can anyone recommend a good mandolin pickup?

[makemerry]

I have a beautiful sounding F-4 style round hole Kasuga mandolin that I'd like to find a good pickup for. Can anyone recommend one?

[s1m0n]

can anyone recommend a good mandolin pickup?

"What's a nice mandolin like you doing in a place like this?"

Or

"Nice scroll! Wanna jam?"

[GVD]

I play mine in my Ford F150 and it sounds pretty good http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

GVD

[Pete Martin]

I like the Shertler pickups, but they are spendy. I prefer to mic.

[John Flynn]

If you are trying to get sound support without changing the acoustic sound of your mando, I would really recommend you try some arrangement with a good microphone, not a pickup. No matter how good the pickup, the electronic sound will be different from, and not as appealing as, the acoustic sound.

[bjc]

I agree that a mic sounds tons better, but some of use play in a musical environment where a mic is not a reasonable possibility. I would recommend the standard Fishman. I tired a lot of other things before that and so far it has been the best solution. I have not used the Shertler and I am sure the LR Baggs rocks (I understand Chris Thile uses one)...but the Fishman sounds good to me...

[mandroid]

Schertler is a dynamic type microphone in contact with the instrument top. [easily removed and put back into its Swiss wooden box, with each use.]
so you dont get room acoustics or distance to mic level adjustment.
I find it a better sound without a preamp, than any piezo pickup, without a preamp,
(I own a few piezo installed ones too, in bridge, and under-soundboard.)
See the other posts about preamp selection after the piezo owners find the tone less than what they want.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif
Its not being installed is a plus, with more than one Mandolin and/or guitar, you still can use the same pickup.

[John Bertotti]

How true is the shertlers sound reproduction to the natural sound of the instrument? It is interesting having a mic directly in contact with the top of the mandolin. John

[mandoJeremy]

Not that true at all, that's why it is a pickup and doesn't have a diaphragm. That is the reason that I have went with the setup I have. A Barcus Berry Hot Dot (piezo) and a Countryman Isomax IIC (mini condenser). Get the best of both worlds but be ready to spend money in doing so. The piezo allows high volume without feedback and the mini-mic allows authenticity to the sound. That is why I sold my Schertler, because it didn't compare to my setup, but my setup did cost more than a Schertler does. The Schertler is good if you only want one pickup but it is not natural and no other pickup I have used is.

[mandroid]

FWIW, with these contact moving coil(i.e.dynamic) things, the instrument soundboard/top in this case, is itself the diaphragm.
, #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif
That being said ,musicians friend has an AKG C900(Condenser Mic) for just$80.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[djangolin]

DO NOT WAIST YOUR HARD EARNED ON THAT SWISS !#%* . If your axe or hatchet rather is that sweet mics are the ONLY way . You dont see grisman or bush or marshall using any pick ups. My AKG C1000 is great cheap and I play with a drummer so that should say it all.

[Lefty&French]

Quote : You dont see grisman or bush or marshall using any pick ups.

No pick ups ? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[siren_20]

Grisman doesn't use a pickup...but Sam Bush uses a barcus-berry hot dot in conjunction with a small electret condenser mic. Mike Marshall uses a Pick-Up the World piezo film pickup between the bridge base on the top.
Pickups sound like pickups. Mics sound like mics. For live stuff I use the Schertler because it doesn't feed back and sounds way more normal than a piezo device. It's a matter of personal choice...find out what you like and then stick to it.

[kudzugypsy]

bush does use a acceptable pickup configuration, but there is A LOT more going on in his signal chain to get that sweet sound. you would spend around $2-3k to get close to that level of sound quality. plus, he has been doing the plugged in thing for 30 years now, so i'm sure they have it worked out.
if i had to play in a loud situation night after night, i would just buy a cheap fender electric mando, cause that's what it will sound like anyway.

[bjc]

I think the topic has gotten off point here...no offense. I believe the gentleman was inquiring about what pick-up he should use. I didn't see that he asked about a mic. I am not sure if we have provided him with the information he was looking for.
Sorry, to bring rain to this parade.

[smokinop]

I'm very pleased with the K & K Sound Hot Spot pup that I've been using for a few months. I have plugged it straight to the pa but prefer to use it with a preamp. I've used the Baggs Para DI & also a very inexpensive Fishman preamp with great results.

