Re: [Harp-L] equipment

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"John Taylor" wrote:
<Hi. as a relative novice to harp playing, I am increasingly impressed by the tones that the experienced & <professional players acheive when I listen on You Tube. The thing that I am not sure of is how much of the <sound ( tone ) is actually
<the result of 1 harmonica with 1mic. &1 amp/speaker arrangement. Would some kind soul be prepared to play a few <bars
<with minimum equipment and then repeat over by adding 1 by 1 whatever equipment they use when playing a gig to <the 
<same few bars of music. I know this is time consuming but it would help me and other beginners to realise if it <is our 
<inability to create the correct embouchure that stops us from getting that smooth tone you hear when a good <player is 
<playing, ordo we need to invest in some better quality amps & mics.

John,

I have invested more time and effort (and perhaps money) in exploring the effects of gear on the sound of the harmonica than all but a few people in the world; I am generally considered expert in this topic.  I can tell you right now that the inescapable basis of great tone, amplified or otherwise, is the sound you make with the harmonica when nothing is plugged in.  Gear is great stuff, and I love to play through a great setup; but the simple fact is that a player who makes a great sound WITHOUT the gear will make a great sound almost no matter what gear he or she plays through, and a player whose unamplified sound is weak will only sound louder, not better, through any amplified setup.

I recommend that you listen to recordings by Charlie Musselwhite from the 1960s to the present day.  No professional player changes his setup more frequently than Charlie, including everything from the harp to the amp.  Almost every album he's made features a different amped setup.  Yet his sound is instantly recognizable from record to record.  Why?  Because when all is said and done, you're listening to Charlie Musselwhite play the harmonica.

Of course you want decent gear, but that's easy to find.  In 2011, if you can't find information on the Internet (and this list!) that will help you get a decent mic and amp for a total of less than $350, you're just not trying.  To make it easier, you can get a concise summary of my opinions on the topic here:
http://www.hunterharp.com/whats-the-best-choice-for-your-first-amp/

I repeat: finding good gear is easy.  Learning to make a great sound with the harp takes time and practice.

Regarding your specific request--"Would some kind soul be prepared to play a few bars with minimum equipment and then repeat over by adding 1 by 1 whatever equipment they use when playing a gig to the same few bars of music. I know this is time consuming but it would help me and other beginners to realise if it is our inability to create the correct embouchure that stops us from getting that smooth tone you hear when a good player is 
playing, ordo we need to invest in some better quality amps & mics"--I suppose I could do this.  A number of my recordings were made by recording the harmonica "dry" through a mic directly into the computer, then adding FX (like amp modelling) in the mix, and I could reverse the process to show you what the impact of the FX was. But really, it's a waste of time for all of us.  

Learn to play the harmonica with a big sound, and NO other gear involved, and everything else will fall into place for you.  Really.  

regards, Richard Hunter



  


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