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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Rig and gear set up for back packing
Rig and gear set up for back packing
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SoulHarp
34 posts
Sep 09, 2014
3:15 PM
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Hello Harmonica friends, I have a few questions :
I will be traveling trough south america for the next year sharing my love for music and the harmonica.I need a few pointers on how to down size my whole set up. I play with an audix fireball microphone into a Rp355 it gives me great choices but for backpacking I need a small rig , I mean TINY something that can all fit and be packed into a backpack !!
1. What Microphones do you recommend that have a bite and will give me a gritty tone when its directly played into a PA ? I won't be able to carry an amp or anything else for tone, I will keep my Audix fireball for clean playing but I need a gritty sound for chicago sounding stuff. I am considering the Mad Dog shaker, ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS ?
2. I need a Soft case that can hold 18-30 harps and fit in a backpack ? What I have right now is a big wooden box, does anyone have any experience with lightweight cases that they recommend.
3. I play half valved diatonic , I need about 30 sets of valves to revolve my old harps. Is their anywhere that I could get a bulk deal on them ?
4. I also play slide guitar along with a harp rack , but I'm thinking about starting to use some kind of mic/harp/micstand holder. any recommendations ?
I mostly play Manjis which have steel reeds , not sure if the harp lock would work ?
5.And for a non techie questions , Do you have any songs you recommend that are globally appreciated/recognize to learn on harmonica?
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smwoerner
267 posts
Sep 09, 2014
4:15 PM
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As someone who has lived out of a truck for a couple of years while on the road, spent months wandering Spain, Portugal and north Africa and have done more than my share of other trips…take less, much less.
Unless you have set gigs and know for sure you’ll need specific gear, take less. Use this as a way to challenge you creatively by taking less. It’s been my experience and that of most all of the long term travelers I’ve met that the less you carry the more fun you’ll have. Eventually you’ll stop missing the stuff you don’t have with you and start to enjoy what you have more, and you’ll do more with it than you ever thought possible.
Hit the road with about 12 harps and expect them to get beat up. My go-to case for my motorcycle (a beat up dual sport) is an old zip up case for a flat umbrella that I got as a promotional item. It’s about 3” wide X 1.5” thick and 9” long. I can fit 8 harps in it stacked 4 on 4. I’ve joined a lot of jams with this and played some stuff I never would have otherwise.
The Fireball should be durable so that’s a good choice. Otherwise just grab an old 545 or something and figure out how to make sound dirty. Remember, if your there to share you music expect to have other share you mic. Throw in some disposal harps to hand to the folks that want to play. It will happen.
Make up a couple of replacement boxes with you main keys that folks can ship to you. The majority of your time will be spent moving so pack for moving knowing that the easier the traveling the better the playing.
Just my thoughts after ditching a lot gear along the road.
Oh, learn some Beatles songs, they will serve you well. And, the local national anthem is always cool to bust out.
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Purveyor of Optimized New and Refurbished Harmonicas.
scott@scottwoerner.com
Last Edited by smwoerner on Sep 09, 2014 4:19 PM
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STME58
1056 posts
Sep 09, 2014
7:44 PM
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I don't backpack and harp is incidental to my travels, But I like the Seydel soft cases. They hold 14 harps each and I can fit two of them in m briefcase. I don't get much hassle from security like I have when I had harps in individual cases scattered through my briefcase. The down side is, long harps like Hohner SBS, tremolos or Chromatics don't fit in these cases.
I can second from my (limited) experience that Beatles songs and national anthems are good to know.
This is a little off topic for this forum but I know there are a few other harp players who are also brass players on this forum. I am on a trip to Shenzhen right now and along with my harps I packed a Jiggs P-Bone mini Alto trombone. IT is very light and travels well. The sound is good but the "sweet spot" is smaller on this plastic horn than on a brass horn. Now when I return my brass chops will not have suffered from inattention. I was a little concerned when the doorbell of my hotel room rang when I was playing this weekend (I had visions of Mark Twains essay on the topic) but it turned out to be housekeeping coming to make up the room!
Last Edited by STME58 on Sep 09, 2014 8:13 PM
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Komuso
410 posts
Sep 09, 2014
8:13 PM
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+1 on the Seydel soft case. I manage to squeeze 19 in mine (mix of Lee Oskar tunings + 4 manji's), 17 in the main part and 2 along the back spine.
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Paul Cohen aka Komuso Tokugawa
HarpNinja - Your harmonica Mojo Dojo
Bringing the Boogie to the Bitstream
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