[Harp-L] Re: Tube amps: hand-built, pro-endorsed, and highly praised

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robert Hale wrote: 
<Just as a Leslie cabinet in the room is the ultimate B3 experience, simulators are a darn good and practical way to get the sound.
<To my ears, Richard Hunter's patch DSDSLP sounds like the big tube crunch of large, heavy, multi-speaker amps. I can afford the RP355, and I can <carry it by myself. Win-win.
<Your ears may vary. 
<If you have previously dismissed digital replicas of tube circuits, take another look at [listen to] what RP and Richard Hunter's patch sets can <do.

Thanks Robert for the unsolicited testimonial. I own a Sonny Junior Super Sonny, and it's a great amp indeed, with all the virtues cited so far. There's a lot of great gear out there for harp players now, and the SJ is at the top of the amp food chain in size, power, and quality.

So why do I use an RP on almost every gig?  I think an RP sounds great.  I've heard other modeled rigs that sound great too; the technology basically works. It sounds fine on amped blues; check this out if you want to hear it (low recording quality, but the harp comes through clearly):
http://www.hunterharp.com/?p=1112

And here's Boris Plotnikov's rig in action, also from my site:
htp://www.hunterharp.com/?p=1727

A lot of what I play is not amped blues, and to me, the most important aspect of an RP or other multiFX is how quickly and completely I can change sounds on the thing. The main reason I take my RP with me on every gig is that it makes so many different sounds. It makes great quacking autowah sounds; it makes great rotary speaker sounds; it makes a vibrato like a violin; it even has a wahwah that works with harp. One device replaces a huge chain of gear, and with a little planning I can walk right through the sounds I want on every tune, one footpress at a time. 

It helps that it's relatively small and lightweight, and I only need to make one input and one output connection to tap into all the FX in the RP, so setup time is as close to zero as you get with electronics.  

I'll be posting a few things I recorded with the RP and the Digitech iStomp running Swingshift, the multi-timbral pitch shifter, to my site soon.  Looping the harp with a multiFX in the chain opens up amazing possibilities for textures and colors.  I tend to use familiar material to explore these possibilities, so I apologize if the tunes seem overexposed; the sounds aren't.

One other comment: I've been working lately with a band that includes two guitarists, and it takes a lot of power to cut through two electric guitars.  You do it with an RP by running it to the PA.  But you--or any other player--won't get the physical feeling of a big amp on the stage pumping high decibels through your body unless you've got a big amp on the stage.  

author, "Jazz Harp" (Oak Publications, NYC)
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