More of Harman's Toys (& a Primich hello)

[CAnthes@xxxxxxx]

Hi y'all,

Been away for awhile (had the dang flu for the last week that kept me away
from the Lee Oskar Blow-Off last night ... let me know how it was), but I've
got a tidbit or two I've been waiting to give away.

Also, before I get into my Icepick stories, I saw Gary Primich a couple weeks
ago and he was pretty darned good.  I chatted to him a bit about the ol'
Harp-L and he said that he'd met several people who heard of him on the list.
 He also told me to say hi to Cathi N., so "Hi" from Gary.  ;-)  Sorry it's a
little late, but I've been busy.

Anyways, I also saw Harman a couple weeks ago and thought I'd chat with him a
little more about his equipment.  Man, when he starts talkin', there ain't no
quitting.  Anyways, I explained to him how everyone was talking about his amp
and all a couple months ago, but the last word we heard was about the mystery
box beneath his amp that contained the real source of his sound.  He smiled
and proceeded to tell me about his "secret weapon".

Basically he has three rack units.  At the bottom is a stock Alesis MIDIVerb.
 Above that, he has a Chandler Echo processor.  Finally, there's his homemade
thingie.  He explained to me that it was a product of 25 years a research.
 First, he spent a lot of time figuring out the Astatic crystal mics and
decided that the reason that they get feedback and all is that the impedence
is too high for a standard amp input.  So he has built a circuit to match the
impedence of his crystals to the input of his Vibroverb.  Next, he custom
built a 5-band equalizer that matches the frequencies of the Harmonica
exactly.  Finally, he has a special filter that he can switch on in case
"someone takes off with his Astatics" that will make his Shure's (I think he
was talking about 58's, not Bullets) sound like the crystals.

Welp, that's it.  Now I know how to sound exactly like Harman.  ;-)  Yeah,
right.  Maybe with another 30 years of practice.  And maybe if the next
person who see's him can get a schematic or something?  ;-)

Also, I started talking to him about some of his previous recordings.  I was
interested about his Rhino release.  He told me this story of how he found a
record store in NY that had a few hundred copies and all and how he bought
all of them.  Just when I was about to buy one, he told me he sold every last
one of them.  What a let down.  But he also said that he just sold the rights
to one of his prior albums to Rhino which means that we might see both of
them re-released soon.

Anyways, if anyone has a spare copy of his Rhino release or any other
recording besides the four that are currently available (Strickly Live, Do
Not Disturb, Two Sides, and Cards on the Table), let me know.  I'd be
interested in buying them.  Even a copy would be appriciated (since they are
out of print, I doubt James'd mind too much).

L8r all,

Red