The Harmonica player in my band was wondering about the different presets for the Bose and what would be the best (better) Blues harp sound for the following situations

1) plug right into the Bose (Ch 1 or 2), No amp, using a bullet microphone...to get the "raunchier James Cotton/Paul Butterfield like" tone

2) plug right into the Bose (Ch 1 or 2), NO amp, using a SM58 or SM57 for a cleaner tone.

any suggestions out there??

Chilstrat

The bullet has a phenolic diaphragm and a very characteristic sound. Because of all the extra character it generates, you might call it "dirty" because it creates harmonic or spectral distortion. But by itself, it doesn't generate the growly James Cotton tone. You'll need an amp to do that, like a Fender Pro Junior. Putting an sm57 in front of the amp and feeding it to our system will get your harp player going in the right direction. Start with a flat preset first, try others later.

I have a real old bullet, from an old train station I think, press-to-talk big bakelite lever and all. I never really liked it as it is a pretty big item to cup up to the harp, but the talk-lever is certainly handy if it feeds back. I also have an EV630, a chrome plated omni and this is a favorite of mine. It's a very simple mic, being an omni (no back venting as in a uni) and gives a really great-but-cleaner tone than the bullet. Playing it hard into a small amp will also give a useful crunch tone. I've never heard our mic preamp used as a distortion generator and my guess is that it isn't that pretty for this. A small guitar is a much better bet. Last, an SM57 is a great mic to try for harp and I've used these with excellent results. They have a smaller head and are easier to cup than a Bullet or a 630. All this is just a personal reaction to this stuff. It's like trying to recommend a guitar to a blues player. It simply doesn't translate as well as actually playing the instrument. In a way, electric harp is a lot like electric guitar, the complete instrument being everything from the player's harp, hands and mic to the sound coming from the system.

I hope we get some more replies from other harp players using our system. I know they're out there.

Thanks for the response Cliff.....My harp player has an old 1970's Fender Champ and a ReIssue 1959 Fender Bassman he uses with the PAS and it sounds great....I was just wondering if it was possible that one of your presets replicated the sound since you have guitar presets that supposedly do?

anytime we can cut down on gear and cabling it is a good thing!

But like you said, I would like to hear other responses from Harp players too

I believe that a modeling amp like the POD from Line 6 will also provide the sound you/he is looking for.

You got it right about cabling. I think the best thing we did, electrically, on the system is eliminate wires to the L1 sections. I think everyone wants to leave cables in the trunk.

The presets for guitar are meant to give you a nice natural ultra-clean guitar tone if you go in direct. I'm not sure how many electric players use these for their intended purpose, but my guess is they mostly use either a small amp or a processor, like the Line6 POD. The presets aren't meant to emulate an amp in any way, but rather give a player the kind of tone he might want to get, say, in the studio. Electric guitar can sound spectacular "direct" and that's what the guitar presets are for.

Wow, I never envisioned the PAS with cables connecting the L1s, that would be horrible, one of those things you take for granted...

Made me think that it would be nice if stacked B1s could somehow be connected without wires someday....

Our harp player uses a fender blues junior miced with a sm57 using the 12' speaker emulation preset. If we're trveling extra light, we'll plug direct in (he has a vintage 30's green bullet) with a blues driver pedal for a bit of crunch at times. Me I favor the pedal and the direct in as it keeps the number of open mics down and it's a bit less gear.

Thanks for the response Dr.Blues.....
My harp player plays through a 1970's Fender Champ...has a great sound. I will have to try that 12" speaker setting. It will be tough though because we have 3 or 4 people going thru 2 PAS systems and really only use channels 1 & 2 because those channels really beef (meaning warm and rich) up the sound

Jimg,
I totally agree with you on connecting B1 to or below the power stand. I thought of the same thing..... Who knows maybe the bottom half of the L1 could be part of the B1 and power stand as well(if the L1 bottom half was shorter).

It might be heavier but the less pieces.... with less cable... the better!!
www.hoodoorev.com

Chilstrat

Harp player showed up at practice tonight with a Johnson J-station (basiclly a knock off pod). He had tuned in some pretty awesome sounds. Clean and smooth to nasty and gritty. We plugged it right in a 3/4 channel. Sounded great. Better yet he picked it up for $40 used. I tried to get a better sound with my POD but really couldn't improve on his sounds at all. Nice web-site by the way. Play on...

Hi Chilstrat,

Try a SM57 using preset 04 and back off the mids and highs to taste for warm and clean sound.

I really dig the harp through a small tube amp miced into the system, such an authentic sound.

Dan

My Harp player has been using his 1970's champ miked thru the system and it has been sounding great.

I have been struggling with my guitar amp thru the system...but I am so critical of my tone I dont think I'll ever be comfortable with it.

but that is just me and probably 85% of the guitar players out there!

- Jim

http://www.hoodoorev.com
http://www.myspace.com/hoodoorevelator

Jim,

Say more about your struggles. We may be able to help. We have a lot of guitar players on the forum.

What are you micing? How are you micing it? What preset are you using? Where are the tone controls set?

Steve