I have been using a set of Fluence modern pickups for some time now, exclusively in the active voicing since I installed them into the stock EMG wiring, and what I can say so far is that the Fluence technology is simply outstanding. The modern set has a really great tone to it which needs very little to almost no tweaking to sound great, the note/string separation and clarity is noticeably better compared to BKPs or other passives using scatterwinding, they stay defined even under the highest amounts of gain and retain a nice solid sound whereas other pickups such as EMGs have the tendency to turn into a fizzy soup, and all that without producing even the tiniest amount of noise. They also feel really great when playing, possibly a bit more liquid if that makes any sense, with the dynamics coming fairy close to the feel of a passive pickup (they don't sound compressed at all as I initially assumed based on the DIs I reamped). I have yet to check out the passive voicing, coil splitting and high frequency tilt options which will make these even better by adding lots of tonal options and versatility.
I didn't really bother to directly compare these to EMGs since the differences were very easy to notice and making a comparison would have been too time consuming for me to do. I'm really satisfied with my own tone now and I'm not even thinking about putting the EMGs back in. The only thing I didn't like about the Fluence pickups is that I had to screw the neck pickup all the way into the guitar away from the strings in order to somewhat balance out the volumes between both pickups, even more so than with the EMGs. Having that said there's a cool workaround to this by using a separate trim pot to control the neck volume, making it possible to place both pickups where they sound best relative to the strings and dialing in the trim pot to match the neck to the bridge pickup. Due to the pickup's output being fully buffered none of the electronics negatively effect the signal, unlike with passive pickups where the volume and tone pots do eat some of the tone even when fully turned up.
Before I received my pickups I saw Unearth performing live, both Ken and Buzz were using modern sets in combination with their Kempers, which totally blew me away. Their sound was massive yet still had lots of clarity and this hard to describe fluid feel. It certainly made it a very enjoyable experience and was the best guitar tone I ever heard live! I had the chance to talk to Ken after the show who had a printed Fluence pickup core with him which was cool to check out. He also told me that there are no differences between using 9v vs 18v with Fluence pickups since their preamp design is superior to other actives and it doesn't care about the voltage that is supplied, which is also the reason why they feel and sound much more dynamic and open.
All in all I feel that the Fluence pickups are a great innovation to guitar pickups and are some of the best, if not the best pickups currently available. I suggest that anyone who's into actives should be checking them out. I have to add that besides Ken Susi's video showcasing the modern set's tone, none of the current reviews do a great job of demonstrating their tone or features all that well.
