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Harmonica Mic - any ideas?


audiochains

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Sounds gd, but you cant grasp a 565 between your harp and hands as well. But im open to all ideas so will have a shot with it.

 

Thinking about it, I ought to check that it wasn't a 545 rather than a 565. 545's seem to be more commonly used for harmonica.

 

Cheers

 

James.

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I've seen people do this with a 565 - the mesh sphere goes in between the 1st finger and thumb, allowing the rest of the hand to do the cup behind. It is rather awkward. The main advantage is simply that the 565 (and 545) had a low & high impedance output, so they worked well into a conventional combo style amp.
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Thinking about it, I ought to check that it wasn't a 545 rather than a 565. 545's seem to be more commonly used for harmonica.

 

Post it when if you find out, that would be really helpful. :D

 

 

OK - having just checked at a gig tonight - the harmonica player in my wife's band uses a short 545 with a switch in the part that screws into the stand, not a 565. He plays through a modern Traynor amp and gets a really great dirty blues sound.

 

Cheers

 

James.

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Ideal, the only thing to add is that the harmonica player doesnt want to go through an amp, but straight into the PA. is there any advantages in using an amp rather than just the PA and foldback?

 

The original question was about a harmonic mic for a blues band - if you want that typical Little Walter blues sound then a decent, preferably valve, amp is essential. If you want a cleaner sound, more like Stevie Wonder for example, then straight through the PA should work fine.

 

Cheers

 

James.

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Yer my original problem was that the harp player didnt have full use of his hands and couldnt move around, and having a holder would stupid as hell, as he is a singer and doesnt play anyting else.

 

someone mentioned that by using an amp you avoid feedback problems, how does that work?

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Feedback isn't generally a problem through PA or an amp - the gain isn't hugely high - the output from the mic is pretty potent, and the mic is slapped hard against the actual sound source, and protected to some degree by the hands. Bit like not worrying about feedback from the kick drum mic.
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someone mentioned that by using an amp you avoid feedback problems, how does that work?

 

I could envisage a situation where the vocal mic would be set up so that its level was just below the level that would give feedback. If the vocalist then played harmonica with his hands cupped around the mic this would change the directional response of the mic from cardioid to omni directional which would almost certainly result in feedback. Of course, in this situation the harmonica would probably be too loud and the sound engineer should pull the level down but the engineer would have to be on the ball to do this for each harmonica solo. A separate harmonic mic would certainly help here but I don't think that using an amp would have any advantages feedback wise.

 

Cheers

 

James.

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