[Harp-L] tone and electronics

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

Johnnie Harp opines:

Bottom-line, why should a player care what their acoustic tone is, IF  
they play through electronics in any case, and end up with the  
desired result through their customary rig?

Because the best  electronic effects RESPOND to a player's technique  
(in this regard, I usually think of delay and /or reverb as part of  
the sound reinforcement, not effects).  If a MicroPog, for example,  
is set properly, it will vary the sound produced depending on  
variations in breath pressure, attack, size of oral resonance  
chamber, etc.  Same thing with a good phaser pedal or a good envelope  
follower and also true (but much less so) with a RotoSim.  So, used  
properly, electronics are not merely sound effects but EXTENSIONS of  
playing technique.  it's a trial and error thing, but if you get the  
right harmonica friendly pedals and set them up correctly, it can be  
almost like playing another instrument.

BUT, to do this, a player needs decent acoustic tone, decent breath  
technique and good mic handling (cupping) technique.

That being said, one does not have to spend very much time browsing  
around on YouTube to hear harp players that simply use pedals as  
sound effects, and in those cases, Johnnie's above quoted statement  
would certainly be true.  But that statement is also often true of  
some players who use a lot of tube distortion which just masks their  
tone (or, in many cases, lack thereof).

So, it depends how you do it and how good the player is at finding  
using electronics that respond to technique rather than simply  
masking tone with sound effects.

On the other hand, delay and/or reverb does smooth out variations in  
timbre between bent and unbent notes and OBs, which is useful (and a  
reason why these effects are so popular with amplified harmonica  
players).

Moral of the story:  if a player thinks acoustic tone production is  
irrelevant to playing through electronics, that player is not using  
electronics to their best potential, or is not using the right  
electronics.

JP