[Harp-L] Johnson Laredo to Special 20 and list

[Walter Joyce <wtjoyce45@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I wish I knew your first name, but Special will have to do.

It's not that the Laredo has a bad sound, its more that I am gong after a specific sound. The quality I am looking for was brought home to me the last time I saw Annie Raines and Paul Rishell live. That raw edge was there consistently and from what I have learned about sound in the last five years I believe that it was the sound of tubes being overloaded a bit and breaking up.

I had been using a modern Bullet mic, the Shure 520 DX, which has a dynamic element. The last time I saw Chicago Bob Nelson I noticed he had a Blues Blaster, ceramic element, and both when he played and when he let me play through his rig, even through the PA it had more of an edge than the bullet, but the bullet seemed to have more of a bottom end to it.

So I bought a Blaster. Luckily the element in it seems to be ok, but I will have a more knowledgeable friend check that for me soon.

My primary amp is a 90s reissue Ampeg Reverbrocket, and even though I love the tone, it doesn't have that raw edge described above. I tried the Bluesblaster through it, and it is a little closer, but still not the same.

I also own a Vox VR30 reverb and the Johnson.  I don't dislike any of these amps, but I haven't been able to get that raw edge out of any of them yet. For settings on the Ampeg I keep the bass between 8 and 10, the mid between 4 and 6 and the treble no higher than 4. I recently switched to using the guitar channel on the Ampeg (instead of the accordion) which seems to yield a richer tone, and I also tried turning the master volume to 10 on the Ampeg and adjusting the mic (Blaster) which surprisingly can also be opened all the way without feedback. Still no crunch. I do not use the overdrive channel anymore (feedback issues) and reverb between 2 and 4, depending on my mood.

My plan is to meet up with a more knowledgeable friend who has a supply of tubes and try switching a few of the preamp tubes in the Johnson and the Ampeg and see what happens also switching out the mics as well. I am meeting up woth him a week from today for that. The Vox is a hybrid, so I don't think that we will be able to do much tube switching with that. 

Truth is until now I hadn't paid enough attention to the amplified sound I want and how different gear affects it, guess its my turn to learn some of the technical aspects of that equation and how it works.

Two disclaimers.

As for the myth of switching preamp tubes, I agree that probably goes to guitars. The friend I am meeting with next week is both an accomplished guitar player and harp player and has been a gear head for years. His approach is empirical with a pretty solid technical base to work off of, so if switching preamp tubes to affect harp tone was a myth I think he would know that. 

As for those who may come out of the woodwork and remind me that tone starts with the player, I know and agree with that approach. I have an acoustic tone that I am happy with, I've been playing a long time and while my approach in general is that you can always get better by practicing more and knowing your instrument and yourself better, the issue I am trying to address is amplified tone that is generally referred to as the Chicago sound.

I am also considering selling off my modern circuit board tube amps and biting the bullet to either buy real vintage or one of the boutique amps available for harp, but that is not an option right now.

Thank you for your input to everyone on the list who has helped since I first joined here. There is a wealth of information and knowledge here and a generous spirit of sharing that is of great help to all of us who are trying to "preserve and advance" harmonica playing, something I try to do in my own limited fashion.

Walter Joyce




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