Tech: Mandolin pickups

Subject: Tech: Mandolin pickups
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Jan 23 - 08:09 AM

The search engines appear still to be down. I'm sure that there have been threads on this but I cannot find them.

A friend of mine has just bought a BM700 scroll mandolin - and wants to amplify it. He does not want to drill holes in it. I have never yet heard a stickon that was any good, but I think I have seen replacement bridges with an undersaddle built in.

The mandolins are not real entry level, about £400 UKP. He does not want to spend a lot on a pickup as he mostly plays guitar.

Suggestions please.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mandolin pickups
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jan 23 - 11:31 AM

Use Google search (this is advanced search) and plug in the domain along with your search terms.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mandolin pickups
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 09 Jan 23 - 12:18 PM

I had K&Ks in my Fylde mandolins. Sounded great, warm and rich. No batteries, nothing under the bridge to bugger up unplugged tone. And comparatively cheap. The mando player in my band has K&Ks in his Collings mandolin, he loves it.

https://www.kksound.com/mandolin-twin

Subject: RE: Tech: Mandolin pickups
From: gillymor
Date: 09 Jan 23 - 12:23 PM

I've got a K&K soundboard pickup in my Davy Stuart Andylin (long neck mandolin) and it works well but it's passive and I run it through a compact Baggs Para DI and into the PA or sometimes a Marshall Acoustic Soloist which contains a pre-amp and the sound is pretty good when the amp is tweaked just right.

In my Crump Bouzouki I've had a LR Baggs Lyric pickup installed which is actually a mic with a sound board sensor and the sound is great. I've never used it in a really high volume situation but it performed very well at a small outdoor festival and was used mostly in a bar gig where it also did well. It includes a pre-amp in the end jack and small volume control mounted inside the sound hole that comes in very handy. You can run it straight into a P.A. Wether or not Baggs makes one of these for a mandolin or wether the above will adapt to a mando I cannot say.

All that said I haven't plugged these instruments in a few years as I only use them in small living room jams so I'm not sure how the technology has developed.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mandolin pickups
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 10 Jan 23 - 05:12 AM

I have a K and K twin fitted in one and a Baggs fitted in another. Hard to say which is better, but both work best through a pre-amp rather than straight to PA. Both can be a bit fierce when fully amplified, echoing any unintentional hand and finger movements on the mandolin top, but I’m sure that could be eradicated by someone better skilled than I with EQ knobs and dials. Sadly, there is usually little time to experiment in live gigs, and typically the guys on the sound desk wrongly assume that mando and banjos are no different to guitars when it comes to amplification.