[Harp-L] Recommendations for an affordable first amp?
Sean Duncan
point where I can feel comfortable playing at a few open-mic nights and
busking. I've been searching for a good portable amp that I can use to learn
amplified harp and then go on to use for busking. I'm not looking to spend
more than £100 ($155). Can anyone recommend an amp that would be good for
this purpose? My favourite choice so far is the Roland Micro Cube, is this a
good harmonica amp?
Zack
Brandon Bailey uses one because of my recommendation.
Bill Hines
that can run off batteries for busking. There's also the Pignose Hog20 which
I have and like. You can do a search of this list to see a lot of previous
discussions of those products and other similar ones.
Bill Hines
Mike Fugazzi
VHT Special 6 is $189.99 and totally worth it. I mean, you could get
an Epiphone Valve Jr, but the VHT is point to point, has a 10" speaker
that is alright as is, and it sounds great (stock tubes aren't great,
but useable). It already has an oversized output transformer and it
sounds great with harp. It is sort of like a blackface Champ. If you
use a lower gain preamp tube, you can use the boost pull and do more
of a tweed sound.
IMO, a terrific under $200 small amp.
http://www.vhtamp.com/avsp16.html
Regarding feedback, using an Ultimate 57 I can run the amp to about 3
o'clock (full volume) and the tone to about 10 o'clock in my practice
room...which is a feedback nightmare...so it is pretty sweet. Stock
it is about as loud as my HG50 1210 on 2 or 2.5.
If that won't work for ya, I'd suggest a used Pro Jr. (tubed down),
Epiphone Valve Jr combo (get the version with the multi tap
transformer that the post '08 ones have) for $160 new or cheaper used,
or even a Fender Super Champ XD used.
If you can get closer to $175 or $200 you can get a really solid amp
that could compete with a band at low volume and be miked front of
house.
Richard Hunter
> I'm a beginning harmonica player but I'm really trying to improve to the
> point where I can feel comfortable playing at a few open-mic nights and
> busking. I've been searching for a good portable amp that I can use to
> learn
> amplified harp and then go on to use for busking. I'm not looking to spend
> more than £100 ($155). Can anyone recommend an amp that would be good for
> this purpose? My favourite choice so far is the Roland Micro Cube, is this
> a
> good harmonica amp?
I used to own a Micro Cube. I would rate it a solid A as a guitar amp, and a B at best for harp. I've seen some people on this list say that they got a great harp sound out of the Micro Cube, but I've never actually heard a harp player getting a great sound out of one. I never could. And I certainly tried.
The Vox DA5 is marginally more expensive, only slightly bigger in size and weight, louder, and a much better-sounding amp for harp. (It also sounds very good with guitar.) The amp has been discontinued by Vox, but can still be found easily on eBay. Like the Roland, it runs on batteries--one set of alkalines will power it for something like 20 hours.
I very much doubt that any harp player will ever regret buying a DA5.
Regards, Richard Hunter
author, "Jazz Harp"
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
more mp3s at http://taxi.com/rhunter
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
Twitter: lightninrick
Tom Klingl
successor to the DA5)if you also wish more honking sounds (amp models at 8,
9, 10 and 11 o'clock). If you want to spend a little more money and running
on batteries is not crucial, try one of the new Valvetronix VT+ when they
come out. Maybe you'll also find a good deal VT15 or VT30 now that Vox
abnnounced the VT+
The micro cube offers less amp models but should be a decent little amp as
well. Try them both with your favorite microphone.
Tom
Jon Clark
Richard Hunter
<There is no alternative to the Kalamazoo 1 or 2 in the $200.00 price range.
Yeah, there is.
chicago bluesman
I would second the recommendation that you get a Kalamazoo Model 1 or 2. They regularly show up on ebay and the best thing to do upon purchase is send it to Greg Heuman at Blows Me Away productions (see his Kalamazoo page at : http://www.blowsmeaway.com/kalamazoo.html). He'll tweak it, address any issues and ship it to you. These amps aren't battery powered so you can't do the street corner busking thing, unless you plug in somewhere. But they're the best dollar-for-dollar small harp amp you'll find.
Good luck.
> Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:26:43 +0100
> From: sdun...@gmail.com
> To: har...@harp-l.org
> Subject: [Harp-L] Recommendations for an affordable first amp?
>
Mund...@aol.com
Get the cheapest "Pignose"....The smallest, battery operated one.
It's a GREAT harp amp... In my opinion... NO IT's NOT A TUBE AMP!
Of course, it is hopeless to gig with, except for "busking" in the street.
Because it is NOT very loud...
But... To make good music, you do NOT need to be loud.
