Those lastest Epiphone Prophecy models are a great value, I keep thinking about getting one. I wish they had the color burst on the back instead of the black back, but lots of good features. I put Fishman Fluence SSS pickups on my strat and they sound awesome, the multi-voice option on those Epiphones are very versatile. The offset neck profile sounds very ergonomic.
Thanks so much for writing! It really was a great value. I think I paid $550 for it used from Guitar Center. It was in perfect condition AND it had an Epiphone hard shell case. Aren’t those SSS Fluence pickups so great?? I put them in that Partscaster behind me in the video- the green sparkle one. I’ll be doing a video on that one soon- I just love how useable each voicing is, plus the no noise part!
unfortunately, that series of Prophesy with the Fluence pups, the Les Paul is the only one that can use all the voicings for them. it has 2 more controls w/push pull. Epiphone only did the Les Paul "properly", the other 3 models are missing access to the third Fluence voicing. they ALL needed 4 push-pull pots. i'm going to try to get one of the Fluence Prophesy Les Pauls, but not one of the others.
@@jimfusco Fluence Moderns from the start had a third voicing. all Fishman actives (for electric guitar, to my knowledge, Fishman don't make a passive pup for electric guitars) have 3 voices, even their p90 is active and has 3 voices. the voices tend to vary with artists signature sets with their chosen voicings, but it generally goes. Modern Humbucker, Traditional humbucker, and single coil. for instance the 3 voicings of the pups in the Jerry Cantrell LP Prophesy were chosen by him. guitar companies will get the Fishmans, put them in a metal guitar, and not bother putting in a toggle for the third voice because, by their reasoning, a metal player wont want to use single-coil much and it saves money because you need a separate toggle because the "single coil" voicing is based on the Modern or Trad Humbucker modes and works "on top" of them. it "splits" them, as-it-were (it's not a real coil-split *technically* but it's *supposed* to sound like a split, though with no volume drop, which is very nice). full disclosure. i have been playing guitar (when playing electric, mostly hard-rock/metal) for 30 years and have *always* hated active pups. back in day every metal player wanted EMGs, not me. to me it felt and sounded like i was playing a bloody synth, no string definition, no character. then around 2017 i heard the new Fishmans. string definition! for the first time in an active pup! wasn't long before my local music store got an Ibanez with some so i could try them. hey, they're kinda dynamic too! you can "chew" on them a bit. but they still have that super-direct, precise articulation at super-high distortion levels that is the hallmark of powered pups. i now own that guitar (it was 40% a 2400$AU guitar, it would have been dumb not to buy it). tho i'm not American, i have used a baseball pitching metaphor before to describe active vs passive dynamics: actives are like throwing heaters straight down the middle. passives you can curve-ball, you can throw a slider, etc. i use active pups less than 10-20% of the time, but when i do it's *only* Fishmans. EDIT, oh, and if you are thinking, "if the third voice modifies the other 2, then surely that is *4* voicings not 3." you are correct, it's 4. but because it's a single toggle, it is referred to as "3 voicings".
I’m not sure that’s right. You can still get all three tones on this guitar, it’s just that you can’t have different voicings on each pickup. If you pull the volume, both pickups are single coil. Pull the tone, both pickups are PAF. Both knobs pushed in, both pickups are modern. That’s the way I understand it, but correct me if I’m wrong.
@@tedjohnson5210 no, that's correct. i was trying to point out (badly) that the LP has volume and tone controls for BOTH pups. so you aren't choosing a setting for both with one control, each pup can be altered in isolation. i'll grant you, it only matters if you are prone to running a blend setting with both pups on. but as a rhythm guitarist i DO, so it represents a loss of utility.
No, i think it was only used as the rhythm guitar on the middle section of “On the Air”. Now that I know what it can do, though, it’s going to make plenty more appearances. It’s getting harder and harder to fit all of them in, especially because some are so great and versatile that I kind of fall in love with them and then use them for a lot of tracks in a row
Those lastest Epiphone Prophecy models are a great value, I keep thinking about getting one. I wish they had the color burst on the back instead of the black back, but lots of good features. I put Fishman Fluence SSS pickups on my strat and they sound awesome, the multi-voice option on those Epiphones are very versatile. The offset neck profile sounds very ergonomic.
