Re: [Harp-L] Walkin by myself - harp rack

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

philharpn@xxxxxxx wrote"
<The bass player performing "Walking by Myself" is using some kind of tube/harp rack in this video.
<Anybody know anything about this tube/rack? It looks like it might shield the harp mic from feedback...
<
<https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=spigot-chr-gcmac&ei=utf-8&ilc=12&type=216107&p=rockpalast+johnny+winter>

The bass player is Jon Paris, who I met at SPAH in Milwaukee a few years ago and have played with on a number of occasions since.  He plays guitar with his rock trio Monday nights at Lucille's in BB Kings, Times Square, NYC, and he's been mentioned recently by Rob Paparozzi on this list.

I've never seen a rack like the one he uses in this video.  It's apparently equipped with a mic element that's integrated into the clear plastic shell that surrounds the harmonica.  So the rack's purposes appear to be 1) holding the harp and 2) keeping the harp in a fixed position relative to the mic.  

It sounds a little weak compared to the output from the guitar, but it's interesting nevertheless.  The fact is that so far as I know, the only way to get the big tone that results from cupping the harp with a mic is to cup the harp with a mic; putting the harp in close proximity to a mic element without cupping it just doesn't give you that big crunchy sound. I well recall spending a half hour on the phone with TJ Klay a few years ago testing that out at his request; no matter what I put in the mic/amp/FX chain, it wouldn't produce the sound of a handheld harp and mic.  The difference was audible even over a telephone line.

On the other hand, for playing harp with a loud rock guitarist like Johnny Winter while your hands are playing a bass guitar, the rack in the video probably works better than a Bob Dylan-style rack setup; less background noise into the mic (meaning less feedback), I bet, and less variation in the tone because the mic and harp are always at a fixed distance.  John Mayall used to use a boxlike contraption that he taped to a mic on a mic stand in order to lock the harp right onto the mic.  That setup served a similar function, and in my memory it was louder than the setup Paris is using here.

next time I see Jon, I'll ask him where that thing came from and where it is now. 

Regards, Richard Hunter