A question Paul asked in the Fullerton FS thread got me thinking about mics, pickups, amps and headphones.
Paul asked if there was an easy way to amplify a mando into in in-ear bud for monitoring.
That mini-mic is the only pickup I use now on my mandolin. When we play amplified gigs I put that mic through a Fishman ProEQ II preamp…
and then into my Marshall AS50D.
When necessary that is either miked or line into the PA.
The Marshall is a great little 50w combo. One of the channels has an XLR with phantom power. At a pinch I could put both the mandolin and a vocal mic through it if I had to.
It has reverb, chorus and a range of anti-feedback features, DI and line-out and FX loop. Best is it only cost me £150! Weighs a freakin’ ton though…
It’s a simple and inexpensive set up, but works fine for what we do. No stadium gigs so far…
I’ve used this clip-on gooseneck audio-technica mic, clipped onto the tailpiece and pointing at the bass soundhole, run into a Fishman preamp and from there straight into the PA. It works pretty well, though it tends to be kind of harsh without some skillful eq-ing. If I were shopping now I’d be more inclined towards the K & K Silver Bullet, which is a better and less expensive mic.
For a while I played into a stand-mounted SM-57. That was back when pickup technology for mandolins was practically non-existant. When Ovation came out with their mandolins I jumped on it. I played an MM-68 from 1995 until 2005 when it came to a bad end in an accident. I replaced it with a Michael Kelly FS-E. That’s the F-style with the on-baord Fishmand pickup system. I’m still using it, but it’s not really that road-worthy an instrument. It’s starting to break down after only two years. I’m planning on getting another Ovation this Spring.
As for amps I plug directly into a PA system to perform, but I own one of those acoustic amps like your Marshall. Mine is the Crate version, but it’s very similar, including the weight!
Same here. Mine has a pair of 8" drivers with alarmingly large magnets and a piezo tweeter, plus all the extra electronics for instrument and vocal channels. It’s quite compact, but surprisingly heavy, and remarkably loud. It can easily handle any small venue, and even quiet crowds of 200. It has a power transfomer that must weigh 15 pounds by itself. I’ve heard acoustic amps described as a “single-cabinet PA” which kind of makes sense. I actiually bought the thing to amplify a 22 string harp that I had wired with a pickup, but I never use it anymore.
I have a McIntyre piezo pickup on the front of my Flatiron, use a LR Baggs Paracoustic DI as a preamp, from there either direct to whatever PA is being used. For small gigs, I like to use a Roland AC-60 or for just some light reinforcement, a Roland Cube Street.
For my Sobell mandolin, I have a Radio Shack / Crown PZM microphone (just the finger with the element in it, not the plate) inside the mandolin, using the back as the plate, wired to an end jack, with the electronics in a box outside the instrument, and I feed this into the PA. It is mounted on the back on the treble side. It sounds great with no EQ needed. I imagine this might be hard to do with a mandolin with a smaller oval or especially F shaped soundholes!
It is the Radio Shack old model, something like #3090B. Crown made the element for RS. It is probably 1990 vintage or so. RS then made the electronics, which are ok but I am having a guy made a custom battery pack / preamp for it. The old RS PZMs all had Crown elements, so I have been told.
But yeah, just unscrew the finger from the plate on this or other PZMs (I had one from Crown and put it in my Sobell OM years ago, same story, great sound) and use the back as the plate.
I saw one that had a small microphone installed through the endpin. I suppose any of the contact mics or pickups would work (the kind that stick on with tape or putty). There are piezo bridges for both arch top and flat top mandos with ‘carpenter jacks’ that attach to the rim like a violin chin rest. Working inside a Tacoma might be trickier than other mandos, but there are a number of ways to skin the cat.
I recently got a “Pick up the World” mandolin pickup that slides under the feet of the bridge on my F-style, comes with the carpenter jack. I run it through my old Passac pre-amp and into the PA or into an old Polytone for venues where I need the stage volume. It sounds very natural either way. Don
hi buddha
K&K Sound have been geting very positive reviews s much so I checked them out and have installed one iin my main performing guitar - a twenty odd year old original George Lowden and its the best pickup i’ve ever used.
there here
AER Compact 60 Combo - dont know how that would sound with a mando - worth a try?
good luck
Geordie
PS
hey liestman
yea I have one of those PZM’s in a cuboard somwhere and remember having the same idea as you but it just feed back on a (sensitive) guitar.
Some Tunes http://www.myspace.com/geobow
