nice to see a video from you again;-)I want to try the susuki's for awile now,but been spending all my money on guitar stuff,But I would like my next harp to be a susuki,either a manji or the bluemaster,Do you like the bluesmaster?Ive heard Susuki makes long lasting harps that play well,So that makes me interested.thanks for the info. ---------- Hobostubs
Sounds good. I love bright harps. The rasp is quite nice.
Can't wait for more videos.
I think seydel and Suzuki have thrown down the gauntlet for recent harps.
The Suzuki chromatics are in a class by themselves as well. I mean a scx48, 56 Or 64 are inexpensive and play like a million bucks and they are not even top shelf.
Yeah! Good to see you back Jason. Just as an aside, has anyone tried fitting Manji plates into a Bluesmaster or HarpMaster yet and does anyone know if replacement plates are available in the UK yet. I haven't seen them if they are. ----------
Jim - True the Manji sounds a lot brighter. Although you have to consider the tuning is probably different, the covers on the Manji are vented whilst on the custom they are Special 20 covers which are closed. In the room and to Jason of course there will be even bigger differences. I have never tried a Manji so can't comment on whether or not they are good harps. Jason though knows his stuff off course and if he says it's a very good harp that's good enough for me. I won't be changing though as I'm a Marine Band guy and they do everything I want them to do. As the old saying goes though never say never!
It's good to see Jason on the scene again. He's a very affable guy with a lot of knowledge to impart.
Last Edited by on Mar 26, 2012 4:20 AM
I play customs, but my spare set are Suzuki Hammonds. I agree that the Suzukis are not equivalent to customs, but there is not a big drop off. The biggest difference is in precision of response.
I mean, if I jam a reed on a custom harp and I have to use a Suzuki from my spare set, it's not a night and day difference. But they are certainly not equivalent to customs as far as ease of precision in hitting bends accurately on pitch. I don't OB. High end Suzukis have excellent compression and response, but customs unquestionably have better precision.
@ Jim - Jason says himself in the video, these harps are getting close to a custom, not that they are as good or better. No need to defend custom harps, everybody knows they are without a doubt overall better. It does make me wonder, however, that Jason has switched over to playing manjis, are custom harps really all that they're cracked up to be? I love playing my own custom harps, and wouldn't want to play anything else, but Jason sounds great on these manjis, without a doubt. The differences are subtile. ----------
Jason would sound good if he was playing a blues band or johnson. ---------- Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
"Jason would sound good if he was playing a blues band or johnson" (Sarge). I agree. I don't see the point of these promotional videos regardless which pro is doing the promoting. The best harmonica is whatever is best for the individual. It's good to see Jason posting again though!
I can tell you that JR spends enough time and effort running his own hands over the guts of his harps that they are, in all arguable terms "custom". There is a huge overlap in both semantics as well as the terms themselves. I dare say that no one has ever quantifiably defined the term "custom" in terms of harmonicas. Yes, several of the professional harp tweakers have given their own offerings of gradation terms like "Stage 2" or "Gold Level" or similar multi-level marketing jargon for their products and services. Jim markets his stuff. He is quick to declare that a "custom" is better than whatever else. That's fine. He's making money off what he offers. But, if I open up my harp, perform some gapping, embossing, arcing, and swap in a new comb, can I then call it a "custom"? Or, do I have to first declare myself a "customizer"? If I do, and all I do is change the cover plates and set the gaps for someone, is it a "custom"? I'm not asking for a definition of "custom". The word itself is vague in it's broadest general definition. I'm contending that it cannot be defined and therefore should not be used as an argument that it is better than something else, unless used in the most simplistic of terms. To wit: "A custom harp is better than an out of the box harp". Of course, Jim can hear the sound and declare an opinion that this harp sounds "nowhere near custom harmoncias in sound". Whatever. I can hear a YouTube clip and declare anything I want. If I say it with enough declarative emphasis, there will always be a percentage of people that will accept it as some kind of nugget of wisdom. Of course, there will also be a percentage that grin and roll their eyes also. Your mileage may vary.
Bend control, tone of bends and overbends is absolutely different on a stock harmonica and embossed one because of tolerances and gaps. And I hear from Jason's video that custom harp is much better. And it's ok. ---------- Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
@Ryan "I don't see the point of these promotional videos regardless which pro is doing the promoting."
In this case it's a pro demonstrating a viable and relatively inexpensive alternative to custom harps. The point I take is that you can spend your time playing and practicing rather than searching for the holy grail. That's pretty good advice for anybody with limited time, limited money, or both.
@Buzadero "no one has ever quantifiably defined the term "custom" in terms of harmonicas."
I am not a professional. Most of my harps (6) are Manjis, with a smattering of MB's and one Special 20. ( I have one Suzuki Firebreath in C).
The Manjis are bright sounding, the combs don't swell from moisture, and they are workhorse sturdy. Replacement reeds are reasonably priced. For a young (in terms of experience) player, I believe that the Manjis are your best bang for the buck. I have tried SP 20's, Lee Oskar, Hohner Pro Harp MS, and Marine Band. They aren't as sturdy as the Manji, period.
