Re: [Harp-L] A Harp Live (countermeasures)



That gives me an idea! Re-tube the guitar player's amp when he's not paying attention. Offer to carry it into the gig for him, and have a pocketful of low-power preamp tubes ready. The volume won't be there, but he'll think he's in tone heaven.

I'm a guitar player too. And I agree with everything you all are saying. Unfortunately, we (guitar players) all have to the learn the lesson of dynamics at some point. It's what separates the pros from the jammers. My suggestion is this: After having several deep and meaningful dynamics discussions with the offending slinger (beer may help), put on a song or two where the guitar player uses good dynamics. Any older Allman Brothers should do - they go from nice and quiet to insanely loud on a regular basis. Point it out and make a big deal out of it. Over time, slip in a few derogatory comments about loud players and the "wall of noise" in casual conversation and get him to agree with you. Become a therapist specializing in loud guitar players. You're doing your part for mankind.

Good luck,

Tim
www.HarpMicGaskets.com


At 12:38 AM 10/4/2004, you wrote:
Jimmy,
If the guitarists are playing a lot of open-string stuff in E (think
early Fabulous Thunderbirds/Austin shuffle), it's pretty hard to get them to
turn down because it's lots of fun for them to play that stuff loud. Still,
it's something specific to ask for, back off on the open-string stuff a little in
E, at least under the harp solo. If the guitars drop down a little at the
start of your solo, it creates the sonic illusion that you came up by that much
more, and they can come back up when you're done. Neat trick, if the
guitarists are smart enough to employ it.


Guitarists have trouble not being loud today because guitar amps have been
designed to be @#$%&* loud since around 1960, in response to electric bass
starting to swamp everything--if you ask me. It's been a arms race instead of
cooperation and everyone loses. Solid state rectifiers, high plate voltages,
skinny coupling caps, all that stuff is designed to drill a hole in your ear.
Guitar players have bought it all along because it's under warranty and it's
louder than the last one and they can just turn up if they need to, instead of
asking anyone else to turn down. I hope it's clear I'm not excusing them, but in
general they're just captives of buying what's widely available and not
knowing why it sounds that way.


As a harp player, there are things you can do right at the harp itself. It
really pays off to carry one or more dedicated harps for loud situations--build
or buy a better tool for the job.


First off, diatonics with bigger reeds tend to be louder, all other things
being equal, so harps with MS or LO-sized reeds are a useful place to start in
extreme situations. Thicker reedplates help in that regard too.


Every little bit helps, so open up the backs of the coverplates if you can,
even on Lee Oskars. The object is to cut through, so generate more highs to do
that. You might not like to listen to the result in isolation, playing on a
quiet slow tune, so keep a more standard A harp for that. On MSs, use
coverplates with more bite, namely the Big Rivers. Like I said, you don't have to
play it the rest of the time; save it for when you need it.


IIRC Jimmy, you've mentioned not needing to emboss your harps' reedslots,
but this is one instance where I'd very strongly suggest that you emboss a set
of A reedplates in order to deal with the situation. The resulting added highs
that many people find objectionable will actually help you cut through on an
overly loud stage. Tightening the reedslots by embossing will make an MS harp
feel much more precise, and even LO slots can be tightened up if you work
carefully. Practice on a dead harp first per usual.


Don't get greedy on LO slots, they are indeed tight in stock form; work
slowly, check progress visually, use your reed wrench to center the reed if needed,
try plinking hard to clean up if you go too far, and if that doesn't do it,
use something like dentists' interproximal sanding tape or 1000 grit sandpaper
to clean up the jam--cut the sandpaper into a 5mm by 50mm strip, trap the
strip between reed and slot and pull it through to sand the slot edge and fit it
to the reed's edge. You don't have to get the reedslot super-tight to get the
effect, so take it easy--you'll hear and feel when you are getting there.


Even on harps with smaller reeds like Hohner handmades, some models are
effectively louder due to coverplate design. I'll use an embossed Marine Band
instead of a Golden Melody if I need to cut through, and use the GM on a quiet
song. On the recent Tony Vega Band CD, I think the G MB I used on one tune
actually cut through better than the A Meisterklasse I used on several songs, and
I'd credit the coverplates for that--that's the way MBs interact with my hands
when I cup.


It's all very well to say, "I'm old school, my harps are good enough for me
once I gap and tune 'em," but the difficulty you're having playing loudly in in
E shows why more advanced reedwork can be really useful.


As for me, I've got dedicated stupid loud harps in a number of crucial
keys--a couple of MS-based As, an LO G, MS-based C and D, plus some MBs, and I
really don't play low octave harps onstage without working them over first.


As far as your amp goes, there are two primary things you may be able to do
something about. The first is speaker area, which you can find me ranting
about in the archives. More speaker area can give you more stage volume before
feedback, and it seems like something more like 300 square inches is the minimum
to deal with stupid loud. That's more like four 10s than two 12s; do the
math on your rig and see where you stand. (Note that the new Meteor is in the
260-270 inch range with an innovative cabinet back, I think, yet another
indication that Scooter knows what he's doing.)


Then there's the matter of the amount of sag the amp has at the rectifier.
Less sag tightens up the note envelope and gives you more presence without
necessarily feeding back more; Don Destefano and Mark Burness have discussed this
onlist. Less sag has less of that amorphous spooky reverbish tone we love,
but that tone is no use if it can't be heard. If your amp already has a
solidstate rectifier, well, you're tapped out, it's doing all that can be done, but
amps with a tube rectifier can use a custom Weber Copper Cap rectifier that's
designed to have the same voltage but less sag; specifying GZ34 sag or no sag
at all will make the amp seem noticeably louder. A very useful change for $25,
and I've actually swapped rectifiers on the fly when I found my amp wasn't
loud enough.


I don't stay on stage with stuff that calls for earplugs, but if there are
two guitars up instead of one, or a keyboard player, or the bass player walks
farther from his amp to sing a tune and turns up to sound the same to himself,
there are some countermeasures I will employ to maintain my dynamic range and
keep from getting frustrated.


Stephen Schneider
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