L
Lewguitar
Guest
http://www.d-tar.com/images/mama_bear_pic.jpg
I was knocked out by this unit when Evan demonstrated it for Curly and I at NAMM and I had to have one.
I've been using it with my Takamine EF341 acoustic electric guitars plugged into the Mama Bear and my SWR California Blonde acoustic guitar amp/pa.
It was my impression before I owned one that I would be able to plug my Takamine into the Mama Bear and get my choice of the tone of a Martin OM, Martin D-28, Gibson L-5, National Tricone, etc. That's not really the case.
The Input Source dial selects from 16 differant EQ settings. Any, except for #16 which has no EQ, gives me to many out of tune harmonics and much to crisp of a tone from my California Blonde amp. That tweeter is just so sizzley!
The Target Instrument dial lets me choose from 16 differant guitars. My faves are the Martin OM, Grand Auditoreum, Martin D-28, Jazz Guitar models and Resonator models.
But I couldn't really get what I was looking for and couldn't get it to sound as good to me as when Evan demoed it for Curly and I. So after a lot of experimenting and disappointment, I did a post on the Acoustic Guitar Forum and got some tips.
I now find that I get the best tone with the Input Source set to #16 (no EQ) and the tone controls on the SWR set at 12:00. Then I adjust the bass, mids and treble on the guitar itself and use the tone controls on the SWR just to slightly tweak the tone.
The volume on the guitar needs to be at at least 1/2 way up.
The Input Level on the Mama Bear needs to be set as high as possible without overloading. Around 2:00 seems to work well.
The output level seems to work best set to about 2:00 or 3:00 with my rig.
The Blend Control sounds best set at 12:00 to 1:00. If I turn it all the way to the left ("wet"...full Mama Bear) the tone is more airy and acoustic and 3-D but also very honky and artificial sounding through the SWR California Blonde Amp.
So what I've learned is that the Mama Bear seems to work best at adding the tone color and acoustic quality of the Target Instrument to the tone of the Takamine pickup, so that with the Blend Control at 12:00 I get 50% Takamine and 50% Mama Bear...at 1:00 it's like 60% Takamine and 40% Mama Bear.
Sometimes I'll find myself thinking "this doesn't really sound much differant than just plugging my Takamine directly into my amp!" So I'll unplug from the Mama Bear and plug straight into the front of the amp and I'm always wrong: with the Mama Bear the tone is always much better.
Better as in more air, more acoustic presence, smoother treble, more woody, etc.
But I've found that like most effects, the Mama Bear sounds best to me used subtley: to add color and acoustic presence to my guitar's tone and not to try and make my Takamine with a Piezo pickup sound like a totally differant guitar.
I'm still very much in the learning stage with this thing...but I'll say this: I wouldn't want to go back to doing a gig without it.
Without the Mama Bear I get that sizzly Piezo pickup tone that sounds so distracting I have hard time relaxing and playing. I keep wanting to reach behind me and mess with the tone controls!
With the Mama Bear, for the first time I get a tone I can live with from my Takamine Acoustic Electric.
Rick : if you're reading this I would love to have your thoughts on this and perhaps you can tell us how you use the Mama Bear. I know you have a California Blonde Amp too and I know you've worked with Jackson Browne and his Takamine acoustic/electric guitars. (I remember reading something you wrote about the Takamine Pickup/Pre-Amp sounding best back in the days when it had no tone controls at all...)
Do you have to use the "no-EQ" setting on the Input Source control to avoid to much sizzle and exagerated harmonics? Specifically, when I use any of the EQ settings between #1 and 15 and play an open G chord in the first position, harmonics at the 4th fret are just to loud. The harmonic at the 4th fret of the open D is a F# and it makes the open G chord sound like an out-of-tune major 7th.
So to avoid that, I get the best tone with the #16 setting: no EQ.
Also: how does Bruce Springsteen get such a good acoustic guitar tone onstage using the EF341SC Takamine's? I still can't get quite the acoustic quality he gets from the same guitar.
