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I was surprised and delighted at the general affordability of electric mandolins, and thought wow this is a more frugal way to indulge a little MAS. Maybe burn off some craving.
Three amplifiers and more than several pedals later I see clearly that I did not think this through. :disbelief:
Ahhhhhhh. :crying:
Three amplifiers? Are you getting ready for a stadium tour or what? Why three? I do understand the pedals...
Well one is the first one I got, a modeling amp. For learning what all sounds I can make. 20 watts. So many settings I will get a pilots license before I know what they all do.
The second, on the advice of my electric guitar brother, is a VOX AC4TV mini, 4 watt. It just makes thing loud. I use that with all the individual pedals I am playing with.
So what I have been doing, being a nerd, is learning how to "reverse engineer" the sound I like on the modeling amp, and then see what I have to do in discrete pedals to make that happen on the other amp. One for exploring, the other for fine tuning something I like and playing it out.
The third is an acoustic amp, a 35 watt Drive amp I originally got for a little Irish group I was playing with. Using a Shure SM 57 microphone I can play acoustically, only louder. I don't gig much with it, but I have made some electric friends who like to plug in their acoustic guitars and play loud with me, helping me peel the paint. Apparently its a nice amp for Taylor guitars. And vocals should this get really crazy.
Well, Jeff, I can understand you very well... Since I've got my electric octave in 2015, two electric guitar amps have joined my acoustic amp, and I'm still not done with buying pedals... :whistling:
I thought I was very clever, not getting the electric octave five string I had been jonesing for and instead getting an octave pedal. I am still curious however.
Yeah, the effects thing is a Pandora's box...
- - - Updated - - -
And the amp thing...
I found out that an electric octave, played through an octaver pedal, provides very nice bassy sounds! :grin:Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffD
These 5-string octaves are a bit strange, I think. They sound almost like guitars as they share the same tonal space, but are playable for us "mando-only"-players... I'm not sure whether such an instrument makes sense for mandolinists - I use mine to play "guitar" in a jazz band. I'm still not used to this sound, and am still searching for the right way of handling the instrument. I have trouble with my phrasing, and only seldomly incorporate the high B string in my melody playing. However, it provides a nice opportunity to throw in chord extensions.
In a nutshell: Buying such an instrument will send us regular mandolinists on a very long journey.... A fun one, of course! :)
I have 4 amps. Crap! Each has a unique sound and more variety with my pedals!
I have a Fender Acoustisonic 30 for the amplified acoustic sounds and a Fender Super Champ X2 for the electrics. I don't gig enough to warrant a large investment in pedals.
Len B.
Clearwater, FL
New to me Peavey Classic 30 (USA) handles my Rigel better than my Laney LA65D did. It and the LX65R were part of the trade for the Peavey. Kept my Laney Cub 10 for the office, and a Fender Frontman 15R for practices away.
At this point, the pedal board is pretty stable and set. I might look to replace my comp/sus with something quieter, and I'd love a smaller tuner but the Boss gives me a buffer for the chain. I thought I might drop the MXR 234 Analog Chorus, but I made the mistake of ginning up an "acoustic board" and it sounds great with the Rigel. Otherwise every other pedal is a fixture because they are all easy to use, give me the features and sound I want, and were reasonably priced.
If you have not yet picked up a DOD 250 preamp-overdrive, do so quick! They are being liquidated and are around $40 these days. Nice, sweet, medium gain pedal. It is the closest to an "always-on pedal" I have.
If you really want that beautiful tube sound, get a Univox U45B! With a bit of help from my Mooer Blues Mood or my Mooer Grey Fuzz, it just sings.
Only 3??? I went through a LOT more than that before I found "my sound" ��������Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffD