If you are going to an open jam two things. Bring your own mic and a cable. Also Do not unplug other people’s gear.
I usually arrive early to set up the harp rig, so every one can have the best possible sound.
While my rig is dead simple, it is next to impossible to trouble shoot on a dimly lit stage, especially with five or six people trying to get off the stage, And another five or six trying to get on the stage.
If you have a mic with a switchcraft connector, then we can just unplug the mic and plug yours in. if you use a mic with a screw on connector, you will need a cord also, then we can just unplug the other end , if you do not have the cable, I can not help, you are on your own.
I usually plug my mic into the lone wolf terminator pedal. It splits the signal into two. Channel one goes to a kinder antifeed back plus. Channel two is a dry un-affected signal. I run the lone wolf pedal off a battery, if the light is on and no sound comes out I am stumped. I just spent thirty minutes dialing in the sound, only to find someone unplugged the power supply to the kinder pedal.
Some of the equipment is expensive Some of it is irreplaceable when in doubt ask.
I think that you should always check the jam out beforehand and find out if it's a harp friendly jam. If they're already set up for harp, I leave my equipment at home. It takes too much time to swap out gear, especially when it might change up the balance between the harmonica and the other instruments.
If the jam is not set up for harmonica, I would bring my own amp, mic and cables and try to set up in the most unobtrusive manner. I'd also leave my rig up there so other harp players could use it. ---------- Marc Graci YouTube Channel
I think you should just be prepared to use the gear that is there, whether that is a vocal mic/PA or harp mic/amp set up.
The jam will run a lot smoother if all the harp players use the same gear.
If you are worried that there will be no amp for harp players at the jam and you want to bring your own gear you should get there early and set it up before the jam starts and take it down after the jam finishes, if you set your gear up you should be prepared to let other harp players use it.
I don't bring my amp to jams anymore, it is a lot less hassle to play through a vocal mic into the PA.
Last Edited by belfast_harper on Sep 13, 2015 1:45 PM
I bring a hi/lo converter cable, ac extension cord and my digital delay, cords and mic.
Plug my hi impedance mic into my digital delay (which has an ac plug that I connect to wall socket with extension cord), hi impedance output cord from delay output jack into hi/lo converter, then unplug one of the stage mics and plug it into hi/lo converter.
I tell sound guy to roll off the highs on this channel, remove any effects and not to have me too loud in the monitors.
Takes a few seconds, a quick mic check for volume and away we go.
(My secret is to keep volume output from delay low enough that I can actually control my stage volume myself once the jam gets going). ---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Sep 13, 2015 2:27 PM
If I know in advance that a jam will have a specific harp rig, I'm happy to use it and leave mine at home. But I've never been to a jam that does. Playing through the PA sucks; the only time it was ever loud enough, they turned my channel off halfway through the set. No thanks.
Given a single outlet and a little floorspace, I can be up and running in less than two minutes, torn down and off the stage in less than a minute. ----------
It depends on the jam! It depends on the jam! Some jams aren't harp friendly. Some you bring your own amp. Some there is an amp for you. Sometimes it is a great one. It depends on the jam! ---------- *************************************************** /Greg
Yes, depends on the jam. Traveling light is always a plus. If it is a regular jam that you frequent, you will get a sense of what works at this jam over another. I use an Electrovoice RE-10 mic almost exclusively, or sometimes an EV 631A. The RE-10 sounds exceptional on a PA system. They are both low impedance mics, which makes it easy to swap out mics from the PA. Just make sure you are putting the house mics in a safe place while you are playing, and return them to the original location when finished. I have found that with the RE-10, the mic is almost always hotter than anything, and I mean anything, that is ever hooked up to a mic stand. That includes most Shure mics. I always warn whoever is doing the sound prior to stepping up that they will have to turn it down a touch with my mics. They do appreciate it.
Last Edited by atty1chgo on Sep 13, 2015 7:12 PM
I played at one last night. The first couple of times, I watched. Asked the guy a month ago why no harp players? He said none ever signed up. They post pics on FB and couple of weeks ago I saw their first harp player. It looked like he had his own amp. I stopped by on the way home from work and asked if I should bring my own amp. He didn't care. Went and got my Memphis Mini and delay and mic and extension cord. it took just a couple of minutes to set up and test. Sat down and ate and waited my turn. No issues.
