The ESP Guitar Company

since that guitar doesn't have separate volume/tone control for the neck pickup, all the pickups will share the same control set.

the active fishman pickups are designed for use with 25 kohm pots (similar to emgs). most passive pickups are designed for use with 500 kohm, or 250 kohm sometimes (fender strats).

option 1 is to just use the 500 kohm pots. this will leave the passive single coil sounding normal, but the active pickup will not experience a smooth roll-off as you turn down the controls. also, the in-between position will be dominated by the active pickup.

option 2 is to use the 25 kohm pots recommended for the fluence. the fluence pickups will sound fine, but the passive single coil will sound weak and muffled. in this scenario the in-between position will also be dominated by the active pickup.

option 3 is something emg recommends when mixing active and passive pickups, and consists of installing an emg pa2 preamp (the no-switch version) on the passive pickups only before the controls, then just use the 25 kohm pots for the control.

option 4 is to just install an active single coil pickup. IMO the simplest, cleanest solution.

Option 4 sounds the best! So, would you go with a Fishman SS single coil, to hopefully blend it all as it should be? Or can a EMG SA work? Many thanks for all the knowledge! 

it's possible the emg SA would sound okay with fishman. it's also possible it would be out of phase, which is resolvable, but it's another thing to worry about.

I agree. It sounds like more of a headache  to accomplish all of that. I think I’m going to bypass all that and just keep the stock setup. Many thanks for your replies!

You can totally run any of the EMG or SD active single coils with the Fishman Fluence pickups. Since they are active AND they share the same initial 3-wire connector (signal, ground and power...), you will be perfectly fine. 

As far as which single to use, that depends on what kind of tone your after... The EMG SA would work well, so wouldn't the S or the SLV. The S would be the brighter of the 3, the SA is a bit warmer, and the SLV is kinda in-between the two. I havent really seen what Fishman has for Fluence single  coils, so definitely check out what they offer for those to match the 2 humbuckers better. Plus if the SC's have multiple functions like the humbuckers do, then by all means take full advantage of as many tonal options you can pull out of them and it!

A suggestion I will tell you about the guitar itself and the wiring, especially for actives... I have one of these SC-20's - a Sonic Blue one - and depending on what functions tour looking to access from the pickups, you may want to consider the following parts for your electronics swap:

*EMG Solderless Tele 5-way switch. This will be a crucial piece to saving as much room inside that cavity as possible to make sure you can fit the pots all the wiring and of course the battery!!!

*EMG ES-918 powet supply pedal. If yiu get everything I need wired in the way you want and find theres no room for the battery, this pedal will be a life saver! It takes the battery and moves it to the floor to allow more room for the wiring and parts. The only thing you will need is a TRS cable to run between the guitar and the pedal to supply the pickups power. I have  one and it is THE BEST thing ever - esoeciall on a few of my guitars where there is absolutely NO room for the battery. Plus it makes battery changes extremely quick since they are on the floor now, AND you can switch it to run in either 9V or 18V mode! No need to do and stuff extra wiring and a second battery in the cavity, or risk frying your pickups from a cheap unlabeled Ebay harness (I know, I've done it... Fried one of the 808's on my LTD FM-408 as a result...)...

If you need any other help or suggestions fell free to ask! Good luck

Did the SC-20 ever come with the Stef Carpenter Fluences? My sonic blue SC-20 has them and I'm trying to find out more about it

Mine did not, so congrats! Do you know which set plus single coil is in there? I may go that route too.