Harp On!

G's Rig

On this page. G's harmonica Rig.

• My Rig
• Microphones Bullets & vocal mics
• Amplifiers
• Effects
• Contents

Microphones

I've found mics can make a big difference to your tone and sound, and have a few to suit different needs.

• I have a few bullet mics
  • 1st 520D custom painted metalic blue with Shure 545 cartridge
  • Another 520D shell is original green hammertone, with '60s CM element
  • 520DX shell painted metalic red, with CM element, and 1/4" jack
  • 440 custom painted metalic black with CR element.
  
• The Shure 545 is a very versatile mic with great tone. What makes this so attractive as a harmonica mic, is it can easily be wired for high impedance which produces a much hotter signal than using an impedance convertor on a regular low impedance vocal mic, and its hot enough to drive the amp in a similar way to hot bullet mics.
  You can use it as a clean vocal mic straight into a PA, or put it through your amp and pour on the juice for a full on sound. Apart from his first CD, Paul Butterfield used this mic throughout his career. You can read more about it on the Shure 545 webpage.
  I fitted a 545 cartridge & internal transformer into a Bullet shell. It's now my favourite microphone of choice, with diatonic and chromatic.
• The Shure SM58 is so versatile. I prefer them with a on/off switch which is very convenient when you're on stage. You can use it acoustically on a stand or boom into the PA, or hold it with chromatic or blues harp for a nice clean warm rounded tone, or cup it and seal it to the back of the harp for a slight driven tone. They sound great cupped with an impedance convertor into a rig, and because I play sax I like to have one set up on a stand for that. The ball and stick is comfortable to cup and they are sturdy and hard wearing.
• The Shure SM57 used on a stand sounds similar to the 545, but with less top end and fuller bass end response. Cupped, it produces a far more compressed rocky tone than the SM58. Its the same cool compact little wand mic as the 545. I use it either cupped straight into the PA or with an impedance convertor into my rig.
  

Amplifiers

I don't own any traditional amplifiers as such, not anymore. Because I'm interested in a range of sounds and effects, having several amplifiers is impractical. Instead I rely on preamps and effects pedals to give me the tone and sound I want, control over the mix with a small mixer, and rely on the PA or a powered speaker to reproduce it at whatever volume level is appropriate.

• Ron Holmes' Harp Commander is a Class A jFET preamp designed for Harmonica. It can be plugged safely into almost any kind of audio equipment you expect to play through.
  It has a warm & smooth tone that a DI box can't give and I find it inspiring to play. It can be played clean and warm for acoustic or Jazz style or driven hard for a full dirty Chicago Blues tone. It responds well to my range of mics, combined they give me a lot of tonal variety. Its small, light and portable which is how I like my gear.
  I found it so useful that I bought second one, primarily as a backup - It's very useful when I have guys round to jam, and be able to leave one permanently set up at my home rig.
  
• Harp Commander III is very different from the original, and provides a very clean tone, it's tone can be as bright or brown as you want it. The compression dial can introduce a subtle warm overdrive, and can be pushed to fairly light distortion. With both harp mic, and vocal mic inputs with their own gain control, and usable at the same time, makes for an extremely useful and versatile mixer/preamp, which can be plugged into a PA, amplifier, or powered speaker.
• At home instead of a PA, I use an old stereo, which is up to the task. And because most of my effects are stereo, quite deliberately, it allows me to make full use of them.
• I use an old 15Watt computer speaker, as a makeshift powered speaker for small jams.
• I have a number of amplifier simulator effects pedal projects lined up that will offer a wider range of tones, as well simulators that shape the tone in the same way an amp's speaker cabinet does. My first work in progress is the "Condor Cab" with a number of modifications.

Effects

• Theres no better and more versatile effect for harmonica than good reverb.
  ToneCore Verbzilla, is really clean and very versatile, and using adjusting the dials can produce just about any kind of reverb you're looking for. Out of the reverb pedals I've owned, tried, and heard, this is the best to date.
  Verbzilla has true stereo input/output, in addition to the usual settings like: spring reverbs; plate; room; chamber; hall; cave; and tile. With a few extra settings such as: octo reverb, which can sound like a keyboard synth in the background; ducking reverb which allows you to have long trailing hall reverb, but without muddying up your playing as it goes quiet when you're playing; and finally a useful simple echo setting. Using Tone, Time, Decay and Mix, you can get a wide range of reverbs, as bright and long or as warm and subtle as you like.
• I've kept my Danelectro Dan Echo pedal. It wasn't that great when I bought it brand new. But found Ron's Tweak Shop. Ron modified my pedal so it works with harmonica microphones properly, a definite improvement. If you already own a Dan Echo, the mod is worthwhile giving harmonica players a decent sounding analogue delay. However if you don't own one I suggest looking at alternatives, preferably with tap function, so the echo's repeats can be set to the music's tempo in live settings. Which is why I purchased ...
• EHX Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai - brilliant, quality of sound just as good as the Nova Delay, sporting many features the ND-1 doesn't including a very high quality 30 second stereo looper.
• EHX MicroPOG - fantastic pedal, polyphonic (handles chords really well), can either beef up the tone of harmonica a bit, or can turn it into a synth, which then makes a range of other effects pedals work really well with harmonica.
• ToneCore Space-chorus can be used in a subtle way to slightly thicken your sound. I use the tri-chorus effect as a stereo effect, which offers a subtle panning effect between left and right. It's tremolo effect works well with the MicroPOG for a rich organ like sound.

Harp On! Amplified Harmonica main page.

• Microphones Bullets, elements & vocal mics.
• Amplifiers Tube/valve amplifiers, preamps and emulators.
• Effects pedals and units.
• Amplified Tone Avoiding feedback & getting good tone.
• What G plays through
  • My Rig
  • Microphones Bullets & vocal mics
  • Amplifiers
  • Effects

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