[Harp-L] Microphones (& maybe an amp)? summary [long]

["Rich Beaubien" <RichBeau@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I got a number of suggestions for microphones for many, both on and off the
list. Let me first say I was a bit timid about posting my "Microphones (&
maybe an amp)?" message because of the preponderance of "chicago blues
style" amp and mic configurations I've seen in the archives. But I thought
what the heck. I was quite please to see the responses to my posting. Most
people picked up on the fact that this is a search for tone and not a
electric versus acoustic conversation. Many on the list play acoustically at
least some of the time and have gone on this same search.

Most of the experienced players seem to agree with Tom Ball's sentiments in
that I'd be "100% better off through a PA than through any amp."  Richard
Hunter suggested "buying a small PA yourself, or get a keyboard amp, which
is essentially a small self-contained PA." So it would seem that a small PA
would be better than the Pro Jr for the acoustic sound I'm after. More on
this further on.

A few people liked older Shures (PE50SP & PE54D) and some other mics but
these were in the minority. Mike Ball has been using a AKG C 535 GB is a
condenser mic which requires phantom power which adds a bit too much
complexity for me.

Someone mentioned a AKG D770 which to me looks like a better mic then a
SM58. So I might get one of these for backup. But I'll need to try them out
further.

The front runner was a Sennheiser 441. Mike Stevens suggested a Beyer and/or
a Geffel for more natural sound but still he uses the Sennheiser 441 most
often. After posting my message to the list Chris Michalek was the first to
unqualifiedly suggest that I try a Sennheiser 441. He was kind enough to
provide some great sound samples.

About that time I was speaking with a friend of mine who is a sound tech at
a recording studio. He says, "great mic we've got three of them."  I
immediately asked if I could try one out. He said come on over this evening
and play all you want. So I throw my gear in the car and traipse on over.

So he sets up the Sennheiser on a mic stand an pumps the sound back into
some monitors.

First thing - this is a very cool looking microphone; flat, fat and beefy
(It weights about a pound). But you're not going to pick this mic up and
hold it. It looks like you could use it as a hammer to drive in some nails.

It is a dynamic mic which makes it portable and a bit more forgiving of road
punishment.  There's a low frequency contour switch. Basically a five
position bass control and a two-position high frequency switch which acted
like a treble boost. It has good feedback rejection characteristics. We
tried these out using a couple of different high volume tests.

I learned something else, when using this mic (I was told this is true of
most cardioid patterned mics) if you get in close there's this thing called
proximity effect. Which means that when you get in close the mic will
produce more bass than it is really picking up.  So you need to be conscious
of the distance from the mic. On Richard Hunters Pro page Mike Stevens  is
quoted as saying "The proximity affect of this mic really adds to the warmth
of the sound." I tended to sit back a bit but found the dynamics of getting
close to the mic added some nice tone.

All-in-all the mic had very good reproduction of a natural acoustic sound.
Shenandoah sounded like I was recording a movie sound track. I don't use
tongue blocking often but I tested it using some octave tongue blocks to see
how it responded. The two notes were clearly discernable, in fact
beautifully so. I loved the way it sounded. I could hear that wonderfully
full bodied sound that I can hear in my head on those double-note runs. 

Next we pulled out my Pro Jr. We plugged the mic into a line balancer then
into the amp. He takes the tone dial and puts it at zero. Then I played
through that. It was a bit rougher but the tone was still there. Which
surprised my friend. He said my new Jensen speaker needed to be broken in a
bit but that he thought I could easily use this setup. But he grimaced a bit
when he said it.

Now I have one of those nifty little Holmes PocketMics by Ron Holmes stuffed
into the back of my Pro Jr. so he plugged that into the board, turn the
volume down on the amp, and pumped the PocketMic's sound back into some
monitors. Whoa...what a cool sound.

My friend says everything in the sound-chain colors the source in some way.
No matter what my intent, I will have to adjust it somewhere along the line.
He said my goal of simplifying the chain was admirable. The easiest way to
make the sound-chain adjustable is to limit the number of items that need
tweaking And in my case probably the best way to get the sound I wanted.
But as the venues change (like I do a small club one night and a very large
hall another) sometimes that piece of hi-tech gear really can save your
behind in difficult situations so don't rule them out.  Plus I was trying
out a Sennheiser 441 in a studio situation so I should take it with a grain
of salt. My buddy also ends his monologue by saying the mic would sound way
better through a PA. He suggests I dump the Pro Jr. and buy a rack mount PA
with a couple of speakers. 

Not likely considering that the mic by itself goes for around $400 on ebay.
(it's possible to get them for less) and a decent PA might go for $500 used.
Even though the Pro Jr was a viable option the PA route is probably best. I
can use my Pro Jr at home for practice. Occasionally I could drag the Fender
out especially if I want to use that old Madcat.

So the ideal is purchase a good premium mic (the Sennheiser 441 is high on
the list), a good box to permit impedance matching to whatever venues' PA
system, and a good mic stand. That's probably a good start.

Thanks all for the input.
--Rich