[Harp-L] Good cheap microphone

[holcomb.michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hey all.

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I'm either an advanced beginner, or an intermediate player (whatever that means).

I've been playing, studying, and practicing pretty seriously for a little over a year, going to weekly blues jams since January, and just recently have been asked to be the harp man for a newly forming local blues band.  So I'm not a complete novice, and I'm also not consistently good enough to play professionally.

I've been using a Shure 520DX with a Fender Pro Jr. for a while, and I've never really liked the green bullet.  I have pretty normal sized hands, but I really struggle with maintaining a tight cup all night.  When I get a good tight cup, I have difficulty moving fluidly up and down the harp, and when I don't have it, you just don't get that tone.  After about an hour my hands start cramping.  When it gets right down to it, I prefer to play acoustically for the better ergonomics and the variety of tone you can get with hand effects.

So, I've been wishing for the money to buy a harmonica honker or Shaker Madcat or something similar.  A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a tie-clip microphone from Radio Shack for about $25 - the type a presentation speaker would use.  The microphone is a little bigger than a pencil eraser.  I threw the tie-clip away and hold the microphone between the middle and ring finger of my left hand, winding the thin cord around those two fingers once or twice to help hold them together.  There is about 4 feet of thin cable to a tiny power supply with a switch, which fits in your pocket or clips on to your belt, then some more cord ending in a 1/8" jack.  I bought a 20' cable with a 1/8" female at one end and a 1/4" male at the other, and plug straight into my amp.

I love it.  You can play acoustically.  When you seal your cup you get great crunchy compression.  When you open up you play clean.  More to the point, I don't have to think about the microphone when I'm playing, and my playing feels a lot more fluid.  In addition, it is a lot less feedback prone than the GB.  I can turn my Pro Jr. up to 7 or 8 instead of 4 or 5 before feedback.

Anyway, if you are out there struggling with a bullet mic, you might want to give this a try.

Best regards,
Mike Holcomb