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Post by jbone on Sept 3, 2018 14:00:05 GMT -5
A little update on an oldie but goody. Some time ago I was lucky to find a Shaker Dynamic mic, with Cable and IMF. Very cheap. Initially using it without the IMF it was not so hot, but recently I plugged it into the ol' tube amp and gave it a bit of volume, and this is one sweet toned mic! I'm planning to play it live next weekend and see how it does. Shaker has several more products but this is the original "salt shaker" mic that started the whole thing for them. And it's still got the mojo. A few decades ago I had a crystal powered Shaker but had no idea how to make it howl. I let that one go sad to say, but this one may well be a go to mic for me.
One note, without the IMF it sounded pretty average and even kind of dry, although I admit I didn't crank my amp too high. This transformer is a more or less middle range. But with transformer in the line, even at the minimum volume on my 12w Silvertone, I got very good response from the mic. I actually could not really turn the mic all the way up without being just over the edge into feedback territory. But with the détente volume knob down about 3 notches I had a very good sound in the duo. I imagine this mic with a bigger amp would put out some good tone as well.
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Post by JamesP on Sept 3, 2018 14:25:27 GMT -5
I know next to nothing about mics. Thanks for the education Pat.
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Post by jbone on Sept 4, 2018 5:02:25 GMT -5
Shaker mics That's a link to Shakey's product page. He specializes in harp mics and builds from scratch, and has done for over 30 years. His own lineup covers 3 distinct models and a few subsets. That said there are a lot of different makes and models of mics out there, from vintage high impedance to late model low impedance and a lot in between. Case in point, this dynamic mic I have would work as either low or high z, it's a "middle impedance" rating. To get the best performance out of it in a tube powered amp it needed an impedance matching transformer. A lot of harp players like a hot sounding mic to play through and this does have its place, but especially if you go into jazz, swing, or other genres of music besides blues, a cleaner tone is often preferred. In the "hot" mic arena there are a lot of choices, but they fall into a few categories: dynamic, crystal, ceramic, controlled magnetic, and controlled reluctance elements. These all work with high impedance ie tube driven amps and all have benefits. Harp guys much more knowledgeable than I have done years of research into what best works with harp. Most of these types of mic work well with blues style cross harp. Some work well for other genres where a hot or muddy tone is not desired, but a clearer cleaner sound is desired. Some harp mic typesThis is a link to a few different mic types. Google search for harp micsRather then clutter things up with too many links I have a link to a Google on the topic. Many thousands of hours have been spent testing, trying out, and custom building mics for harp work. I ought to stress that no mic or a plain jane p.a. setup can be adequate for a harp player depending on what their needs are. For myself and plenty of actual pros the same mic I sing through can double for harp on certain songs in certain styles of music. And one way harp players develop depth of tone is to work acoustically until tone goals are achieved, then worry with amping up. My personal experience was, I heard guys play live with a fat warm sound and I wanted to sound like that. Research showed that they were using hi z mics and tube amps, or low z setups with effects to emulate tube amp tone. Early on I wanted to be heard and sound deep and cool so I bought an amp and mic, and later added a delay pedal to give my sound some depth. My choice initially was made out of ignorance and not much time went by before I realized what I wanted/needed. I bought a small Fender tube amp vintage early 60's and a Shure green bullet mic to go with it and that was a real start of the "tone quest" many players embark on. Over 30 or so years or more I have messed with countless amps and a lot of mics. There are truly hundreds if not thousands of combinations you can use to arrive at what you want, and so many variables, from band size and makeup to room size to weight, and a big consideration is budgetary, as in how much $$ you want to give up. I've used nothing at all out to a $1200 amp with a $300 mic and a lot in between. There are a few guys out there who make mics and one who has invented and makes his own element specifically for harp use, Greg Heuman. The world of amplified harp is a huge one with a lot of branches and subsets. I certainly know just a fraction and can afford little money and time to explore all the choices. Suffice to say I have all I need to get the sound I am happy with.
