Re: [Harp-L] RE: Naked Tone

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lare Sattler wrote:
<When I first really started to seriously want to play blues harp, and was looking for tone, I bought Pete Sheridan's book "The <Quest For Tone In Amplified Blues Harp" and started trying mics and amps. I am still constantly trying new stuff, just because I <love the quest, but the one thing I REALLY took from Pete's book was his statement that basically, all the best equipment won't <give you the tone if your chops aren't there. IMHO embouchure is the number one thing and a good cup is absolutely necessary for <that honkin' Chicago tone. I do believe mics and amps can have a great effect, and I have some good ones, but I can sure can see a <difference if I get sloppy. This is what I think, and I'm stickin' to it!

Word.

I had a conversation with Steve Baker a couple of years ago about amp modelers and amps.  Steve told me that he'd run a workshop in Germany where they compared lots of different amps, some modeled, some not.  What he found was that players with good acoustic tone sounded good through just about every amp they tried; players with poor tone sounded un-good through everything they tried.

Gear certainly makes a difference; you can make sounds with a decent piece of kit that you can't make without it.  But there is no gear good enough to salvage a weak acoustic tone.  if you've tried five different kinds of gear and you hate the way you sound through every one of them, stop trying/buying gear, and get your acoustic tone up to speed.  

Thanks, Richard Hunter   

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