[Harp-L] Re: getting higher gain

[Michael Easton <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Richard,
There is only one volume control per channel. No secondary. I set that  
to 6.

I got the idea from a former guitarist band mate and from a current  
guitarist I play with.  Fenders usually have 2 channels and 2 inputs  
for each  channel.
Both guitarists use the 2nd input whether they play the dry or wet  
channel.  They crank the amp to 10 to create more tone then control  
the volume from the guitar pot. They aren't loud players. They found  
this method allows them to produce great tone at lower volumes   
because they are driving the output stage hotter by reducing the input  
stage.

So if you own a hot harp mic the way to get more use from your amp is  
to add a volume pot like Greg Heumann's in the signal path, plug into  
the 2nd input, crank the amp and control all your volume from the pot  
on the mic. Like someone else mentioned it won't work as well with  
weak mics or mics that pick up a wide pattern but it works great with  
Lo Z, hot vintage elements and dynamics like EV's.

It's important to use the 2nd input per channel if your amp allows for  
it. Most Gibsons and Fenders have 2 inputs per channel. The 1st input  
produces too high a signal in the preamp stage.

Bill Hines heard the set up last night from the audience. Maybe he can  
give some input on the difference he heard from previous times.  He  
played the first set on the same amp using the 1st input in the reverb  
channel on the Deluxe Reverb  and a Green Bullet  mic with vol. pot.   
The amp volume was set around 2 1/2.   I plugged in using the setting  
I described earlier.


On Oct 29, 2010, at 6:48 PM, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Michael, I'm a little confused. Does this amp have a Master volume  
> control, or is the overall volume set by the channel volume  
> control?  If the latter, I take it you turned the CHANNEL volume  
> control to 6?  If the former, what were the channel and master  
> volume controls set to?
>
> Thanks, Richard Hunter

Michael Easton
www.harmonicarepair.com