Mandolin and Mandola Live
Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:18 am
My apologies that I'm off topic here (i.e. not about guitar matters) but I'm sure someone who inhabits this part of the forum will have some useful advice.
The band I work with most often has recently recruited a mandola/mandoline player. Both instruments have 'stick-on' pickups; I haven't yet investigated them in any depth. My approach thus far has been to DI him into the desk - as you would with anything else with a pickup - and to give him a dedicated floor-monitor so he can hear himself. However - particularly with the mandola - it can take a lot of work on the EQ to get a sound that's distinctive enough from the one or two acoustic guitars that are usually also playing, but at the same time doesn't completely mangle the tone of the instrument.
The other problem is that to hear himself - he often finds himself next to the sax player who is "enthusiastic!" - the floor-monitor has to be at levels which everyone - including me - is unhappy with. The vocalists then complain that all they can hear is mandolin!
So those are the problems. My thoughts:
1) Can you get pods/preamps something like the Line6 range for guitars, but specifically designed for the mandolin family, which will enable the sound to be modelled somewhat more creatively than simply twiddling the desk EQ?
2) Are we being failed by the pickups? Does anyone have recommendations? I've web-browsed some of the Fishman mandolin pickups that look good, but somewhat expensive. Some of the others I've seen in the £15-£30 range seem to me to be too low-budget. Anything that anyone can recommend (NB for mandolin) in the £50-£70 range? (The guy's a charity worker with a young family so I don't want to make suggestions that he won't have a hope of being able to afford.)
3) I'm going to try him on wired in-ears at the next concert. That's something I'm OK with, but I thought I'd mention that this bit is in-hand and covered-off!
Pointers to any mandolin-specific forums elsewhere would also be helpful.
Thanks in anticipation. Mike
The band I work with most often has recently recruited a mandola/mandoline player. Both instruments have 'stick-on' pickups; I haven't yet investigated them in any depth. My approach thus far has been to DI him into the desk - as you would with anything else with a pickup - and to give him a dedicated floor-monitor so he can hear himself. However - particularly with the mandola - it can take a lot of work on the EQ to get a sound that's distinctive enough from the one or two acoustic guitars that are usually also playing, but at the same time doesn't completely mangle the tone of the instrument.
The other problem is that to hear himself - he often finds himself next to the sax player who is "enthusiastic!" - the floor-monitor has to be at levels which everyone - including me - is unhappy with. The vocalists then complain that all they can hear is mandolin!
So those are the problems. My thoughts:
1) Can you get pods/preamps something like the Line6 range for guitars, but specifically designed for the mandolin family, which will enable the sound to be modelled somewhat more creatively than simply twiddling the desk EQ?
2) Are we being failed by the pickups? Does anyone have recommendations? I've web-browsed some of the Fishman mandolin pickups that look good, but somewhat expensive. Some of the others I've seen in the £15-£30 range seem to me to be too low-budget. Anything that anyone can recommend (NB for mandolin) in the £50-£70 range? (The guy's a charity worker with a young family so I don't want to make suggestions that he won't have a hope of being able to afford.)
3) I'm going to try him on wired in-ears at the next concert. That's something I'm OK with, but I thought I'd mention that this bit is in-hand and covered-off!
Pointers to any mandolin-specific forums elsewhere would also be helpful.
Thanks in anticipation. Mike