Not a wholly scientific comparison, but nonetheless it is interesting to see how similar these pickups are. I would take either in a high gain setting, but what is your preference?!
Used to own Invaders ... but like an idiot, I traded 'em out because I fell into the hype that if something's new ... it's got to be better. Man, was I wrong.
The Fishmans seem to have a stronger Midrange presence, while the Invaders have a much more pronounced Punch to 'em ... Fishman for the show off soloists Invaders for the Heavy handed Riffers
The invader is a bigger sound for sure! I used to think they were muddy and noisy back when I was younger, but I just didn’t know enough about setting up a guitar. Now they are one of my favorite passive pickups!
I have both, I definitely prefer the Invader, every time I hear it its like looking at my true love haha. I have to completly change my amp setings or run an EQ pedal when I use the fishmans and they do have more of a ( inside a ) tin can sound but I do like haveing both.
The invader is a hard to beat tone! The new Fishman open core moderns seem to be a bit better with the high end clarity. I wonder how much those open blade magnets really change the sound? I need to try and do an A/B between the regular modern ceramic and the open core!
I have not tried the open core, I have the covered but I can still hear a bit of that tin can sound in the mids on your isolated guitar tracks. Im still messing around with them to see if I can get a more rock solid feel like the Invaders. I forgot to mention incase tou were counting I own at least 6 or 7 guitars with Invaders and only one with Fishman. I continue to buy Invaders for their reliability and passiive easy of use on top of the amazing sound. There is also a huge price difference between the two PUs. While I have no plans on buying Fishmans to swap in any guitars it is not a deal breaker if I am looking to buy one, it just need a bit more attention I think. I do like to have on hand diferent PUs to change sounds and keep things fresh. In fack I might go mess around with it right now, haha.
@@r.eduardom-rosa6143 to be honest the Moderns are somewhat more compressed sounding than some of the other variants. Voice to does help give the bottom end more heft, but the mids still remain a little bit flat. Probably why they record well and mix well. When I look at the waveform, the fishmans almost have what looks like a limiter on the peaks. I wonder sometimes if the built in preamp has a hard clipping circuit built in.
Both pickups are fantastic. I dig them each for what they do. But I have a special place for the Invader. I've been a fan of the Invader since I first played one in a local music shop in the 80s. I thought it was going to meltdown the amp I plugged into! What I dig about the Invader is that it's dark and has rolled off high end and a nice amount of clarity for such a high-powered monster pickup. And it's not without soul. I like the way they feel when playing. They are not stiff like cardboard or dry sounding; unlike a number of super high output ceramics I've tried. But I would say make a decision about the Modern or the Invader by trying them. I love the Invader, but I would not tell anyone to get one without trying it first unless you have a very good idea what it sounds like. Good demo.
Black winters cut like no other. The Fishman open core pickups with screw poles seem to be slightly mellower overall, at least the ones I have tried. I think Fishman for the most part reigns in some of the unruly aspects of high output pickups. There is almost a produced quality to the tone in a lot of ways. The only set so far that hasn’t felt like that to me has been the new Mick Thomson set. Those bite and respond very much to the pick attack.
I own that same charvel and was looking to swap the open core classic for that same open core modern. How do you think the modern compares to the classic. I find the classic to be too bright in that guitar. Thanks
Classic voice 1 is a pretty bright sounding tone since it is trying to get that chimey PAF tone. I find the voice 2 to be more useable overall on the classics, but it still retains more of the top end sizzle. The open core modern focuses more on the high mids. Some people do say it has a fizzy top end, but I haven’t found that to be the case. The modern voices (1&2) are more meaty sounding to me. Voice 2 has a fair bit of low end and less saturation. I ended up putting an Alnico modern in the neck of this guitar.
@@BaritoneGoatStudio I appreciate the feedback, that's exactly how I would describe the classic. I did order the ceramic open core modern in red with the black blades. I think it'll look and sound better. Thanx for the info.
Nice comparison! any chance you had sold that Charvel? because i just bought one with the same specs, that opencore bridge pickup… actually I didn’t research about that pickup before buying, turnout to be a good surprise
@@mateustatsch600 I did sell it, but I had matched the open core modern in the bridge with an open core modern Alnico neck before I sold it. They come stock with the open core classics.
