New to electric

[JeffD]

I was in a new music store the other day and tried out an Epiphone 4 string Mandobird. I plugged it into their amp and man was that fun.

It was alittle painful because my caloused fingers match a regular 8 string mandolin, and the single string found the gap between.

I can quickly see that it requires a different way of playing - have to work to get the sound to stop! I played a few modal fiddle tunes, which sounded kind of like "out there" rock and roll, and then a few lame attempts at electric blues, which sounded just like lame attempts at electric blues.

I am not sure where this is going except that it is a lot of fun - and I may have at last found something with which to overpower the banjo player!

[Dfyngravity]

Welcome to the emando side of the world/cafe. It's just like the commercial says "once you pop, you can't stop!"

I now play my Mann 5 string almost exclusively, which is sad because I have a killer Red Diamond F5 that hasn't seen a whole lot of attention here lately. Although I am thinking about letting her go to fund a new amp for my 5 stringer. Anyways, yes they are extremely fun, very versatile and definitely loud enough to absolutely crush a banjo players confidence.

Plug er' in, and let er' scream!!

[JeffD]

So, this is what I am thinking of doing. I'll purchase that Epiphone 4 string Mandobird, and get one of those Roland Micro Cube amps.

It seems I could go a lot crazier and not get much more out of it.

Banjos beware, your days are limited!

[Strange1]

As I have mentioned before I have a LH 1959 elec Fender 4 string mandolin (Mandocaster?). I played that for about 40 yrs before I bought an acoustic and now it is just gathering dust but it is there in case I need it.

Jack

[Christian McKee]

JeffD, there's a *lot* more you'll get out of it, but e-MAS and AAS can be hideous banshee mistresses. If you really start to get into this electric thing on it's own terms, you'll start to feel the pull of better amps and instruments pretty quickly, and be rewarded in appropriate measure, same as any other music endeavor.

C.

[Ken Sager]

One of the best cures for the acquisition syndrome is buying good stuff from the outset. Do some serious shopping before you do any serious buying.

E-mando is a fun place to be.

Love to all,
Ken

[JeffD]

The learning curve seems kind of steep. I saw a whole wall display of foot switches and pedals and, oh my. And I just drew a blank with all the names of the effects - buddha wha? digital phase delay? And a lot of the stuff in this section of the cafe is beyond me at this point.

Part of the problem is that I haven't spent enough time with rockers to get the lingo down, and I haven't listened to enough rock to absorb the vibe.

But that mandobird was sure fun. I played an open string with melody over it, and that string rang and rang and rang and... It was a joy. My only attraction to the Roland micro cube is that it looks relatively easy to figure out, and is portable, and affordable. I don't have experience enough to distinguish the quality of sound from an amp.

I would very much benefit from a foot pedal workshop! What do all those things do? They look so cool - and set up guys spend more time twiddling them knobs than they do tuning the instruments, it looks like anyway.

Do you really need a pilot's license to figure out all those controls?

[gschmidt]

Ok, how many of you just eBayed "Mandobird".

Guilty....

[EdSherry]

If you want to figure out what different pedals do, Boss has a good booklet (available at Boss dealers) describing what the pedals are and what they're used for. #

Here's a link to a PDF version:

http://www.bossus.com/Manuals/3884_G..._US_200(1).pdf

If I recall correctly, the latest versions of the booklet come with a CD so you can hear what they sound like.

[Mike Handley]

At musiciansfriend.com there are also sound clips for most pedals anymore.

[wah]

Don't forget, however, to bring your mando in and play it through the effects before you buy. An e-mando is not a guitar and sounds different through the effects. What works for a guitar doesn't necessarily work for a mando.

There, I just saved you some money.

Wayne

[Christian McKee]

JeffD, I completely understand your sense of intimidation! I've learned slowly over time, and that's the way it goes. It may help you to get an electric guitarist friend to walk you through the pedals they use, for most people it boils down to variations on a theme (something for distortion, something for modulation of tone or pitch like a wah or chorus pedal, and something to play with time like delay or echo.) You can make it as complicated or as simple as you like, and amps are the same way. Here's my take on Amps 101:

"Tube" or "valve" amps sound warmer, and are usually more dynamically responsive than solid-state amps. They are also usually more expensive to purchase and repair, and the older ones may sound *great* but be more prone to needing repair. You'll want to consider how much power (wattage) you need. The more you have, the louder you'll be able to play before distortion sets in. If you want to play clean sounds with a hard hitting drummer, you'll need something between 30 and 50 watts. If you want a little distortion in your sound, you can go lower. I play 15 watt amps (A Fender Pro Jr. and a Laney LC15-R,) and can get a very satisfying range of sounds from clean to broken up and feeding back. After that, the next big thing for most amps is whether they have one or more channels. If the amp is multi-channel, you'll have one that's "clean" and another that's "OD" or "Lead," something to that effect. This will allow you to jump from a clean sound, to a driven sound without the use of an effects pedal, and will also make your amp more repair-prone over time.
My preferred method for finding an amp is to go to a store that has a wide spectrum of them on the floor, bring your mandolin, and play for several hours. Fiddle all the knobs, listen real close to the difference between them. When you plug into the right amp, you will know it right away. Remember, when you're playing an electric instrument, your instrument isn't just what you have in your hands, it's equally comprised of the things that it's plugged in to.

Christian

[JeffD]

Remember, when you're playing an electric instrument, your instrument isn't just what you have in your hands, it's equally comprised of the things that it's plugged in to.

That is a good way to look at it. And in making my purchase I have to take that into account.

Can you explain clean and lead again? That one confuses me. Lead has distortion and clean doesn't? I noticed it on a lot of amps - and some of them allowed switching between the two via foot switch.

[Christian McKee]

That's exactly it. To me, a really useful lead channel is one that has a full range of tones in it, an can be used either as a volume boost, or a add some real screaming. Being able to make that transition via footswitch is really nice.

Christian