to go off and make wooden fillers to compensate so as to fit a single rod banjo. For pennies, Fishman could have included some little grommets that would have served those with single rod banjos. It would have been a nice touch, as would have been a battery, given the price of the device.
Finally, fitting the pickup was fiddly and required soldering, and the connection accessories could have been a lot better.
I can’t remove this from my current banjo without dissolving and re-soldering the welds, and that’s just nuts.
There should be no soldering required.
A few small changes to the design / ergonomics could be made easily and cheaply and this pickup would be a 5/5 without doubt.
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.
use this pick up on all my instruments. love the sound I get especially on my Banjos very popluar with all my musician friends
Fitted to my sons Lag 4 seasons spring dreadnaught (old variety) – a polite little French guitar (NOT!) which he picked up as a 2nd instrument for performance work in bluegrass, and quickly adopted as his primary instrument.
The guitar was bough dirt cheap on Ebay as it had been “scribbled on” by some vandal boy band (long since defunct)- so I was a little circumspect about spending almost five times the value of the guitar on a pickup – no matter HOW good it was. (the guitar cost around $100 and the price for the pickup in UK would be around $500!)
We managed to get the equipment during our summer vacation at a more reasonable price and fitted it on our return. My son has gigged many times since with the combination of his much loved “big jeff” and this pickup – it has not failed him yet, and sounds like a $5000 guitar through ANY PA system he throws at it (no acoustic feedback even at high levels when the mike/pickup balance is correctly set, with superb acoustic tone for finger picking) – with the added bonus that the guitar top (with the black marker pen removed ) has the look of the finest “bear claw” spruce ! (at least from a distance…)
All considered – money well spent.
One SMALL note of warning to sound – we managed to strip one of the (brass?) mounting screws holding the pickup to the sound hole by over exuberant tightening – mercifully it was an easy matter to replace the offending part from a local model parts store. Hence the less than perfect rating.
I mention this merely to point out that it was the screw and NOT the internal pickup thread that stripped (most unusual and – I feel – by design)
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!
Everything was great though, I recommend it!
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.
It sounds amazing! You can blend the internal mic with the magnetic pickup using a little wheel on the pickup itself. The magnetic pickup is louder than the mic so I find blending a little mic into the magnetic sound is just right.
And it also works in stereo. So you can plug in a stereo Y splitter cable to 2 monos and get the mic and magnetic sounds separately. I found a cable specially for this online.
I highly recommend this pickup. Anything cheaper than this wont have as good a sound. I could have bought a cheaper pickup but i figured this one was worth it. And I was right.