Thank you for this video I just put the fishman open core modern in my seven string the red colored one I bought an ESP LTD M7 the Arctic White and it came with an EMG 81 TW it sounded muddy as can be no matter what I played through, so I started playing it with nothing attached just playing the guitar unplugged and it was super bright so I knew it wasn't the guitar. I wanted an alnico 5 magnet, after research I settled on voice 1 on the fishman open core modern and it brought that guitar to life it is amazing! I love that pickup! This video interests me because I have a major issue, with my charvel Sean Long San dimas style 1. I don't know who that guy is but the fact that came with all graphite black tusk hardware locking tuners and the color scheme is sweet with the yellow EMG 57 and the black 66, yellow charvel water slide. But the 57 is so noisy I had them send me a new Guitar, this second guitar came from Canada whereas the first one came from Mexico and both were in the box. I had the same issue. I found out that EMG had some circuit board issues in 2020. a change was made so I was told to buy a used 57/66 set but I can't, because I need a yellow one pre 2020. Either way the invader interests me so I thank you for this comparison! I need the noise gone but want the tone and attack of the 57! This is great comparing that awesome fishing pick up to the invader this really helped me and also you are using a Mexican charvel! Thank you very much!
I had a Sean long model too. I like the 57s but they are noisy a bit. They seem to be susceptible to EMI noise. I suspect it is the pole pieces being open. The het set has a similar noise issue, but not as bad to me.
Grab a 24v mod. More headroom more clarity more output and response. It made my old EMG 81/60 set sound ALOT less compressed like they way you would hope they sound. But it’s not gonna necessarily give you more gain. But more attack, better response, headroom and clarity. Works for EMGs fishmans and Blackouts. I was skeptical about it for a long time but I figured $30 bucks why not give it a shot and I’m pleasantly surprised. Threw one in my charvel also w 57/66 set and same outcome. I results may vary. The 57/66 set is much more open and organic to begin with so with those it was a bit yet apparent but it’s there. I did back to back comparisons on both on the computer and the attack and headroom were extremely apparent when A/B same riff with and without it installed on my 81/60 on my ESP.
I think the roll off in the highs and where the resonant peak is in the mids on the invader clash less with the ambient mic on the drums and mesh better with the upper frequencies of the distorted bass guitar track. It may also be that the responsiveness of the invader while playing made for a better take when I recorded those tracks. I often think pickups do more for the feel of the guitar than just the tone.
@@sgg74 they are fairly flat for their size and price point. They are the Eris 4.5 from presonus. Budget friendly and loud enough for mixing. I do apply a calibration curve to eliminate some of the upper mid spike and roll off the extreme high end they produce. But even expensive monitors benefit from calibration.
side by side i would probably choose the invaders over the fishman's but if i picked one over the other i probably wouldn't notice or miss the differences of the latter. the invaders sound a little lower, deeper, more of a growl, with an aggressive punch type of sound. I kept saying to myself that the fishman's almost had some sort of slight tangy sound to it as i was watching your video.
Sorry for leaving a second comment but I looked down in your information and you're using ML drummer do you have a tutorial on that or do you think you could possibly make one I was looking into getting that but I'm not too good with DAWs I have reaper and I can run all my ML plugins I own almost every ML guitar amps in plug in standalone thing they make and I love them! I printed the whole 500 page manual for reaper and it's over my head for a lot of it but I would love to see a nice tutorial on how to assemble some beats on the ML drummer! I have the amplitube drum system and all the sound packs you have to download that thing is a mess and I don't have any MIDI controller to set it up right and it looks hard to use. On the other hand Mikko has been amazing, ML sound labs is doing great work and I have emailed Mikko several times and he gets back with you so quick I love his videos I'd like it nice tutorial on how to set up and have a drum beat made in a simple layman's terms!
There is something inherently unique and appealing about the Invader through a high gain amp that no other pickup can replicate or come close to. Most metal pickups try to sound the same: tight, upper mid bite, heavy but focused lows… but the Invader doesn’t apply any of these rules and to me that makes it more appealing because metal guitarists seem to often forget that the goal shouldn’t be to sound perfect, it should be to find their own tone that compliments their playing. As a listener, I don’t care how well I can hear every pick stroke, the drums should be emphasizing the rythmic of the guitar. I want the guutar to give me TONE, GROWL, THICKNESS… not clean cut clarity
The invader is a much better all around pickup than I think people realize. It actually has some of the best clean tones on top of being a thick chug monster.