I do NOT think that a blues harp player needs a "tube/valve" amp to make
music with.
Most any amp will do!. And don't waste $500 on a custom mic... My current
mic is Chinese, and cost me just 380 Philippine Pesos.. About $8 USD .. Or
£5.00 GBP....OK I've gigged with it for six months, and It will fall to bits
soon... Its RUBBISH.
Then I'll buy another one.
Do you think Big Walter or Little Walter paid hundreds of Bucks for their
equipment?
OF COURSE NOT!
They simply used what they had.
THEY HAD NO MONEY to buy expensive gear.
Sincerely,
John "Whiteboy" Walden
English harp player...
Currently residing in :
Cebu City,
Republic of the Philippines.
Richard Hunter
Not considering, of course, that by the time you 1) buy the amp, 2) ship it from England to California (the original poster is apparently in the UK, since he describes prices in terms of pounds sterling), 3) pay Greg for his work, and 4) ship the amp back to England, you will have spent at least double the original poster's budget of US $155? Keeping in mind that Greg himself says that anyone who buys a Kalamazoo off eBay who DOESN'T have it fixed up is asking for trouble?
And also not considering that, contrary to the OP's expressed intentions, you can't run a Kalamazoo on batteries? A nice sounding amp that can't be used for its intended purpose isn't a very good investment for a working musician.
Kalamazoos sound nice. But they're not the only small amp that sounds nice.
And they're definitely not the solution to this guy's problem.
Zack
Valvetronix of bigger size.
Richard Eisenberg
for sound quality
Rick Davis
Eminence speaker) is a very good sounding harp amp for beginners or pros or
anyone in between. At only $250 it is a nice bargain. It has fat loud tube
tone, and is totally giggable. Put a mic in front of it for really
loud/large venues. It is harp-ready, needs no tweaks to sound good, and is
very solidly built. I recommend it highly.
--
-Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
http://www.bluesharpamps.blogspot.com/
--
-Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
http://www.bluesharpamps.blogspot.com/
Richard Hunter
<Epiphone Valve Junior; an affordable tube amp, key word TUBE. You want these
<for sound quality
Yeah, it's a nice tube amp. Simple 5 watt tube amps with 8" speakers are manufactured by Fender (Champ), Crate (V8), Peavey (ValveKing), Epiphone (Valve Junior), and others. They retail between $150 and $250. They all sound pretty good, and they can all be tweaked to sound even better. Just about any manufacturer (except Hohner, apparently) can put a 12AX7 preamp tube together with an EL84 or 6L6 power amp tube and an 8" or 10" speaker and make it sound good. Any one of these amps is a decent choice for a first harp amp, though I'd still recommend an amp-modeled device like the Vox DA5 over any of them to a first time buyer based on sound, price, and the presence of built-in effects. (Playing amped harp without reverb or delay is less than ideal, and none of the tube amps named above has either.)
In any case, tube amps are irrelevant to this discussion. Apparently few people actually read the original poster's spec list, which specifically said that he needed something that would run on BATTERIES. I doubt that there is a tube amp of any size, anywhere, that runs on batteries. I know I've never seen one. (By "batteries", I mean C cells, AAs, etc.--as opposed to a half dozen car batteries wired in series.) That requirement alone takes the 12AX7/EL84 amps out of the picture.
And fortunately for the original poster, there are other ways to get a good sound besides tubes. I had a conversation about amps with Steve Baker at SPAH. He told me that he had lined up a dozen amps of various types--big, small, amp modeled, tube--at a seminar he did in Germany, and the seminar attendees played through them all. The amazing thing was that they all sounded pretty good--IF the player could get a decent sound out of the harp, "decent" meaning loud and clear. Weak players made the amps sound weak. Strong players made the amps roar.
It always seems to come back to "you have to be able to play to get a good sound out of your gear," doesn't it? That aside, guys, it's 2010. I think we can safely stop assuming that the state of the art in amplification was forever defined by what could be purchased on a struggling blues musician's budget in 1947.
Richard Eisenberg
on Ebay from Alnicomagnet for $50. It sounded good out of the box, but with
a hum that Epiphone has fixed on version 2 and version 3. The Alnicomagnet
mod kit:
*1. **Drop HT Voltage to a safe level*
*2. **Fit HT Fuse and chassis mount fuseholder
*
*3. **Reconfigure input to Fender Champ specification
*
*4. **Re-bias pre-amp tube to "Blues Harp" specification*
*5. **Change interstage attenuation resistive network to clean up sound
*
*6. **Fit Standby Switch*
*7. **Fit Output Impedance Selector Switch (choose 4 or 8 ohm cabinets)*
*8. Fit Line-Out Jack*
*9. Fit Pentode/Triode Mode Switch*
*10. Change heater (filament) supply to DC as later Version.2*
*11. Add extra HT filter stage as later Version.2 *
*
*
*I did these modifications myself, it was easy, fun, and I know a whole lot
more about tube amps now. I have just a little experience soldering. The
kit was complete, the instructions **were very clear and** included great
color photographs . Alnicomagnet was quick to reply and helpful with the few
questions I did have. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this mod kit for your Valve Jr.
