What pickup to buy?

[fmcbplayer]

The band I play in is about to switch from mics to amps. So off course I will have to buy a pickup. I already have a fishman on my fiddle because I play in another band as well. I like the fishman, but i am curious adout other brands. Anybody have any suggestions. Are internal pickups better than external?

[Michael Lewis]

Look for the new Baggs mandolin pickup. It should be available within the week. Google Baggs Pickups and call them.

[Clyde Clevenger]

I wouldn't buy anything but a Ford.

[jim_n_virginia]

I was at first on a mic then I tried everything from Stick on transducer to Fishman bridge pickup and now I am back to the mic again. If I could find anything that was easy and sounded good I would do it as I hate being tethered to the mic but I just can't find anything that sounds good to my ears.

If I HAD to plug in I probably would go back to the Fishman Bridge pickup again but the sound quality is just not natural to me.

I am waiting for the reviews of the Baggs mandolin pickup and hoping they will be good, if so then I'll try it.

I've always wanted to try a Shertler pickup but the price is just a bit much for me but have heard good things.
good luck http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Klaus Wutscher]

For me, when it comes to amplifications, there are two options:
1) Cheap, easy and good bang for the buck: Try a McIntyre feather or a Baggs with a preamp. It´s an easy setup which is very reliable and will give you a decent sound.
2) Go all the way: If decent is not good enough, by a Schertler and a three band parametric EQ (like the presonus) and maybe even a sabine feedback killer (if you play at really high volumes). This is quite a bit more expensive but to me, this is the way to go. Get yourself an AER Accusticcube as a stage amp and you will be one happy camper. But then again, if this setup is more expensive than your mandolin, you might be better of with 1). Whatever you do, don´t buy the schertler preamp- I still have to figuer out what they have been thinking when designing this.

[Kid Charlemagne]

Is there any major comparison to be made between the Fishman piezo bridge pickup (i.e., the M-100) and the various McIntyre transducer pickups (the "feather," etc.)?

I'm considering having a new mandolin built, as well as having my Old Wave C# wired for amplification, and was curious to see what differences had been reported.

One thing that I am very concerned about is the potential for feedback: I would assume that a piezo bridge pickup might not be so vulnerable to that as a transducer, right? The only reason I ask is that I have one of the external transducer pickups for my C# currently, and when I was last on stage, was restricted to a very small area out of the range of the monitors (it was an ad hoc appearance, and I hadn't had much time to prepare).

Any thoughts?

[steve in tampa]

I've got 2 mandolins with the McIntyre, one with the Fishman, and one with the Baggs.

The Baggs is the best of the three in volume and sound.

[BlueMountain]

The K & K Sound Mandolin Twin is the best one I've used. Some under saddle or inside bridge pickups sound better than others (I've used the Fishman Acoustic Matrix successfully on inexpensive guitars), but they seem to primarily pick up the strings, rather than combine that with the sound of the instrument. For high quality instruments, I use K & K products. The pickup pads stick to the inside of the body, and I've found the tone MUCH better than undersaddle pickups. I've also replaced Baggs and Fishman undersaddle pickups with K & K pickups stuck to underneath the top of guitars, and the sound has been greatly improved (using an AER acoustic guitar amp). Check out this page: http://www.kksound.com/mandolintwin.html and if you buy it from K&K direct, you'll save some money.

[judith]

Just to add to your confusion - your best bet is a mic. It's a far more natural sound, despite what all of the ads from each pick-up company say about producing the most clear and naturally acoustic sound. Otherwise, I use a simple Audio Technica Pro 7A and I like a whole lot more than the built-in McIntyre I have on another mandolin. It's reasonably priced, too. Judith

[David M.]

Baggs. Got mine from FQMS.

[mando bandage]

I'll second BlueMountain's recommendation of the K&K Mandolin Twin, although I have mine mounted on the exterior. Straight into the mixer with no pre-amp works very well, although I'll probably get a pre-amp at some point just to drive the sound guy nuts.

BlueMountain: I'm assuming that you install on the interior in new or disassmbled instruments? Or do you have the enviable manual dexterity necessary to work through the f-holes??

R

[WireBoy]

Michael Lewis's heads up on the new LR Baggs mando pickup prompted me to call LR Baggs. #according to the phone receptionist, it seems the new P/U is still in the final prototype design stage. #they may or may not be ready for demo at winter NAMM. #they are based on the iBeam series of guitar pickups: a contact type deal that you apply to the instrument, not a bridge replacemnt type. #price point to be determined. #so i guess, check in at LRbaggs.com occasionally to see the news....

[Avi Ziv]

Blue Mountain and mando bandage - I am very curious about the K&K pickups. The mandolin twin shows as an external application. Did you modify it to go on the inside and routed to an end jack or is there an internal version as well?

I did see that they list separately "twin spot" classic and internal. How do they differ from the mandolin twin spot?

Any sound samples that you sould like to share with us?

Thanks,
Avi

[Troyer]

I also have the k&k twin stick ons. I mounted mine on the outside but than ran the wires in a f hole and drilled a hole toward the bottom of the mando and installed the jack there.[it's not a big dollar mandolin!] I don't use a preamp and think it sounds real good. It still gives that woody sound to it. I think it can be installed out through the end pin but for me it was easier access the way I did it.

[mando bandage]

Avi,

I use it as external application. If I ever get around to having a custom built mando, I will have one installed with an end pin jack.

I'm hoping BlueMountain can enlighten us both on whether he does internal application without pulling the back off.

R

[mandroid]

I have several mandolins, all share the same Schertler pickup, you only need just one, and no installation expert labor per each instrument is needed.
or for 75% less the ones at http://www.mandolins.net/ are only $35.00, also a stick on,but YGYPF.

[Mike Crocker]

Shatten Design markets a low cost sound board transducer for either internal or external application. With a preamp it sounds acceptable. Nothing's better than a good condenser mic imho, but sometimes that's not practical.

Peace, Mooh.