That is actually just an original riff. I programmed the drums and bass and recorded the tracks in my studio space. The guitars are in drop B tuning if that helps. Mostly played on frets 2-3 and 5-6.
The fishmans definitely have more in the 2k range where as the invaders definitely have more in the higher end of the lows. However the invader is MUCH tighter
@@BaritoneGoatStudio I’m actually between the invader and the bk aftermath for a warrior I just bought. And the price tag alone for the little tonal differences might just win it for the invader tbh
Not sure. I sort of set and forget my gate on most applications. I will say that even though the invader was peaking higher, sound wise it didn’t seem like there was a boost in overall gain. In fact, in the room especially, I felt like the Fishman had more saturation in the signal. The invader definitely hit harder on the chugs though. I kept settings the same between both pickups, and even though I might want to tweak them slightly, it didn’t seem like either really needed it.
That Fishman is mean, but oh boy Invader is a punch in your face ahah I think in the mix sat better. For cleans definitely Invader, it's pure eargasm with that low end! Great comparison man 👏
Thanks! The Invader is my recommendation for anyone looking for a high gain passive pickup. Especially if they are running a single [pickup guitar and will use it for cleans too.
The more I try different pickups, the more I am starting to think that it really comes down to the build quality over the actual sound. As long as they are not microphonic or falling apart, the rest seems to be pretty minimal. I will say that the clean tone test in the last half of the video show how different they can be, but once I add the gain much of that gets negated.
Not a wholly scientific comparison, but nonetheless it is interesting to see how similar these pickups are. I would take either in a high gain setting, but what is your preference?!
I like the low end of the invader and it is louder for sure. But the Fishman's have that higher midrange bite that I prefer. Both cool pickups though.
Thanks for doing this video. Always had my suspicions and you helped confirm them... now I know.
Used to own Invaders ... but like an idiot, I traded 'em out because I fell into the hype that if something's new ... it's got to be better.
Man, was I wrong.
The Fishmans seem to have a stronger Midrange presence, while the Invaders have a much more pronounced Punch to 'em ...
Fishman for the show off soloists
Invaders for the Heavy handed Riffers
The invader is a bigger sound for sure! I used to think they were muddy and noisy back when I was younger, but I just didn’t know enough about setting up a guitar. Now they are one of my favorite passive pickups!
Great comparison video
I have both, I definitely prefer the Invader, every time I hear it its like looking at my true love haha.
I have to completly change my amp setings or run an EQ pedal when I use the fishmans and they do have more of a ( inside a ) tin can sound but I do like haveing both.
The invader is a hard to beat tone! The new Fishman open core moderns seem to be a bit better with the high end clarity. I wonder how much those open blade magnets really change the sound? I need to try and do an A/B between the regular modern ceramic and the open core!
I have not tried the open core, I have the covered but I can still hear a bit of that tin can sound in the mids on your isolated guitar tracks. Im still messing around with them to see if I can get a more rock solid feel like the Invaders. I forgot to mention incase tou were counting I own at least 6 or 7 guitars with Invaders and only one with Fishman. I continue to buy Invaders for their reliability and passiive easy of use on top of the amazing sound. There is also a huge price difference between the two PUs. While I have no plans on buying Fishmans to swap in any guitars it is not a deal breaker if I am looking to buy one, it just need a bit more attention I think. I do like to have on hand diferent PUs to change sounds and keep things fresh. In fack I might go mess around with it right now, haha.
@@r.eduardom-rosa6143 to be honest the Moderns are somewhat more compressed sounding than some of the other variants. Voice to does help give the bottom end more heft, but the mids still remain a little bit flat. Probably why they record well and mix well. When I look at the waveform, the fishmans almost have what looks like a limiter on the peaks. I wonder sometimes if the built in preamp has a hard clipping circuit built in.
Yes I agree, I do find the second mode better. I also agree very much with what you said about using the FF for recording and the Invaders for live.
Both pickups are fantastic. I dig them each for what they do. But I have a special place for the Invader. I've been a fan of the Invader since I first played one in a local music shop in the 80s. I thought it was going to meltdown the amp I plugged into! What I dig about the Invader is that it's dark and has rolled off high end and a nice amount of clarity for such a high-powered monster pickup. And it's not without soul. I like the way they feel when playing. They are not stiff like cardboard or dry sounding; unlike a number of super high output ceramics I've tried. But I would say make a decision about the Modern or the Invader by trying them. I love the Invader, but I would not tell anyone to get one without trying it first unless you have a very good idea what it sounds like. Good demo.
