trial and error
The discussion about the elements brought to mind another experience. My dear wife decided to get me a mic for a birthday present and contacted Mr Mic in Kansas City. He made up a Turner and painted it purple to march my Harp King - it looked so cool. While Dennis was sure he knew what element would work from the get- go, as it turned out I have the record for the number of times a mic was sent back to try another element. He was great about it and finally hit upon the one that got along with the amp.
Have you found that amps are particular about the element, or was my experience unusual? Also, are there certain mics that just seem to get along with certain amps. I haven't found anything (limited experience) that works like the Turner.
Dennis is a great guy - it seems to be the case with most people who love harps. The cake analogy certainly does make sense. I bought one of the "Mic Vox" units from Dennis and also have one of the entry level wireless units from Hohner, both could just as easily be used as bookends - they just don't cut it with the Harp King. Dennis told me he uses the Mic Vox as much as anything he has, and while it is perfect for hand techniques, it just doesn't produce the sizzle with the amp like the Turner. It could also be that I just don't have the technique down for using these mics. Rod Piazza used my amp at Buddy Guys last summer and, as is typical in his shows, he used a wireless (do you know what he uses?) for a couple of songs and the amp sounded great. Of course Rod could probably make a megaphone sound great.
I have tried a couple of outboard units with my amp and it just doesn't like anything added to it, so I guess it could also be just as picky with mics. On the otherhand if everything was just as we wanted it to be we would probably get bored with things quickly.
Everyone I know who plays a HK uses a vintage Astatic (MC151)... the most common used harp mic. You can also use a Shure CR or CM, which will give you a little more distortion. As for a wireless, I have not personally found any good or bad points, speaking how they sound or operate for harp, with any specific brand. Though a single diversity system will do the job just fine in most cases, I recommend a dual diversity system to ensure less dropout issues.
RECAPPING THE SHORT FORM ANSWER: Mixing and matching mics and amps until they fulfill your expectations is like a Mobius strip. That is to say: ENDLESS... The HARPKING from John Kinder is certainly capable of peeling paint at fifty paces utilizing any number of mics as input. And David's correct in saying the majority of HK owners are blowing through some form of ASTATIC crystal, most commonly the MC-151. Having said that, I will add that the last HARPKING I saw in action was a big blond in the company of Rick Estrin (I like the sound of that) of the Night Cats , and he was leaning on a SHURE CONTROLLED-RELUCTANCE element thru the entire show.
As for WIRELESS and OUTBOARD UNITS, Bob, the majority of pedals and transcievers are NOT designed with the impedance of the crystal mic element in mind -where one megaohm is the minimum as a rule of thumb. In the case of mismatches with the crystal elements, running them into a scant 20K input causes the mic to read the offending unit as a high-pass filter, thus causing the tonal bottom to drop-out -literally. Care should always be taken to match any components in the sonic foodchain -especially where crystal elements are involved.
As for Rod's wireless of choice: I've forwarded the question to the Man himself to gain his perspective...
The times I've seen Rod play wireless, I wasn't all that impressed. I mean, don't get me wrong, the man knows how to entertain a crowd with a wireless link, but the sound seemed muted and a bit dull.
On the other hand, he hits the wireless late in the show and I might have been too far gone by that point...
The discrepancy you detect between the hardwired mic and the wireless is likely NOT your imagination, J. Consider that every step, every processor in the audio chain DOES have some bearing on the final sound you hear. I've known harpsters who actually used the mismatched impedances between components to arrive at their signature sound (overdriving a LOW-Z element into a HI-Z wireless transmitter) and some models can be utilized for their inherent compression characteristics. In the case of the TIN SANDWICH, however, it's often difficult enough just to get a good signal/noise ratio from the wireless/harpmic combo...
I agree. The sound you heard from Rod is the sound he likes ;-)
***THIS JUST IN***
OK, not exactly a news flash, but valuable information for those inquiring minds who wanna know about Rod Piazza's amp and wireless choices just the same. Honey Piazza responded on Rod's behalf thusly:
"Hello Fritz... In answer to the questions, here is what Rod said. He still uses a Harpking and his wireless is a Sampson 1980 guitar wireless. We hope to see you real soon. All the best...Honey"
Talk about an inside track! Thanks for the update.
I have so many other questions I'd like to ask Rod (like technique), but in the interest of propriety, I guess I'll keep them to myself (and hope that David can someday get him in the interview chair).
Our pleasure, J... Knowledge is power, and David's intent is to get your musical muscles rippling!
The mating of man-to-mic-to-amp is the Never-Ending Saga of Harpdome. Beyond the realm of personal taste you'll find there ARE combinations that simply don't provide as much juice as you'd think they would. I'm thinking of the potential for impedance mismatches between crystal mic elements (I.E. the ASTATIC MC-151 or SHURE R7) and newer amps designed for guitar. Once upon a time this wasn't an issue as everything was tube and HI-Z was VERY HI-Z. Crystal became a waning mic technology and found itself at the extreme end of the HI-Z (high impedance) scale as gear developed. As for current gear that's consciously harp-related? Typically no problem-o. All things being equal, it's a matter of what you're looking for, what sonic yield do you seek? Different ovens will bake different cakes for different players -I'm not sure that makes sense, but I do like the way it sounds...
By the way, Dennis O (MR. MICROPHONE, for whom I have a great deal of respect) and I were born within twenty-four hours of each other several states apart. Ask our mom about THAT labor!