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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Breakthroughs.....
Breakthroughs.....
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Chinn
34 posts
Jan 28, 2012
9:53 PM
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I've played the harp since I was 5 (and I'm nearing 40 now). My grandmother bought me my first from the corner drugstore and I annoyed family with it repeatedly.
Somewhere along the line, the first breakthrough hit and I figured out lip pursing on my own. I could play tunes now, but nothing I really wanted to play or anything amazing.
When I was 10 or 11, I met a blues player that ran a music store in Arkansas and he taught me to bend. That day was a huge breakthrough for me. Learning to put some soul into the music made a big difference and soon I could play the blues. By the time I hit college, I could jam with bands.
A couple years ago, as part of another breakthrough, I stumbled into this forum and began learning some great music to listen to, as well as some good ways to modify and improve my harps.
So for the past few weeks, I've been reading up on harp mics and amps with a goal of getting that Chicago sound. At first it was definitely disappointing, as I don't own any tube amps, and I own no substantial harp mics.
However, I persevered and decided to keep trying. I eventually found that the little 'Eggstatic' harp mic I bought a couple years ago on a whim and the little Vox DA5 portable amp I recently picked up will put out a reasonable version of the startings of tone. Enough for me to start to figure out cupping the mic and setting the settings on the amp. An amplified breakthrough.
Sorry for the long post, it was an exciting afternoon and evening!
Last Edited by on Jan 28, 2012 9:55 PM
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nacoran
5144 posts
Jan 29, 2012
12:48 AM
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I'm working on microphone work myself. I'm not entirely upset with my rig- a Shure Prologue microphone and a little Park amp- but I need to figure something out to switch back and forth between clean and distorted sound. I can get good clean sound if the mic is on a stand and I can back off of it, but the way I've got the amp knobs I can't cup the harp at all and hold the microphone at the same time. I feel like the guy with tiny hands in the Whopper commercials! I'm still trying to work out how to hold the microphone and the harp and move the harp out of the way while cupping the mic to get some distortion on the vocals too.
Congrats on the amplified breakthrough. :)
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jbone
750 posts
Jan 29, 2012
10:23 AM
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the easiest solution re clean and hot/dirty harp tone- and btw i live near little rock- is to set your amp up for dirt and leave it alone except for access to volume, like a volume pot on the mic or a pedal plugged in line between amp and mic. this way you can stay in the background on stage until it's solo time, and turn up some to get just over the top, and back down after solo. then for clean sound depend on a vocal mic right into the p.a., on a stand. a savvy sound guy may be a big help here. rule of thumb i've tried to stick to with playing into the p.a. is to not "eat" the mic, rather stay 6 inches back. use cupping and mouth contortions as well as good deep breathing techniques to get effects and control tone. even clean we need good acoustic tone. also when playing into a p.a. through a vocal mic, it's a good idea to cut the gain and the high end off that channel, and maybe bump the lows and effects to "wet" the sound a bit.
if you want that dirty chicago sound you will be best served by getting a real deal tube amp and a cm element mic, like an old bullet with a shure controlled magnetic output element. Gregg Heumann has a great piece he's written about different mics and all at blowsmeaway.com. i use a couple of different amps depending on room size etc. mostly i use a silvertone 1482, which is similar to a fender princeton but has a 12" speaker. it has tremolo which i don't use. it has a clean and a hot channel, which i use the hot side. it has a couple of gain cutter pre amp tubes to tame the feedback down a bit.
bigger gigs and outdoor electric deals need the 4x10 replica '59 bassman. at 40 watts and modded a bit for harp it's formidable. good volume with great tone. it is also modded slightly for harp and sounds really great. both of these amps usually have 1 of 3 mics going into them depending on material and so forth. i have a ruskin custom mic with a shure crystal ala jt30. i have a shure 707a shell with a cm element. and i also have a Gregg Heumann- modded ev-m43u dynamic mic, which i use a lot. smaller than a bullet and modded to it has as much punch as any cm i've ever used, it also has a volume pot built in. in short a harp player's dream mic.
