Fishman Rare Earth: pleasant surprise

[M Hayden]

Today I installed a Rare Earth in a friend’s beater - a solid-wood ‘80s Tak dread. I wasn’t expecting much, really, but IMHO it sounds about as good plugged in through the RE (into a mackie board and powered speakers for testing) as it does acoustically. It was a no-brainer install and will do just fine for the bar gigs he’ll play.

It’s always a pleasant surprise when a product does what the manufacturer promises. .

[lkingston]

Was this the one with the mic and the magnetic pickup, or just the magnetic pickup?

[M Hayden]

Just the magnetic pickup with the two small batteries. Sounds surprisingly good, I think.

[GHS]

I have a post here on my installation. Do you find the high E ad B stings a bit "hot"?, coming thru louder than the rest? I shimmed up the low E side to gain a bit more bass but they are still hot. What strings are you using? I have John Pearse p/b lights on an older Yairi koa body dread. I have not changed them out yet. Other than that, I think its a nice unit, easy to install, good natural sound, ( for a pick up), and not too expensive.