[Harp-L] Interesting experience playing through an acoustic bass amp

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

A couple of weeks ago i sat in with a jazz trio (guitar, bass,drums)  
and played through the house PA.  They were using a string bass  
player I hadn't met before.  He was a really nice guy and apparently  
liked my playing since he invited me to sit in with an electric jazz  
group he was playing bass guitar with at the same club that weekend.   
So, when i show up on Saturday, there's no PA.  The absence of a PA  
at a jazz gig is not unusual.  But over the years I had played with  
all kinds of bands at this particular venue and there had always been  
a house PA before, and  since I prefer to go into the board anyway I  
didn't bother to bring an amp. What to do....???

The guitar player had only one input on his amp.  But the bass player  
had 2 inputs on his.  He was playing a fret-less electric solid body  
bass guitar into an SWR acoustic bass amp (two 8" speakers and one   
5" tweeter--sort of like an acoustic guitar amp for acoustic bass).   
So i put my pigtail transformer on the end of my XLR cord and plugged  
my EV re15 into the bass amp, not having any idea what it would sound  
like.  It sounded GREAT.  Nicely thick and warm, responsive to mic  
cupping techniques, and very decent tone, (I'm not into the so-called  
"Chicago" distorted sound, even for blues.) The band must have like  
it , too, because they asked me to come back and sit in at their next  
gig, and when i did, I just plugged into the SWR again since it  
sounded so good the first time.  My prior experience with 8*'  
speakers is that they overdrive and distort easily (a la Fender  
Champ) which is not the sound I'm after. But the speakers in the SWR  
sure didn't sound like that.  I've always speculated that harp would  
sound good through a modern bass rig, but never had the opportunity  
to play through one before.  Interesting experience.

	JP