[Harp-L] Re: Bass amps for amplified harp

[Maka McMahon <makamcmahon@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've got a double bass player (who also plays electric bass guitar), another bass gutarist and a guitarist in the house, so I've always got lots of access to guitar and bass gear.  As if 3 harp amps isn't enough fun!

Bass rigs range from Fender Rumble 20W combo through to a Trace Elliot 300w (12 band EQ) into 410 and 215 Trace Elliot cabs, with a couple of Behringer combos in between.  All the bass rigs are easier to work with on harp than their equivalent guitar rig (biggest guitar rig is a Epiphone Triggerman 100W into a 412 cab).  Bass rigs have plenty of bottom end (duh!) and don't seem to have the level of feedback-inducing gain as their guitar equivalents.  I also use harp (and karaoke mics!) into a 35W Realistic mono PA into a 4x8" bass cab.  I sometimes use this cab as an extension cab for my Johnson T25R tube amp (guitar amp modified for harp)as well.

I use both HiZ (CAD50VC, 520DX) and LoZ (SM58 + 'specials') mics and have tried most of the mics through most of the rigs, just for fun.  Its hard to get speaker distortion in the bass rigs, but you get a real nice deep clean sound.  Its completely different to my favourite harp rig - an all valve amp from a 60's Japanese electric keyboard (must put out all of 4W)into two cabs, each with 6 (!!) 4Ââ x 2Ââ oval speakers.  That's a real different sound!

I think bass rigs are at least as good as guitar rigs for harp.  But they uusually cost more.  Simplest way is to bite the bullet and get a harp amp!  Costs less in the long run than years fiddling with tools not quite made for the task, and lets you use all that fiddling time for practice instead!

Cheers
Maka


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