Comparing 3 Mandos

[derbex]

I'm tempted to say 2-3-1 just to be different, but actually 3-2-1, not much between 2 & 3, 3 is more 'balanced' but the top notes seems a bit constrained.

[Don Grieser]

Thanks for joining in and giving your opinions.

#1 is a Heiden A5. I definitely didn't do it justice playing it or maybe the H2 was too close and it needs some room for the sound to develop. Or maybe I haven't been playing it enough lately. Here's a better recording of it.


#2 is a Passernig F5. I didn't do it justice either. Here's a better recording.


#3 is a used 2015 Ellis A5 I recently got. I'm very impressed with it and it sounds like all of you are too. I've owned a couple earlier Ellis A5s and ended up selling them. This one is really great and it's a keeper.

I'll post a recording of this same tune using my new Girouard 2 pt oval too just for fun.

[MontanaMatt]

Cool

[HonketyHank]

I am late to the game, but I liked #3 best, too.

[mtucker]

I should have warmed up a little more. I didn't get the best out of #1.

takes probably 10-20 minutes to warm these critters up also especially if they haven't been played for a few weeks...about as cantankerous as this old beast! Lol's. Thanks for the blind test Don...

click the photo a few times

[9lbShellhamer]

I liked 1, then 3 was a close second, then 2. This is awesome since the heiden a5 is actually my "holy grail" mando (and I'm also pretty passionate about getting an Ellis a5 someday.) Thanks!

My perfect mando would be the bass tone of the Ellis and the treble tone of the heiden...

[Glassweb]

3-2-1 to my ears.

agree with Mike

[derbex]

Interesting, I like no. 1 a whole lot better in the video and I am less convinced by 2. I suppose it just proves that you have to play them yourself.

[Mike Snyder]

The videos differ significantly from the initial recordings and the visual presence causes my personal preferences to kick in. I'm liking that Passernig a bunch.

[billkilpatrick]

The videos differ significantly from the initial recordings and the visual presence causes my personal preferences to kick in. I'm liking that Passernig a bunch.

Scroll magic ...

[Mike Carrier]

What are people's thoughts on the perceived differences in tone and volume between recorded mandolins versus live, in person, listening? I love the sound of a recorded D-18, but in a packed jam session give me a D-28!

(Sorry, I'm a reformed guitarist.)

[James Rankine]

I think you did do number 1 justice. As I said, for me it is the stand out mandolin and closest to the bluegrass holy grail. It has a fundamental tighter more focussed sound. 2 and 3 have more overtones which can stray into tinny. My Eastman would stack up against 2 and 3 but not 1 (not a criticism of 2 and 3, the Eastman is a great sounding mandolin if you listen without prejudice, just not as dry and focussed as 1). A range of opinion, though, from everyone shows there is no right or wrongs as personal preference is a subjective thing. Sorry haven't seen the subsequent videos (my computer is not showing embedded youtube video at the moment).

[fscotte]

Really gotta be controlled environment for a/b tests, same room, same distance, same pick attack, everything.

[James Rankine]

Really gotta be controlled environment for a/b tests, same room, same distance, same pick attack, everything.

Yes of course. Hats off to Don for doing this - there isn't enough scientifically approached blind testing of mandolins. There's a group of instrument testers doing blindfold comparisons of electric guitars on you tube from Anderton's music shop, custom shop versus basic model, valve amp versus transistor that sort of thing (brave for a music shop selling high end kit to host this) - makes for interesting viewing.

[James Rankine]

Actually I just threw in the Eastman comment expecting a "no way an Eastman is going to stack up against an Ellis" reply when the answer is how would you know unless you blind tested them. You're too smart to take the bait!

[Don Grieser]

Really gotta be controlled environment for a/b tests, same room, same distance, same pick attack, everything.

I tried to do this. Strings were all Curt Mangan in the J74 gauge, all of them were within a week or so in age of each other. BC CT55 pick, sat in the same place, tried to hold the mandolins so they didn't get dampened by my body, (no tonegard) tried to play the same way as much as possible, but that's the big variable. Obviously your playing responds to how the mandolin responds, so that kind of throws out the controlled situation.

[sgarrity]

1-3-2 There is tremendous power in the notes of mando 1. That mando will fill a room with sound and still have cutting power. Mando 3 has a more modern, bassy, open airy quality to the notes. Mando 2 is probably a more traditionally voiced red spruce topped instrument. Would probably sound better if driven harder.

[cayuga red]

The videos differ significantly from the initial recordings and the visual presence causes my personal preferences to kick in. I'm liking that Passernig a bunch.

I agree. The Passernig is a wonderful mandolin.

[Northwest Steve]

#3, 1, 2 - now I have to go back and see what they were.

[colorado_al]

I like the dry woody sound of #1, and the bass response seems fuller to me. Then #3, and lastly #2

Edit - Now I've read on to where they are named. "Best" sound is in the ears of the beholder, I guess. Still, to really get an idea of what is best, one has to play them. I'm happy to provide my address if you'd like to send them my way for an extended in-person trial!

[almeriastrings]

Actually I just threw in the Eastman comment expecting a "no way an Eastman is going to stack up against an Ellis" reply when the answer is how would you know unless you blind tested them. You're too smart to take the bait!

I have done. I had one Eastman F (MD815V) and an Eastman A (MD805) in the same room with quite a few other mandos including a Gil, a Heiden (F) a couple of Gibson Ferns, two Northfields (one my own Big Mon the other a lacquer model) a Kentucky KM1500 and an Ellis.... sorry to disappoint, but absolutely no contest at all. That was in a blind test, with them played behind an acoustically transparent screen. The two Eastmans were bottom of the pile. Of the lower cost mandolins, only the KM1500 really held up well in that company. At the top, more a question of taste and preference than anything, but all agreed the Gil, the Heiden and the Ellis were top of the tree. The Northfields were both well liked, and one of the Ferns in particular got a lot of votes. We did this as 'light entertainment' at a mandolin workshop last year...

While you can 'compare' like-for-like, i.e., a recording made under the same conditions with another identical recording, what you cannot do is then go onto make assumptions that 'in real life' yet another instrument will be better or worse. Sometimes not really great instruments can record well, but perform very poorly 'in person' (and vice versa, though that is less usual). The only way to know for sure is to sit down with them in the same room and hear them for real - both playing them and hearing from a distance, in front. That is when the differences really become evident.

[red7flag]

#3 by a slight bit over #2 and a bit more over #3, but all three were really close and clearly top quality instruments. I did not know the instruments when I rated this. My preference for Ellis shows up pretty clearly. As Andy said, the difference between the top can come more as a factor of taste. Don, I was greatly impressed with the Heiden in the second tape, where it showed off its depth of tone and projection.