Re: [Harp-L] audix fireball

[Tin Lizzie <TrackHarpL@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Shortly after I started using the Audix Fireball was when I said to myself, “Okay, it’s time to really start trying to do more with hand effects.”  Well, as you all know by now, the Fireball is great, even if you don’t have a perfectly tight cup, but does next to NOTHING regarding hand effects.  Rats.

My playing context is typically one set at an open blues jam at a bar.  Maybe a second one later on in the evening if I’m lucky and not too many other harp players show up that night.  Speed of set up and take-down is key, and I get to blow one or two notes by way of a sound check and then please be quiet.  Much as I enjoyed using the Digitech and Richard Hunter’s patches, it wasn’t the right rig for me in that situation, because the overhead of setting it up and taking it down was more than the people around me had patience for.  I’m liked well enough, but let’s face it, I’m not in the category of “Harmonica Players Worth Waiting For."

I went through a singing phase and used a Blows-Me-Away SM58, with volume control, plugged straight into the PA.  For singing, I’d use a separate vocal mic provided by the house if there was one.  If not, I’d play and sing through the same mic.  Was it perfect?  No.  Was it good?  Yes!

Nowadays I skip the singing, and fewer people seem to choose my set to go out to the sidewalk to chat.  I play through a Blows-Me-Away bulletized SM545, through the PA, and I like it just fine.

I still can’t do hand effects intuitively.  But I have a good time, and the "regular folk" at the bar compliment my playing, sometimes.  It’s good.

Tin Lizzie