Thanks so much for writing! It really was a great value. I think I paid $550 for it used from Guitar Center. It was in perfect condition AND it had an Epiphone hard shell case.
Aren’t those SSS Fluence pickups so great?? I put them in that Partscaster behind me in the video- the green sparkle one. I’ll be doing a video on that one soon- I just love how useable each voicing is, plus the no noise part!
unfortunately, that series of Prophesy with the Fluence pups, the Les Paul is the only one that can use all the voicings for them. it has 2 more controls w/push pull. Epiphone only did the Les Paul "properly", the other 3 models are missing access to the third Fluence voicing. they ALL needed 4 push-pull pots.
i'm going to try to get one of the Fluence Prophesy Les Pauls, but not one of the others.
Wow, I didn’t even realize that. What are the other voices supposed to represent?
@@jimfusco Fluence Moderns from the start had a third voicing. all Fishman actives (for electric guitar, to my knowledge, Fishman don't make a passive pup for electric guitars) have 3 voices, even their p90 is active and has 3 voices. the voices tend to vary with artists signature sets with their chosen voicings, but it generally goes. Modern Humbucker, Traditional humbucker, and single coil. for instance the 3 voicings of the pups in the Jerry Cantrell LP Prophesy were chosen by him.
guitar companies will get the Fishmans, put them in a metal guitar, and not bother putting in a toggle for the third voice because, by their reasoning, a metal player wont want to use single-coil much and it saves money because you need a separate toggle because the "single coil" voicing is based on the Modern or Trad Humbucker modes and works "on top" of them. it "splits" them, as-it-were (it's not a real coil-split *technically* but it's *supposed* to sound like a split, though with no volume drop, which is very nice).
full disclosure. i have been playing guitar (when playing electric, mostly hard-rock/metal) for 30 years and have *always* hated active pups. back in day every metal player wanted EMGs, not me. to me it felt and sounded like i was playing a bloody synth, no string definition, no character. then around 2017 i heard the new Fishmans.
string definition! for the first time in an active pup! wasn't long before my local music store got an Ibanez with some so i could try them.
hey, they're kinda dynamic too! you can "chew" on them a bit. but they still have that super-direct, precise articulation at super-high distortion levels that is the hallmark of powered pups. i now own that guitar (it was 40% a 2400$AU guitar, it would have been dumb not to buy it).
tho i'm not American, i have used a baseball pitching metaphor before to describe active vs passive dynamics:
actives are like throwing heaters straight down the middle. passives you can curve-ball, you can throw a slider, etc.
i use active pups less than 10-20% of the time, but when i do it's *only* Fishmans.
EDIT, oh, and if you are thinking, "if the third voice modifies the other 2, then surely that is *4* voicings not 3." you are correct, it's 4. but because it's a single toggle, it is referred to as "3 voicings".
I’m not sure that’s right. You can still get all three tones on this guitar, it’s just that you can’t have different voicings on each pickup. If you pull the volume, both pickups are single coil. Pull the tone, both pickups are PAF. Both knobs pushed in, both pickups are modern. That’s the way I understand it, but correct me if I’m wrong.
@@tedjohnson5210 no, that's correct. i was trying to point out (badly) that the LP has volume and tone controls for BOTH pups. so you aren't choosing a setting for both with one control, each pup can be altered in isolation.
i'll grant you, it only matters if you are prone to running a blend setting with both pups on. but as a rhythm guitarist i DO, so it represents a loss of utility.
Did we hear a lot of this guitar on the new album due to the clean pick ups?
No, i think it was only used as the rhythm guitar on the middle section of “On the Air”. Now that I know what it can do, though, it’s going to make plenty more appearances. It’s getting harder and harder to fit all of them in, especially because some are so great and versatile that I kind of fall in love with them and then use them for a lot of tracks in a row