I rarely venture that way pfr... Of course the slightly better volume of that cheap mandolin I had would cease to be an issue there and the Buchanan would win out on tone and I think in feeling nicer to play too.

My Yamaha AR3 has pretty decent electronics but in my own rare home dabblings, I've wound up sending it through a Zoom A2.1 to modiy the tone a touch. My cheap Jay Turser which I like to play will plug in but isn't too clever.

I've nothing else acoustic built to plug in and attempts with external pickups haven't been that great. Mics, of the little I've acquired, Rhode M2 for voice and M5 on instrument seems to work at home as well as anything *when* I've set things up.

But that's me... I have mixer, amp, etc. too and dabble one in a while (even have Yamaha Pacifica and Roland GR55 and solid mandolin). Not averse to playing around for my own amusement and once in a while get the crazy notion I might to something... But really I think my place in music when I do get out is the sessions to informal folk club type things.