[Harp-L] gear, tone - my 2 cents

[Greg Heumann <greg@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Can a good player get better tone through ANYTHING than an average  
player? Of course, Yes

But can a beginning player get better tone with good gear? Absolutely,  
Yes. He still won't sound nearly as good as an experienced player, but  
good gear ABSOLUTELY HELPS. When I was starting out I bought some  
lousy gear because I didn't know any better, and when I tried gear I  
could barely hear the difference from one thing to another. But I got  
frustrated wasting money on gear, and I began to pay more attention to  
what was available. So I went out and bought myself an amp I KNEW was  
capable of sounding AWESOME. It instantly made me sound better, but it  
also showed me I didn't sound like I wanted to - and at that point I  
KNEW I couldn't use the amp as an excuse. The fact is I decided to  
spend the money on the amp because I didn't WANT to be able to use my  
gear as an excuse. I wanted to KNOW that my gear was fully capable of  
sounding as good as anyone. That forced me to confront my shortcomings  
and really head down the right path toward better tone. But even at  
the beginning of that process, that amp had a lot to do with getting  
me my first gigs. The amp was a Sonny Jr Four-Ten. There are other  
great amps too - I'm just saying that the most common beginner mistake  
is to buy lousy gear because a) it is hard to know what is good based  
on your own trials before you've developed tone, and b) it is hard to  
get good advice when you don't know where to turn to get it. A  
beginning player doesn't know that the Shure 520DX is any different  
than the vintage Bullet he saw some great player use, for example, and  
believes an amp called a "Blues Junior" from a company named Fender  
simply must be a good blues harp amp. (I'm not calling singling this  
amp out - just pointing out the kind of logic a beginner is likely to  
apply in the absence of good advice.)

The more you learn, the more you are able to recognize what you don't  
know.

/Greg

http://www.blowsmeaway.com
http://www.bluestateband.net