Thanks! Lew
I was knocked out by this unit when Evan demonstrated it for Curly and I at NAMM and I had to have one.
I've been using it with my Takamine EF341 acoustic electric guitars plugged into the Mama Bear and my SWR California Blonde acoustic guitar amp/pa.
It was my impression before I owned one that I would be able to plug my Takamine into the Mama Bear and get my choice of the tone of a Martin OM, Martin D-28, Gibson L-5, National Tricone, etc. That's not really the case.
The Input Source dial selects from 16 differant EQ settings. Any, except for #16 which has no EQ, gives me to many out of tune harmonics and much to crisp of a tone from my California Blonde amp. That tweeter is just so sizzley!
The Target Instrument dial lets me choose from 16 differant guitars. My faves are the Martin OM, Grand Auditoreum, Martin D-28, Jazz Guitar models and Resonator models.
But I couldn't really get what I was looking for and couldn't get it to sound as good to me as when Evan demoed it for Curly and I. So after a lot of experimenting and disappointment, I did a post on the Acoustic Guitar Forum and got some tips.
I now find that I get the best tone with the Input Source set to #16 (no EQ) and the tone controls on the SWR set at 12:00. Then I adjust the bass, mids and treble on the guitar itself and use the tone controls on the SWR just to slightly tweak the tone.
The volume on the guitar needs to be at at least 1/2 way up.
The Input Level on the Mama Bear needs to be set as high as possible without overloading. Around 2:00 seems to work well.
The output level seems to work best set to about 2:00 or 3:00 with my rig.
The Blend Control sounds best set at 12:00 to 1:00. If I turn it all the way to the left ("wet"...full Mama Bear) the tone is more airy and acoustic and 3-D but also very honky and artificial sounding through the SWR California Blonde Amp.
So what I've learned is that the Mama Bear seems to work best at adding the tone color and acoustic quality of the Target Instrument to the tone of the Takamine pickup, so that with the Blend Control at 12:00 I get 50% Takamine and 50% Mama Bear...at 1:00 it's like 60% Takamine and 40% Mama Bear.
Sometimes I'll find myself thinking "this doesn't really sound much differant than just plugging my Takamine directly into my amp!" So I'll unplug from the Mama Bear and plug straight into the front of the amp and I'm always wrong: with the Mama Bear the tone is always much better.
Better as in more air, more acoustic presence, smoother treble, more woody, etc.
But I've found that like most effects, the Mama Bear sounds best to me used subtley: to add color and acoustic presence to my guitar's tone and not to try and make my Takamine with a Piezo pickup sound like a totally differant guitar.
I'm still very much in the learning stage with this thing...but I'll say this: I wouldn't want to go back to doing a gig without it.
Without the Mama Bear I get that sizzly Piezo pickup tone that sounds so distracting I have hard time relaxing and playing. I keep wanting to reach behind me and mess with the tone controls!
With the Mama Bear, for the first time I get a tone I can live with from my Takamine Acoustic Electric.
Rick : if you're reading this I would love to have your thoughts on this and perhaps you can tell us how you use the Mama Bear. I know you have a California Blonde Amp too and I know you've worked with Jackson Browne and his Takamine acoustic/electric guitars. (I remember reading something you wrote about the Takamine Pickup/Pre-Amp sounding best back in the days when it had no tone controls at all...)
Do you have to use the "no-EQ" setting on the Input Source control to avoid to much sizzle and exagerated harmonics? Specifically, when I use any of the EQ settings between #1 and 15 and play an open G chord in the first position, harmonics at the 4th fret are just to loud. The harmonic at the 4th fret of the open D is a F# and it makes the open G chord sound like an out-of-tune major 7th.
So to avoid that, I get the best tone with the #16 setting: no EQ.
Also: how does Bruce Springsteen get such a good acoustic guitar tone onstage using the EF341SC Takamine's? I still can't get quite the acoustic quality he gets from the same guitar.
Thanks! Lew
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