It's a bit late but I'm taking out my fishman Keith Merrow and putting in black winters, I just prefer, I guess the more natural tone.
Black winters cut like no other. The Fishman open core pickups with screw poles seem to be slightly mellower overall, at least the ones I have tried. I think Fishman for the most part reigns in some of the unruly aspects of high output pickups. There is almost a produced quality to the tone in a lot of ways. The only set so far that hasn’t felt like that to me has been the new Mick Thomson set. Those bite and respond very much to the pick attack.
I own that same charvel and was looking to swap the open core classic for that same open core modern. How do you think the modern compares to the classic. I find the classic to be too bright in that guitar. Thanks
Classic voice 1 is a pretty bright sounding tone since it is trying to get that chimey PAF tone. I find the voice 2 to be more useable overall on the classics, but it still retains more of the top end sizzle. The open core modern focuses more on the high mids. Some people do say it has a fizzy top end, but I haven’t found that to be the case. The modern voices (1&2) are more meaty sounding to me. Voice 2 has a fair bit of low end and less saturation. I ended up putting an Alnico modern in the neck of this guitar.
@@BaritoneGoatStudio I appreciate the feedback, that's exactly how I would describe the classic. I did order the ceramic open core modern in red with the black blades. I think it'll look and sound better. Thanx for the info.
Nice comparison! any chance you had sold that Charvel? because i just bought one with the same specs, that opencore bridge pickup… actually I didn’t research about that pickup before buying, turnout to be a good surprise
@@mateustatsch600 I did sell it, but I had matched the open core modern in the bridge with an open core modern Alnico neck before I sold it. They come stock with the open core classics.
Thank you for this video I just put the fishman open core modern in my seven string the red colored one I bought an ESP LTD M7 the Arctic White and it came with an EMG 81 TW it sounded muddy as can be no matter what I played through, so I started playing it with nothing attached just playing the guitar unplugged and it was super bright so I knew it wasn't the guitar. I wanted an alnico 5 magnet, after research I settled on voice 1 on the fishman open core modern and it brought that guitar to life it is amazing! I love that pickup! This video interests me because I have a major issue, with my charvel Sean Long San dimas style 1. I don't know who that guy is but the fact that came with all graphite black tusk hardware locking tuners and the color scheme is sweet with the yellow EMG 57 and the black 66, yellow charvel water slide. But the 57 is so noisy I had them send me a new Guitar, this second guitar came from Canada whereas the first one came from Mexico and both were in the box. I had the same issue. I found out that EMG had some circuit board issues in 2020. a change was made so I was told to buy a used 57/66 set but I can't, because I need a yellow one pre 2020. Either way the invader interests me so I thank you for this comparison! I need the noise gone but want the tone and attack of the 57! This is great comparing that awesome fishing pick up to the invader this really helped me and also you are using a Mexican charvel! Thank you very much!
I had a Sean long model too. I like the 57s but they are noisy a bit. They seem to be susceptible to EMI noise. I suspect it is the pole pieces being open. The het set has a similar noise issue, but not as bad to me.
Can’t go wrong with either one, but the Invader has a distinct sound and aggression that remains a favourite for my preference.
Grab a 24v mod. More headroom more clarity more output and response. It made my old EMG 81/60 set sound ALOT less compressed like they way you would hope they sound. But it’s not gonna necessarily give you more gain. But more attack, better response, headroom and clarity. Works for EMGs fishmans and Blackouts. I was skeptical about it for a long time but I figured $30 bucks why not give it a shot and I’m pleasantly surprised. Threw one in my charvel also w 57/66 set and same outcome. I results may vary. The 57/66 set is much more open and organic to begin with so with those it was a bit yet apparent but it’s there. I did back to back comparisons on both on the computer and the attack and headroom were extremely apparent when A/B same riff with and without it installed on my 81/60 on my ESP.
There are a ton of fake models out there but can send the link to the real ones If you’d like
The invader sounds dark, yet in the full mix, it kinda sat better and had just the right type of mids to sound clearer. Weird
I think the roll off in the highs and where the resonant peak is in the mids on the invader clash less with the ambient mic on the drums and mesh better with the upper frequencies of the distorted bass guitar track.
It may also be that the responsiveness of the invader while playing made for a better take when I recorded those tracks. I often think pickups do more for the feel of the guitar than just the tone.
