Re: [Harp-L] cheapo amp?

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

andrew collinson wrote:
<"is there any reason why I can't buy, say, a 10W guitar practice amp 
<and plug a mic in instead of the guitar?
<Thanks guys.
<J."
< 
<....My feeling is  that I'd rather practice with a relatively cheapo
Amp <and mic just in case I do something to screw it up, and put what
money I <do have to spend into what I think of as "quality" gear at this
point  - <the harmonicas themselves."

The only point in buying gear, at any price, is to get something that
sounds good. "Cheap" does not necessarily equate to "bad sounding." 
There's plenty of good cheap gear; in the 35-plus years I've been
playing, gear has never cost less or sounded better.  But if the only
consideration is price, there's a good chance that the buyer will end up
with something that doesn't sound very good with harp. That's why
there's no point in buying any old 10W guitar amp that happens to be on
sale cheap.  Most guitar amps don't sound very good with harp, and with
the really cheap ones, it's hard to modify them so they do. And an amp
that doesn't sound good has two big problems: 1) it's not inspiring to
play through it, and 2) when other people hear you playing through it,
you don't sound very good to them, either. 

It should be possible to find a decent used small (5-10W) class A tube
amp in the neighborhood of $150-$200. As an alternative, an inexpensive
but very functional amp modeler like the Digitech RP50 can be bought for
about $70, and you could add a 10-15W keyboard amp to that for
$100-$150.  You'll have to put in some hours with the amp modeler to get
a good sound, but there are plenty of good sounds in there.  

It's not easy to find something that sounds really good with harp for
much less than that. And if it doesn't sound really good, I just
wouldn't buy it.  
   
Regards, Richard Hunter