I was just reminded of Tosin Abasi’s pickup shootout. Tosin of course has some sort of business relationship these days with Fishman but the Fluence pickups do sound like they fit his style and music - an interesting combination of highs and bass response without mud. Obviously, he does not play dad rock or blues.
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Ok hopefully others will add to this conversation if they have thoughts/experience.
But my bit of experience, combined with interpretation is this: what i think you mean by higher gain is a “hotter” pickup, which will have higher impedance/more winds, break up earlier.
What i have experienced is that hotter winds = more sizzle, breaks into overdrive/distortion sooner. But an immense (for me) price is paid for that. Dynamics, note separation, and fuller tone is sacrificed.
Hotter pickups might generally be more useful for lead guitarists wanting to cut through a mix or just serious metalheads.
So for me, i want all gain, overdrive, clipping etc to be superimposed on a pickup thats giving me the “best” or most tone…
If i wanted to send a humbucker straight into the octatrack, im quite confident that the best tone for me would come from a more normal wind, sometimes even lower winds.
You might want more gain comparatively to your existing pickup just because your mini humbucker isnt very responsive or rich tonally.
I always wish i was a more short winded poster but i cant!
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I’d like that type of sound in below video. I don’t think I can get it with a floating mini humbucker, and my AF71 doesn’t have a great accoustic sound. I like it esthetically though.
Ernest Ranglin (with Ibanez GB10?)
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You’re going to want humbuckers for that tone (lovely tone btw). Mini humbuckers are closer to a p90 single coil sort of sound. And you’ll want to keep your volume knob down pretty low. You want a lot of headroom for that sound.
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Interesting comparison video between D’Angelico EXL-1 and Gibson ES-175D. My EXL-1 has the Seymour Duncan Johnny Smith mini-humbucker. His EXL-1 probably has something similar. The video helped convince me to buy my EXL-1. I preferred the sparkle of the EXL-1 over the 175’s smokier sound, although with the big 17" body and 12 gauge strings, the EXL-1 has overwhelming bass and punch with a clean amp compared to my smaller electric guitars.
Bonus: The little dog commenting on the jazz tonez
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Does it exist in chrome?
Well. I use Fishman Fluence and they are a real good alternative for metal and modern rock, but for jazz and blues I wouldn’t use them, even if you pay me 
Sure, to each their taste.
fwiw, I think Greg Koch’s blues and jazz playing sound just fine with the Fluence pickups on his signature guitars. That said, he seems to be the only Fluence endorser who does not specialize in some flavor of metal.
I’m not sure. I can’t find the Johnny Smith model on the Seymour Duncan website. On Musician’s Friend it shows as “no longer available”.
The Seymour Duncan site shows some mini-humbuckers in the “other” category. I suspect none of them are in your price range.
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Greg Koch on his Gristlemaster guitar with Fluence pickups
Or 335 eh? I know you’ve undoubtedly done your research on this. But i just perused some 335 pickup replacement threads and the comment that was most important to me was to “stay in the 7.5-8.5k PAF range”. Im not a hollow body guy but i agree! I’d say this would be tied for most important attribute along with who built it. Magnet type next important. And a good tone cap ($2-5 vs the one in there that is likely leaky, loose specs, cheaper materials).
The 57 classics you mentioned, seth lovers are great, sounds like antiquities are a popular choice. There are some less popular boutique winders whos used market prices are super reasonable (manlius comes to mind. Ive seen his humbuckers on reverb for $60-80 used)…But any credible PAF style should get you in the ballpark.
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Yes, I uses 335 a lot, but on the picture it looks more like a GB10. Apparently GB10 have floating pickups!
Hesitating again! Not solved.
And yes, my tone knob sucks.
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Im liking this option if you really want to stay near $50 or below…i would guess there isnt a better budget mini out there. I obviously dont know, though! Its just that gfs has a great budget reputation and i havent seen other budget-boutique minis:).
More than anything, $30 exploration before putting holes in a guitar would be totally where its at for me.
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If you want to think in the $150 ballpark, what about the bartolini 5J? $128 at sweetwater special order:).
Is it obvious that im at work, have learned everything about the octatrack and therefore need to learn about floating mini buckers? 
Black cover though:).
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I have a big gig this coming Saturday and finally got my pedalboard simplified so I thought I would share. I programmed a new patch for Zoia that has Delay, Reverb, and Phaser, each one turned on/off with a dedicated foot switch so that covers all the effects I need (no need to switch patches). Analog Drive covers whatever OD/distortion I need and I can scroll through the first 5 patches depending on the song. The expression pedal is controlling Gain so if I have a solo, I just move the pedal and I’m there. I just got tired of lugging all those pedals around. This seems more streamlined to me. One of these days I’ll try to squeeze this onto an even smaller pedalboard if possible. Les Paul into this pedalboard into a Fender Deluxe Reverb (SG tuned to open E for the slide songs).
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Hi all.
I got me an electric guitar last year (some kind of Les Paul copy) which I’m happy about.
But now I can’t play my acoustic anymore. High action, pale tone etc … It’s an old innexpensive guitar.
I’m now interested to change it. I play guitar for long, mostly blues, with an intermediate level (no gig, simple stuffs, fun).
There are so many models. Where should I start?
The budget is flexible around 1000€ but I don’t know what to look for …
Any tip or idea for a better search ?
Thanks !
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Apart from “do you want electronics or not” the biggest factor for me in an acoustic is “does it sound the way you want an acoustic to sound?”. Size, shape, construction etc will be chosen for you as a result.
Personally I love the sound of the mahogany Martin 000-15M. That’s what I want an acoustic guitar to sound like. Over your budget though, and over mine, that’s why I don’t own one…
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It might be worth considering having a setup job done on your acoustic guitar. It will make it easier to play and might make it sound better depending. Just a thought.
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I’m a huge fan of the Godin family of guitars (seagull, Norman, etc). All made in Canada. The value you get is crazy. The prices are great, and the quality is equal to guitars 2-3x the price.
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Agreed about consulting a guitar tech about what can be done about the acoustic guitar.
I got lucky with the low-cost Breedlove cutaway nylon string that I found for sale used. The acoustic volume on it is low compared to the proper classical guitars in the showroom. The tradeoff was that this Breedlove had a low action allowed me to play chords and other stuff higher up on the neck that couldn’t be played on those other guitars. If I needed more volume, I could plug it into an amp. Granted the Fishman electronics that came with the Breedlove is not known for being high-end but for my purposes it’s ok.