Nice comparison!!! What are the studio monitors you use? I like their size. Do they sound "realistic"?
@@sgg74 they are fairly flat for their size and price point. They are the Eris 4.5 from presonus. Budget friendly and loud enough for mixing. I do apply a calibration curve to eliminate some of the upper mid spike and roll off the extreme high end they produce. But even expensive monitors benefit from calibration.
Thank you. I was wondering between these and the Yamaha 4.5". I had m-audio before but I didn't like them.
side by side i would probably choose the invaders over the fishman's but if i picked one over the other i probably wouldn't notice or miss the differences of the latter. the invaders sound a little lower, deeper, more of a growl, with an aggressive punch type of sound. I kept saying to myself that the fishman's almost had some sort of slight tangy sound to it as i was watching your video.
Sorry for leaving a second comment but I looked down in your information and you're using ML drummer do you have a tutorial on that or do you think you could possibly make one I was looking into getting that but I'm not too good with DAWs I have reaper and I can run all my ML plugins I own almost every ML guitar amps in plug in standalone thing they make and I love them! I printed the whole 500 page manual for reaper and it's over my head for a lot of it but I would love to see a nice tutorial on how to assemble some beats on the ML drummer! I have the amplitube drum system and all the sound packs you have to download that thing is a mess and I don't have any MIDI controller to set it up right and it looks hard to use. On the other hand Mikko has been amazing, ML sound labs is doing great work and I have emailed Mikko several times and he gets back with you so quick I love his videos I'd like it nice tutorial on how to set up and have a drum beat made in a simple layman's terms!
I don't have a tutorial, but there are a few on UA-cam. I like using ML drums since it doesn't require Kontakt and the built in mixer is easy to use!
There is something inherently unique and appealing about the Invader through a high gain amp that no other pickup can replicate or come close to. Most metal pickups try to sound the same: tight, upper mid bite, heavy but focused lows… but the Invader doesn’t apply any of these rules and to me that makes it more appealing because metal guitarists seem to often forget that the goal shouldn’t be to sound perfect, it should be to find their own tone that compliments their playing. As a listener, I don’t care how well I can hear every pick stroke, the drums should be emphasizing the rythmic of the guitar. I want the guutar to give me TONE, GROWL, THICKNESS… not clean cut clarity
The invader is a much better all around pickup than I think people realize. It actually has some of the best clean tones on top of being a thick chug monster.
whats the name of the song in the 1st comparison video? i would like to learn that riff i just got the invaders!!!
That is actually just an original riff. I programmed the drums and bass and recorded the tracks in my studio space. The guitars are in drop B tuning if that helps. Mostly played on frets 2-3 and 5-6.
The fishmans definitely have more in the 2k range where as the invaders definitely have more in the higher end of the lows. However the invader is MUCH tighter
The Invader is punchy. I really used to think I didn’t like them, but in the right guitar, they are hard to beat.
@@BaritoneGoatStudio I’m actually between the invader and the bk aftermath for a warrior I just bought. And the price tag alone for the little tonal differences might just win it for the invader tbh
Since the invader has higher output did it have less noise with the distortion? Like could you lower the noise gate
Not sure. I sort of set and forget my gate on most applications. I will say that even though the invader was peaking higher, sound wise it didn’t seem like there was a boost in overall gain. In fact, in the room especially, I felt like the Fishman had more saturation in the signal. The invader definitely hit harder on the chugs though. I kept settings the same between both pickups, and even though I might want to tweak them slightly, it didn’t seem like either really needed it.
That Fishman is mean, but oh boy Invader is a punch in your face ahah I think in the mix sat better. For cleans definitely Invader, it's pure eargasm with that low end! Great comparison man 👏
Thanks! The Invader is my recommendation for anyone looking for a high gain passive pickup. Especially if they are running a single [pickup guitar and will use it for cleans too.
This video made me buy an invader for my prs
Sound very similar
The more I try different pickups, the more I am starting to think that it really comes down to the build quality over the actual sound. As long as they are not microphonic or falling apart, the rest seems to be pretty minimal. I will say that the clean tone test in the last half of the video show how different they can be, but once I add the gain much of that gets negated.
Opencore sounds substantially more dirty than the invader (for my ears)
With such a little diff id go invader and not have to deal with batt
Mimimal difference. I choice Invader
Ultimately what I would grab too!