Played in my very first blues jam last night. I had attended for a few weeks prior to get a sense of what was expected of harp players. Most jam sets of 3-4 songs included a harp player. Better harp players often led the band. It became pretty evident that most guitar and harp players supplied their own amps and two stage mica were available for vocalists so playing into the PA would deprive a vocalist of the mic (unless, of course, the harp player was also a vocalist but most also used a separate mic for harp int their own amp). So I brought my Harp Train 10 and a JT30 mic and became the first harp player up (at 5pm before the crowd got there). I kept a low profile, let the guitars do most of the fills and got my solos in. One minor difficulty was volume. The bands played at 90+db and I had periods of feedback as I raised volume to match. Next harp player up used a Memphis Mini, mine taken down and his set up, which sounded loud enough. Next set had an excellent player/leader with a Harp Gear amp which sounded great. Like Greg said, depends on the jam. Individual set-ups were the norm at this one.
Last Edited by ME.HarpDoc on Sep 14, 2015 8:15 AM
we have a jam every week the backline is set, however if you have an amp you must use, it is not a problem. on more than one occasion someone has brought a re-issue bassman and set it right in front of the vintage bassman that is there. lol.
but what we have been trying to do with a modicum of success is to lower the overall volume. this is somewhat difficult when we have a a bass rig and a key board at 500 watts each. the harp rig lately has been a stock 15 watt blues jr. using the antifeed back pedal helps to level the playing field. we want to lower the volume but no one wants to be drowned out. we could just stick a harpking up there and be done with it. but that sort of defeats the purpose, although it makes things a heck of a lot easier.
with the lone wolf terminator pedal, it allows us to use a 2 nd amp if more volume is needed.
on any given week there are 10 to 12 jams locally, all but one is harp friendly i would suggest bringing an amp, there are times when a blues jr with the antifeed back is not enough. also bring your own outlet strip
There's this harp player who is friends with the drummer/band leader who brings his blues jr. and an amp stand. No problem. He'll stay up for half the set or maybe the whole set ( because the leader indulges him) but gets pissed if the band plays anything but a I-IV-V blues and storms off the stage and doesn't come back up until the band plays something easy enough for him to play. So when he's down I'll get back up and play James Brown, Miles Davis or whatever material he didn't want to attempt. No problem.
But the PITA is that this guy packs his cords, mic, harps and other gear in cordura zipper bags that he leaves littered all over the stage and on the piano stool I sit on to relieve the stress on my arthritic knees when I play. Sometimes he'll even leave all this crap up there (along with his amp) after he's done. But this guy is an asshole in real life, too, not just when he is being rude at the jam.
Last Edited by hvyj on Sep 15, 2015 7:36 AM
I guess I am lucky that the jam I go to every Tuesday (for three years + now) is harp friendly. The jam band includes one of the Northwest's best harp players (and trombone players), Jeff Mason. He encourages me to bring my Bassman if I want, although he usually has an amp set up that I can use. If we are lucky other harp players like the great Steve Bailey show up. Since I regularly play with the guitarist from my band, I like using my equipment if possible. I often get to play a second and maybe a third time if I stay all night. As I said, I'm pretty lucky.
Last Edited by Rgsccr on Sep 15, 2015 1:34 PM
You guys are lucky to have a place to play. I live in a town of 35,000 and not one jam, noda, nuttin, zip! This is a cultural vacuum here! There is a bluegrass jam about 35 miles N. Problem there is that it never comes together. It's normally a freekin mess! I often just sit, drink beer and BS. I'll go up if only one or two good players are on stage. I always take my own amp and gear...BN
BN Start your own jam. I did nearly 2 years ago and it's still going well. Ask a bar owner who wants live music which night is quiet and pitch it that you will increase turnover over a period.
Players often got to their favorite jam just to try out new gear. That is one of the main attractions of jams, trying out new stuff on a stage in a club. Some jams have a set backline and others done. Find a good jam and go often, make friends, talk to the jam host. You will get some value out of it.
I make the best of what is on hand. If there is only a vocal mic I use it, if there is a harp amp on stage I use that with my mic, if they want me to use my mic to the PA then I do that.
There is one jam I go to that I have become one of the "regulars" and I take my amp and a second mic to run it through the PA. I only do this because the host band always lets me play the entire ending set with them, so I want to have my best foot forward. I'm not the best player around, but at this place I am better than most(of any instrument) who show up so I do get some good stage time. I learn a lot playing there.
