Fishman RARE EARTH MIC BLEND User manual

USER GUIDE
RARE EARTH MIC BLEND shman.com

Welcome
Thank you for choosing Fishman. We are proud to offer you professional-grade
amplication products and accessories that will empower you to sound your very
best.
Please read through this User Guide to familiarize yourself with the operation of
your Rare Earth Mic Blend. Additional information and support can be found at
www.shman.com

3
Quick Install
To temporarily install the pickup, loosen the clamps with a Phillips screwdriver.
Position the pickup in the soundhole, parallel to and as close to the end of the
ngerboard as possible. Gently re-tighten the clamps. For now, run the cable out
through the soundhole.
Precaution: To prevent possible damage to the guitar nish, avoid leaving the
cable in contact with your instrument for prolonged periods of time.
If you travel with your guitar or store it for long periods with the pickup in place,
we strongly recommend that you have the endpin jack permanently installed in
the guitar. Installation instructions for professional installers are available from
Fishman Support at www.shman.com/support.

4
Mounting Clamps
The jaws of the clamps are lined with natural cork, which will not interact with the
guitar’s nish. Use gentle pressure to tighten the clamps. Note that over-tighten-
ing may damage the guitar nish.
Power
The Rare Earth switches on when you plug in. To conserve the batteries, unplug
the endpin jack when not in use. The batteries for the Rare Earth are convenient-
ly mounted to the underside of the pickup. You can expect 100 hours for Rare
Earth Mic Blend model between battery changes. If you hear the signal from the
pickup starting to distort it is time to change the batteries.

5
Battery Replacement
Remove the pickup from the instrument and carefully pry out the batteries with a
small at-head jeweler’s screwdriver. When you replace the batteries, observe the
correct polarity. Note that plus (+) and minus (-) polarity marks are molded into
the shell of the battery clip. See page 6 for battery requirements.
Battery
ð

6
Battery Requirements
Two 1.5 Volt silver oxide:
Eveready #357
ANSI-WS15
1EC-SR44
The battery holder will also accept a single 3-Volt lithium battery:
Duracell DL1/3N
Eveready 2L76
Varta CR 1/3N 6132
Union Carbide 2L76
Sanyo CR 1/3N
Others: K58L

7
Pickup Voicing
The Rare Earth Mic Blend has been carefully voiced to reproduce a balanced
string response. If your guitar has very high action on the bass side or very low
action on the treble side, you may hear slight imbalance between the outside
strings. In these cases, raise the bass side of the pickup with a shim. The Rare
Earth is voiced specically for bronze or phosphor bronze strings. If nickel electric
guitar strings are used with the Rare Earth, the lower wound strings will overpow-
er the higher plain strings.
Preamp
All Rare Earth models feature a miniature preamp, housed within the body of
the pickup. A low-noise circuit design preserves the pickup’s performance in any
audio environment. Plug the Rare Earth into an acoustic instrument amplier, an
unbalanced input of a mixer or a direct box, without signal loss or degradation.
You may run cables up to 80’ (25m) in length without audible signal loss.

8
Blend Function - Microphone
The Rare Earth Mic Blend microphone model combines the humbucking mag-
netic sound-hole pickup with a condenser microphone to provide a wide range
of natural sounds, adaptable to various playing situations. The magnetic pickup’s
strength is its articulation, high gain-before-feedback, and isolation from other
nearby sound sources. The microphone adds body and air to the sound to
provide a rounder, more ambient tone.
Rotate counter clockwise for full pickup
Middle: 50/50 blend
Rotate clockwise for full mic

9
Microphone Bass Switch
The Mic bass switch controls the low frequency extension of the microphone.
When switched to the position pointing toward the treble strings, this control will
provide the fullest bass for mic only applications or blended tones where more
mic bass is preferred. The alternate switch position (toward the bass strings)
rolls off bass from the microphone to reduce the risk of low frequency feedback
and facilitate playing at higher volumes. In this scenario, the magnetic pickup
becomes the primary source of bass.
more
bass
ß à
less
bass

10
Stereo/Mono Output Options
The Rare Earth Mic Blend can
be used in mono or stereo output
simply by choosing the appropri-
ate cable. For a blended mono
output use a standard ¼” to ¼”
instrument cable. For stereo opera-
tion, use a TRS to TRS or a TRS to
stereo “Y” cable. This will result in
the magnetic pickup output on the
tip (T) and the microphone output
on the ring (R)
or
multi-channel amplier
Suggested Stereo Output Options:
NOTE: In Stereo, the thumb-wheel will not
affect the level of the microphone at the ring
output, but it will continue to mix mic and
pickup at the tip output.
Turn the thumb-wheel fully counter clockwise
to send only the pickup signal to the tip.