Re: [Harp-L] Amp Comparisons - Are there any?



David Barrett was kind enough some years ago to allow me to reprint a comparison of amps that he published on his own website.  The piece that ran on my site can be found here:
http://www.hunterharp.com/heres-a-few-louder-not-necessarily-better-but-bigger-amp-setups/ 

Dave's original piece can be found at:
http://www.harmonicamasterclass.com/

A few comments about this piece are in order.  First, and most important, the information in this article is now something like ten years old.  In the last ten years, the options for amplifying harmonica have exploded, from the mic to the amp and everything in between.  All of the currently available boutique amp makes and models don't appear on Dave's evaluation at all, for the simple reason that they didn't exist when the piece was written.

Something else that didn't exist at the time was mature amp modeling technology, and as members of this list know, my opinion is that this technology offers great sounds, including traditional amped blues sounds as well as a range of very new approaches to harmonica tone, at a very attractive price.  A number of my recent live and studio recordings at http://hunterharp.com demonstrate some of the possibilities with the Digitech RP series of devices, in my opinion the ones that offer the best price for performance ratio for dedicated amp modelers.  We are now seeing manufacturers like Fender offering hybrid amps that include both traditional tubes and modern modeling technologies.  We are also seeing manufacturers like Holmes Engineering and Lone Wolf offering dedicated devices that are aimed at delivering good amped harp tone through a PA.  So there are more choices, which complicates the choice.

Finally, and most importantly, hundreds of comments on harp-L over the years have firmly established that a good player can make damn near any setup sound good. By that I do NOT mean that the gear is irrelevant.  It most certainly is not! Great gear is an inspiration to play through, and an artist can never have enough inspiration.  But it does suggest that if you don't like the sound that's coming out of your amp, the first thing you should ask yourself is whether you're making a great sound without the amp. It also suggests that buyers should stress a little bit less over whether they made the absolute BEST choice possible.  If your gear makes a sound that inspires you, you made the right choice.  To put it bluntly, it's getting harder and harder to find gear that really sucks.

Regards, Richard Hunter

  

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