View Full Version : Need help going electric
weymann1
Feb-16-2007, 3:24pm
I heard a guy play an electric mandolin with Emmylou Harris and it had a great sound. Is there anything I can buy to have my mandolins sound different? Besides an amp and pickup, what will help. Also I have no idea who makes good equipment that is reasonably priced. Thanks for your help, Dan
Chippster
Feb-16-2007, 4:57pm
Depends on how much you've got to spend and what the band already has in place. On the low end, i'd recommend a Fishman bridge with pickup built in (about $150 or so installed) and a preamp (Fishman makes those too, for $75-$150) then run that into the PA. If you don't have a PA to run into, then an "Acoustic" style amplifier, like Fender's Acoustisonic, Trace Elliot makes good ones, SWR "Blondes" are good too.
dr.jazz
Feb-18-2007, 5:05pm
I've had great luck with a K&K pick-up installed and then run into an LR Baggs Para-DI. This combination is working wonderfully on several high-end mandolins in the area.
mandroid
Feb-18-2007, 9:53pm
back to the top question, answering with some more.
The question is what sound do you want?
what kind of music do you have in mind? how big a room to play to..
a fork in the road..
An electric with a magnetic pickup that converts the vibration of the string in a magnetic field to a signal?
[research the past posts in electric mandolin section, yet?]
or something that converts the soundboard vibration into a signal?
On that thread, there has been copious dialog in the Equipment section.
the bottom, right has a way to go back'to the beginning'
And martin's electric mandolin resource site can be linked to... he has
made product links to most, if not all the pickup makers on the market.
what do you have to spend, is another question
I recommend the L.R. Baggs mandolin bridge with the piezo already installed, through an old MXR Dynacomp to a Trace Eliot TA-100. Mark your calender to see lots of great mando players in Owensboro, KY at ROMP 2007.
There's loads of information about this subject in the equipment forum.
I got some great advice there.
Help me choose the LR baggs DI box which was a great purchase.