Re: Re: [Harp-L] Questions of a technical nature

["Tim Moyer - Working Man's Harps" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I don't know if I answered all your questions, Garry.  I can't really speak to how to set up the ART MP, since I don't own one.  I described the basic control of the hybrid units in my email.  For a unit like mine, the basic principles are pretty simple.  Your input level or gain control determines how high an input level goes into the preamp section.  Obviously, this will vary with the type of mic you use, your cupping style, many other things.  But this control is where you determine how much "overdrive" you're setting, and consequently, how much clipping will occur.  
   
  Now, as we all know, clipping with tube circuits can be good, but clipping with solid state circuits is pretty much always bad.  So, you set the blend control depending on how much natural acoustic (solid state) sound you want and how much overdriven electric (tube) sound you want, then set the input gain so that the amount of clipping you get is appropriate.  You could go "all tube" and set the gain all the way up and let it clip like crazy, and that makes a cool sound.  I prefer something more full and round and less overdriven and brittle, so I set the tube level up pretty high (maybe 3/4 tube, 1/4 solid state) and then turn the gain down so there's NO clipping, trying to fully saturate below the clip point.  
   
  Output control is solely to set the level for the downstream components.  Depending on what's down there, you might set it higher or lower.  If you're running straight to the PA, the output will probably be pretty low.  If you have other components (I sometimes run from the preamp into Alesis Midiverb IV digital effects unit), they will have their own input level controls, which might mean adjusting the output of the preamp differently.  
   
  I generally use the preamp ahead of just about every other device that doesn't have to key off the tonal quality of the signal.  In other words, a couple of devices I sometimes use rely on the quality of the input signal to make some kind of a decision, usually recognizing pitch.  These devices want the cleanest signal they can get, so my Digitech Vocalizer, Boss OC-2 octave pedal, and Digitech Synth Wah envelope filter go ahead of the preamp.  Everything else -- digital effects unit, equalizer -- go behind it.  
   
  Finally, I add clean volume by running the output into a solid state amplifier.  That way, I can have a line out that sounds pretty close to what's coming out of the cabinet, and can duplicate my live sound on a recording, or when running through the PA.  
   
  Have fun!
   
  -tim
  

Garry Hodgson <harp@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
  Tim Moyer wrote:

> The secret is to find the right combination(s) of input level
> (gain), tube/solid state blend and output level to drive whatever
> your final amplification source is going to be. I generally set
...

wow. i just posted a question, only to find that tim has already
answered it in the time it took me to ask. this list is amazing
sometimes.


-- 
Optimism and pessimism don't exist for me.
I'm a blues man. I am a prisoner of hope.
I'm going to die full of hope.
- Cornel West