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

[Cljdm@xxxxxxx]

Hi all,
 
Thanks Greg. Your post here says it all. Especially your last sentence.  
Reality can be a bitch. The gear dialogue here  can get a bit carried  away. But 
this is  one of the things that is great about this  list.
 
Thanks ,
 
Chris Mastakas
 
PS  by the way, Hal Iwan at Custom Harp cases, makes a great harp  case. Just 
got mine a few months ago.
 
 
In a message dated 4/1/2009 1:18:48 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
greg@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:


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



_______________________________________________
Harp-L  is sponsored by SPAH,  http://www.spah.org
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l


**************New Low Prices on Dell Laptops â Starting at $399 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1220631247x1201390185/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fad.doubl
eclick.net%2Fclk%3B213540506%3B35046329%3Bx)