Re: [Harp-L] Re: Overblows in the blues - check this out

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 Bill Newton wrote:
<Jason's pedals include a thing that doubles notes that are maybe 3 octaves
<below the harp notes. 

I very much doubt Jason's going that low.  As I understand it, Jason uses a Micro POG, and a quick check on this device's specs shows that it will double the original pitch one octave down and/or one octave up, so three octaves down isn't possible.  Even a full-blown POG wouldn't do it--that device does mixes of one octave down, one octave up, and two octaves up.  

As a practical matter, whatever the device allows you to do, 2 octaves down is about as far as you want to go (and as far down as any pedal I've ever used will take you).  In fact, it's too far in many situations. If we figure that an amped harp is putting out a lot of energy around 500hZ-1 kHz (also known as the low midrange), dropping that an octave would be 250-500 hz, and two octaves would be 125-250 hZ.  In that range, the harmonica is already playing tones that potentially conflict with the bass, meaning that the band as a whole will lack clarity and punch in the bass register. Drop it another octave and the harp is right on top of the kick drum's frequency range (62-125 hZ), meaning that the harp will conflict with the kick drum, the beat itself is going to get messy, and the harp's actual pitch will be hard to hear.  Most harp players would be surprised to hear how much power they can put into the sound just by doubling the pitch one octave down.

FYI, I've heard Jason playing acoustically from 10 feet away at a SPAH jam session, and there was nothing thin about his tone.  He doesn't need an octave doubler to get a fat sound.  In fact, nobody does.  You don't use an octave doubler to make  a thin sound fat; you use it to turn the harmonica into a different kind of animal entirely, one that occupies a much wider range of frequencies than the instrument by itself, and so projects a lot more power.  

Of course Jason spends more time in the middle and upper registers than a typical blues player does, and the air up there is thinner by definition.  Lots of blues players spend almost all their time playing from the 6 hole down.  It's certainly one way to play the instrument, and it works well for lots of stuff.  But it wouldn't work for Jason's music.    

Saying that "Jason can't get his sound without his pedals" is true but it's hardly a comment on his basic technique.  Of course he can't get certain sounds without the pedals.  Nobody could.  That's what the pedal is for, man--to get those freaky sounds that a human being and a harp can't make by themselves.  Hendrix and Stevie Ray couldn't make wah-wah sounds without a wah-wah pedal, either.  Anybody care to disparage their abilities on the guitar?  Or are we claiming that guitar players have a divine right to more fun than harmonica players?  They can already sing and play at the same time...

Finally, talking about a "fat sound" as if it was the end-all and be-all is a mistake in itself.  That sound is perfectly suited to blues, of course, and we all love it.  But blues is not the only thing out there.  Toots Thielemans's sound is not "fat" in the same way that Little Walter's is.  John Popper gets a lot of static on this list, but the fact is that his audience loves his sound, which has a lot of electronics in it, and it's a sound that's perfectly suited to the band he leads.  I very much doubt that a straight-up blues sound would work with Blues Traveler for more than a few minutes.  

Of course we all know that Popper's audience is all doped up, all the time, and that's the only reason why they like his sound.  Or at least that was the line on harp-L a few years ago.  I've searched in vain for the dope Popper is using on his audiences, but if anyone can find it, please send me a truckload of the stuff, COD, pre-approved at my end, along with a couple of busloads of people I can use it on.      

In the meantime, I'll keep using the electronics.  Modern audiences seem to like that almost as much as they like the dope Popper is using on them.  Hey, maybe it's just Popper's sound that they like?  Now that's a scary thought.

Regards, Richard Hunter

author, "Jazz Harp"
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
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