String sound with distortion

[TonyEarth]

There is something that happens when I have distortion with my mandolin. I think the top three strings play fine, but the e string has this weird sound as if it had some sort of effect on it, instead of a solid note. i played a few notes on e too. Is there a reason for this and a way to fix it?

[Ed Goist]

I have no idea what's causing that effect, but I LOVE it!

[TonyEarth]

did the mp3 attachment work? it didn't for me.

[Ed Goist]

Hi Tony: Yes, the mp3 attachment opened fine for me. I didn't even need to save the file first, just clicked to open. Played great (more than once), and the sound quality was very good too.

[TonyEarth]

oh well that's good. i'll see if i change the strings and check the amp settings, although i'm not sure that's the problem. this kind of sound makes me hesitant to play on the e string when i have distortion on. also, it happens through any one or both pickups.

[Ed Goist]

Jeff Cowherd recommended that I keep the tone pots maxed on my JBovier EMC4 when playing it through my Line 6 Spider 75 amp. He said that most amps (since they're built for guitars) can produce odd tones on the E-string/course if the mandolin's pick-up tone pot is down. Might that be the problem?

[TonyEarth]

oh i'll see about that. well if by maxed out you mean to the right, the darker tone, then that worked out for me.

[Tom Wright]

The E is trying to be two pitches at once, and the distortion only exposes that. I guess you are making sure the other strings are damped, since they my ring with a nearby harmonic pitch. That is sometimes tricky to control, but this sounds like another issue. I'm guessing a bad string, but it could be the design of the mandolin.

I remember this was expected on the lower strings of a Stratocaster, when played up the fingerboard, and the explanation was the magnetic field of the 3 pickups caused deflection of the normal vibration modes.

Try setting the pickups lower, farther from the strings. Since you have distortion available, you don't need the maximum output from the pickups. If that doesn't do it, try replacing the string with a new one. It is possible to have a weird string, if the manufacturing was a bit off.

[TonyEarth]

i will change the string anyway because its getting a bit rusty, and readjust my pickups as you suggested. for now ed's suggestion (or what i thought he said) seemed to work out. i must say though, i feel like my electrics knowledge is expanded a little just about every time you post, tom. thanks