[Harp-L] My favorite purchase at SPAH

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I bought an inline volume control for my Audix Fireball mic from Greg Heumann at SPAH, and I've been playing with it for a few days.  I'm beginning to get really excited about this simple little tool, and here's why.

As most members of this list know, I run my mic through a Digitech RP350, which includes a pedal that can be assigned to control any of a few dozen characteristics of the sound.  On many of my sounds, I use the pedal to control volume--which means I can't use it to control the level of an effect, or the level of the delay or reverb... you get the picture.  

Well, now I have a volume control that sits right on the mic--in fact, on ANY mic I plug into the RP.  That means I can now dedicate that RP pedal control to something more interesting than volume alone--I can make patches where the reverb or delay gets huge, where a double octave comes from nowhere, or where flanging comes in like the sun rising.  I can build sounds into the RP that are much more dynamic and interesting than before--and I can do it on every patch in the box, because I don't need to use the pedal for controlling volume.  

And it goes beyond that, too.  I've started running my RP200 in parallel with the RP350, using an ABY pedal to send the mic signal to one, the other, or both at once.  I can now control the OVERALL volume of BOTH the RPs with one volume control that's always right under my hand, whereas before I had to manage the volume of each device with its own foot pedal.  

This makes the volume control on the mic much, much more than a convenience.  It makes it a powerful addition to the whole system, because it dramatically increases the power of all the other elements in the system, giving me single-point expressive control over very complex sounds.

That $50 I spent on Greg's volume control is looking like a better purchase every day.  If you've already got a mic with a volume control, I suppose you wouldn't need it.  But none of my favorite mics have one.  I never would have thought that such a simple thing would transform my rig.  But it is. 

Regards, Richard Hunter

author, "Jazz Harp"
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
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