[Harp-L] Re: audix fireball



As it happens, I was at a jam session last night at the Spice of Life in London. When I got up to play, there was no time to set up my preferred rig--an Audix Fireball into a Digitech RP360XP into the PA--so I ended up playing through a handheld Shure SM58 directly into the PA.  

I was grateful that the leader called a tune in C to start off, because high-pitched harps have a lot more punch into a PA than low-pitched harps do.  I wasn't terrifically happy with the sound--I would certainly have liked more grind in the tone--but I could hear myself clearly, and that's more than half the battle.

After I played, one of the other harp players in attendance, who had played through the same mic just before me, asked me what rig I was using.  When I told him it was the same rig as his, he was surprised.  Big tone sounds big regardless of the rig involved.  I could see from the hunched shoulders that guy exhibited when he stood before the mic that his tone was going to be an pinched as his posture.  (In fairness to him, his main instrument was lap steel, and he played some truly beautiful stuff on that instrument.)

At a different gig with Lowlands on Sunday night, the band before me (The Tupelo Uncles, whose thing is revamping the music of Uncle Tupelo, an Americana band from the 1980s) had a harp player who ran a bullet mic direct to the PA.  That, in my opinion, is about the worst sound you can get with a harp playing acoustic music, because you lose all the high-end frequencies, not just the ones you want to lose.  The harp player made the best of it, but I kept wishing he'd pick up an SM58 or practically anything besides a bullet. 

Like I said before on this thread, different mics sound very different, and it's unlikely that any player will ever find that one mic is tops for every situation, unless you always play the same kind of music with the same band.  Because mics are relatively cheap, it's easy enough to build a collection over time.  

regarding the question raised on this thread about the Behringer mic--it might sound fine, and it might be less expensive than an SM58.  I'd rather have an SM58 than an SM58 clone, especially given the relatively slight difference in cost, because Shure customer service is absolutely the best on the planet, and if that mic ever needs service you're going to be glad you bought it from Shure.

Regards, Rihcard Hunter



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