I have kinda complicated relationship with a Fishmans. I have seen many reviews/comparison with EMGs on YouTube and alway liked EMGs better. On the other hand I had EMG 81 in four of my guitars and never liked the feel of the pickup. Most unnatural sound to my ears and kinda "plasticky" sounding. Got rid of them, yet I always liked it when someone else plays it or in the recording.
I ordered the Fishman for really weird reason - I wanted to know if the "Fishman hype" is real, despite never liking one in video demos. I did not expect to like it. I ordere it to simply try it if I like it or not. I chose this modern ceramic model (that I !!did not!! like on YouTube). Amazingly I like it in person very much. Instantly after I installed it into my guitar! I like playing the guitar, the sound, how it feels under my fingers. It sounds really good in recording when you layer guitars. I am not chasing "tight" modern sound, yet this has it for sure!!! It will stay in my guitar. Sounds really "brutal" and modern as its name proclaims. For metal players this is really good choice.
It has not loads of bass frequencies - which is a good thing for me as I tune my guitars to C# standard or dropped B. You do not need too much bass in those lower tunings as bass make it muddy. Those sounds perfect! It has 2 voicings, the "active" voice one is what I like more, the "passive" voice two has too much bass to my taste. I am happy you can choose what voicing you like better. It makes this pickup more versatile than classic EMG. I am stuck with voice one.
If I want to say something negative there are some negatives too. Wiring diagram that is in the package is for neck + bridge pickup. I was suprprised as this is just one pickup. I googled wiring diagram online, from Fishman website. I also use only volume pot, not tone pot. There is no wiring diagram for this simple wiring, I had to improvise. Also as I am not using voice 2 so I was thinking I will install only volume without push/pull to simply have just voice 1, but I did not want to wast time with another soldering.
This brings me to another negative: the necessity of soldering. I really like solderless wiring that EMG has. It is so quick and easy!!! I think those modern pickups could be solderless as it is quicker and easier.
Summary: the positives definitely outweigh the negatives and I like this pickup very much!