Re: [Harp-L] Pre-amps

Jp Pagan <jpl_pagan@xxxxxxxxx> · Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:30:19 -0800 (PST)

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Joe Ferbeats
<harmonicacraig@...> wrote:
>
>      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! ...
>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...  I am 
>looking forward to hearing others' experiences with
pre-amps for >shaping their amplified harp tone.

this is the basic idea behind the Harp Commander that
so many of us love. others have had similar success
with the ART Tube MP and even simple EQ pedals. i
found my Commander to be of limited utility - which is
no surprise, i mean, it can't be expected to do
everything. i've tried it with lots and lots of
different amps and in many cases it helped the sound,
in others it didn't or it made it worse (when i tried
it through a Victoria Bassman i just got lots of
squeal no matter what i did. of course, the Vic has
like, 30 pre-amp tubes or something... that's
hyperbole, people). and while the Commander is great
with the PA, my greatest success has been hooking it
up to my old Silvertone 1471, a 60's era amp with one
pre-amp tube and an 8" speaker. it makes that little
amp sound huge (relative to the amp's usual sound).
even in cases where it didn't help the sound, i always
appreciated having volume and tone controls right at
my feet at all times. my only regret in buying it is
that the HC II didn't exist at the time (having volume
and drive controls indepent of each other just gives
you that much more tonal range). 

hey, if someone wants to buy my HC, i'll sell it to ya
at a discounted price... then i'll buy myself an HC II
and we'll both be happy!

  --Jp 

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