Re: [Harp-L] Which harp mic is most feedback resistant?

[Rick Davis <bluesharpamps@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 6:20 PM, Greg Heumann <greg@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> ...The Fireball is a perfect example. I hate it. Why? It takes away one of
> the great expressive variables I have under my control, which is tonal
> change based on cupping technique. That mic has very high headroom (140dB)
> so even when cupped tightly it doesn't distort. People who play through
> digital effects boxes to manufacture their tone for them like this mic,
> because it is predictable. It is very good at what it does - I just don't
> like it personally for that reason - some times I WANT to induce a distorted
> sound.
>
>

Greg, you say bullet mics are "dirty" and the Audix Fireball is clean, yet
players who use the Fireball and digital effects are manufacturing tone.
That make no sense at all.  The purest tone is clean acoustic, isn't it?
Listen to Tom Ball, for example.

My prefered performance mic is a Peavey H-5C Cherry Bomb that you modified,
replacing the crappy element with a lovely Shure CM and upgrading the volume
control.  The mic sounds fantastic, with a deep bark unlike anything I've
heard in other harp mics.  The problem is... It often feeds back like a
demon, similar to other bullet mics that employ a Shure CM or CR element.

Sometimes the feedback is so bad the mic becomes unusable. In some gigs I am
constantly fighting feedback, and in others I have to turn down WAY too low,
which influences me to play the harp too loud which destroys both my tone
and my harps.

When I test other mics side-by-side with the Peavey, such as my Shure SM57,
I get more volume before feedback.  It is not just a matter of lower output
from the mic producing lower volume from the amp... I turn up the amp to
LOUDER volumes before feedback.  However, I dislike using the SM57 for blues
harp because of the narrow awkward neck and the obtrusive handling noise.

So, I have taken the advice of so many who responded to my question about
harp mic feedback and I have ordered a new Audix Fireball V.  It will arrive
soon, and I'll subject it to as much feedback abuse as I can before forming
an opinion.  But the opinions of others have certainly caused me to check it
out.

-Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
www.bluesharpamps.blogspot.com