I have been thinking of (dreaming of) a Mann solid body 5 string octave electric mandolin. And someday I will pull the trigger. But until then I wanted to play with some deeper tones.
I got myself, (on the advice of my electric guitar brother) a Micro P.O.G. octave generator pedal. Works wonderfully well for what I wanted, and was so easy to figure out how to use. (I had to learn what wet and dry mean.)
So now I have what amounts to the octave electric, without a longer stretch between frets. Lots of fun.
Likely not as sharp and clean as the Mann I dream of. But more like Altoids strong mints, to tide me over till dinner without snacking.
Then I discovered what this thing really can do and I am amazed. By mixing the regular sound with a little bass octave I can get some really excellent warmth in my regular range. I hadn't even thought of that.
My brother showed me how, by mixing in the bass octave and an octave up with the main (dry) sound, and then using an effects pedal, or sliding by the mandolin volume control, I can sound very credibly like a rock and roll organ. OK not like owning a Hammond B-3, but the other night I was improvising interludes for an imaginary old time radio detective show. So much fun. What this latter has to do with music I have no clue.
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