[Harp-L] 'A' harp issue

["Steve Rowse" <steven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

One of those 'is it me' questions that only a list like this can answer:

I sing and play with an electric blues band, not too rocky or noisy, the 
guitarist uses a little Fender not a big Marshall, you know? And I don't 
like playing my 'A' harp with the band. It sounds low and it feels slow and 
it doesn't cut through the mix for me somehow. Yet when we do songs in F - 
'My Babe' for instance - I'm fine with the Bb harp, it sounds high enough to 
cut through and I like playing it. I tried a few different types of harp in 
A - went through Lee Oscars, MBs, even a Hering 192? 'reissue'. No dice. 
They tend to go flat on me too, probably because I overdo it trying to get 
them to sound right. Lately I got a Suzuki Bluesmaster - nice little harp 
and the best so far because it's quite toppy and responds quicker than the 
others, I feel, but that bad feeling I can't quite explain is still there. 
So is it me or is it the harp?

It's a problem, what with so many songs being in E. Seems unreasonable to 
get the band to go up a step for what may well be a crazy reason, anyhow it 
would make singing harder; songs in E often go right to the top of my range 
as it is. I feel I'm reaching for a 'high A' harp but acourse they don't go 
above high G - probably for good technical reasons, though I'm considering 
retuning a high G up a step anyway... I like the way my high G squawks, 
maybe it would be go up a couple of steps without summoning the 
neighbourhood dogs?

So I got out my Bb and my Suzuki A and swapped them around for a bit - and 
the whole feel of these harps seems totally different to me - the Bb is fast 
and high enough and nice and horn-ey, and even the Suzuki seems slow and a 
bit low-down and just nothing much going on to inspire me.

Anyone else been through this? Is there really a mugh-bigger-than-normal 
difference between Bb and A harps? Maybe it's my head resonance? Or maybe 
it's just my head, whaddaya think?

Steve