Not quite an electric, but...

[GTG]

I thought I'd link this here too (originally posted in Song-a-Week group thread). I recently got a Boss GT-10 multi-FX box, and I'm having the most fun I've had (with clothes on) since I was 12!

The Schatten VM pickup doesn't sound all that great without any effects, but it's easy to make some pleasant spacy synth-mando effects. This is a stylized (or butchered, depending on your perspective) version of Bill Cheatem, with phaser and delay effects.

[meow-n-dolin]

Not electric? Hey, that qualifies as an E-Mando. Heck, you use more effects that I do. Oh, and cool sound too.

Al

[Grinzes]

GTG, you just sold me on an acoustic with pickup instead of a solid body. Thanks for an awesome tune with an incredible sound.

[GTG]

Uh, thanks guys! I just want to add that I suspect there are some good reasons for actually playing a real emando (more driven tone, less feedback, better sustain) over an acoustic w/ pickup. That said, I think acoustic mandos are maybe more flexible for different types of music? (Blasphemy to say those words in this forum, I guess...) Many uses for both, most likely.

[Link]

Stone him! Stone him!

[Christian McKee]

I think it's really a question of the context in which you play either instrument, what each sounds like, and how you want to play them. Acoustic mandolin in the middle of a full on rock tune often sounds like a gimmick to me, and by the same token I don't play my electric mandolin with my drum-free country band because it sounds out of place. But I have played plenty of Bill Frisell rip-off stuff on my electric as an accompanist for singer/songwriter types, where the acoustic was too folky for the material. I find it's difficult for my ear to be happy with a mix of electric and acoustic instruments in a live setting - or at least, it's a difficult thing to do well. In addition, I think you'll find that you like the sounds of your effects better when they're being fed a signal from magnetic pickups, and they'll probably respond better to the stronger signal. Of course, YMMV!

Christian

[Ben Milne]

you can always throw a mic up and blend to suit...

[David Miller]

One observation that I have found, now that I am a member of both the acoustic and electric mando worlds, is that music seems to transfer much better from the electric to the acoustic, as opposed to the other way around. In other words, a tune I have worked out on the electric will sound just fine on the acoustic, or at least be workable, whereas many of the tunes I learned on acoustic just dont make the transition to the electric. That is even taking into account that I am playing a Wendler Electro-coustic, which is a pretty acoustic behaving electric mandolin. Anyone else have similar observations?