repetoire for solid-body mandos

[asinger]

I had recently purchased a mandobird and with my small Roland cube amp it sounds quite good. My question here -- with the acoustic mandolin, I've developed a good repetoire of things I just love to play, principallly Bach Unaccomp violin, choros, various eastern european songs and dances, klezmer, etc, but when I play them on the e-mando, it often sounds real dumb, particularly when I add on the different amp types, reverb, echo, flanger, etc. So I'm just canvasing the group for what they play on a solid-body mando -- playing around with the effects is fun for a little while but it's starting to get old, and I don't write music.

Thanks

Alex

[Dfyngravity]

Well I play everything Grateful Dead, some Eagle tunes, Dire Straits, and hard rock/metal. You can really play anything you want on a emano, just gotta learn it. I will say that emando is quite different from playing an acoustic mandolin.

[FlawLaw]

I think that one of the nice things about a solid body electric is playing jazz and electric blues.

[seano]

Yep, jazz and blues... Emando can get old if you don't have stuff to play on it. I try not to even think of it as a mandolin b/c it plays and sounds so different (than acoustic). Probably the most fun I have w/ it is to crank up some music (rock or jazz)I can jam to and let her rip. Then if you find yourself in a situation where you get to play w/ some non-bluegrassers, you've got more to say... And as you know w/ effects you can get some really cool sounds. I think it actually helps my acoustic playing as far as new ideas and aglility...

[Ken Sager]

I don't see why the music you mention in your original post would sound "dumb" on an emando. If it's the effects you don't like leave them out. Any music, except perhaps bluegrass, can be played effectively on an electric 4 or 5 string mandolin. But now that I think about it, even with the right group of musicians bluegrass could be done well on emando, too.

We're only limited by our imaginations (financial constraints, physical barriers, and musical cohorts aside).



Best,
Ken

[asinger]

Just to say that I put up this post almost a week ago and thought I'd wait to see what I got before reposting. What I see is, first that it's good for jazz and blues, and second, that a lot of things on electric guitar in general sounds good on emando, so just go get sheet music for electric guitar for your favorite band from the 6o's to present, and have a blast. #

In terms of the last post from Ken, I haven't fully experimented with the sounds, but so far, for example Bach Unaccomp. violin sonatas and partitas, the Beethoven Sonatina, Monti's Cardas on the emando-- just forget about it. #Ken, you mentioned bluegrass, but I think a lot of fiddle tunes gotta be approached with care on the emando, partic. the moderate to up-tempo ones -- whether bluegrass or celtic or for that matter, the klezmer and eastern european fiddle tunes I'm more familiar with. #Or at least that's my opinion, I may be biased by having the acoustic sound for the tunes in my head, and they may not sound as bad on the emando as I think.

Alex

[Christian McKee]

At the risk of just being purely contrarian, I've always loved Dave Bromberg's takes of fiddle tunes on his telecaster! And I've played puh-lenty of bluegrass on my Ryder. Not a traditional sound by any means, but after a while, my ears want to wander further afield. And as far as classical music, find yourself a well-articulated pickup with lots of overtones, and an amp with the right sound (stay away from Fenders and Marshalls,) you could be the first to make it work, I think. Think of the possibilities with the additional sustain of an electric! Frankly the only thing that I don't really do on the electric is play a lot of tremolo, and other than that, I think it's all fair game.
We all get so hung up on making it sound like this or that sound we fell in love with in the first place, it can be hard to shake loose of those moorings.

Wishing I were out in the sun...

Christian

[Alex Fields]

I like the sound of bluegrass fiddle tunes on electric instruments. I heard Casey Driessen do Jerusalem Ridge with an electric guitarist and it sounded amazing on guitar: Fleck plays it on electric banjo and that sounds great too. Obviously you have to adjust a little to fit the different sound, and it won't sound like old timey bluegrass, but you can play most of the same things you'd play on acoustic and still sound good.

[FlawLaw]

I play an acoustic upright bass in a bluegrass duo. #The other instrument is a Nechville electric banjo. In many ways, I like the sound of the electric banjo better than the acoustic. #It has a mellower, more jazz guitar like tone, but can also add some twang for hard core bluegrass numbers (depending on where he picks and if he uses Scruggs style or picks the banjo like an electric guitar). #It sounds great in this setting. #The other advantage of the electric banjo is that the banjoist can use some effects, such as a chorus pedal and reverb to fatten the sound a bit so that our duet sounds fuller. #When the banjoist plays classical music on the electric banjo, it also sounds great. #

I play fiddle tunes on my electric mandolin, and I like the sound a lot. #I also pulled out a glass slide and think that there are some real possibilities for doing slide mandolin on the electric mandolin. #Finally, I think that I am going to work on classical tunes next. #I have always enjoyed playing Bach on my fretless bass and think that classical music might sound incredible on my electric mandolin as well.

