Electric mandolin options

[Chippsta]

I play in an active 'Americana' type club band and Mandolin is an important part of what i do for the sound. We play songs by John Mellencamp, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Beatles, Jimmy Buffett ... and on the acoustic part of the sets, i'm really looking for a wooden 8-string sound. I've been using a big honkin' Trace Elliot amp. It's a lot to haul around! I also play electric guitar and a lot of slide. I really love to run stereo with two amplifiers and chorus. I like an old Fender Deluxe Reverb and a newer Peavey Classic 30 for this setup. I'm bringing a 4-string electric and running it through the Fender/Peavey rig because I use it as an electric instrument as opposed to the "Electric/Acoustic" sound i'm trying to get from the Trace Eliot rig. It's a lot to carry around ! A week ago, i tried leaving the 8-string acoustic (Fender with a shadow bridge) at home and just going with the 4-string in its place. My results were better than i expected! With a little chorus and the right technique, the 4-string electric sounded pretty good! The acoustic/electric mandolin sounds awful through this rig. I still miss the 8-string sound. I can't plug my mandolin into the PA board ... we don't have enough channels for that. Any ideas from those who have had this dilema? Are there acoustic amps out there with the same 'big sound' as the Trace Eliot but not so damn big?

[jmkatcher]

It's not cheap, but try the Fender Acoustasonic Ultralight. I have the sibling Jazzmaster Ultralight and it's <20 lbs head + cabinet. Sounds great too. Even the Jazzmaster sounds good with the piezo in my Rigel and even better with the P90 in my Gibson EM200.

[hellindc]

Our group plays a lot of stuff similar to yours. I bought a Godin A-8 a few months ago. I had the grooves deeped a little in the nut and bridge, otherwisde they easy escape their courses. Since I had that done, I'm delighted with the instrument.

[mandroid]

Preamps for #piezos , if there is no piezo input circuit in the amp.
Feedback at high sound levels call for #feedback control gear
And earplugs.

magnetic pickups , wont be so body vibration sensitive.
perhaps in a solid #bodied instrument

The Electric 4,5,8 string section [hotclub] has a #magnetic conversion procedure for His Goldtone-rigel and a fender fM62, both originally made as built in piezo acoustic electrics.

[Pen]

Ovation MM68. I'm in a similar situation to yours and this has worked well for over a year. I saw one on classified not too long ago for around $600 I think.

[Chippsta]

I guess what i'm really asking is ... "In order to get a good 8-string sound from my Fender/Peavey rig ... am i going to have to go with a magnetic pickup instead of the piezo?" Is there any way to alter the signal of the Fender mandolin with Shadow piezo system to make it sound "good" at high volume through my tube amp guitar rig ?

[Patrick Killeen]

Are you using a preamp for the acoustic? If not then that will probably help the sound a lot. The impedance of the piezo may well be wrong for your rig (which is set up for a magnetic pickup) a preamp will fix that and help you get the most from your Shadow pickup.

Patrick

[Blueglass]

tubes man tubes