Re: [Harp-L] fender bassman ltd again

I don't think the point Bob was making was that gear doesn't matter.
The original complaint was that a bassman ltd didn't give someone "that LW sound" and disputing that point of view is not saying gear doesn't matter.

Frankly, I think it's physically impossible to copy anybody's sound. The head, chest and hands of a player all form the resonating chamber for the harp. To get Sonny Boy or Little Walter's tone, your head, chest and hands all need to be identical to them, in addition to technique. This isn't like guitar, where you can use the same guitar, amp and effects as Eric Clapton and get in the ballpark tonally. There are a lot of people who will never get in the ballpark of Little Walter or Sonny Boy or Big Walter in terms of tone simply because of the size/shape of their head, chest and hands. That doesn't mean they are doomed to poor tone, it just means they just need to develop a tone that works for them.
And, for all the talk, no mic or amp is going to give you bottom end. Some mics and amps amplify the lower frequencies YOU PRODUCE better than others. If there isn't that much lower frequencies in what's being played, no mic or amp is going to generate it for you.

Finally, I wouldn't give up on the bassman ltd without investing around $300 in a Hoffman kit. That bypasses the printed circuit board and wires in all the caps and resistors point to point. To my ear, there is a huge difference in sound between a printed circuit board and point to point wiring. None of these "reissues" with printed circuit boards are true reissues, just emulations or simulations. True bassman circuitry is point to point wired and that is what is required to get that classic bassman sound.

Just my $0.02,
Russ



Joel Fritz wrote:

Bob Maglinte wrote:


----- Original Message ----- From: <TomEHarp@xxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 1:45 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] fender bassman ltd again


i have to say this,i've only had it a week and i just can't get that LW sound
like i do out of me 1953 danelectro,i thought i would i don't get it.i think
its going back to the store.


tommy
in ct.



Hi Tom,
The only way to do that comes from your own personal ACOUSTIC tone and chops, and that ALWAYS has been the REAL secret, and it NEVER HAS BEEN THE GEAR!!!!! Many of those old blues masters, truth be told, really didn't give a crap about gear as long as they got their sound across. You''ll have this same problem no matter what gear you use, and relying on gear for tone is a HUGE mistake. Whenever I saw Walter Horton, which was at least 3 or 4 times a year during the 70's, all he was using was borrowed amps and NOT ONCE did he EVER fool with amp settings or anything else, and guess what?? He ALWAYS sounded like himself, and when I first saw him at the long defunct Bunratty's in Boston back in 1975, he got the same sound out the PA as he did out of the amp, which right then and there taught me a huge lesson that too many harp players flat out NEVER seem to understand, and he was a master of tone control and variety of tonal colors. I've seen people who have never spent enough time honing their acoustic tone and chops gripe so much about gear, and then when someone else plays that very same rig, not even making ANY adjustments to it, making the same gear sound amazing. As long as any harp player continues to believe the MISTAKEN notion that ANY piece of gear will ever make themselves sound like any of their heroes, the cold, hard, brutal truth is that it just isn;t going to happen without doing the kind of SERIOUS woodshedding necessary to achieve the real source of tone that comes from you, the acoustic chops and tone, and nothing else but.

Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
MP3's: http://music.mp3lizard.com/barbequebob/


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I think tone starts before you pick up a microphone, but I think gear makes a difference too. I go regularly to a jam hosted by R. J. Mischo. I don't think anyone would argue that his tone is poor. He plays through the pa and through an amp. The sound is different. Either way he has a big fat sound, but they're not the same. I think the differences come from it being easier to get one kind of sound from the amp and another from the pa.

If gear made no difference at all, maybe the ideal setup would be the Radio Shack 35 watt solid state pa amp and old hi-fi coax speaker I bought on Ebay for a total under $50. Acoustic guitar (with a preamp) sounds great through it. I should try a $3.00 tape recorder mic through it for harp. <g>

Every horn player has a favorite instrument and mouthpiece and may use different ones for different things. Gear won't make you sound good unless you're good to start with, but it can give you more directions to go in.

You've got to remember that Walter Horton could darned near play harmonica without even touching it. <g>







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