The BMI and ASCAP rates really aren't that horrible. Most of the people I talk to, artists and patrons, feel that the venue owners should step up to the plate. The one brew pub in my town of 15,000 that ~has~ paid up is enjoying a land-office business thanks to the music they provide for their customers. The others wonder why their bars are empty.
When you think about it, it's very difficult to make a valid argument that creators of music (or other art forms) shouldn't receive some sort of benefit for the many professional and even amateur musicians as well as the commercial venues in which they perform are making hay off of their intellectual property.
Anyway, I don't want to hijack this fine thread topic. I just thought this issue was worth mentioning in the context of jams and open mic's.
I bring my own mic. I have brought my amp a few times before the house band leader, a harp player, decided there was a use for a dedicated harp amp. Before that I blew through the PA. There is usually just him and me playing harp unless Martin (member here) shows up. The ladies at the door handling the sign up loves harmonica and usually gets me into two or three sets :).
As for volume, it's very reasonable. Lately the drummers have been constricted to brushes and "bundles"? No, sticks allowed. That have made even the most egomaniac guitarist turn down ;). ---------- Pistolkatt - Pistolkatts youtube
I think they're called "broomsticks" (so if you ever want to impress someone with your knowledge of drummology, there you go).
But then, I used to play with a drummer who beat the skins (ahem) just as hard with those as with regular sticks. Fragments flying all over the place. Lucky thing nobody's eye got put out.
I just bring a full set of harps and sit in the back. As soon as the music starts, i blow like hell. I'm so good, even the people in the front turn around to stare at me. Even when i don't know the song or key, i still find great stuff to play.
Sometimes, when I'm too good, they ask me to leave so i don't make the semi talented on stage feel too bad.
They never even ask me to sign the list, because everyone knows I'm in on all the songs.
---------- Danny
Last Edited by KingoBad on Sep 18, 2015 5:41 PM
Jeez Kingobad you've been turning up at our jam too a lot lately.:-)
We also have a variation here as well...keyboard players. Because they've had to lug in all that gear(and because they are 'real' musicians) they seem to think that they don't have to wait to be asked.They'll sit there for as long as they want to.
Whether or not to bring an amp is sometimes a function of whether there are enough channels in the PA board. For several months the year before last there was a very hot Thursday night jam at an upscale local black night club. The house band was mostly gospel musicians with well paying church gigs, all of whom could play their ass off, including this baby faced Jewish kid on keys who is probably is one of the funkiest caucasions on the planet. (He is a jazz performance major and wanted to learn the gospel thing, so he showed up at one of the local black churches that has a particularly strong band and asked for a job playing piano. As it was told to me, they took him up on it to humor him, not expecting him to be able to cut it, but 3 years later he's still there and they love him. But, I digress.)
Except for the keyboard player and me the band and everyone else there was black. The band leader plays guitar and was also in a blues band that had been on a bill with my band so he knew me and liked my playing. And, truth be told, I probably play funk and R&B better than I play blues. I always carry a mic and a 25' cord. But there was only a 4 or 6 channel board with one open mic and no other open channels, which presented obvious problems for me to blow harp if there was also a vocalist sitting in. So, after my first visit, the band leader told me to bring my amp when I come back and just go ahead and plug it in so I would be able to play on whatever tunes I felt like playing on even if someone was using the open mic. If there had been an open channel on the board, I wouldn't have brought an amp to this jam.
The jam was fun while it lasted, but the band (contrary to what the band leader wanted them to do) started regularly taking off on lengthily jazzy improvs on funk and R&B numbers and what they wound up playing when they did was generally too sophisticated to be jammer friendly. So the club owner eventually pulled the plug. Btw, the keyboard player who is an absolute monster musician and who I knew from playing with him in some other situations was always careful to make sure he gave me the key and any modulations for whatever tune we were doing and when it was a minor key he would always tell me what kind of minor because he knew I used different harps for different kinds of minor keys. Very considerate, and not what one would necessarily expect a virtuoso formally trained and in demand professionally working instrumentalist to do for a self taught harmonica player. Every now and then he would not call a key which meant that the tune about to be played was not suitable for harp. Obviously I would lay out on those.
Last Edited by hvyj on Sep 21, 2015 10:29 AM