[Ancient]

The Shadow 2000 pickup sounds good. It is a stick on pickup with tone and volume controls built in, and you do not need a preamp. Since it is a contact stick on pickup you can move it around for the best sound. When you don't want to use a pickup just take it off. The putty that comes with it does leave a little residue on the top but that comes off with cleaner or polish. It will not hurt the finish of the instrument.

[siren_20]

The reason that I like the Schertler is because for a pickup, it does not sound like a piezo. I really detest the way that piezos tend to sound...I think that you could get a Schertler and a decent, real tube preamp for much less than an equally-good sounding Bush setup. Again, just my $0.02...

Actually when I first started playing with a pickup, it was with a buddy's rock band...I took a $3.00 Radio Shack piezo buzzer, stripped out the piezo from the plastic housing, and soldered a cable with a female quarter-inch phone jack on it. Fit perfectly between the top and the arch in the bottom of the bridge, went directly into a solid state guitar amp. It wasn't a Schertler...but it worked and sounded OK.

[makemerry]

I appreciate all the responses and opinions. They're giving me a lot of directions to explore. Thanks everyone.

[Rob Anderson]

Since no one has mentioned it so far, I'll give a plug for the McIntyre feather. Much less brittle than a bridge mounted piezo and cheap ($110) Like an above post mentioned the rest of the signal chain is important as well and a good preamp is neccessary.
Rob Anderson-Dunamis Designs

[Hubert Angaiak]

I use a violin pickup which clips on your lower f hole. It works fine. I recently have gotten the wedge and you just put it between your bridge and base. I got these so I can remove them until I need them.

[makemerry]

is the violin pickup a small microphone? does it reproduce the acoustic sound of the mandolin very well? what is a wedge? thanks for the info.

[Hubert Angaiak]

The Wedge (http://kingbrown.netfirms.com/accessories.html)

and violin pickup (http://www.fiddlesource.com/PICKUP.HTML)
They are both piezo and do well enough in a live setting. I chose them so I can just put it on and take it off. Carry them in my case in case I need to plug in.

[mando-in-kingwood]

I use a Dean Markley Artist Model stick on pickup on my Japanese era Kentucky KM-750. Very pleased with the sound. And only $50 at Guitar Center. Take your mando in and give it a try.

[mando andy]

I use a Fishman tranducer pickup (external stick on) and run it through an ART Tube Channel preamp and it seems to have a very warm sound. #The tube preamps are known for working very well with accoustic instruments. #Check out the tube preamps.

Andy Morton
Madison, WI

[mando-in-kingwood]

I run the Dean Markley straight into the PA. Sounds fairly good....

[theBlood]

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif Relative to the Grisman/Bush comment, which is true, one doesn't also find those fellows playing in bars, competing with the crack of cue balls or other diversions, and where the nth degree of mandolin tonality can begin to seem a bit moot. If its a sit down audience the tone becomes more critical, but there are a lot of situations short of that where the convenience of a pickup is great. I have a Rigel A+ and the pre-installed pickup has saved my ### on a number of gigs. No, I'm not really thrilled with the plugged in tone by itself, but with measured reverb usage and good eq, you can have a very effective compromise with lots of volume.

JY

[mandroid]

I'll drink to that !
that should be [saved my <)*(>] http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Bren]

I use a McIntyre feather and a Fishman G5 pre-amp, a relatively inexpensive set-up, for playing in a 6-piece band with bass +drums. And our drummer doesn't do "soft". It can feed back sometimes depending on how you set up any sound monitors, but generally it's manageable, and the mandolin sound in the overall mix is very natural-sounding for such a set-up, if having a mando that can be heard over electric bass and drums in a raucous pub can be called "natural". A Baggs pre-amp is recommended for the McIntyre but I didn't have time to get one and my local shop had a Fishman. I had a local luthier install the McIntyre as it was a bit fiddly to do myself.

re: Sam Bush - I saw him with "Newgrass Revival" and Leon Russell about 25 years ago and he was using a pickup for back-up - but would move into the mike for solo breaks. Best of both worlds I guess.

[Bren]

I should add that I use quite a bit of reverb in the band situation. It sounds horrible when you play the mandolin alone, but just right when the rest of the band is firing on all five.