jbone
Joined: 14 May 2006
Posts: 56
Location: arkansas just lately
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 Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:27 pm Post subject: |
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chev,
i think the mesas are a bit shrill, at least for my taste.
check out harpgeardotcom, brian purdy makes great harp amps.
randy at bluesbox amps builds some nice looking rigs too, i have not heard one yet but he gets good reviews.
steve clark of sligo amps dotcom built me a replica '59 bassman and swapped speakers around, and i put a couple of 12au7's in to cut the gain, this amp is a dream come true for me! granted it is heavy and pretty high watt, but it's all usable wattege. it will definitely be heard on a 2-guitar electric stage.
i also use a silvertone 1482, about 12 watts, single 12" speaker, for smaller gigs like the duo with my wife and other small venue opportunities.
keeping the gain and treble down and utilizing speakers with good breakup qualities are some pluses for a harp amp.
mic choice is also a big factor in how one sounds and how the amp will perform. a frequent visitor here is greg heumann, who builds and mods mics every day. he has some awesome stuff at blowsmeawaydotcom, and is very approachable!
my mic choices are a crystal powered bullet, a controlled magnetic bullet, and a shure 545s. i got a military issue electrovoice mic i plan to have greg do some mods to for me soon also. the shure 545 is a low impedance mic but can be adapted for high impedance. the others are high imp already and plug straight into a tube amp.
i have used a solid state low imp amp here and there for harp, but to me the tone range is limited and feedback is a factor. they make all kinds of gadgets to deal with the issue, but i like stepping on stage, plugging my rig and mic in, and getting busy. different mics give different tone qualities and so does tweaking the knobs- fewer the better imho!
cheers from arkansas!
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the blues, the whole blues, and nothing BUT the blues! |
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Chevus
Joined: 09 Feb 2009
Posts: 3
Location: St. Louis (metropolitan area)
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| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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Another gentleman turned me on to the EV mics...I really like the YouTube demo of the RE 10, which sounded killer and looked easy to cup!
I'm in the process of swapping tubes on my Boogie to lower the gain and make it less flabby or farty (as it has been described), plus there is an annoying hum that really bugs me. IMHO, the F-30 is a great amp overall with a lot more potential...I think new tubes will make a huge difference!
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