Re: Fwd: XB40 vs Suzuki Valved Promaster MR350

[funharp@xxxxxx]

Winslow Yerxa schrieb:
> 
> I recently answered a very similar question on hartalk. See below for
> a copy of the reply.(...)

thank you Winslow for reposting this to harp-l.


In his original mail Chris wrote -among other things- to the Promaster
valved:

> I probably could have gotten used to it, 
> but didn't have the patience.  I still have this thing but rarely use it.

Now that's the point, I think. You have to use it, you need patience and
a lot of practice time. If you only play it a few times for some
minutes, you won't recognize what the harp offers to you or what you
could be able to do with the harp. You have to get used to the harp.

No matter if you want to obtain chromaticity with a "normal" diatonic
with bending and overbending, or with a half valved diatonic (like the
Promaster valved) with its extended bending posibilities, or with an
augmented tuning like the Eric Chafer tuning (only draw bends required
for chromatic playing), or with a harp with the "Discrete Comb" from
Winslow, or with the XB-40...It will take a lot of time, you always will
have to change your habits for the harmonica of your choice. 

For example: you can't play the half valved bends like you are playing
the bends on a normal diatonic, it sounds different, and therefore you
have to adjust your playing technique to the harp. Isolated bends sound
different from double reed bends. There are other breathing techniques
required if you want to change from a normal diatonic with overbendings
to a valved diatonic. There is a different note layout on a Chafer harp
, or there is a whole tone bend on a XB-40 where you are used to a
semitone bend on a normal diatonic and so on, and so on...

You only can explore the possibilities of the harp when you play it
regularly for some time. If you then think that you don't need it -
that's okay. If you only play it for some minutes, then IMO you can't
really know enough about it to decide if it possibly could be an
enlargement to your playing.

Personally,  I like the XB-40 very much. I like its sound and I like its
playability. There are some problems with the high notes on the higher
keyed harps - and Hohner has cancelled to produce the XB-40 in the keys
of Db and D for this reason.


Otto