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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Best type of amp.
Best type of amp.
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hot4blues
19 posts
Jan 28, 2017
6:59 AM
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Hey guys (& ladies, I'm sure). I'm sure the topic was mentioned earlier, but how much earlier, I don't know. But I have a question, so forgive me if I missed the answer. My question being, if I want to use an amp for my harps, should I use a standard amp (IE: Marshall, Vox, Peavey, etc), or should I go with a bass amp (I also play bass & have a 25 watt Hartke amp), or even perhaps an amp used for accoustic guitars? Sorry if my post is lengthy.
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NiteCrawler .
343 posts
Jan 28, 2017
8:08 AM
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If you go onto Blues Harp Forum and hit forum search and enter best harp amps. That will give you some answers that have been asked through the yrs.I hope this helps.Otherwise play through your Bass amp,dial it in and listen to how it sounds to you.
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dougharps
1345 posts
Jan 28, 2017
8:40 AM
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It all depends on the amplified harp sound you want to make.
Next it depends on your skill level at getting that sound.
Usually a high gain guitar amp (most Marshalls) may have feedback issues with a harp mic, but not always. The mic/amp/speaker combination makes a big difference, too. It isn't as simple as just buying a certain amp and getting the sound you want. I have heard wide variations in sound from harp players using the same rig with the same settings.
Another factor to consider is, "Just how loud do you want or need to be?" and, "How portable do you need it to be?" Those factors will affect your choice of amp. The louder you want to be, the more feedback may become a problem.
Almost all amps can be adjusted to sound decent if the player has the tone and mic skills. If you are new to amplified playing, use your bass amp a while, and mess with mic skills and amp adjustments it until you can make it sound good.
Look up harp amp threads and read, but work on skills with what you already own before you go spend a lot.
You can't buy a good harp amp sound.
You can't buy a good harp amp sound.
You can't buy a good harp amp sound.
You can buy amps that will let you get that sound more easily when you have developed the skills.
Try out a couple different mics with your amp, if you know other players who will let you try them. Then try out some other amps belonging to friends or at a music store. Each amp has a sweet spot where harp sounds decent or better. Specific mics work better with certain amps. Experiment!
Again, what sound do you want? Harp can sound really good with wide variance in the texture and EQ of the sound. What sound do YOU like and want?
I still enjoy trying out rigs, even though I have more than enough of my own. Have fun, and (edit:) SAVE (not "safe") space for storing the amps you pick up along your journey.
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Doug S.
Last Edited by dougharps on Jan 28, 2017 3:18 PM
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Killa_Hertz
2152 posts
Jan 28, 2017
10:55 AM
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Doug is right. Until your acoustic tone is decent, you will not sound very good amplified. And you will be very disappointed with your sound.
There is no magic answer its alot of trial and error. Tube amps generally sound better. It also depends on the sound your going for as to what mic and amp combo you should consider.
If you could post a sound clip of a song you like, perhaps i could more easily give you a point in the right direction.
Also what kind of budget are you talking about? I would suggest staying relatively inexpensive for now, but thats a relative term. You can get a very decent starter tube amp like the bugera v5 or the vht special 6 for around $150 used. But that's going to be for chicago blues mostly.
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Jan 28, 2017 10:57 AM
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hvyj
3206 posts
Jan 28, 2017
12:41 PM
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Use what sounds good to you for the way you play. For a number of years my primary amp was a bass amp, and, in general, I like playing through harmonica friendly bass amps. BUT, I like to set up fairly clean. If you are after distortion a bass amp is not the right tool for the job.
Personally, I am not a fan of harmonica specific amps in general for the sound I am after. Tube amps generally have a nice warmth. I have tube guitar amps that I like a lot. But you often need to swap out preamp tubes to control feedback.
I am not a proponent of using a tiny amp and micing it.
Keyboard amps or acoustic bass amps are very usable for harp but, again, if you are after distortion this is not the way to go.
Acoustic guitar amps tend to be problematically feedback prone. Not sure why this is. In my experience, an acoustic guitar amp that has an XLR input and a 1/4" input will always sound better for harp using the 1/4" input even if you use an XLR mic.
More important than the amp is getting a good high quality mic. Personally, I don't use bullets, and different mics sound good with different amps. I suspect that players that use bullets may like harp specific amps better than I do.
There is no reason not to get an amp early. But if you at the early stages of development it may not be wise to get an expensive amp right away. IMHO a good mic is a higher priority.
In summary, the right amp is the one that sounds best to you.
Last Edited by hvyj on Jan 28, 2017 12:52 PM
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hvyj
3207 posts
Jan 28, 2017
1:09 PM
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Btw, you mention Peavey. These days my primary amp is a Peavey Delta Blues 1x15. The only thing I had to do was swap out the 3 preamp tubes and it's a GREAT. harp amp. I love it. EXTREMELY versatile. I can get clean tone or heavy but articulate distortion depending on how I set up and it has reasonably decent on board Reverb. 30 watts. Not as big or heavy as a Super Reverb, but not what one would consider light and portable either. Definitely a big boy amp.
Last Edited by hvyj on Jan 28, 2017 1:12 PM
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