Fishman Loudbox Artist vs Fishman Platinum preamp

[Dwight Shackelford]

Would I be better off with a Fishman Loudbox Artist (or even Mini) or a Fishman Platinum preamp/di?

 

I already have a mixer and mains.  

[Don Cooke]

I use the Fishman Loudbox Artist and I'm very happy with it. Lightwreight for an amp, and does plug into the mains seamlessly. Works well with my 30 year old passive Zeta. About twice the price of the Platinum, but I like having the speaker in the practice room without having to set up the mixer/mains. Just my humble opinion.

[GoPractice]

Not having listed stage or studio requirements, not sure of the situation, nor sure of what type of instrument/ pick up you are playing but... I am assuming there is a budget. Generally like the Fishman stuff. Spent two hours talking to an old timer about his loudboxes yesterday and their particular issues. Do you trust the sound person, how much do you want to carry, what do you want to hear?

Since the acoustic element ( speaker ) is important to one's sound - for me, it's the feedback loop that helps in adjusting my playing - I tend to play through boxes. I know what Yamaha electrics sound like, so will often route them directly to the board, but in a small club with a small PA system, the box amplifiers still serve as nice personal monitors. Certainly for a house band, not necessary, but different locales can sound and feel different adding one more layer of complexity if hearing your own sound is important. 

With a house sound person, having the box amp sounding how you like it, makes it easier for them ( if they are nice ) to make the instrument sound louder, but to your preferences. Assuming the band is lucky enough to get an independent  sound check or at least play on stage a bit, getting a chance to talk with the sound person is also nice and informative. 

I do own a Fishman Aura psuedo- pre/ direct box for ( a composite ) acoustic guitar that has not been played for about 5 years. Since the guitar is synthetic, I leave it to the sound guys to choose how it should sound. The guitar has a built in pre-amp but the Aura makes the instrument sound less boxy/ limited and can boost the signal for longer cable runs to the house board/ snake.

So here is where I split with box amps. They can be noisy. They are heavy and use up space. Much depends on what type of music one plays, too.

Sometimes the output signal from a box amp can be too noisy and compounded with the use of effects pedals and " less than stable power supplies " or bad wiring at the venue. When playing in a loud venue, these noises are a reality. But super picky house sound guys will not likely want to introduce noise into the system.   

The designs of equipment have been changing and the ICs and amplifier designs are getting ever quieter, so the newest Fishman products might be great. In an office, I have a powered Fishman tower/ PA/ sound reinforcement box. Drove around with it in a car for years because it was so quick and easy to set up and people would call me to drop it off for last minute gigs. The tower, I thought, was flatter in frequency response, erred on the warmer side, and a wireless mic and media player could be plugged in. If memory serves, the Artist ( and quite a few of the Loudboxes, though some bite ) was also clear and warm. The tower form factor was better at getting further into the hall because it was on speaker stands.    

I have tried repairing at least a half dozen older Fishman and AER boxes because they were likely pushed too close to their limits and then forced to play at max levels for prolonged amounts of time. The AER is compact and beautiful and loud when there is no background noise. In a loud club, off the ground, a bowed instrument should be ok, but a guitar or bass or vocals might kill the box. Not entirely sure of the truth, but when an amp was brought in, the destruction ( overheating mostly? ) often occurred when the amp was lent out to a " buddy " who ended up frying some internal component the speakers were often fine.

In addition, though they are expensive, the Radial JDI - complicated to explain about the production run here - is a passive direct box ( DI ) that rounds out the sound of thinner sounding string instrument pick ups. When students or friends take out their electrics for the first time, I will bring out a direct box and an extra cable to sort of round out their sound, if necessary. Most of the time it works well enough. There are many of these outboard boxes, but the JDI, a less expensive Radial model and a Countryman box or similar ( some with ground lifts ) have work well, without a branded powered preamp. I do not work on live sound enough to target where all the noise problems burrow themselves into a system, but passive or self- powered units can be useful. I tend to carry one and it has come in handy with bassists in particular.

I have not played the Platinum yet. The tonal choices of the Platinum should be quite good, but it is worth testing out to make sure you like the overall sound as it can also have the effect of sounding a bit immediate and unforgiving. I played a live feed recently and I could totally hear that I was out of tune in some sections at acoustic stage levels. Just went online to look at the pics. It is quite affordable. I was looking for a headphone out. At my age a headphone out would simplify a lot of personal monitoring. Or could get a fretted Mark Wood.

[Spelman]

The Platinum is great, I tested it against a few DIs/Preamps and it was definitely the best.

Sorry, no experience with the loudbox.