On the CD "Horton's Briefcase" there is some truly huge tone to found. I mean scarily huge tone. The kind that jumps out of the speakers and tears at the edges of your soul. Those Scandinavian guys sure know how to play harp. The CD features Sven Zetterberg, Jan Sjöström, Thomas Grahn, Greger Andersson, Stefan Dafgård and Sture Elldin all playing tribute to Walter Horton and doing an incredible job of it. This recording is a must for any serious harp fan.
Here's a link to it, scroll to to the bottom of the page for it. Horton's Briefcase
Last Edited by Kingley on Mar 31, 2013 2:47 AM
Can't say it had me jumping out of my seat but I did think it was pretty good, and I listened to all of the clips.
Considering everything I heard was acoustic harp I don't know how one would think there were pedal effects involved or what they may have been. I thought it was a pretty good attempt at recreating a traditional authentic sound, something the Europeans and the British are particularly good at. I thought the backing band's sounds were especially good recreations.
If Big Walter is turning in his grave I suspect it so he can hear better. ---------- LSC
I promise you those guys do not use any pedals to get better tone. I've met some of them in person. and seen all of them. They have old amps and chrystal's.
BTW. Most pedals are like amps. You have to have a good acoustic tone to get a good result!
Last Edited by arnenym on Mar 31, 2013 1:13 PM
I might be mistaken, but I always thought of this as acoustic..,
and this (though barely) as electric..,
There are players on this forum, Ehn Hakan for one, who are getting that high compression, electric harp tone going through vocal processors(pedals) straight into their computers without ever touching a crystal or an amp.
I don't know what those guys used to amp their sound or how they might sound without it. I just don't think they are doing any justice to the work of Walter Horton.
Last Edited by Thievin' Heathen on Mar 31, 2013 4:15 PM
Okey. If i explain it like this: You have to have a good acoustic tone to get a good tone out from any pedal or amp you use. There is no magic pedals who can hide a bad tone or transform it to a good tone. There is pedals who can help you get a sound you want, but that's another thing. If you have heard 2 clips from this cd with 6 players. how can you judge them all from this?
I am of the opinion that Walter Horton had the Walter Horton tone because of the many other aspects in which he mastered the instrument while playing through the equipment that was available at that time.
YouTube is awash with players who are trying to come in through the back door imitating a Chicago tone long before they possess the chops to imitate the music. You can replicate the sound and still be infinite years away from that skill level. My initial impression had them in this category.
@thievin Sven Zetterberg released his first album almost 40 years ago. It's just plain ol stupid to say he dosen't have any chops. I would choose tone over chops every day of the week. I'm not saying that i'm the best harpwizzard out there but youtube is overflowing with fast playing ricci wanabes that has so awful tone that i want to stick a pencil thru my eardrums. Jason on the other hand has amazing tone AND chops.
I noticed that the samples on CeePeeVee Records website wouldn't play on my Mac. So I've converted the same samples and uploaded them to here: Horton's Briefcase Samples
Having personally seen BW and befriended him, the single biggest ingredient was NEVER the rig, but something the vast majorty of harp players NEVER learn, and that's breath control and without good breath control, you will NEVER have good harp tone, nor will you ever ever have good tone control or tonal variety, regardless if it's amplified or acoustic and I've seen him so many times over the years show that to me, especially when he was showing a friend of mine something, while playing one of my harps, and he used VERY LITTLE breath force to do it. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
