Fishman Transducers was founded in 1981 as a one-man operation in a Boston basement, and has since become one of the world’s largest manufacturers of amplification gear for stringed instruments. Though the company has since diversified to amps, magnetic pickups, and preamps, undersaddle transducers have always been at the heart of its success. Early versions of these pickups used passive electronics and six embedded piezo crystals. Eventually, Fishman developed a special piezo-derived polymer to replace the crystals, creating the original Acoustic Matrix pickup.

This pickup has been the basis for many other Fishman pickup packages (including the Blender, Prefix, and Ellipse series of products) that are popular as both after-market and factory-installed electronics. The Matrix Infinity features a new preamp and the addition of a soundhole-mounted volume and tone control.

To eliminate the chance of compromised performance due to improper installation, we had Fishman send the Matrix Infinity installed in a recent-vintage Martin DC-28E. Fishman recommends that the Infinity be installed by an experienced tech, but for those who are inclined to work on their guitars, complete instructions are available on Fishman’s website.

MATRIX PICKUP MEETS INFINITY PREAMP

The design of the Infinity’s Acoustic Matrix pickup remains fundamentally unchanged from previous versions, though according to Larry Fishman, this latest version benefits from a slightly reformulated copolymer that leads to what Fishman describes as greater “crystallinity.”

The now-ubiquitous endpin-mounted preamp section, a revolutionary Fishman innovation that debuted with the first Matrix system, returns on the Infinity. And while earlier units had metal housings, the Infinity uses a molded-plastic design (shielded on the inside) in order to reduce weight. Opening the two clamshell-like halves (which are held together by a single slot-head screw in their center) reveals a circuit board attached to a Switchcraft endpin jack.

The unit now uses solder-less connectors for the pickup’s lead. There is a low-battery warning LED, and two tiny switches enable the player to configure the preamp for a tonally flat voicing that works well for larger guitars or high volumes, or one that adds a bass boost. Earlier versions of the Acoustic Matrix required completely different preamps for each of these voicings, which makes the Infinity a distinctly improved, easier-to-use take on the concept.

In many ways the Infinity preamp is more about perfecting what has worked best on previous versions than breaking completely new ground. And according to Larry Fishman, many of the company’s endorsers kept telling him that they preferred the sound of the original, “square box” preamps over some of the later barrel-mounted revisions, so his company took a step back and evaluated the changes made over the years. The most dramatic change in the new unit, Fishman says, is that it has a higher “slew rate” (the preamp’s ability to track quick transients) than previous versions, which can result in a reduction of the piezo’s clipped tones under heavier attack. Like earlier versions of the Acoustic Matrix, the new Infinity allows the use of a second sound source (such as another pickup or an internal microphone) to be wired to the “ring” channel of the output jack, which is then accessible with a stereo (TRS) cable.

Players who like having basic volume and tone control at their fingertips will cheer Fishman’s addition of a soundhole control module. The unit includes two wheels for adjusting volume and tone, and an easy-to-access duplicate switch for selecting the flat or bass-boosted output. The unit’s tone control adds a unique twist to basic EQ: Rather than just adding a bass or treble boost or cut, the wheel adjusts from completely flat (all the way to the left) to a controlled boost of both bass and treble, effectively resulting in a curve that de-emphasizes the mids—a popular setting that’s often referred to as a “smile.”

PLUGGING IN

To evaluate the system’s performance, I plugged the Matrix Infinity-equipped DC-28E into a Fishman Loudbox 100 amp. While my own listening was limited to a solo guitar context, Acoustic Guitar associate editor Charles Saufley also took the guitar to a rehearsal with his band and ran it directly into a Yamaha 300-watt PA.

The DC-28E offered a muscular voice when played acoustically, sounding best when it was played with a bit of force, whether flatpicked or played fingerstyle. After plugging in, I picked through a handful of tunes in D A D G A D and found that the Infinity expanded the guitar’s range under softer attack. In this context the Matrix Infinity sounded fat and balanced.

As I dug into the strings a little harder, I began hearing a slightly exaggerated midrange response. But I was able to tame this development with the very musical tone control. The only time that the pickup sound strayed a bit far from the Martin’s acoustic voice was when I played some aggressively flatpicked single-note runs, where it became apparent that the sonic picture taken by the Matrix pickup is very focused on what’s happening right at the saddle. The same was true when I evaluated the pickup’s response to taps on the guitar’s body, which were virtually inaudible as part of the overall amplified signal.

In my solo guitar tests, I preferred the sound of the Matrix Infinity set to bass boost, which I thought sounded warmer and more natural overall. When playing with drums, bass, and electric guitar, however, Saufley reported that the bass cut switch was invaluable for taming feedback at higher volumes and that the Martin’s rich rhythm-guitar voice was quite present above the din of the rather raucous band.

THE WRAP

Based on the clever new features and the tonal properties that we summoned from our review unit in the DC-28E, it’s safe to say that the Infinity is the best Fishman Matrix pickup package yet. As is the case with any accurate pickup system, its actual sound will depend on the guitar that it’s installed in, but anyone looking to add single-source amplification to a guitar would almost certainly find the Infinity capable of bringing out the instrument’s natural voice in a wide range of performance situations.