The big thing I didn't like [about the Fluence] though is that you can hear the white noise from the preamp even under very moderate overdrive/volume situations. That's a deal breaker for me on them. They don't hum like a single, but they hiss like and old tape deck.
Wow, that's... exactly what I was hoping to avoid. All the reviews I've seen/read so far claim they are dead quiet. I wonder if that's endemic to the whole line, just the singles, or if its unique to you...? Anyway thanks for the heads up.
I’m not sure if the Fluence pickups will age well, if at all. Only time will tell about their durability.
In addition, resale value is also a consideration.
Well, durability is a very legit concern for me. But aging? The Fluence's difference is chiefly in how the coil is constructed (it's a PCB rather than wire wraps). But they're still, at the end of the day, "wire coils surrounding a magnetic core." And if I understand correctly, it's the magnets that age, not so much the coils? So they ought to age the way normal magnets age because that component isn't fundamentally different.
But resale is deffo a consideration for me. If I buy a set of Fluences and don't like them, I imagine it would be harder to resell due to generally lower demand. DiMarzios are a tried and true brand that many ppl trust. Fluence are new and shiny... but only have a cult following at this moment.
The Blackouts Preamp is meant to take a full set of passive pickups and convert them to active pickups - it does some stuff tonally, bumps up the output, adds compression, and has a specific wiring scheme to increase noise cancellation with humbuckers. It can be wired to do it, and I think might tonally make the pickups mesh a little better...
What I'm thinking now is: I'm going to try a passive pickup build w DiMarzios in the middle and neck positions, and try out a Railhammer in the bridge, and maybe spring for a preamp if I can get one that will work with 3 pickups... and if I can toggle it on and off.
I like the idea of the Blackouts Preamp since it adds a more aggressive tone etc. But it seems like a bypass toggle is difficult to set up, and also I'm not sure it'll be able to handle 3 humbuckers.
The more I work through what I want and understand the options out there, the more I feel like Goldilocks, wanting the porridge that's juuuust right. lol