You will have a GREAT SOUNDING TUBE AMP! It is a 5 watt class A tube amp
that is plenty loud enough for the gigs I play in small venues, harp and
mandolin, and with the line-out mod that taps into the circuit after the
power stage, the amp plugs directly into a sound board. *
* With the pentode/triode mod it can also be run at about 2 amps so you can
crank it up at home for the saturated tube sound at a much lower volume,
(the family likes this). *
Rich
--
Richard Eisenberg
Executive Director
Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies
40 Holland Street
Erie, Pennsylvania 16507
814-456-4077
814-459-1678 fax
www.bayfrontcenter.org
Garry
> I purchased an Epiphone Valve Jr., version I, for $119, and a mod kit for it
> on Ebay from Alnicomagnet for $50. It sounded good out of the box, but with
> a hum that Epiphone has fixed on version 2 and version 3. The Alnicomagnet
> mod kit:
>
> *1. **Drop HT Voltage to a safe level*
> *2. **Fit HT Fuse and chassis mount fuseholder
> *5. **Change interstage attenuation resistive network to clean up sound
> *7. **Fit Output Impedance Selector Switch (choose 4 or 8 ohm cabinets)*
> *8. Fit Line-Out Jack*
> *9. Fit Pentode/Triode Mode Switch*
> *10. Change heater (filament) supply to DC as later Version.2*
> *11. Add extra HT filter stage as later Version.2 *
>
beginner is likely to want to tackle just to play at jams.
--
We make a living from what we get,
but we make a life from what we give.
- Kathy Moser
Patrick Lines
combo for around $50 a piece because they "didn't work". Turned out both
had blown Chinese preamp tubes. Other than that they were fine. Just
something for others to look out for. I gutted them anyway and made
handwired point to point "Fenderish" amps out of them with kits from
turretboards.com. I also bought a kit from Alnicomagnet on Ebay. Mine was
the "treble cut" kit that adds a second pot to dial in your desired amount
of highs. This works really well for harp. I guess the point is that the
Valve Jr is a great platform for expanding your soldering skills and as Rich
says learning about the innards of tube amps.
Garry
> That aside, guys, it's 2010. I think we can safely stop assuming that the state of the art in amplification was forever defined by what could be purchased on a struggling blues musician's budget in 1947.
>
has experienced exponential growth during my lifetime, delivering
capabilities undreamed of in my youth, amplifier and microphone
technology have apparently been at a standstill for 60 years.
go figure.
Jim Rossen
Regarding Kal Model 1/2 servicing. I have had three of these gems,
for which I replaced the filter caps and added a grounded line cord.
They all sounded fine to me after this easily performed servicing.
This is not to say that rehab by a Kal specialist would not make a Kal
more better.
Jim R
Dane Paul
30.00. Plug it into a small extention cab and wow
It works without an ext cab it's a 2 in speaker it still sounds good.
.................Dane Paul
Richard Hunter
For people who use amp modelers like the Line6s or Digitechs, it's an open question whether you want to use a powered speaker like the Mackie or a keyboard amp. My most recent purchase was a Peavey KB2 keyboard amp, but I could easily have gone with a powered speaker instead. The built in mixer in the Peavey was a deciding factor for me, since I wanted something that could mix multiple inputs. The presence of a balanced line out on the Peavey was the clincher.
regards. Richard Hunter
Regards, RH
-----Original Message-----
>From: Dane Paul <Monst...@comcast.net>
>Sent: Sep 17, 2010 12:34 AM
>To: Richard Hunter <turtl...@earthlink.net>
>Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Recommendations for an affordable first amp?
>
>True words.......I'm happy with my POD XT PRo
>I've tried many amps as I'm shure you have and am not willing to give up the versatility.
>As for volume I plug into a Mackie 450........from whisper quiet to ear bleed.
>I've not tried the RP sereies yet but it sounds like you an many others have had some good experience with them, As well thanks to your experimentation and making your patches available.
>As for affordable battery powered amps I'm going to suggest a Smokey amp (30.00) plugged into a small extention speaker .......surprising sound.