Re: [Harp-L] amp-less performing (and recording)

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Winslow Yerxa wrote:

> Last year I hired guitarist Rusty Zinn (Mark Hummel, Kim Wilson) to
> provide guitar backing on the CD for the book Blues Harmonica For Dummies.
>
> I had already laid down scratch harmonica tracks and just needed to
> capture guitar. I hired a recording studio, thinking that Rusty would show
> up with an amp. But he showed up on foot (whatever happened to that huge
> Cadillac he used to drive?) with a guitar and a Line 6 Pod. He said he was
> done lugging amps around and that he could get the sounds he needed and
> wanted with that small, light rig.
>
> And he was right. We didn't even use the main studio. We did everything in
> the control room with the engineer and he fed the Pod directly into the
> board, with perfectly fine results. Later, when we needed to do some
> follow-up sessions, we did them in my dining room - no problem with mics
> picking up the passing traffic on Highway 1.
>

I also remember Winslow's recording of his own piece "Windermere" (is that the right name?), on which he played an XB-40 and produced a very nice amped tone using the software Amp Sim in Cakewalk's recording DAW.  (Nice enough that I pinged the list to ask Winslow how he got it, in fact.)  The only difference between an amp modeler running on your computer and one running in a floor pedal is that you can step on the latter without breaking it.

At this point, the evidence is in.  Amp modeling works.  It works in the studio, it works on the stage, it works in your computer, it works in your effects pedal.  It works, period.  That doesn't mean that everyone in the world is going to prefer it.  We have enough disagreements on this list over what the ideal "real" amp is to make it obvious that different players prefer different tones, and there are lots of different tones out there.  What it does mean, as I've said on this list on several occasions, is that a "real" tube amp is no longer the only, or the default, option for harp players. 

Regards, Richard Hunter 





author, "Jazz Harp" 
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com
Myspace http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
more mp3s at http://taxi.com/rhunter
Twitter: lightninrick