The Silverangel sound

[Jason Kindall]

I've been searching the archives and I can't get much testimony about the typical sound of Silverangel mandos. Would anyone care to comment?

I know Ken builds them for a certain sound, and the description on his website is very appealing to me. However, I'd like to hear what the owners or anyone with direct experience says.

A little medium-term planning is going on my little brain... :whistling:

[chasray]

I have one with a cedar top...an economando A...and I would characterize the sound as woody. Good bass and projects well. I'm happy with it and consider Ken's mando's a good value buy.

[Patrick Sylvest]

Individual notes ring clearly. The typical adjectives don't really do it justice. 'Woody'? What's that? I guess some sound more like what they're made of than others. I wonder if carbon fiber mandolins sound like ........well, 'carbon fibery'.All I can say is that my econodistressed mandolin sounds great and stays in tune very well. Fun to play and plenty loud.

[Patrick Sylvest]

Hey Chasray, I wasn't referring to your post when I commented on 'Woody'. I hadn't read them when I posted. No offense intended at all. Just thoughtless.

God Bless

[mandohack]

I too liked Ken's straightforward description of his sound, seems a lot of builders are copying a certain famous design and that alone is supposed to speak for their work I guess. I have had my econodistressed A with a spruce top for about 2 1/2 months and I would say that it does have a nice deep tone as described and has a warm midrange and round treble tone compared to some other mandolins I have played which focus on a more bright and cutting midrange. It's very pleasing to my ear and a joy to play. Give Ken a call to discuss your thoughts and get some of his input.

[D C Blood]

Hey Turtle...go to the SA Myspace site and look around (see my sig line)...I've had my Silver Eagle (made just before Ken changed the name to Silverangel), for about ten months now, and love it, love it, love it. All the standard superlatives apply :) and I wouldn't trade it for some of the much more costly instruments. A young friend of mine got a brand new distressed model recently and it's fantastic. I know that doesn't answer the question of what they sound like...All I can say is "great"...Check out some of the comments in the SA Social Group also...

[desaljs]

"Deep" is how Ken describes it. I have an econo with spruce over maple, and it does have a strong bass. Ken told me he likes bass to come through.

I would love to try a cedar top on one of his mandolins.

Jim D

[tburcham]

Woody, dry, clear as a bell, beautiful overtones. These are all adjectives, but they do have a meaning when you are talking about one of Ken's mandolins. I have #257 (distressed with a red spruce top). This is an X-braced mandolin (like all of Ken's later builds). It's not quite as loud as my Red Spruce Custom Weber Yellowstone, but the tone is much silkier and sweeter. Don't get me wrong its still a loud mandolin! One of the things that often gets overlooked on Ken's mandolins (because they have a uniquely woody deep sound) is the playability. I've played lots of really good mandolins...none of them played as easy or as naturally as my Silverangel (with the exception of a Danny Roberts MM I played at the Gibson Showcase....it was priced at $16K used). I don't know how to explain this other than to say it requires less finger pressure to chord and less pick attack to get great volumne out...just plays like butter.

When I am doing a performance where I have to display my playing skills in a solo mode, I will select the Silverangel, because I know I'm less likely to make a mistake or "press" when playing it...versus my Weber.

If you're looking for flawless build quality, you probably won't like Ken's mandolins, but if you're looking for a beautiful playing and sounding mandolin...look no further!

[Doug Edwards]

Here my '99 SA # 94 and an '88 Gibson Fern (carlson). Guess which one is the SA.


A: http://ntbbluegrass.com/media/guessA.mp3

B: http://ntbbluegrass.com/media/guessB.mp3

My friend, Rick Curlee played both his Gibson and my SA as a comparision a couple of years ago. The tune is from a Doyle Lawson piece Rick learned.

[man dough nollij]

A=sa.

[Andrew Roberts]

Great sound clips Doug! I think clip A is the Silverangel. They both sound great to me. And Turtle, since I just received my Silverangel in the mail this morning (expect a thread with pictures and hopefully video real soon!), I will try my best at describing the sound. First, a little info on the mandolin itself. It is an economando A-style. It has a cedar top, is x-braced, and has an oil varnish finish. I would agree with Tim that it has a woody sound, especially in the bass and mid ranges. I think the woodiness in the bass makes for a very nice, dry chop that pops well, and it can be quite loud. As has been stated before, Ken likes to have a strong bass side of the instrument, and he achieves that very well. IMO, I think the Silverangel has certain qualities of some old oval hole A's that I have played. The notes have a full, sweet roundness to them. I would not say that my mandolin has a strictly bluegrass voice to it, but all day today I have taken her through some classical, bluegrass, old time, and celtic, and have been VERY happy with the tone.

[chasray]

Hey Chasray, I wasn't referring to your post when I commented on 'Woody'. I hadn't read them when I posted. No offense intended at all. Just thoughtless.

God Bless

No offense taken at all. I know "woody" is not a scientific definition and doesn't mean the same thing for everyone.

How 'bout "deep with good top vibration" (?) Oh well.... anyway, my SA sounds good to me.

[Doug Edwards]

Computer sound clips aren't the best to judge the true sound. Which one sounds best is subjective.

Why did you choose A?

[Andrew Roberts]

To my ear, clip A has a very full and resonant bass register. The other telling thing for me is the last bar with the arpeggio going into the slowly strummed ending chord. I think clip A had the same sort of clarity that I hear when playing my SA. Clip B doesn't sound quite as clear and dry on that particular section.

On a bit of a side note, Cayenne, I tried really hard to not use "woody" to describe it, haha. I find it very interesting that, as has been noted here on the cafe many times, it is so hard to describe sound in a way that doesn't sound subjective. Even when just describing the differences between two mandolins, for instance. I kept wanting to rely on words that don't necessarily have a specific meaning (like woody, or even my use of the word dry). Maybe that is why music has such a power to communicate, because it sort of has the ability to convey ideas on a plane that is above how we use words to understand. And maybe I'm just rambling, ha...

[Jason Kindall]

I don't know, Doug. Both clips are nice sounding in their own way! Which is it?

[Douglas McMullin]

I really like the sound of clip A. Clip B is good, but I little to harsh or stiff for my taste (for lack of a better word).

[Doug Edwards]

B is the SA.

[Jason Kindall]

Well - clip A sounded a bit bassier, but to my ear on these tinny little laptop speakers clip B sounded a bit more balanced across the spectrum.

This is tough on sound clips and miniature speakers, isn't it?:))

[tburcham]

I'm going with SA=A

[Lee]

I'm going with SA=A too

Four or five years ago I was at the Philla. Guitar show and an older SA was the best sounding mandolin there. It was beat up a bit, possibly re-fretted, but the smoothest pleasing tone in the room.

[man dough nollij]

B is the SA.

In that case, I'm going to guess that B is the SA.

[Patrick Gunning]

And Mr. Nollij wins the prize for reading the previous posts. LOL...