Kim mentioned people harp players trying to impress people with thier distorted
harp playing. Obviously Kim doesn't mean to knock amplified, Chicago style harp
playing as he's one of the best amplified players out there. But I do get the
feeling from some people that playing through a bullet mic and a guitar amp is
somehow cheating. There's a special magic about old time "acoustic" harmonica
playing.
There's very little live acoustic harmonica music. Live harmonica is amplified.
Watch how "acoustic" harp ace Phil Wiggins plays with the proximity effect of
the vocal mic when he plays live. I saw Paul Butterfield play "acoustic" at the
Channel in Boston. He had a mic. Can't get much more acoustic than Sonny Terry
and again he was playing into a mic. Not only are they using the microphone to
the best advantage, there's a sound man adjusting the eq, there's the sound of
the microphone itself, and the sound is usually run through a compressor.
Tube amps, guitar amp speakers, and bullet mics, provde an instant eq and
compression that suits the harmonica. It colors the sound, but every form of
amplification colors the sound, PA, tube amp, ribbon mic, everything. Just
different levels and different colors. Overloading a bullet mic into a Fender
amp isn't going to make your playing any better, but it won't make it any worse
either. Just a quick and easy way to get a good sound out to the audience.
By the way, Phil Wiggins has killer amplified tone. I heard him play through Billy Branch's rig and the man just screamed.
Rainbow Jimmy http://www.spaceanimals.com http://www.soundclick.com/theelectricstarlightspaceanimals.htm _______________________________________________ Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l