I am beginning to believe that the electric mandolin is more versatile than the acoustic mandolin and really am enjoying my new Ryder!!!!

[FlawLaw]

At the risk of just being purely contrarian, I've always loved Dave Bromberg's takes of fiddle tunes on his telecaster! #And I've played puh-lenty of bluegrass on my Ryder. #Not a traditional sound by any means, but after a while, my ears want to wander further afield. #And as far as classical music, find yourself a well-articulated pickup with lots of overtones, and an amp with the right sound (stay away from Fenders and Marshalls,) you could be the first to make it work, I think. #

Christian:

What amp do you suggest?

[Dfyngravity]

When it comes to amps you really have to look at what type of music you are playing, what you want the amp to do, what you want the amp to sound like and finally the price you are willing to pay.

I think a lot of people go out and buy a 2K electric guitar or 1-2K electric mandolin and expect the instrument make the amp better. For me I look at it this way, if you are willing to pay the big bucks for the instrument, then don't skip out on the rig....expect to pay at the very least the same if not double or triple for the rig. Don't get me wrong, you can definitely find great amps at a cheap price but don't expect them to make you sound like Santana.


First off, are you using the amp for gigging? If not then you don't really need to be buying a big amp, what good does a 50+ watt do you when you don't turn it past volume 3 or 4. Actually if that's the case you have probably wasted a bit of money because lots of amp don't sound half as good at low volumes, so you are not getting it's full potential. Secondly, are you looking for the tube amp sound or solid state?....of course the newer modeling amps are good sounding amps for the money. Personally with an emando tube amps just can't be beat because they really help to take some of the edge off of the extreme highs an emando has. Next come the type of music. Are you playing jazz, rock, metal? No need in buying an amp that doesn't do what you need. I think for many players out there, a 15-30watt all tube amp will be the best bet. From there you just need to try a bunch of different ones out until you get "that sound" you are after. Plus if you are playing with no distortion and you are wanting to play jazz...or fiddle tunes....you can't get a better sound than what a tube amp will provide.

A great amp for the money is the Fender Blues Junior Guitar Amp...all tube, 15 watt, Spring Reverb for about $399 or less brand new.

[FlawLaw]

Thanks for the helpful reply. #I will look at a lower watt amp and let you know what I decide on.

[mythicfish]

I play a Wendler 8-string through a Blues Jr. If I need more volume, I place a mic in front of its speaker (12") and run it through th PA.

[Dfyngravity]

Exactly. Micing an amp is the way to go. Lots of people want to buy the biggest and badest amp, but what you really need is one that just ozzes tone. So you can spend a lot less money and just mic it when needed.

[Christian McKee]

FlawLaw, I agree fully with what others have said about wattage, I play a 15 watt amp, and have yet to need a mic to fill a room, even with a drummer banging away. As far as your choice goes, consider also that amps are designed with different purposes in mind. If you want more of that jazz guitar tone, I'd try looking into Polytones, people seem to really like them. My experience is limited. If money is no object, you might want to check out Two Rock amps, they're *astonishing*, for about 3-5k. Clarity is the name of the game there. The best advice I can give is to take your Ryder to the store, plug into a bunch of different amps and turn all their knobs every which way. When you get to the right one, you'll just know, in the same way that the right mandolin feels like it was made for you. Have fun!

Christian

[FlawLaw]

Christian:

Thanks. That was what I was going to try. I think that it will be a lot of fun to try them out, particularly at G-Center. "Hey dude, what happened to your telecaster?"

I am sorry that I hijacked the thread. Returning to the thread a bit...

I have played the following recently on the emando (using an inexpensive Crate 30 watt acoustic amp with an EHX tube preamp pedal): Temperance Reel, Blackberry Blossom, President Garfield Reel, I've Grown Accustom to Her Face, and some Bach. My Crate has a pretty clean sound, but with the tube preamp (believe it or not an English Muffin distortion pedal) and the distortion off, it really warms and fattens the sound. With both pickups going it has a very warm, jazz-guitar like sound. With the bridge pickup on it is very twangy, like a telecaster and with the neck pickup on it has a little fatter sound, but not much to my liking.

Anyway, there are two things on my wish list now, a decent all tube amp, like a Blues Jr. and the POG pedal to play with poly-octaves.

[FlawLaw]

Well, I did test some amps. My favorite of the lot was the Fender 59 Bassman Ltd relic amp. The amp had all these fake rips and stains, etc. But it had a beautiful sound, but was a tad big and heavy and I though perhaps over-kill for what I am doing (although I was tempted), so I went with my second favorite, a custom Tweed Blues Jr. with upgraded Jensen speakers. Very nice indeed and very light.