Hey Guys,
I am 22 years old and play the harp since always...
I really need to ask you harp-playing-people a couple of questions...

1.What amp would you recommend me that goes along with a blues harp? I am talking about an amp which isn't too expensive.Are there any modern good amps for blues harps? should I better use a bass amp??
Or a guitar amp?I want a cool harp sound which sounds just like elwoods harp in bluesbrothers 2000....I think in the second movie the harps sound better...why is that?

2.I have a hohner Blues Blaster Mic and when I plug it at some cables it makes strange noises?Others work perfectly!Why is that?

3.I think about buying a green bullet?Is its cable moveable or ist it integrated in the mic and can't be changed?What if it breaks down?

Feel free to answer..Thanks a lot!!!hopefully you can help me

Fender Pro Junior or Blues juniors come highly recommended, I personally use an epiphone electar tube 10 which is only a few years old, you may find one reasonable second hand. I also use a Hughes & Kettner Crunchmaster, which is a 1w full tube amp that plugs into the PA so I get true valve sound amplified as much as I need it through the house desk. Great little units, but they stopped making them in the 80s. Again try ebay or second hand shops.

The ultimate harp amp was the Fender Bassman '59. If you have a bit of cash you check out the reissue version.

Things that make a good harp amp.

1. Class A - Tube preamp and tube powerstage.
2. A valve rectifier circuit -although you'll be buying vintage or custom to get one as most new amps use solid state rectifiers.
3. Small speakers. Anything bigger than a 10" speaker is bad news for feedback. The good bigger amps use multiples of 10"
4. Low wattage - Small amps distort to give that Chicago tone earlier than high powered ones, so you get less feedback. You can always mic the amp into the PA if you need more volume.

As to the crackling with your mic - not really sure, but the blues blaster cable connections are different to a standard XLR mic cable. (the hot pin is pin 3, not pin 2 as it is in standard microphone XLR cables) - maybe this is why some leads work and some don't??? :?:

As to the Green bullet, yes the cable is hard wired in, but I've had mine about 20 years and never had a problem. A good idea is to cut the cable about 60cm from the mic and fit a standard guitar jack socket. That way you can use a standard guitar lead and if, like me, you trip over your cables, there's no strain put on the mic-end connections, the jack just pops out and you look stupid for a while!!! :oops:

BTW there are a few tricks with swapping the valves in an amp to get good tone and reducing feedback for harp. Let us know what amp you end up with I'll see if I can help out.

As, a guitar and 'lectirifyed harp player, be SURE to change the Tubes should you get a tube amp. Otherwise it will sound mucky no matter how well you play.

FatJim seems to have layed out some awesome guidelines so just follw those and you'll be OK.

Wow, I am really impressed, how great you guys are and I am so glad I got some people here who know about what they're talking.

I guess that first of all I have to get an amp but now I've got another big problem. Which one should I take. I was looking for the Fender Blues junior which costs like 600 dollars and the fender bassman with like 1300 dollars. Do you think it will make that a big difference ? indeed, i read that the bassmann is the ultimate harp amp and actually it was meant for basses but in the end guitar players and harp player made it famous. But it also costs a fortune. As mentioned:It is supposed to be the caddilac under the harp amps.
What do you mean?is it really a big difference and should I better save up some more money and get the big one ?

and about the blues blaster: I think you're right. I just looked it up on the net and its says the same with the pins.I guess I gotta get a new cable...

one antoher thing: Right now I am playing with hohner and lee oscar harps...there are always sets in bags on ebay that go away for like 30 bucks and these sets contain every key..so you get like 12 harps or sth...
What do you think about it ? Is hohner a honer or do you pay more for the branding name??
Hopefully I am not bugging you with my million questions but without wanting to kiss asses I hope to learn a bit more than now. What would be a great blues-singing-microphone?Is the SM58 okay or what is the one John Lee hooker is using on Blues Brothers...I think it can be seen on some avatars!!
Thanks guys....

Never played with a Bassman myself, way out of my budget :? . I have played with a friends Blues Deville, which I'm told is similar, but he's a full on guitarist and I couldn't swap his preamp tubes so it squealed like a pig! The appeal of the Bassman is that it is a big loud amp and cuts through in a band situation well. Personally speaking, I'm happy with a small amp and a good PA.

The trick with swapping tubes is to reduce gain. Gain = Feedback. My amp uses a single 12ax7 tube in the preamp stage, which gives 100% gain. I've swapped it for a 12at7 which gives 60% gain. That means I can crank up the amp's master volume to full, with no fear of feedback; pushing the power tubes to clipping level where that warm, harmonically rich, compressed tone comes from. The downside is the overall volume-out is less, that's where the PA comes in, but PAs are better at rejecting feedback than combo amps, so mic up the harp-amp with an sm57 or similar and put it through the mixing desk. With big amps, you've got to be VERY loud to get that power tube saturation, that's why guitarists hate to turn down - they lose their tone (should just get a smaller amp).

As for a vocal mic, that's an interesting question. An SM58 is a fine mic for vocals. Very reliable and practically indestructible. I'm also the singer in my band and I use an SM58 all the time. There are better vocal mics around now (the SM58 is a 40 year old design), but the 58 soldiers on 'cos it is just so reliable.

Those 50s vintage mics look good, but you could end up having trouble if you plug them into a PA. Before transistors were invented, everything got amplified the same way, with vacuum tube amps. Guitarists clung to tubes because of the sound, but for PA the cheaper cleaner sounding transistor technology won. Vintage mics are optimised for vintage amplifiers that have high input impedences, the mics themselves are generally high impedance - great for harp into a tube guitar amp, bad for PA. Modern PA inputs are usually low impedence, mismatching impedance results in "load loss" reducing the sound quality. BTW that mic Hooker's using looks like a Shure 737 (nicknamed the "waffle") to me.

As for cheap sets of harps, you pay for what you get - poor quality. Even the Hohner Piedmont Blues set has a bad reputation for being poorly made. Hohner quality control is usually pretty good, so I suspect they have outsourced production on these to one of the many cheap Chinese harmonica factories and rebadged the harps. Stick with good names - Lee Oskar, Hohner, Hering, Suzuki, Bushman, Seydel, Tombo and avoid their budget models (anything under $15-$20). you're paying for quality not a brand name. The difference between a good quality harp and a cheapo one is very obvious, it isn't just about labels!

Personally I'd go with the Blues Junior amp. It's cheaper with exellent tone. I have never tried a Bassman with a harp. A guitar but not a harp.

I personally use a Vox AC30 (on stage for guitar) or a Vox Pathfinder 15 (at home on guitar or for harp on/off stage.) I like my Voxes. If you're just playing small stages where you can't play acoustic but can't fit a whooping amp onstage or it's too loud. I recommend the Fender MINI Tone Master. It is one watt of awesome tone. It doesn't clip to your belt, but it does have a little kickback stand.

Sorry I can't help you with your mic or cable problems. I just leave that to our singer. She's good at that stuff.