[Harp-L] Harp-L Digest, Vol 216, Issue 2

[Richard Hunter]

Subject: [Harp-L] bottle o' blues mic -- is there a hidden flaw?
Peter Beck wrote:

I learned about the Bottle O' Blues microphone from Richard Hunter's
website, and I like the way it sounds when he plays it. I think I want to
buy one.

The thing is, I'm a pretty regular reader of the posts on harp-l, and I
don't recall this mic ever being mentioned. So I'm wondering if there's
something about it -- it's too fragile, or it turns into a pumpkin at
midnight -- that keeps it from being considered along with the usual
suspects.

I'd appreciate any wisdom anyone has to share.
***

The Bottle o' Blues is a good blues mic, albeit with a limited range of
tones that tends to the grittier.  At the price there's not much I'd rather
use.

That's "at the price".  The Silverfish Silver Bullet mic is about $120, and
it's more flexible than the BoB.  The Bulletini without a volume control is
about $190, and it's the best of the lot n terms of the range of material
you can cover with it.

But if you want tough tones at a low price, the BoB will do the job. It
took me about 15 years to break mine, so on a per-year basis the price is
low.  Nothing wrong with it beyond the tonal limitations described above.

As an alternative, the Bone Daddy mics are also low-priced, and some blues
players seem to like 'em. I haven't tried it, but it might be worth a look.
It's the only thing I know of that's price-competitive with a BoB, yard
sale mics not included.

Regards, RH


-- 
Check out Richard Hunter's new 21st Century blues release "Blue Future"
and the 21st Century rock harmonica masterpiece "The Lucky One" at Amazon
Music and iTunes!

Author, "Jazz Harp" (Oak Publications, NYC)
Latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
Twitter: @lightninrick­­­‪­‪­­­‪‪­­‪­‪­‪­­­­‪­­‪‪‪­‪‪­­­‪­‪­­­­‪‪­­‪­‪­­­­