Finally, tried the Mama Bear

[Amateur]

I was going to try the Mama Bear the other day and I found that none of the local dealers had it in stock. One of them decided to order one so that I could try it out. It came on Friday, but I was out of town. I finally got my hands on it on Saturday morning. I tried it with quite a few acoustic electrics and I found it amazing. I could use any acoustic electric I had in my hands and emulated all the rest of the unplugged acoustic guitars I had around me. I even emulated the guitar I was playing at the moment and had one of the guys turned the volume on the amplifier all the way down so that I could compare the natural sound of the guitar and it sounded exactly like it. I even tried it with my Strat and it still sounded very close to the sounds I wanted, even with the Cool and Hot Rails I had on the solid body. I hooked it straight to the mixer and there was no DI box required. The only complain I have is that some of the mods gave so much boom that I had to cut down on the lows on my acoustic electric's EQ. This was even more acute when I tried it with my Strat. Nonetheless, I think D-TAR has a very good product and the dealer told me that he sold every Mama Bear he had as soon as he showed it to someone. Well, this one didn't take any exception. I took it home with me.

[ratherdashing]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

Cool! I think a Mama Bear is next on my gear buying list right after a new mixer.

[ArtieToo]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

Nice review. So, it even made your Strat sound acoustic? Thats very cool.

[Surgeon]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

Sounds like a great product indeed... quite out of my price-range at the moment tho...

[Pecan]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

how much do they cost anyways. I really want to try one.

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

The only complain I have is that some of the mods gave so much boom that I had to cut down on the lows on my acoustic electric's EQ. This was even more acute when I tried it with my Strat.

I think you'll find with most modelling gear, they work best with a flat EQ.

That's awesome...I've yet to come across one, but would love to give one a try.

Congrats & enjoy!!!

[Surgeon]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

how much do they cost anyways. I really want to try one.

If I remember well a price that Lew discussed in a previous thread, they are around 500$...

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

In the USA, the street price is around $350.

Mama Bear truly is a revolutionary device. The idea came from Rick Turner. He said that acoustic guitar pickup technology had reached its maturity insofar as product design was concerned. You could add multiple sources, sophisticated EQ or higher headroom (like the D-TAR Wave-Length), but at best, it’s just an approximation of the sound of an acoustic guitar.

By bringing the signal into the digital domain, we can neutralize the extraneous effect of the pickup, and add back in the natural string and body resonance of any of the 16 guitars “inside” Mama Bear. So, when you’re playing, say, your Baggs-equipped Seagull through the “Super Jumbo” emulation, you’re actually playing through an emulation based on the recording of one particular Gibson J200 (in this case, the J200 we used and the one that sounded the best, belonged to the janitor at Seymour Duncan, but we had to get it out of hock first).

The other thing the AGE (“Acoustic Guitar Emulation”) software does is something we call 3D EQ. Most EQ accounts merely for frequency and amplitude. But with 3D EQ, we figured out how to put “time” in there as well. The way an acoustic guitar note blooms and swells makes it very unique. But standard EQ can’t capture that. 3D EQ can.

I’m glad to hear that you had somewhat favorable results with your Strat. However, I must say that the AGE software in Mama Bear was not designed for use with solid body electrics. I also have to say that some of the coolest results are coming from people who didn’t follow the manual and are using it in their own unique ways. Like the guy who does loop recording and changes his emulation with each loop. Or the many folks who have stopped using mics in the studio and are just using Mama Bear.

Also, about some of the emulations being loud, keep in mind that a lot of what you’re hearing is the natural timbre of the target instrument. If you’re playing your Seagull through the J200, it’s going to sound louder than, say, the parlor guitar. We didn’t manipulate that. It’s in the emulations. Keep in mind, there's a low-cut filter to tame boominess. And you can alter the wet-dry mix.

Also, if you think you’re hearing reverb with some of the emulations, it’s just the natural reverb from the target instrument.

I’m just about to post some videos on the D-TAR site that will show John Jorgenson putting Mama through the paces. I guarantee you’ll be blown away. I don’t use the words “paradigm shift” lightly, but that’s what we have here. From now on, if you have $350 to spend on your acoustic guitar rig, you no longer have an excuse to have an acoustic guitar that sounds like a duck that just inhaled helium.

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

If you want to learn a lot more about Mama Bear, check out the D-TAR Forum. I know some of you already have.

[flank]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

please post the vid! im interested in this

[tone4days]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

i wish it was rackmounted with a built-in power supply and midi control (presets) ... having the input types and output types printed on the front of the unit would be good too ... it does sound incrfedible though, that's for sure
t4d

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

The Input Filters and Target Instruments are printed on a static cling sheet that sticks to the top of Mama Bear.

[tone4days]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

The Input Filters and Target Instruments are printed on a static cling sheet that sticks to the top of Mama Bear.

very cool

of course, in my dream world of a rackmount unit, something sticking to the top isn't going to help

[Amateur]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

Evan, you're right on the part that the Mama Bear is cool for those who don't really follow the manual directions. That's why I tried it with my Strat. What I found interesting is that most of the mixers require a DI box if you hook up an solid body electric directly to it and they still don't sound good. The Mama Bear acts as the DI box but it makes the Strat sound acoustic and it is a solid body, yet the sound is so good that it is almost unreal. It just blows the other effect gears away. As I had mentioned in my other thread before, I wanted to try the Mama Bear because I was not happy with the recordings of my acoustic electrics in my recording sessions. I am thinking about re-doing all those tracks now because of this. I am going to play around with the Mama Bear for a while and find out what else it can do. I am also thinking about installing a piezo bridge on my Strat so that I can fully utilize the Mama Bear with its bypass mode. That way, I can switch in between acoustic, clean and distorted. Time to design my switching circuit!

[Surgeon]

Re: Finally, tried the Mama Bear

In the USA, the street price is around $350.

Sorry for the erroneous info... I could've swore Lew told me they were 500$...