Having fun with the "Mann"

[Wupeide]

Hi All,

I have been booted from Mike Marshall's online school, until I get someone in the States to pay my tuition for another year (I am living in China and can't make the payment from here).

This has given me the chance to put down my acoustic instrument and get back the electric. There are so many great backing tracks on line: Here is a fun place to start:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv7K...v7KB-TT4EY#t=0

I've put together a little (sloppy) video demonstrating what is possible with this instrument and a few pedals.

Best wishes to one and all:



-Peter

[bayAreaDude]

Nice playing. I'm on the fence about my BOSS CS-2 and my electric and your video didn't help. I recently took it off my pedal board. One of the more difficult effects, at least for me, to dial in.

[Wupeide]

Thanks!

Nice playing. I'm on the fence about my BOSS CS-2 and my electric and your video didn't help. I recently took it off my pedal board. One of the more difficult effects, at least for me, to dial in.

It's interesting that you should feel this way. The CS-2 is one of my most important pedals.

The effect is surely the least distinct (and it does produce a significant amount of buzzing, maybe I have a bad one). However, it has become the most essential pedal for me for three reasons.

The sustain isn't fabulous on my e-mando. When I play clean, the notes have a nice ringing tone and sound almost acoustic to me, but they don't sustain nearly as long as a nice Les Paul (which is what I am really looking for, to be honest). There are also a few places on the fret board that are almost dead, in terms of sustain (e.g. low end of the D string, the first B on the E string). It might be possible to adjust the instrument a bit to increase sustain, but I have no clue how that would be done. I'll have to wait till I move back to the US, if I ever do, to get it looked at. This pedal increases sustain - and with some reverb added, I also get the illusion of even more sustain. Sadly, at home, I can't really blast my amp loud enough to generate sympathetic vibrations in the strings. That would be the best way to get serious sustain.

The quality of the tone of the notes also changes just a bit (it's very noticeable to me now, though when I first started playing with it, it was hard to hear) and the attack of the note is bit sharper, though this aspect of the effect is adjustable.

I also really need the sustain in combination with my other pedals. The distortion pedal is great but with the sustain added, it is awesome!

Anyhow, that's my $.02 on the subject. Thanks for the positive feed back. One of these days, I will actually prepare and record a full song.

-Peter

[Wupeide]

Just one more thought - though the CS-2 adds sustain - it also compresses in the process and this has negative effect on the dynamic wah pedal. You can't put the CS-2 in front of the wah because it's dynamic the compression will make changes in the volume of your playing much less distinct. Putting it after the wah also dampens the effect a bit. I still use it this way though, just because I want sustain and the dynamic wah produces a very short-lived tone, at least that's the case with my e-mando.

[bayAreaDude]

I really like the CS-2 on guitar and bass even, and it works well for me in those contexts, but for my e-mando it seems to take off a bit too much treble/brightness. I'm not done with it entirely, but I'm getting great sustain from some other pedals at the moment. For cleans to a little bit of dirt, I really like the SMS earth drive. Then I have a bigg muff clone, the Skreddy P19. They both have plenty of their own compression and I found they sound better alone than with the CS-2 in front of them. Haven't experimented too much with the CS-2 later in the chain. It could make sense to use it after to smooth out dynamics. That's the thing about a compression pedal - you can use it for multiple things. I'm pretty sure I'll find a place for it eventually with the e-mando.

I too have a deadspot I guess you'd call it - the G note on the D string. Note decays almost instantly. Not sure if this is a setup issue or not. I changed the height and length of the string and it seemed to move from the 7th fret to the 5th. Neck bow possibly? Frets. Though this is a brand new instrument. Really want to solve this.

[lenf12]

I'm having fun with my Mann too. I've owned the emando for a few years but didn't have an amplifier to play it through so it only got played if a friend would loan me one of his (not very often). Thanks to an IRS refund this year, there was finally enough cash to add an amp to the stable. It's lots of fun indeed!!!



Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[Wupeide]

That is sweet! 5 strings and carved top. Nice. I have string envy.

I'm having fun with my Mann too. I've owned the emando for a few years but didn't have an amplifier to play it through so it only got played if a friend would loan me one of his (not very often). Thanks to an IRS refund this year, there was finally enough cash to add an amp to the stable. It's lots of fun indeed!!!



Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[lenf12]

Thanks Wupeide!! The amp changes everything. I wasn't getting much use out of the Mann (SEM-5 btw) without an amplifier. The Super Champ X2 is a nice tube little combo (2 6V6s and 1 12AX7) with 2 channels and 15 watts. Channel 1 has that clean Fender sound and channel 2 has 16 amp models with both clean and distorted voices. The "gain" knob on channel 2 allows you to dial in amount of "crunch" and sustain. For playing quietly in the apartment, I turn the channel 2 volume down to 2 and the gain up to 10 and wail away at low volumes without disturbing the neighbors (yet). There's a variety of effects too like "vibratone", delay, reverb, chorus, and tremolo which can be used on either channel. I had to purchase a seperate footswitch to change channels or turn effects on/off. Seems like the footswitch should be bundled with the amp but the Fender marketing geniuses decided to sell it as an accessory for more $$. Oh well.... I'm still exploring the possibilities and having endless hours of fun. It also prompted me to take the Strat and Tele out of storage and get back into playing some electric guitar. Life is good!!

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[bayAreaDude]

Thanks Wupeide!! The amp changes everything. I wasn't getting much use out of the Mann (SEM-5 btw) without an amplifier. The Super Champ X2 is a nice tube little combo (2 6V6s and 1 12AX7) with 2 channels and 15 watts. Channel 1 has that clean Fender sound and channel 2 has 16 amp models with both clean and distorted voices. The "gain" knob on channel 2 allows you to dial in amount of "crunch" and sustain. For playing quietly in the apartment, I turn the channel 2 volume down to 2 and the gain up to 10 and wail away at low volumes without disturbing the neighbors (yet). There's a variety of effects too like "vibratone", delay, reverb, chorus, and tremolo which can be used on either channel. I had to purchase a seperate footswitch to change channels or turn effects on/off. Seems like the footswitch should be bundled with the amp but the Fender marketing geniuses decided to sell it as an accessory for more $$. Oh well.... I'm still exploring the possibilities and having endless hours of fun. It also prompted me to take the Strat and Tele out of storage and get back into playing some electric guitar. Life is good!!

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

Tube amps and e-mandos sound great together. I picked up a used Fender Deville 4x10 for cheap and really like the sound of the cabinet, sounds big and open. Love the carved top there too.

[Freddyfingers]

I notice that a lot of electric mandolin players prefer four strings. I don't see a lot of eight strings which is what I have. A mandocaster. I don't like effects on my guitar, but started to use a delay on the mandolin. I have a old chorus I might try. M amp has built in gain which I like for some blues runs. Either way its good to see some electric mandolin jamming.

[lenf12]

An 8 string electric is definitely on my radar screen but I don't yet have one. The 4 string (or my case 5 string) is really more of a little electric guitar tuned in 5ths than a mandolin, at least as far as the "feel" of it and the playing techniqes of string bending, vibrato, sweep picking, slide styles, etc. I do however miss the feel of an 8 string when playing electric because I'm more of an acoustic guy whose tastes lean towards "mandolinny" tremolo soloing (harder to do with single strings). Dang, it may be time to go shopping.....

Len B.
Clearwater, FL