I can't play the normal bridge mounted pickups - they just pick up too much noise when ever I go into a chop. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I did hear a great sound from either a L.R. Baggs or a Barcus Berry that was just attached to the sound board the other day , but I'm really uninformed about Mando pickups so I would love to hear about any suggestions players who might have had experience amplifying with a full band may have.

I have limited experience with mandolins but I've used the LR baggs radius-m and its very nice.

Only complaint is that it had the tendency to slide which I'm sure was my fault for not having it mounted securely enough.

Check out some of the mic's used for violin.I'm installing a Fishman bridge style on a Rogue for a client and have suggested to him to run it thru the PARA since it has a gain control which helps with that extra noise factor.I'll know more Monday when I'm finish do the other work.

I recently put a K&K Twin mandolin pickup in my mando (Collings MT A-style), and like it a lot.  K&K offers both an internal or an external option for mandolins; I have the internal.  I installed this myself, using a TapaStrings endpin jack for mandolins, which was a bit harrowing, but both the mandolin and I survived the procedure.  A very clean-sounding pickup, not needing a preamp (at least through an Ultrasound AG15; YMMV).

I use the Baggs Radius p.u. on my Ratliff R5, I like it, nice even acoustic sound.
then only thing I've adjusted, is just to add a little more bass to the mix through my amp.