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Forums :: Ask Harp Tech Expert Kinya Pollard

butterfield amp

4 replies [Last post]
Thu, 07/01/2010 - 20:55
jbooth12
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Joined: 01/08/2010

ok i know i read somewere about you having pauls actual amp but could you tell me what kind he used and the mic and any effects if any i think he used an sm58 i think thanks

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Fri, 07/02/2010 - 06:09
#1
jjudson
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Joined: 12/23/2009
SM545

Butterfield's favorite was the SM545 pistol grip mic:

http://www.coutant.org/shure545s/index.html

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Paul_Butterfield_79.jpg

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Fri, 07/02/2010 - 19:31
#2
jjudson
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Side note...

As a side note - not to suggest that it had much to do with his sound - Butterfield also played the harp upside down. You can see that in many shots of him, with the end of the harp protruding from his cup on the left cheek:

http://www.hohnerusa.com/upload/bildpoolcms/gal00001407_kl_Butterfield_P...

http://www.retrofestival.org/images/Paul_Butterfield_Photo_by_Thom_Polla...

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Sat, 07/03/2010 - 08:14
#3
jjudson
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Side note of a side note...

Not to keep cluttering this thread up with useless trivia, but here's something fun you might like. You might know that in the late '70s, Butterfield toured with Rick Danko of The Band. One of the most sought-after Paul Butterfield recordings is the night of the 13th of December, 1979, when the duo played The Blue Note in Boulder, Colorado. Thanks to the internet, you can see that video here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1915840136948209601#

Paul was in the later stages of his drug problems, a little pudgy and known to be lackadaisical off stage. But it was said that when he hit the bandstand with Danko, all of that went away. You can see that yourself in this video. The video is not the greatest quality, but the whole recording is priceless.

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Sat, 07/03/2010 - 18:30
#4
Harp Tech Kinya...
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Joined: 02/07/2010
Butter

Hello All,
Yes, I have one of Paul's 1965 black face Fender Super Reverb amps. For those of you who had an opportunity to play through it know it is a voracious beast and heavy as hell!

For the amp geeks out there, I checked all the make/serial numbers stamped onto the transformers against a Fender component list and found all were date coded 1964.

The Shure catalog pages submitted, along with the Butterfields photos were extraordinary (great wallpaper material). Thank you!

Shure has reissued the 545SD, the predecessor to the SM57, The 545SD Classic Unidyne® Instrument Microphone is a dual-impedance, unidirectional, dynamic microphone.
http://www.shure.com/americas/products/microphones/classic/545SD-classic...

I learned from Tom Ellis III, Paul Butterfield historian, that it was very common for Shure and Fender to "ring out" their new products by having the Paul Butterfield's Band road test their stuff. Makes sense ... all the photos I've seen of PBBB have Fender and Shure gear.

A must see DVD of Paul Butterfield featuring Buzzy Feiten on guitar is the German produced "Rockpalast", filmed live on September 15, 1978 in Essen at the Grugahalle. Available at: http://www.bluebeatmusic.com

“Play the notes people want to hear” © 2008

Kinya Pollard
The Harpsmith

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