also re: p.a. playing, i have an old shure 545 mic which is sort of the forerunner to the sm57 mic. it is really good for the p.a. thing. unidirectional instead of omni, which means it picks up less ambient stage noise. it can sound sweet as honey or if it's cupped tight it can bark out very well.
i have had a lot of amps over the years and played through lots more. depending on your wallet you can get something really nice for a few hundred, and a great mic for 2 hundred or so. i'm talking real deal hot/dirty/sweet tone every time out. i favor a fender type amp. vintage is great but the later junior amps are nice. epiphone valve junior, while underpowered, are tone monsters with a couple of mods. older gibson ga class amps are good sounding. of course a vintage fender champ or certain princetons, let alone the bassman. peavey built a very good delta blues 210 amp for a few years. magnatone/airline/silvertone/alamo/and several other "cheap" brands built into the 60's, all tube amps, are good for that hot tone. these days there are gbuys building harp-specific amps like harpgear and others, definitely worth a look if you can afford one.
the journey and quest for tone can be a real pain in the ass. spending money you shouldn't have and not getting the sound you want, is very frustrating, but remember- tone does begin with the player, every time. if you get an amp and it just doesn't sound right, have a peer try it out, mess with settings, swap some pre amp tubes, look at different speakers, mic, etc etc. above all you can save a hassle if you do research, save up, and get a highly recommended amp brand and type and mic brand and type and then learn how to get the most out of them. i have bought probably a dozen amps over 20-something years of seeking the best tone. i've gone through probably a dozen mics as well if not more. that represents a lot of money i really could not afford to spend. every year these treasured items rise in price. if you are like me (now!) you would rather spend the $$ once and have something you will love and use for years rather than keep buying amps and mics that can't deliver no matter what the seller says.
my whole philosophy re mic and amp is to be self sufficient, and not necessarily need a p.a. channel or sound man to be heard. of course it's also about tone, which an amp and mic will give you about 15% of your overall tone, the rest is from inside you, the player.
i've told this story many times. in the late 90's i was at a crossroads, not happy with my tone vs volume of any amp i'd had up to then, and it was about 8 or 9 by then. i'd been working with bands for a few years and needed big volume but good tone. i could not afford much really. but i was out one night at a jam and a guy took the stage, stepped up to the vocal mic, and blew some of the best harp i'd ever heard and the best i'd heard live since the 70's. and he was through the p.a., no amp, no mic but what the house had on hand! Randy Macallister. what it showed me was my little obsession with tone was at that point misplaced. i needed to educate myself on some things about the mechanics and dynamics of playing harmonica before i addressed the amp/mic issue. i took some voice coaching, got my breathing right- deeper than ever- and began to learn more about different styles of music and different positions. i still use just the first 3 positions mostly but they serve very well for what i am doing.
i guess my message is, if you are well founded and grounded in the basics of harmonica playing, you will then be better served when you shop for a great amp and mic. the internet, forums like this one, and local resources can be a huge help in finding what's right for you.
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Chinn
35 posts
Jan 29, 2012
5:56 PM
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Thanks for the replies ya'll.
Jawbone, I'm an Arkansan with ties to Little Rock, Stuttgart, Harrison and Lowell. The guy who taught me to bend was between Little Rock and Harrison.
I appreciate the info. Heuman's site is the one I've been reading the most on amps and mics. Great stuff.
Agreed, it all comes down to the player and the skills. I've been continuing to push myself and learn more and more each day.
The tools can and do make a difference too, at least they are one variable you can adjust change, and modify.
Interesting you mention the Alamo amp. While out today, I found a nice one for about $130 today. I did not get to test it, but your post and the internet search it prompted has me interested in going back to that shop. (They also had a bunch of NOS Hohners, and I grabbed one to fill the whole in my quiver)
On I go. I'm gonna keep at it and keep havin fun!
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jbone
754 posts
Jan 30, 2012
4:35 AM
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i had an alamo some years ago, decided to fix a scratchy on-off/volume control, got it apart and never back together. it sounded great but was very underpowered for anything but home use. perhaps one day i will get it back together...
lived in texas for 22 years before migrating east, and a couple of guys around dallas area had some great alamos for harp.
i also had a '62 princeton tremolo in very good shape. NEVER pawn anything you want to keep.
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