Re: [Harp-L] A Harp Live (countermeasures)

[Spschndr@xxxxxxx]

Jimmy,
       If the guitarists are playing a lot of open-string stuff in E (think 
early Fabulous Thunderbirds/Austin shuffle), it's pretty hard to get them to 
turn down because it's lots of fun for them to play that stuff loud.  Still, 
it's something specific to ask for, back off on the open-string stuff a little in 
E, at least under the harp solo.  If the guitars drop down a little at the 
start of your solo, it creates the sonic illusion that you came up by that much 
more, and they can come back up when you're done.  Neat trick, if the 
guitarists are smart enough to employ it.

Guitarists have trouble not being loud today because guitar amps have been 
designed to be @#$%&* loud since around 1960, in response to electric bass 
starting to swamp everything--if you ask me.  It's been a arms race instead of 
cooperation and everyone loses.  Solid state rectifiers, high plate voltages, 
skinny coupling caps, all that stuff is designed to drill a hole in your ear.  
Guitar players have bought it all along because it's under warranty and it's 
louder than the last one and they can just turn up if they need to, instead of 
asking anyone else to turn down.  I hope it's clear I'm not excusing them, but in 
general they're just captives of buying what's widely available and not 
knowing why it sounds that way.

As a harp player, there are things you can do right at the harp itself.  It 
really pays off to carry one or more dedicated harps for loud situations--build 
or buy a better tool for the job.

First off, diatonics with bigger reeds tend to be louder, all other things 
being equal, so harps with MS or LO-sized reeds are a useful place to start in 
extreme situations.  Thicker reedplates help in that regard too.

Every little bit helps, so open up the backs of the coverplates if you can, 
even on Lee Oskars.  The object is to cut through, so generate more highs to do 
that.  You might not like to listen to the result in isolation, playing on a 
quiet slow tune, so keep a more standard A harp for that.  On MSs, use 
coverplates with more bite, namely the Big Rivers.  Like I said, you don't have to 
play it the rest of the time; save it for when you need it.

IIRC Jimmy, you've mentioned not needing to emboss your harps' reedslots,  
but this is one instance where I'd very strongly suggest that you emboss a set 
of A reedplates in order to deal with the situation.  The resulting added highs 
that many people find objectionable will actually help you cut through on an 
overly loud stage.  Tightening the reedslots by embossing will make an MS harp 
feel much more precise, and even LO slots can be tightened up if you work 
carefully.  Practice on a dead harp first per usual.

Don't get greedy on LO slots, they are indeed tight in stock form; work 
slowly, check progress visually, use your reed wrench to center the reed if needed, 
try plinking hard to clean up if you go too far, and if that doesn't do it, 
use something like dentists' interproximal sanding tape or 1000 grit sandpaper 
to clean up the jam--cut the sandpaper into a 5mm by 50mm strip, trap the 
strip between reed and slot and pull it through to sand the slot edge and fit it 
to the reed's edge.  You don't have to get the reedslot super-tight to get the 
effect, so take it easy--you'll hear and feel when you are getting there.

Even on harps with smaller reeds like Hohner handmades, some models are 
effectively louder due to coverplate design.  I'll use an embossed Marine Band 
instead of a Golden Melody if I need to cut through, and use the GM on a quiet 
song.  On the recent Tony Vega Band CD, I think the G MB I used on one tune 
actually cut through better than the A Meisterklasse I used on several songs, and 
I'd credit the coverplates for that--that's the way MBs interact with my hands 
when I cup.

It's all very well to say, "I'm old school, my harps are good enough for me 
once I gap and tune 'em," but the difficulty you're having playing loudly in in 
E shows why more advanced reedwork can be really useful.

As for me, I've got dedicated stupid loud harps in a number of crucial 
keys--a couple of MS-based As, an LO G, MS-based C and D, plus some MBs, and I 
really don't play low octave harps onstage without working them over first.

As far as your amp goes, there are two primary things you may be able to do 
something about.  The first is speaker area, which you can find me ranting 
about in the archives.  More speaker area can give you more stage volume before 
feedback, and it seems like something more like 300 square inches is the minimum 
to deal with stupid loud.  That's more like four 10s than two 12s; do the 
math on your rig and see where you stand.  (Note that the new Meteor is in the 
260-270 inch range with an innovative cabinet back, I think, yet another 
indication that Scooter knows what he's doing.)

Then there's the matter of the amount of sag the amp has at the rectifier.  
Less sag tightens up the note envelope and gives you more presence without 
necessarily feeding back more; Don Destefano and Mark Burness have discussed this 
onlist.  Less sag has less of that amorphous spooky reverbish tone we love, 
but that tone is no use if it can't be heard.  If your amp already has a 
solidstate rectifier, well, you're tapped out, it's doing all that can be done, but 
amps with a tube rectifier can use a custom Weber Copper Cap rectifier that's 
designed to have the same voltage but less sag; specifying GZ34 sag or no sag 
at all will make the amp seem noticeably louder.  A very useful change for $25, 
and I've actually swapped rectifiers on the fly when I found my amp wasn't 
loud enough.

I don't stay on stage with stuff that calls for earplugs, but if there are 
two guitars up instead of one, or a keyboard player, or the bass player walks 
farther from his amp to sing a tune and turns up to sound the same to himself, 
there are some countermeasures I will employ to maintain my dynamic range and 
keep from getting frustrated.

Stephen Schneider