[Harp-L] Pre-amps

[Joe Ferbeats <harmonicacraig@xxxxxxxxx>]

     Back in my salad days, I received the best harp advice EVER from Mr. Stress ... 
  he told me about the Astatic and Green Bullet mics and said to always use a pre-amp between your mic and the amp!  I use a small Bellari pre-amp, with one 12ax-7 in it, and run a Shure 545 Unidyne lll through it into my Sonny Jr. ll.  I turn the gain all the way up and just creep up the volume to just below the point of squealing feedback.  I LOVE it!  I can also run the XLR from the Bellari out into a p.a. ... this is great on a small, cramped stage ... especially since the SJll is such a huge amp!  
       If you can "dial-in" a nice "volume-to-gain" ratio BEFORE the signal hits the amp/p.a/ whatever; the amplifier doesn't have to be overdriven as hard to get "that" sound.  Okay, okay ... I know I have the advantage of playing the SJll, one of the finest harp amps ever built, but the technique of "pre-shaping" the signal will give good results through many different systems.  Adjusting the gain-to-volume mix can be like a "poor man's impedence matcher"!  I am looking forward to hearing others' experiences with pre-amps for shaping their amplified harp tone.

		
---------------------------------
Brings words and photos together (easily) with
 PhotoMail  - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail.