[Harp-L] Performance setup - hearing and feedback

[Sean Murphy <taser8@xxxxxxxxx>]

I've been taking lessons for about a year and a half now, and have been
asked by a friend to sit in with his band a couple of times for gigs. I've
encountered some issues I'd love to get everyone's thoughts on!

The first time I played, I ran my bullet mic right into the PA, which had
some monitors at the front of the "stage". I could hear myself okay when I
was really cutting loose on solo-like bits, but when I was trying to just
provide backup I found that I couldn't hear myself hardly at all! I hadn't
practiced with the band and consider myself to be still at a beginner level,
so I didn't want to stink up my friend's band's music so I did a lot of just
standing around, but I would love to have been able to provide some backing
accompaniment.

The same friend asked me to sit in with them again recently, and this time I
brought an amp (my fender guitar amp - not ideal, but it's something); I
figured I could set that up behind me and mic it, and have it function as
more of a monitor so that perhaps I could hear myself better. It worked to
some extent but I then found that I was getting huge amounts of feedback out
of the amp! I ended up having to turn the mic down so far that I found
myself back in the same situation - once the band started really thumping
along I really couldn't hear myself except when I was really cutting loose!

So I wanted to poll the list - I'd love to hear suggestions, observations,
etc. on how to set up right, mic'ing an amp, etc. - any random thoughts or
pointers are appreciated!

Thanks!
Sean