Garlic Breath
58 posts
Aug 19, 2016
8:55 PM
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Wondering what battery powered amp you would chose as your ideal busking rig as well as any accessories. Would like to set up a rig which would allow for both clean Piedmont style playing, and crunchy Chicago growl at volumes appropriate for a small,up close audience to a large, charged up crowd dancing and clapping along. I've seen some small 9v amps which might be fine for the small crowd, and some more powerful ice cream truck type amps that utilize a 12v battery. I'm guessing either way, you're dealing with transistors rather than tubes, and wonder if they can give a nice overdrive sound without help from a stomp box of some sort. I have a Lone Wolf Harp Break, and Harp Shield, and wonder if they are just as useful with transistor amps. Please share your experience and knowledge as to gear and use considerations, as well as what items you would chose to achieve the best sound within the stated scenarios. Thought about setting up a hand truck with mounted 12v AGM battery and amp, plus 1 or 2 speakers that could be unfastened to place where needed.
Last Edited by Garlic Breath on Aug 19, 2016 8:56 PM
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groyster1
2871 posts
Aug 22, 2016
1:36 AM
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my pignose is awesome with delay pedal added
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Martin
1057 posts
Aug 22, 2016
4:00 AM
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This comes up frequently and you´ll probably find lots and lots of info in the archives.
I use, and recommend, a Roland Mobile Cube. Small (indeed), loud, relatively battery friendly, you can get clean and dirty sounds. It´s not cheap, however.
I use it with various microphones, but maybe the best output comes with my Audix Fireball.
Pedals don´t do much for it, in my experience.
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Thievin' Heathen
819 posts
Aug 22, 2016
4:51 AM
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I built a combo using a 12VDC amp for computers. About 50 watts into 2 6x9 Alnico speakers from an old home organ. Pine box, about 14"x24", from 1x12's. Sturdy enough to sit on. Powered by a 15 amp hour, sealed wet cell 12V battery. By the numbers it's good for about 30 hours, but I've never run it completely down. Charges off my trickle charger or cigarette lighter. I play it through an old Realistic mic with built-in reverb.
I used it in a bar a couple of weeks ago and it held it's on with the rest of the 120V amps.
There is also a battery operated Peavey out there that lives up to the Peavey reputation. Loud and durable. I've got one of those too, but it's too small to sit on.
Last Edited by Thievin' Heathen on Aug 22, 2016 4:53 AM
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mlefree
742 posts
Aug 22, 2016
9:13 AM
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My next amp will be the ZT Lunchbox Jr.
Loud, gritty and battery powered. I have a friend who uses it for all his gigs, mic'ing it for larger venues. He loves it.
Michelle
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SilverWing Leather - Custom leather creations for musicians and other eccentrics.
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MyLittleEye
3 posts
Aug 30, 2016
9:06 AM
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- Then I saw her Pignose. Now I'm a believer!
I own the Roland Microcube but I don't rate it as highly others seem to on various harmonica forums. I find that on all settings I can hear dissonant overtones particularly when I try to blend notes on a 4/5 draw; a sort of burring sound which to my ear, greatly detracts from the tone. Regardless of all the amp modelling features available I find myself having to select a very narrow range of tone/volume/gain settings in order to minimise this "burr".
So I picked up a VOX DA-5 because I'd heard good things about that too.
It's about a half inch bigger in all dimensions which doesn't sound much but it's significantly less portable than the Microcube when hauling it over public transport. It has a correspondingly bigger tone due to its slightly larger speaker, however I was disappointed to find that it, too, suffers from the same dissonant overtones as the Microcube. Again, despite all the DA-5's modelling it necessitates a quite narrow range of settings to get a reasonably presentable tone.
On both amps I liked the built in delay and reverb effects; the Roland was simpler to operate; the Vox has a few more features but with fiddlier complexity - I can't place one amp above the other since each has equal trade-off/advantages over the other.
Both are fine amps. however the fact that I find myself using just a limited range of settings on them caused me to reconsider an amp I had previously dismissed as an 'un-cheap' retro, one trick pony: The Legendary** Pignose 7-100
It was surprisingly hard to come by in the UK but despite it's Legendary status I eventually found one in existence on Ebay, reasonably cheap.
I got it mostly because it still looks rather cool. I did not expect to be as impressed by it as I am now; I at last understand that its cult status is due to the fact that its capability adds up to more than the sum of its apparent limitations.
