[Harp-L] Processors - was Clarification

[Ron Good <rdg@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard Hunter wrote:

> My digitech RP200 sounds great and costs $150 new.  A 65-watt 
> keyboard amp adds about $300 new to the cost, and the combination 
> is loud and amazingly versatile, with most of the effects that 
> harp players would  need, including a passable reverb and very 
> usable delays.  I would be surprised if a better-sounding, 
> more-versatile harp setup with comparable power can be purchased 
> for less than $1000.  And on most gigs, I don't even bother taking 
> the keyboard amp.

Agreed. I have yet to work in a venue where I needed an amp since I generally go through the board, but I think an amp would be nice to have in some situations. I use the RP300, and sound techs love me. I take one strip (mono) or two (stereo) and they simply have to run the strip(s) flat and adjust volume. No feedback, ever, lotsa volume, and tones that range through very close emulations of folks like Studebaker John, Mark Ford, Sugar Blue and a few others (including Richard's great "Taj Mahal" patch), and some "special effects patches" that make folks search for the keyboard player <laugh>, including a couple of patches that nicely emulate what one might expect from a horn section (the octave following on the RP series is wonderful. _no_ glitches, even at high speed with varying attack).

I play country, rock, blues, rockabilly, funk (lotsa funk), and a lot of melodic stuff either in positions or using minor or melodic tuned harps.

Using processors is simply a trouble-free, highly convenient, very flexible option and the sounds I can create have got me gigs with musicians who otherwise would likely not have called a harp player. Without the amp, I can travel to and from my gigs with one medium sized case, and setup and take-down take only a few minutes. Even hard-core tradiionalists in my area have been astonished at the sound. One notoriously (but politely) finicky local traditionalist "name" guitarist initially looked at my rig with what could only be called panic, but no more than half-way through the first tune told me he loved the sound I was getting. His exact first words were "damn, I don't believe it, that rig sounds _great_. Totally authentic."

More heresy :-). I use the Shaker XLR dynamic for a mic (I have two of them).

Ron