We all love our gear, and I'm as bad as the next guy. But this video of Joe Lee Bush shows that you can get great harp tone without expensive gear. He's playing through a small solid state amp and a vocal mic. Nothing else. I know, because I was there. That's me playing bass in the band.
Joe Lee used to be on this forum and was somewhat controversial. I don't want to get into any of that. This video popped up on my FB so I grabbed it and posted it to show what great tone you can get with simple gear. To my ear, this is classic harp tone all the way.
---------- Jim McBride Bottle 'O Blues microphones www.bottleoblues.com
That sounded fantastic! Yes, great acoustic tone makes gear sound even better, not the other way around.
That being said, controversies never die, especially on Internet forums. My guess....thread locked in 24-36 hours Lol
Last Edited by CarlA on Mar 20, 2018 5:38 AM
Gear... "Money and gear are two separate forms of currency, sometimes they correspond, mostly they don't". That was from a conversation I had yesterday with Paul Linden. Many here will know his playing (long time with Sean Costello on harp and piano). I just thought his take really cut to the chase. Paul has gone the distance with gear, collecting nearly everything and building what he couldn't find (or even existed, like a brown twin). I was telling him how much I was digging a live recording of him with Shawn Pittman from 2014. Absolutely stellar playing. I'm going to create another thread to let folks know about it.
Last Edited by Littoral on Mar 20, 2018 6:53 AM
Where did Doug move? I live in a medium sized town a couple hours out of Atlanta....would enjoy connecting with him.
It's not just Doug's technique, but also his linear musical sensibility and ability to craft short ideas that he can use with variations on the theme approach. ---------- The Iceman
joe lee was respected and well liked, it was sad that he left.
the sound quality to that video is atrocious. not joe lee's fault.
i was at one time of the opinion that tone was 85 percent the player and 15 percent was the gear. mistakenly thinking things have to add up to 100 percent. that is just plain bad math. the truth is you have to have your act together 100 percent without any gear.
having said that... i have a recording of a well known player, he has his act together, and can play circles around me with one arm tied behind his back.
i cannot for the life of me listen to that recording. it makes me physically ill. why is that? it is the gear he is using. simple as that,well that, and i am not found of the vocals either.
a great player can make almost any mic and amp work however,
on occasion the gear can be detrimental to the over all sound...sometimes what is considered to be the s%$# can be less than favorable, while something you would never in a million years ever expect to work can completely surprise you.
Last Edited by 1847 on Mar 20, 2018 7:53 AM
I've discovered, after 25 years of teaching and 40 years of playing, that "it's not the gear, it's the force of will".
In other words, one can impose his/her will over most gear situations....a preconceived solid inner ear confident approach of what you want to sound like can "entice" almost any gear into giving you pretty close to what you want. ---------- The Iceman
When I started the thread "Little Walter didn't even know what Amp he played," I was trying to hint at the exact theme of this thread; stop overthinking your gear and go play. When I checked back in on the thread a few days afterwards, it had morphed away from my intended direction.
I appreciate this forum, and Adam's from the other day (Billy Branch), which focuses on good, high quality playing.
A good player is a good player, regardless of the amp and mic. Being a harp player is sometimes like being a cyclist. There is often more emphasis placed on the gear than the engine that drives you.
Last Edited by agarner on Mar 20, 2018 8:46 AM
This is the endless debate! :D I confess, I'm a gear-guy but I'm really conscious that I don't need all the gears to sound well. On the contrary, I can play even better if I play with less gears, but is stronger than me. I never thought that the gears can fix your sound if there are no good techniques at the bottom but is true that there are a lot of different situations and different sounds that maybe you want. It depends what you ask to the harmonica: I appreciate harp player like Richard Hunter which uses the harp in a lot of different contexts with a lot of different sound and in this case some gears is needed...but if you think that Richard play with a pair of rp pedalboard and something else is easy to understand that isn't necessary to invest thousand of bucks (like me hahahaha)...
Anyway, the recording is not very good but he play very well for true.
Last Edited by Dox on Mar 20, 2018 11:37 AM
I liked Joe Lee. He was cool. He bailed on a few places because a bunch of newbies tried to erroneously tell him how it was. He got annoyed. So he left.
"In other words, one can impose his/her will over most gear situations....a preconceived solid inner ear confident approach of what you want to sound like can "entice" almost any gear into giving you pretty close to what you want."
This statement should not be overlooked. At least in my opinion. I completely agree.
---------- ~Buzadero Underwater Janitor, Patriot MBH poseur since 11Nov2008
Last Edited by Buzadero on Mar 21, 2018 6:55 AM
I have been using the term, “Impose your will”, in reference to playing (some) stock harmonicas for several years. About 4 years ago, I went to one of the Hohner Road Shows that Ronnie Shellist does. Ronnie is a super nice guy, a terrific player and a great ambassador for Hohner. During his presentation, accompanied by a guitarist, Ronnie demonstrated a variety of stock harps – Marine Band 1896, Crossover, Special 20, Rocket, etc. In other words, he did not do a demonstration using customized harps just to show off his playing skills. He used the harps that were available for purchase in the store. It happened to be a Sam Ash Music Store. At one point during the Q & A session, one of the guys in the audience asked Ronnie, “What about this harp?” and he held up the Freebee Blues Band (or some such Made in China Toy Harmonica) he got for attending the show. To his credit, Ronnie did not back off one bit. He took that harmonica and made it sound good. He imposed his will on that harp. I’m not sure if others in the audience could tell but I could see that Ronnie was really muscling that harp to get it to behave. It was actually pretty impressive. But, if he had to play a gig with harps like that, aside from the fact that they would probably explode, he would be exhausted. And so I have taken to using this story and this sort of descriptive language when conversing with people about the difference between stock harps and harps that are properly set up. Anybody who has been playing since before customization became commonplace has had plenty of harps that were a struggle to play. I’m sure Little Walter had to impose his will on many a harp. It’s not just about mics and amps. ---------- Tom Halchak Blue Moon Harmonicas
Last Edited by florida-trader on Mar 22, 2018 11:05 AM
Well put Tom. I recently pulled out my old and cantankerous Hohner Blues Harp MS. I played it for about 20 minutes. I had to really work it, and it was not at all fun to play. Then I switched to one of my best-playing Session Steels - wow, what a contrast. Smooth and easy. Responsive.
I agree, its not about the gear. But on the other hand, a high quality well-setup harp is worth the extra money and time spent on adjustments. It allows you to focus on the music, rather than trying to trying to muscle a cheap harp to respond.
Last Edited by AppalachiaBlues on Mar 22, 2018 1:11 PM
I agree AppBlues. I play bass and setting up a harp is the same thing as adjusting a bass (or guitar). I just got a new bass yesterday and it took me several hours to set it up. I like the action low so its easy to play. It took some work to get it the way I like it, but why wouldn't I spend the time to make it easier to play so I don't have to "impose my will on it" :-)
---------- Jim McBride Bottle 'O Blues microphones www.bottleoblues.com
For what its worth ... I've never purchased a bass that didn't need to be setup. Almost no stringed instrument is ready to play out of the box. You have two choices, take it somewhere for $50 for a setup, or get a few tools and learn to do it yourself.
The harmonica is no different. ---------- Jim McBride Bottle 'O Blues microphones www.bottleoblues.com
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