What I found with the Pignose is this:
1: Its first winning feature is its sheer simplicity - the single control determines both the volume and the distortion and is best controlled by balancing between amp volume and the microphone volume. Tone colour can be altered by simply propping open the case; it's surprisingly effective! - This casual and effortless operational procedure needs to be experienced to be rightly appreciated: Just turn it on and go!
2: Tone - It's right there as soon as it's switched on, and best of all without the dissonance I hear on the other amps. There's no the fiddly settings to remember or adjust beyond volume/overdrive. It sounds great even without any delay, reverb or chorus.
3: No Digital Effects - Well, it manages fine enough thank you without the guitar orientated whistles and bells of those sophisticated modelling amps. Its simple old school, analogue, transistor Blues/Rock delivery seems to me a warm, round and beefier sound than the colder, more clinical digital output.
4: I recently read that the the Harmonica is perhaps the most challenging instrument for digital processing on account of its sound wave having a broken up profile much like a picket fence, unlike the simple sine wave of a vibrating guitar string. I can imagine how this might suffer interference issues with sampling frequencies and wonder if this might account for the dissonant "burr" I experience with both my digital amps. I was interested to learn that the harmonica of Henri Mancini's "Moon River" is the test piece that state of the art Dolby software testers use for aural assessment.
5: Whilst I have little use for reverb or chorus I will most likely supplement the Pignose with an analogue delay pedal. The Behringer VD400 is the poor man's Boss DM-2. It offers, for just £20, true analog Bucket Brigade BBD circuitry and all the vintage tech delay a harmonica really needs but without the digital capabilities that pander to fancy guitarists demands and the complexity/expense that comes with all that Eno-esque nonsense.
6: Portability - Not only is it significantly smaller than the other two amps (but still sporting a hearty 5" speaker), it opens up like a suitcase and with some care I can fit in my bottle 'o' blues mic, 5 Harmonicas and a 3m vintage fabric lead (coiled around the speaker)
My Best Rig in Summary:
- Pignose 7-100 - (If Padddington Bear played harp it would be through this, with a marmalade sandwich inside !)
- Vintage style 3m fabric cable (for retro goodness!);
- Bottle 'o' Blues Mic - Oh, BTW this is a great first mic - It may not have that coveted "Chrystal Honk" folks pay $£$£$'s seeking out but it's dirty enough to please the masses and will always standby as a practically indestructible kick-around/backup. Plus it has the all important volume pot and it slots right inside the pignose as if it were tailored for it!
- Behringer VD400 Analog Delay - for about £20 it does just what any harp needs; no more, no less. - In combination with the pignose, this ensures the harmonica's 'picket fence' waveform signal flows entirely through 70's/80's era analog technology without being digitally diced up.
Pól
p.s. for why harmonica is so hard to reproduce digitally see below; particularly the Moon River reference from "The Grapes of Math" - Alex Belos:
www.wired.com/2014/06/the-fourier-theorem-science-of-music-acoustics/
Last Edited by MyLittleEye on Aug 30, 2016 10:07 AM
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Popculture Chameleon
167 posts
Aug 30, 2016
11:09 AM
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I have thought about getting a mini mp3 amp from honkin toms or something of the like. Since I started messing with a chromatic I really don't use much in pedals I have a looper pedal and I am saving up for a harp reverb from LWB Just for busking and light home use. was wondering if anyone has ever tried using one of these amps from Honkin tom
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1847
3643 posts
Aug 30, 2016
1:24 PM
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digital delays typically have an analog circuit, usually it is just the echo that gets digitized.
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Harmonicatunes
177 posts
Aug 30, 2016
10:57 PM
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I've been using the ZT Lunchbox Junior for about a year. Tiny, does the job for me.
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Tony Eyers
Australia
www.HarmonicaAcademy.com
everyone plays...
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tbang
51 posts
Sep 06, 2016
7:30 AM
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What happened to the Piedmont style of acoustic playing..? That's the rig! :)
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TetonJohn
299 posts
Sep 06, 2016
3:17 PM
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Looks like you could wear that lunchbox jr. around your neck and march in a parade!
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JInx
1224 posts
Sep 06, 2016
7:56 PM
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Under a bridge in Central Park. Recording King 12 fret. Blues tools harp rack. Crossover in C. 1/2 pint Svedka vodka.
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