[Harp-L] Brian Purdy here and I am a harpaholic. (An introduction)

[Brian P <brian@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My name is Brian Purdy and I have been playing harp for a few years now.  I am a student of the Iceman (Larry Eisenberg).  He has really helped me progress in my playing over the last year.  I have attended a couple of Jon Gindick's Jam Camps also.  I started harpgear.com to make an amplifier that was more suited to the harp player than just the standard offerings.  The key to me was making it affordable.  I am one of those harp players who would buy an old amp then do a cap job on it and mess around with it until I got it close to where I wanted to get it.  Then I would do it again with another amp and sell the old one.  It is just part of the tinkerer in me.  Finally with Ron Holmes help I got an amp right where I wanted it.  It was a 5F1 Tweed Champ clone with a few mods done to it.  It had a line out for any of the times I needed to get out there a little more.  I would just plug into the PA and use the amp as a monitor and the PA did a great job of reproducing the amp sound.  It
 was great because now I could do a jam without carrying in a huge amp and having a problem finding a spot for it on stage.  After I decided this amp would work really well for me I started messing with the sound a little more and put an oversized output transformer on it and changed som cap values around until the bass response and honk were just right.  I had a few great players play it who could give me feedback and they all seemed to really like it.  That is when I set out to try to put the amp together for friends who wanted something they knew would work right out of the box and be reliable.  Soon after that I started having people referred to me and I ended up selling them pretty steadily.  I finally decided to start a webpage and offer it online and take them with me to Jam Camps and seminars.  They have been really well received and I have now sold them around the world.  It feels great to make an amp that is affordable for other players and has a sound people enjoy.  I
 really look forward to sharing ideas on the harp and having great conversations with the members of the board here.  The last thing I want to do is thank Larry "Iceman" Eisenberg again.  Without him I wouldn't be anywhere near the player I am today and harp would not have been as enjoyable as it has been.  There are a ton of other great players who have assisted me in my playing both online and in person and I thank them also.  This has been a great community of players who are very encouraging and friendly.  For that I thank you all also.
   
  Brian Purdy
  HarpGear.com