Re: [Harp-L] No Effects or Delay?

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

MARK BURNESS wrote:
<Essential? That's really down to personal taste?

Everything related to a player's sound is ultimately down to personal taste, and I certainly think all players should make an effort to sound exactly how they want to sound, regardless of whether FX are involved or not.

On the other hand, I find that many, many harp players are very, very conservative when it comes to applying FX, and the result is that they lose many opportunities to add variety to their sound.  Variety wakes players and audiences alike up to new feelings and possibilities.  It's exciting in a way that's tough to duplicate without the FX.  

Players who never change their sound should ask themselves why.  Are they just playing it safe?  If so, why not take a chance and see what a delay can do for them and the audience?  You can always turn the thing off if you have to.

Regards, Richard Hunter

-----Original Message-----

From: 
Sent: Mar 22, 2012 8:28 AM

To: Richard Hunter , "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" 

Subject: Re: [Harp-L] No Effects or Delay?



Richard wrote: "Listen to your Little Walter records and see how many of your favorites have reverb, delay, or both. Even if you don't include the obviously reverb-soaked stuff like "Blue Lights," you hear plenty of those FX on Walter's records, and with good reason.  It sounds great--it makes the harp sound bigger, and it helps the harp to blend with everything else going on."
 
A significant proportion of LW's records (the more commonly heard tracks anyway) were dry, fractionally more than were dry had reverb (nearly half & half), relatively few had delay (15% or so?). Apart from a very few exceptions (like LW's Dec '55 session), the reverbed numbers only had the reverb on the harp, rest of the band appear dry. Chess weren't typically putting reverb on the whole band until/after 1960.
 
Little Walter himself is not known to have used any in-line wet effects as far as the conventional wisdom goes.
 
But, I'd agree that, where used , the effects applied by Chess & Universal made a significant enhancement.
 





From: Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Thursday, 22 March 2012, 12:04
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] No Effects or Delay?

Cljdm@xxxxxxx wrote:
>I have A Super Sonny Jr. and have toyed with the idea of adding a reverb or 
> delay. In fact I have practiced with both, yet I keep on unplugging these 
>units 
 and go back to playing just through the amp. Seems like I get what I 
>need just  through the amp. The reverb and the delay sound good at times, 
>but overall I  like this amp just the way it plays naked. 

I own a Super Sonny also, and it sounds great, but I wouldn't play most gigs without a delay or reverb or both.  They're essential tools for amplified musicians.

Listen to your Little Walter records and see how many of your favorites have reverb, delay, or both. Even if you don't include the obviously reverb-soaked stuff like "Blue Lights," you hear plenty of those FX on Walter's records, and with good reason.  It sounds great--it makes the harp sound bigger, and it helps the harp to blend with everything else going on.

But in general people should make the sounds they like to make, and if you don't like reverb, don't use it.  In the mid-to-late-1970s I did most of my gigs with a Fender Super
 reverb that was modded to include two 12" JBL speakers and an extra transformer to boost the output up to around 60 watts.  It also had no reverb unit.  That amp sounded loud and clear no matter what else was happening, and I never missed the reverb.  (But I might now.)

Regards, Richard Hunter


author, "Jazz Harp" 
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com
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author, "Jazz Harp" 
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com
Myspace http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
more mp3s at http://taxi.com/rhunter
Twitter: lightninrick