Fishman Pocket Blender System


Submitted at: 15:05, 9/22/2000

Product Info

Pickup features: Fishman Nat I & Fishman supplied Crown mic
Impedence or other specs:
Price Paid: N/A
Purchased from: First Quality Music

Instrument

Model of guitar or bass: Wechter
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: None - new with guitar
Other pickups on guitar: System includes Fishman bridge pickup & Crown mic
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Classical, jazz, liturgical
Reason for pickup change: Custom guitar - wanted the best

Sound

Perceived output level: Widely adjustable out of Blender box
Tone: Widely adjustable
Sonic evaluation: 2 configurations - goes directly by XLR from Blender into church mixer, typically a Mackie, or into my Carvin AG-100 (10" with tweeter, 2 instruments and XLR) and I usually just go in the XLR though the Blender allows R&L (transducer & mic) out or out to stereo loops and then back. Blender main outs are XLR & TS.

It's hard to not like it. It will do whatever you want ... warm, bright, anything. This Wechter has nylon strings and the sound is, to my ears, worthy of anything up to (but maybe just short of) a couple-grand classical with studio micing. But I can move around and often have to stand anyhow.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Pickless - just fingers and nails. It's a great match.

Overall Rating

Comments: I'd definitly get this system again. Wish Wechter would sell it as currently set up. (They do sell the on-board blender, but I've heard mixed things about it, and who wants a hole in side of their guitar. Not I.)

There was a tad of a problem adding the mic to the luthiery-supplied Nat I. The lttle itty-bit of a PC board that's part of the end-pin TRS jack is not well shielded from the screw-on cover. After a couple weeks, just before Christmas (yikes!), I lost signal from the mic. The little wires you have to add were soldered in by a local luthier (it was not sloppy, but did not address the possible problems), and ended up shorting to the cover. With a wire-head friend, we tested and took it all apart, and then added a piece of electrical tape. Perfect.

Power & stuff - There's a 9V in the guitar, and a 9V in the Blender, or a wall wart to the Blender. You've got to unplug both the signal line to the guitar and the leads to the Blender if you don't want to be forever replacing batteries. Do this and they seemingly last forever. The Crown mic (basically in the soundhole) is phantom powered by the Blender, but it's not 48V. Don't get stupid. I'd be even more happy if their very creative power arrangement (the phantom power comes in the stereo signal cable) could power the end-pin-jack on-board preamp freeing me from needing the battery in the guitar. But some folks are never satisfied.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this pickup a: 9

Submitted by: Jim Durand <jiminy@gci.net>