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Post by JamesP on Sept 4, 2018 20:40:21 GMT -5
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Post by jbone on Sept 5, 2018 7:10:18 GMT -5
Jim, that's a good description of primarily vocal mics. It pretty much perfectly describes the industry standard Shure SM58 and similar mics, which can be used as hammers or doorstops, then plugged in and sung through. Tough! I once saw an SM58 fall into a pitcher of beer, get shaken out and let dry wrapped in a towel and the ball removed and put in front of a fan, and used on stage the next day. Very durable. Also very good sound reproduction. I've used a lot of vocal mics over many years and a lot have copied the SM58 design and gotten close to their specs.
Mostly what I was referring to above was harmonica mics, which frequency wise are somewhat different than vocal mics in that, the frequencies required to reproduce vocal signals, and those that match a harmonica, can be very different. The response of a vocal mic to my voice for instance, and to a harmonica frequency, are kind of opposite. If my vocal mic is set for my voice to sound good, then if I play harp in that mic, it can sound either very dry or conversely it can do some squealing. The gain settings are different, the voice can handle more gain while the harp needs less with a standard vocal mic.
This is why I think vintage and purpose built mics for harp are such a big business. A lot of players over the decades since Little Walter and others first brought the hot electric Chicago sound to blues and harmonica, have wanted to emulate that fierce hot tone. I include myself in that. Walter Jacobs was a radio man in the army in the 40's and it's believed that his electronic experience led him to find good frequency response for his harp playing. There may have been a few others who used a mic before him but essentially he was the one who really got the ball rolling, playing amped with Muddy Waters, and their domination of the early Chicago blues scene is proof of that. Since that era thousands and maybe millions of harp players have sought out tube amps and the "right" mics to get a similar sound.
There was a time when you could find a Green Bullet, Astatic JT30, or any number of other mics to play harp through pretty cheaply, but those days are pretty much past. So budget can be a concern as to what a person can afford to spend on gear. I've had probably at least a dozen different harp mics, some that were very cheap and sounded pretty good- or lousy- and some that cost more and had mixed results. I liked a crystal element mic with a bigger amp but for my current purposes a dynamic or controlled magnetic element is better. The possibilities of mic and amp combinations are many. Personal skill level enters into the equation too, actually much earlier than say budget or "need". I recall a night when a guy walked up to a vocal mic at a jam and totally took the roof off the place, his tone was far superior to anything I'd achieved with any mic/amp combo I'd tried up to that point. At that tine I was trying to find an amp that would keep up volume wise on loud stages yet give me great tone. This guy's acoustic tone was all it needed to be while I had yet to unlock the secrets to great harp tone before amplification. He was Hohner's poster child that year as it turned out. I had spent a few years by then trying to get equipment to make up for a lack of skill on my part- and that is the fly in the ointment! Many players think if they save up and get whatever they perceive to be the "right" mic and amp, they will sound like their heroes. And a good mic will go a ways to improve one's sound, but there has to be some skill in front of everything else.
It's certainly an adventure finding a good combo to amplify harmonica. We have not even talked about the various effect pedals being designed and built specifically for harp use. That's a related but separate topic.
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Post by jbone on Nov 26, 2018 10:16:31 GMT -5
A little update on the Shaker dynamic I got early this year:
I've used this mic for months at every gig and it has held up admirably. At one point I did a set with this one and the next with my CM Electrovoice. Both performed very well. I've opted to use the Shaker for my everyday mic and keep the EV for special occasions. The Shaker is much newer and not as rare.
We play fairly low volume but even so I get good tone from the Shaker. I use a tight cup with it usually depending on what material we're doing at the moment. I also have a delay pedal which fattens up the tone some.
No regrets on buying the Shaker with IMT and adapter cable.
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Post by JamesP on Nov 26, 2018 10:33:50 GMT -5
Nice review Patrick 😊
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