mandolin pickups

what do you use? would you recommend it? any advice greatly appreciated.

I’ve got a Mcintyre pickup installed in my OM and couldn’t be happier with it.

i have a SCHERTLER’s BLUESTICK POCKET SET on my mandolin and my mandola.;

http://www.gougi.com/fr/schertle/index.html

Paul

A lot of people like Fishman’s bridge transducer unit it fixes neatly and is non-invasive. Downside is that it’s more expensive than most.

I had a Headway fitted into my Kai Tonjes mandolin and I’m delighted with it. I chose to go with a passive pickup and I use an Award Session preamp. I was unsure about the decision to go passive, but I didn’t want a lot of ‘stuff’ inside the instrument, which I also play acoustically. However, I don’t regret it - and I have had a lot of comments on the excellent sound produced through a PA.

Headway: http://www.headwayelectronics.com/
Award Session: http://xrl.us/t6yb
Kai Tonjes: http://www.kai-toenjes.de/

I have a Headway undersaddle transducer inside my Fylde mandola. My Headway is active so you have the extra weight (not a lot) of the preamp and the battery. Since the bridge is floating you have to take care not to move the bridge when changing strings otherwise you could cut the wire which comes through a tiny hole in the top. Works fine though I find it a wee bit bright at the top end.

Shure SM57 microphone. 😉
Coming from the bluegrass world, it’s tried, tested, and road worthy.

I’ll give you “road worthy”, saltcast, but I’ve always been disappointed by the accuracy of the SM-57. For just a few bucks more you can get a condenser mic that’ll make a mando sound like a mando instead of a cassette recording of a mando.

Does anybody know of a supplier of McIntyre pickups in the U.K.?

thanks for the response - i cant have the fishman as both my mandolin and mandola are of fixed bridge variety. i have a headway in the ‘dola, but nothing as yet in the ’dolin… not sure aboout the headway anymore - loads of bottom end (good thing) but that classic piezo quack is hard to get away from. i m intrigued by the schertler equipment, but i live about 500 miles from the nearest shop that DOESN’t stock them.. what d you think of yours paul95 - do you have to tweak much to get a sound? how’s feedback rejection?

hi,

i’m fully satisfied with it, no feedback at all, easy to use and easy to play (and also to tune while playing.).

You can contact them directly to find a retailer:
http://www.schertler.com/inglese/about.htm

but you have to have it fix by a luthier!!
I was lucky because i spend very often my hollydays in Brittany close to Fabrice Gougi, who is a specialist for amplifying accoustic instruments..

the price was about 400 euros for the mandolin for the bluestick set (with the preamp) and 280 for the mandola (no preamp but he had to make a new bridge)

It was a relief after using for some years a SM57 (a lot of larsen)..

Paul

The Schertler DYN is a great way to go if you have the money. I’ve used it on my mando for about 4 years now and also on my fiddle since I started playing a little over two years ago. I have the Pre-A-II but never use it, it was causing a hum with the head so I just go right in without a pre-amp and it’s fine.

They’re easy get on and off so you can use them on different instruments. Sound wise, it was a huge improvement over the McIntyre that I’d been using.

They come up used once in a while on the mandolincafe.com. A friend has the DYN PRE-A-II set on there right now, but again, the preamp probably isnt’ needed.

Clayton

I got my McIntyre pickup directly from the man. Elderly Instruments do international postage too.

I got the chance to do a head-to-head with the Fishman bridge pickup and the McIntyre leaves it for dead.

I play mine through a Baggs pre-amp which makes it sound much better, ie approximating a mic. I’ve still got mine on the outside of the mando, going into a carpenter jack thingy which attaches on the side of the mando a bit like the chin rest on a fiddle. This arrangement means you can take it off if you want. I’ve pretty much decided to get it fitted inside the beastie with the endpin plug, to get the hardware off the front.

A mic will sound much better than any pickup though and I usually have an SME 57 or similar set-up as well. If it’s a concert setting and no percussionist, that’s fine on it’s own. If it’s a noisy environment, the pickup’s easier.

Cheers
Stuart

For a supplier of McIntyre pick ups in the UK, try The Acoustic Music Company in Brighton.

Alastair