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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Different Harps for Acoustic vs Amplified
Different Harps for Acoustic vs Amplified
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Chinn
79 posts
Jul 21, 2013
4:47 PM
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I remember some discussion about this subject over the past couple years, but now that I'm finally playing amplified, I guess I finally have a more 'first person' understanding of it (or at least what I perceive of the idea).
What makes me think of this is that I have a variety harps that I play including MB's, SP20's, some MS Blues Harps and a 'zuki Promaster. I recently added a Crossover in C to the quiver, and have found that while I love the sound of it acoustically, and feel that it plays well, it does not seem to sound quite so great amplified.
The harps that seem to give the tone I like better amplified are the MS Bluesharps, the Promaster and the SP20.
Obviously the key differentiates them, but also, the harps that don't sound as good to me (the MBs, Crossover) have covers which are very open at the rear and have the MB holes on the ends.
I play through a JT30 with a vintage MC151 and have been going for that somewhat hornlike tone. It seems like the harps with 'closed off' covers at the rear and edges give a fatter, bassier tone and allow me to get a tighter cup on the mic.
Anyone else find the same thing?
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Roverharp
39 posts
Jul 21, 2013
5:43 PM
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Yep. I like the bright edge the side vents give for acoustic play but my small hands find it difficult to get a tight seal when going amped.
My fav amped cover is the Suzuki harpmaster. Enclosed, smooth and comfortable. I've put a few on Special 20s to good effect.
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S-harp
146 posts
Jul 22, 2013
2:01 AM
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Good topic.
Due to cupping tecnique, microphone technique, hand size, what music you're playing and tone preferance there're many answers to this question.
I have two sets of harps ... one brighter/crispier sounding set and one set with a rounder tone. This doesn't neccessarily mean that one set always is better then the other when playing amped vs accoustic.
Although I prefer a rounder tone when doing acc. work through a PA and more bite when playing amped.
However, doing true accoustic work, just out loud, I prefer my harps to be very loud and with bite/crisp to cut through
Accoustic through the PA I find that good mic technique and beeing able to work the tone with my cup to be very helpful and more important than what type of harp I choose ... and I find It's quite minimalistic work with big change in tonal qualities.
Amped I usually prefer a crispy cut sounding harp, but depending on the song I sometimes go for a rounder sounding harp.
The harps I use are custom MB for that cripsy tone and when working a rounder tone I use a mix of, depending on key, SP20, GM, Manji and some others.
Open side vents doesn't do much differance to me, except maybe makes it easier to hear myself accousticly, and perhaps gives a nice edge when opening up the cup a little with the thumb. But, I have big hands and form a fully sealed cup around the whole harp when playing amped.
For low E and below I always prefer cut and use custom MB.
Last Edited by S-harp on Jul 22, 2013 2:08 AM
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