Has anyone else heard that Fishman are discontinuing the SA330x?

[Rick Jones]

I've been hearing great things about them on here and elsewhere, and I saw that my favourite online retailer had one at an incredible discount this morning.

My old PA is quite tired and heavy. I really like Fishman as a company, and it seems like a perfect match for a solo guitarist/singer like me, so I figured this was a good sign to get one, and I pulled the trigger on the stick, the expand mixer unit... but when I went to add the sub it was out of stock.

I rang them and asked if they were getting any more, and he told me no, that it's been discontinued and I just bough the last stick that they had in stock. Hence the (almost half) price, I guess.

I had a search online and I can't find any mention of the system being discontinued anywhere, so I wonder if the sales person had a heads up that isn't common knowledge yet.

I completed the order anyway, and I'm going to see how I get on without the sub for now, although I have a feeling I'm going to want one. The thing is, the other retailers I see in the UK that have still them in stock are the ones with the highest prices on them.

Has anyone used another brand active sub with the SA330x? Does that defeat the object?

[RogerPease]

No, another sub would not defeat the object.

I have not actually tried another sub though, but there's nothing magic about the Fishman sub that I can see.
When you connect the sub to the Fishman head it changes the EQ of the head to not bother doing bass frequencies.
I would guess it senses a load on the sub out so I would expect it would work with any sub.

I haven't tried this either but if I were going to replace the sub I'd look hard at the Behringer B1200-PRO 500W 12 Inch Powered Subwoofer ($329 @ Sweetwater, no relation).
It might well be a better unit being 12 inches instead of 6 and it also has a pole socket in the top.

But 2 things to know:
1. You don't need a sub for acoustic guitars and voices. Hardly anything "down there".
Keyboard, bass, drums, kick drum stomp boxes, etc. do go that low, so it depends what you want to do.
So think about if you even need it, but I know it's nice to have "the whole system". :-)

2. The support poles that are part of the SA330x system are a different size than modern units.
I don't remember the details but you will have to fiddle around with adapters to get a different sub to work with the Fishman head.
Shouldn't be insurmountable.

That said, the SA Sub does make a nice small footprint base for the head on tight stages.
That's just about all I've used it for. The bass player has his own amp.

If you don't already have it, FAR BETTER is to get the Fishman ACC-AMP-SC2 SA330x Deluxe Carry Bag!
It has wheels, allows one-handed transport and has room for mics, stands, and cables and just works really well.
Well made, too. (~$150 in stock at proaudiostar.com & Reverb)

If you still want to spend money, the PRO-Mix SA Expand unit is also well worth having.
It adds 4 more channels, has it's own case and tucks away in the rolling case when not in use.

I hope this help. _Roger

[Rick Jones]

Originally Posted by RogerPease

....
I hope this help. _Roger

Thanks Roger, this is a big help, much appreciated.

I did actually order the pro-mix for the extra channels, and I like the idea of having it at the mic stand.

The other thing is that I am a percussive player, play in DADGAD but down a half-step and often run the magnetic pickup part of my dual sources through a Boss OC-5 octave pedal set on the poly setting so that it follows my bottom string around adding a sub-octave, so I will probably want a sub... although I've often used a direct line into bass combo for the latter part. I don't have to do this though, my entire set works straight, too, as I've never wanted to have to rely on effects.

I doubt I'll ever find the Fishman sub sold separately on the used market, so I may have to bite the bullet and get one at full price.

One question on the extra channels on the mixer, do these have a preamp that would take say a passive sunrise without using another preamp in front?

[leew3]

+1 to everything Roger said above. I bought the sa330x about two weeks ago, with the roller bag and added the expand unit last week. I've used it live already and it's great and doesn't need a sub for our purposes. I'm happy to field other questions you might have and realize I haven't answered your original question. I have no idea whether this unit is being discontinued but don't see any evidence of a decrease in interest in it.

[Rick Jones]

Originally Posted by leew3

+1 to everything Roger said above. I bought the sa330x about two weeks ago, with the roller bag and added the expand unit last week. I've used it live already and it's great and doesn't need a sub for our purposes. I'm happy to field other questions you might have and realize I haven't answered your original question. I have no idea whether this unit is being discontinued but don't see any evidence of a decrease in interest in it.

Thanks Lee! I've got the expand and the roller bag coming too, and I'm excited to try it out.

I do wonder if I'll need a preamp in front of the expand unit for my Sunrise and K&K pickups, as the main function (buffering aside) that I use my Orange acoustic preamp at the moment is to offer a phase flip option to match them. I imagine plugging into the expand is more like an amp input than a board/PA channel, but I may be wrong.

[shredtrash]

Here's a review of the SA330x that I did a while back. I used it for several gigs and then went back to my QSC K10s and Mesa Boogie Rosette for a monitor. If you have any questions, let me know.

https://youtu.be/dbR1fwrJRcg

[The Bard Rocks]

Maybe it was the dealer (not Fishman) who was no longer going to be selling them?

[leew3]

Originally Posted by Snorse

Thanks Lee! I've got the expand and the roller bag coming too, and I'm excited to try it out.

I do wonder if I'll need a preamp in front of the expand unit for my Sunrise and K&K pickups, as the main function (buffering aside) that I use my Orange acoustic preamp at the moment is to offer a phase flip option to match them. I imagine plugging into the expand is more like an amp input than a board/PA channel, but I may be wrong.

Each channel of the expand has a phase switch if I'm understanding your concern correctly, that should handle it. I run my CEO 7 and Mandolin, each equipped with a K & K pickup, directly into the sa330x. I tweak the eq a bit and they sound great. Plenty of signal to work with so perhaps you won't need a preamp. As far as the Sunrise I don't know. I hope this helps.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by shredtrash

Here's a review of the SA330x that I did a while back. I used it for several gigs and then went back to my QSC K10s and Mesa Boogie Rosette for a monitor. If you have any questions, let me know.

https://youtu.be/dbR1fwrJRcg

Nice review…thx