I got a phone call from my old friend Bobby Mack, who had a showcase set lined up at Antone's the last day of the South by Southwest festival in Austin. We've had fun when I sit in on his Houston gigs since he came out of retirement last year, so when his current band had to drop out for other (i.e., much more lucrative) commitments, he decided to do fewer originals and more chestnuts with the pickup band, adding me for the second half of the set. Pretty good pickup band: you may recognize Antone's house drummer Barry "Frosty" Smith from his time with Rare Earth, Lee Michaels, and Sly and the Family Stone. Bobby is a contemporary of SRV and had a weekly gig @ Antone's back in the day, played regionally and toured Europe and New Zealand instead of the States, was on Provogue Records in the 90s (www.bobbymack.com). It was really nice of Bobby to invite me; he'd guessed that I'd never played Antone's (unlike his current band) and would like to do it.
Very short notice, logistics weren't good for me, I didn't want to be responsible for hauling an amp around Austin during SXSW, and it was time to give the new Harp Attack pedal from Lone Wolf Blues Company the acid test. The Harp Attack is a true tube distortion pedal for harmonica; it uses a subminiature pentode tube that runs on 18v and sounds like an overdriven tube output stage because that's what it really is. Three knobs: tone, volume, drive. High input impedance for harp mics, true bypass, and I ran it on two 9v batteries instead of a wall wart to travel even lighter. $175 for the pedal; more details at www.lwharpamps.com .
The red HA pedal is visible just to the right of my genuine Amelia Earhart brand harp box, which is all I had to bring (and if I'd thought to ask Bobby what songs he meant to do, I could have left a bunch of harps home and maybe brought the ET Low F). Courtney the soundman patched the HA into a DI box and just took a level: quick changeovers @ SXSW, so as my name is not James Cotton or Kim Wilson, I didn't complain about the monitor mix (totally low, dark, and furry), just set the pedal knobs where I knew the HA was in the ballpark for the 5 Meg crystal JT-30VC I was using. Courtney used the first song to dial the house EQ (mainly more bass) and add reverb. On the second song, I used a self-customized Low F SP20 in the standard compromise tuning for an Otis Rush classic in Gm that I'd never done with Bobby. Harp solo starts around 3:20; I wasn't playing very loud the rest of the time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHub6eWYvD8
I've been using the Harp Attack since last December, doing beta testing before it hit production, going to every jam I can and sitting in when possible, plugging the Harp Attack into every PA I can get at, and it's gotten nothing but compliments. Easy and forgiving to set up; more importantly, you feel and hear that there's a tube in there, running the right way. The drive knob lets you set the distortion level, and you can push the tone in the direction of a 59 Bassman or a tweed Champ, depending on settings. The pedal's tolerant of different embouchures as well: you don't have to be a heavy-duty tongueblocker to get a good sound out of it. It also works well in front of a clean combo amp.
Yeah, as a beta tester and endorsee I'm financially connected, but that requires me to undertake dangerous missions like walking into a SXSW showcase with world-class players in one of the world's most famous blues clubs armed with only a pedal for an amp. You may judge the results for yourself and perhaps understand why I had no qualms whatsoever. Honestly, if I hadn't told you what I was using, what would you have guessed?
Stephen Schneider _______________________________________________ Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l