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by Willie P. Bennett
Welcome to the world of gear. I've heard it said that you're only as good as the tools you work with and partly this is so. But I also believe that if you don't have a specific sound in mind, you won't recognize it once you stumble across it.
And I do mean stumble.
In my hands: one 1991 Flatiron Artist 5 mandolin. I bought it brand new from the Twelth Fret in Toronto. It is made of whole woods as opposed to plywood,is X braced as opposed to tone bars. F holes, maple back and sides, spruce top, ebony fingerboard and bridge. It's had a couple of minor modifications which are ivory capped bridge and an ivory nut to enhance the sustain.
At present I string it up with D'ADDARIO J67 Mandolin Strings. They are nickel wound as opposed to bronze wound and the gauges from high strings to low strings are: E .011, A .014, D .025, G .039. Occasionally I substitute a .015 for the A string which provides a little (perhaps infinitesimal) more sustain when I'm using the slide.
The slide is 5/8's sparkplug socket. I believe that mass equals sustain.
I use a heavy flat pick and use the rounder edge as opposed to the pointed end.
The pickup that I have installed is an under the saddle frankensteined guitar piezo strip that has been cut down and shimmed the full length between the bridge and the feet of the bridge. I don't like to use a lot of EQ on the mandolin. I believe when you get the pickup in the right place, it will reproduce most of the dynamics that your pick hand can articulate.
On the floor: 6 Boss floor pedals chained/configured left to right starting with: PSM-5 Power Supply and Master Switch, TR-2 Tremolo, RV-2 Digital Reverb, DD-5 Digital Delay, PS-3 Pitch Shifter/Delay, BD-2 Blues Driver. These are all at least a couple of years old and I bought all of them used from pawnshops. All of this runs mono to an Ernie Ball volume pedal which in turn runs to a BSS (Brooke Siren Systems) AR 116 Direct Box which has the AR 117 phantom power update. This D.I. was bought used at least 5 years ago from a pawnshop.
My on stage amplifier of choice is 1970 Fender Princeton Reverb. It's 12 watts and I love the tube crush and it mike's very well. I run the amp approximately in this way: volume 4 1/2 to 6, treble no higher than 5, bass at least 5 but no higher than 7.
In my mouth: I used to use Hohner Miesterklasse harmonicas but they became too cost prohibitive. (lovely tone though). And now that they have their new modular system pretty much all their reed plates are manufactured the same.
I've moved on to Lee Oscar Harmonicas. They seem to last a long time and they hold their tuning pretty well. I use an old Hamilton harmonica holder. They don't manufacture these anymore. I prefer it because it's smaller and doesn't get caught up in the mandolin or guitar strap too much.
That's about it. When it comes to sound it's all very subjective. They don't call 'em toys for nothin'.
Go ahead and have fun!