MakaInOz
91 posts
Aug 14, 2013
10:55 PM
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I've seen an ad for a crystal contact mic for harmonica from the '60s. Were these any good? I haven't heard anything about them in years of lurking.
Cheers
Maka
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MP
2892 posts
Aug 15, 2013
11:32 AM
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there were a few companies making contact mics for harp in the 60s w/ Hohner leading the pack.
they have 60s technology and therefore are out gunned in all ways by anything made currently. As a rule, modern players don't use them. i know of no players of any stripe using contact mics for harp. there must be someone somewhere but i've never heard of them.
they are more curiosities of a bygone era than anything else.
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MP
affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info-
repair videos on YouTube.
you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
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barbequebob
2320 posts
Aug 15, 2013
11:56 AM
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Most of the players that did use them were the old school chromatic players and these mics tended to favor the highs way too much and they totally negate any and all use of your hands for anything.
Barcus Berry made something along those lines back in the 80's for Hohner as well as under its own name but the problems with contact mics still persisted and they didn't sell very well.
They also didn't distort.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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MakaInOz
92 posts
Aug 15, 2013
6:57 PM
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Thanks guys.
I eventually found the catalog for this one. Its a Realistic and was advertised for $1.49 in 1968. That made it pretty cheap and nasty then, and I'd be guessing that despite being NOS and still in the original packaging, it won't have improved with age!
Maka
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Greg Heumann
2316 posts
Aug 15, 2013
8:21 PM
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Old school isn't bad school. But what most of us LIKE about using a mic is the ability to really work with our tone via cupping. Cupping dramatically increases the sound pressure level on a conventional mic's diaphragm which is why the tone changes. But it has NO effect on a contact mic, which works by directly coupling to the harp's vibrations - not sound pressure.
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***************************************************
/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
See my Customer Mics album on Facebook
BlueState - my band
Bluestate on iTunes
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Greg Heumann
2317 posts
Aug 15, 2013
8:22 PM
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Old school isn't bad school. But what most of us LIKE about using a mic is the ability to really work with our tone via cupping. Cupping dramatically increases the sound pressure level on a conventional mic's diaphragm which is why the tone changes. But it has NO effect on a contact mic, which works by directly coupling to the harp's vibrations - not sound pressure.
----------
***************************************************
/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
See my Customer Mics album on Facebook
BlueState - my band
Bluestate on iTunes
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