[Harp-L] re: gear

[rainbowjimmy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Folks say gear doesn't count it's your personal tone. Obvously if you don't know
how to play, you don't know how to play. There's no short cut to practicing, but
amps and mics do color the sound. Tube amps add a certain amount of compression
and even harmonic distortion. There's spring reverb, there's the frequency
response of the speakers, the break up of the speakers, and the frequency range
of the mic. When you find the right combination, it's magic.Oh yeah, due to the
nature of tubes and microphones, no two amps and no two mics sound the same
either.

Live there's the added factor of reliability and volume. My favorite amp is a
beat up tweed champ with a 6 inch speaker. No way I'm going to submit that poor
little amp to the local bar scene (I love her too much) and no way is she going
to compete with two guitars and a loud drummer.  An old hand wired Fender tube
amp is nice if you know a good amp tech--they're reliable and loud (Black face
Bassman and Bandmaster amp heads are still relatively cheap). Boutique gear is
nice if you need an amp that's loud, reliable, and already set up. These amps
won't sound like a tweed champ. Likewise mics. A Unisphere or a Green Bullet
may not have the tone of a beautiful old crystal mic, but you can drop a Green
Bullet and still play it (you can drop a Green Bullet many times in a frenzied
gig and the mic keeps going, not recommended but it does happen).


So if you don't have the tone and the chops you don't need good gear cause you
won't be playing live and you won't be making records.If you play live you want
something loud and reliable. If you don't have a good amp tech or if you don't
want to deal with antique electronics, than you go with boutique (and get the
thing insured, man, bringing thousands of dollars worth of gear into a bar...)

Get an amp tech to show you the inside of an old Fender amp, then try to imagine
what it costs just for the components, never mind the cost of assembling it
(heck just the cost of the pine cabinet). Then imagine you have to sell amps or
your family goes hungry and you can see boutique amps aren't overpriced. We're
lucky to get amps at the price they're charging.

Rainbow Jimmy
http://www.spaceanimals.com
http://www.soundclick.com/theelectricstarlightspaceanimals.htm