Fishman Fluence introduces the Mick Thomson Signature Series pickup set, offering three distinct voices in both the bridge and neck pickups.
Mick Thomson is known for being one of the driving forces of Slipknot, one of the biggest metal bands in the world. Unafraid of new technology and forging new paths, Mick has been exploring innovative and groundbreaking gear throughout his entire career. Enter Fishman Fluence, with its ability to deliver the highest form of multiple voicings within the same pickup. Not only is Fluence technology able to deliver the greatest version of Mick's signature tones, but his new pickup set encapsulates everything that he’s been searching for throughout his career. The wide array of tones available from this set spans the entire range of aggressive lead and rhythm tones to the purest rock tones, plus the addition of exceptional single coil capability.
The first voice in the bridge pickup is Mick’s signature tight, active bridge humbucker tone, while Voice 2 delivers a refined hot and punchy passive humbucker sound. A glassy, crystal-clear single coil tone is the third voice giving the bridge pickup three distinct but musically complimentary voices.
The neck pickup features a Voice 1 that’s thick and fluid, and a Voice 2 that offers sweet “vintage plus” passive humbucker tone with added low mid punch. Like the bridge humbucker, the neck pickup incorporates a third voice that puts out vintage, but quiet, single-coil neck tone.
To achieve the voicings that Mick needed, Fishman employed a new custom hybrid magnet design.
"My pickups were tuned in a studio and then tested on the road and then tuned a little bit more. The end result being both musical and face-melting,” states Mick Thomson.
“Extra attention was given to the low mids to keep it big but tight. Voiced to cut through a mix but never be shrill. Just could not be happier with how they turned out."
The pickups are available as a 6-string set and come in a matte black nickel finish, personally chosen by Mick. Street price in the U.S. is $289.95 for the set.
For more information, please visit fishman.com.
Fishman Fluence Mick Thomson Signature Series Pickup Set - Black
Fluence Mick T PU Set, BlkAs the premier season of the show comes to a close, Richie Sambora sends it off with a fun, free-wheeling episode that looks at his high-drama fingerwork on “Only Lonely” from Bon Jovi’s second record, 1985’s 7800° Fahrenheit.
Richie joins Shifty subterranean-style, from his mother’s basement in New Jersey, where he’s equipped with a reverse-headstock Charvel, complete with a Floyd Rose system. It’s a busy time for Sambora: His first new single in 11 years, “I Pray,” dropped in late April, alongside a brand new, four-part Bon Jovi documentary.
For “Only Lonely,” Sambora recalls that he used just a 50-watt Marshall and a yellow Boss overdrive pedal to push it to the limit. Producer Lance Quinn captured the performance at the Warehouse in Philly in spring 1985, and Sambora hasn’t slowed at all since that day. Shifty takes a run at a few of Sambora’s blistering lead screeds before Richie takes the reins and brings it home. They don’t leave it at “Only Lonely”; as an added bonus, they run through Sambora’s famous licks from “Bad Medicine,” too.
Between solo runs, Richie talks about his current rig (no modelers for him, just old-school tube-amp goodness) and addresses the rumors: Will he rejoin Bon Jovi after 11 years gone?
See you on the next season of Shred With Shifty!
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
Legendary engineer and musician Steve Albini has passed away due to a heart attack, according to staff at his Chicago recording studio, Electrical Audio.
Albini was a giant of alternative, independent, and underground rock music for more than three decades. He was celebrated for his abrasive guitar work for the noisy, boundary-pushing Chicago bands Big Black and Shellac, but he was best known for his engineering work on ’80s and ’90s alternative guitar music. He engineered records from Pixies and Nirvana that changed the soundscape of alt-rock, including Surfer Rosa and In Utero, as well as releases by PJ Harvey, Bush, Low, Jawbreaker, Neurosis, Veruca Salt, and countless more.
Albini’s work influenced a new generation of guitarists, who sought him out to build a noisy, raucous 2010s revival of indie-punk and prickly alt-rock. Records from Cloud Nothings, Screaming Females, METZ, Sunn O))), and Chicago’s own Meat Wave bore Albini’s sonic thumbprint: sharp, percussive guitars, pounding rhythm sections, and an aggressive, enormous guitar-forward mix, like a DIY perversion of the polished “Wall of Sound” technique. Last summer, we wrote about the stunning new record from Brooklyn black metal band Liturgy. Albini produced it.
Earlier this year, senior editor Nick Millevoi spoke with Albini for the cover of our April issue, where Albini talked in-depth about his engineering techniques, his gear selection, and how he attains his own guitar sounds. He and Shellac were preparing their first new record in ten years, To All Trains, which is scheduled to release May 17.
In honor of Steve Albini, listen to some loud, weird guitar music today.