Re: mic&amp

[clarke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

>> problem I am having is feedback when I jam.
>
>I bought the large size microphone wind shield at Radio
>Shack. The purist on the list blasted me telling me that it
>kills the fine tone. Well, if you want fine pure tone you are
>not using the Astatic and a tube amp. The pros turn down
>the Tone setting to 0 or 1. You want zero treble and all
>bass. Use the wind screen (it barely fits over the mic).
>You'll get a couple of notches more amplitude. I use a long
>cord and never get in front of or directly behind the Amp. 
>
>Get a digital delay box and use that to add some echo and a cut
>the high end more and you can get a fat Big Walter sound.
>You have to fiddle with the digital delay. You don't want to
>loose the gritty harp and amp sound, just beef up the 
>sound so you can be heard over the Guitar players. I
>put tape on the knobs when I got the sound I wanted so
>that I don't have to fiddle with it again. The digital delay 
>seems to help a little on the feed back by making
>a better match on the impedance (so I am told). The box
>and shield also get rid of some of the harp noise like breathing 
>and harp against teeth and harp against mic.
>
>Keith  
>
I think I was the "purist" the recommended against the windscreen.
I have experienced that to get good harp tone, the most important
thing a new player can do is stop looking fo the box that his tone
is in.  Good tone comes from learning how to play the instrument
correctly.  On the subject of gain before feedback, I will flatly say
that I have never played with a band that played over a '59 
Bassman.  The only amp that I have heard louder is the little
Mesa Boogie with the single 12" speaker (might be a JBL, it had a
chrome dome on it).  If your sound is getting lost over the band, you 
might have the wrong rig.  Not every amp sounds good for harp.  I
bought a beautiful '64 Deluxe that I thought sounded killer in the store
that didn't cut it at all on stage.  That's life.  Go get another amp.
I generally use a Princeton on stage these days.  Single 10" speaker,
not a lot of watts.  I got it on a stand, so it's less than six feet from me
most of the time.  It sounds great and I use a SM57 to run it direct through
the PA to compete with the Super Reverb that the guitar player is using.
My advice is to get a sound that you like through the amp first.  I have
two Green bullets and two JT-30s.  I use one of the JT-30s primarily, but 
I like the sound of all of my mics except the "new" green bullet (re-issued
Shure 520-D - "D" means dual impedance.  I don't recommend them
unless you can't find anything else.  Follow instructions inside and wire
it for high impedance.  You will get more signal from the mic in this
configuration.)  There is something different between a purist and 
someone who plays acoustic harmonica with clean tone.  I am a
blues player exclusively and I'll say I am trying to get the fantastic
tone that Big Walter had.  Incidentally, when I was having the problem
early on that you are, I caught Jerry Portnoy at a little club in Utica, NY.
I asked for sone advice and his was the JT-30 and 4x10" Bassman 
reccomendation.  It seems that no matter what I do, I keep coming back
to his advice.  Also, the pros put the tone wherever it sounds best!  On
different amps, that's different, but generally as the previous poster 
indicates, emphasizes the bass, but the only amp that I run with no 
treble is my Champ.

Bernie Clarke
"Don't start me to talkin', I'll tell everything I know" - SBWII