Re: [Harp-L] Playing clean live

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

When you say cupped, do you mean cupping the mic in your hands, or cupped in the sense that you're capturing the acoustic sound of cupping the harp in your hands and working the cup?

If you want to amplify the acoustic sound of your hand cup as if you were positioned in front of a mic on a stand, but be mobile and run your own effects, you could use a small condensor mic on a gooseneck and clip it to your wrist, aimed at the heels of your hands. I do this to get a fully "natural" acoustic sound and it works well.
 
Winslow Yerxa
President, SPAH, the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica
Producer, the Spring 2014 Harmonica Collective
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance


________________________________
 From: Mike Fugazzi <mikefugazzi@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Monday, May 5, 2014 7:57 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Playing clean live
 

I am looking for a sweet live rig for playing clean, but cupped.  I get
asked to play in a bluesy fashion a few songs a night and have been using a
LoneWolf HarpBreak as a distortion pedal.

Right now, I use a SM58 into an EP Exotic Booster at 9 o'clock to hit the
HB with enough signal to make is sound really really dirty.  The HB goes
into a Zoom 100 BT that I use for reverb, but can do like 100 other things.

>From there, I've gone to a passive DI to the board or a Behringer AD21.
The AD21 compresses the tone even with everything set to neutral.  This
rig is fine, but I thought it'd be interesting to hear what others are
doing for playing clean.

My favorite clean tones are probably from Lee Oskar.  I know he uses a
Beyer M160 into a tube di and a clean amp.  I am thinking of picking up a
M160 at some point, but do not have a tube DI...I guess the Behringer sorta
emulates that.

The group plays country and bluegrass...some folk music.  The guitar player
runs sound, and I haven't been thrilled with the straight to PA tone and
how it cuts on stage.  There is no reverb on the mixer, and it'd be helpful
to mix as much before the mixer as possible in order to help him out.

I have other gear I can try in line, but I am sure other's have tried some
interesting rigs themselves.
----------
Mike Fugazzi
vocals/harmonica
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