I really like Suzuki harmonicas, though I am a Hohner guy. No matter what brand or harp, it will need to be adjusted for your playing style. To me, once you adjust any instument for your playing style, it has been customized to some extent.
I keep telling Suzuki that we (I) would LOVE to see a Golden Melody style model from them - not necessarily a clone (like Huang did with the Star Performer), but something similar, and with the same blue cover plates like they use on the Grégoire Maret chromatic. If anybody could pull it off, Suzuki could.
Last Edited by on Mar 26, 2012 10:26 AM
Maybe I am wierd but I'd love to have a diatonic the size of a chromatic.
Golden melody is my go to hohner. It would make my day if hohner would just work on sending them out set up well and would use a better comb that doesnt chip or crack as easily. I'd gladly pay the price of a crossover or mbd for it.
Willspear, you're so not alone on that one. If you're lucky you might get sneakers twice if you rush through wearing them out. The second time is almost always on a discount though, indicating that they will be gone soon.
Just thought of this: next time, if money isn't low, I'll get a second pair after a couple of months in discount, just in advance. That way one can benefit from having timeless taste!
(Ok...I'll get a "SpearFree" login and somebody else get a "WillyWill" login and we'll mess with their minds. :) ---------- MBH Webbrain - a GUI guide to Adam's Youtube vids FerretCat Webbrain - Jason Ricci's vids (by hair colour!)
But seriously....I'd be interested to know what J did in the 5 minutes of tweaking. I've got a G Manji and found it a bit stiff at the lower end and went to adjust reeds a bit but was stymied by how stiff the reeds were. Didn't want to force anything but if Jason is finding them forgiving I'll maybe revisit the reeds. Anyone else have experience with Manji reeds? ---------- MBH Webbrain - a GUI guide to Adam's Youtube vids FerretCat Webbrain - Jason Ricci's vids (by hair colour!)
Last Edited by on Mar 26, 2012 4:43 PM
Ah custom harps vs stock harps. Many folks here are not in a position to or moved to buy a set of custom harps or pay to have one customized, and many are not inclined to crack open every harp we buy and perform surgery. So it is nice to know you can get good / perhaps great sound out of a store bought harp. Any decent harp would likely sound great from most professional players. Jason is obviously one of the greats and nice to hear from him.
I don't doubt Jason's statement that he only tweeked for five minutes on those harps, as was suggested above. Why doubt it? I AM a bit baffled by the fact that Jason plays the Manji's 'uncustomized'. First of all I thought he (you, if you're reading ;)) liked the more chordy compromise the marine bands deliver. And he seems like an innovator, that would go to great lengths to improve his playing. Then again, it is cool that he shows you can play great with stock harps too, and obviously he is with Suzuki because they try to give everyone great harps. That's quite a noble thing to pursue, and can be deemed quite innovative in itself, as is AG by promoting stock marine bands :) Whatever works for him if fine by me, obviously. But one can wonder. That's the whole point of publicly endorsing.
I happen to have a Manji, and I have mixed feelings about it, and not only because of the tuning. This seems a good place to share them, as I would like to see them improved, and Suzuki/Jason might be listening. And because the Manji is being discussed, and people might look here for input if they consider buying one, which I would always recommend, because I can imagine this is the harp for a lot of people. I don't want to bash or anything. No need to anyways, they are cool harps.
Although they are very expensive in Europe (I paid like 52 euro's for it), the built quality is awesome. Great comb, sturdy reeds that are aligned properly etc.
Playwise, I like the upper end very much. It is brighter, louder and preciser than anything I played. Very, very FULL sound. Those blowbends can be flimsy on other harps.. not with this. On the lower end that sturdiness makes for a, well, rather stiff harp. Hard to make bend-tremolo's and stuff. It isn't very responsive. They seem to have tried to fix that by fitting too thin (for my liking) coverplates, that vibrate with little air, so you feel like your playing a responsive lower end. I don't like that solution. It's like playing a naked comb.
I can imagine this being way more durable than Hohners, but I never blew out a reed in my life anyways, and I don't mind tuning every blue monday. Another thing is, there is mostly nothing wrong with Manji's, but if there is, there is not a lot of room to tweek them yourself. You can't even change the alignment (because of the welded reeds), would there be a need for that. Makes you dependent on Suzuki, which is probably the best company to be dependent on, but still. It feels a bit cold to me because of that. Like a strange thing in my mouth, which I don't have with my preferred harps. I like to be able to try a few things if an OD squeals on me.. That wouldn't be the case if all the OB and OD would be perfect stock, but they aren't there just yet.
So, I would wish the built quality and the consistency of the Manji would be found on my MBD, but nonetheless I still prefer the latter. Because of the playability on those 2 essential holes, the sound and the tweakability. Perhaps Jason can help Suzuki improve even more though. I will always try new models!
And Jason, please don't stop trying to 'convince' us by making cool vid's ;)
I talked to Jason briefly when he was trying to set up his endorsement deal. I think the whole point of it was so that he wouldn't have to spend so much time tweaking and repairing a box full of expensive harps.
Any harp can go out of tune or suffer reed failure, particularly when you play as much as Jason does. With the Suzukis, he can just grab another harp that's just a good as the one that broke.
