[Harp-L] Harp FX 2day4me

"Hurricane Ramón" <party_man1@xxxxxxxxxx> · Tue, 30 May 2006 16:01:37 -0400 (EDT)

Hurricane sez :

Hey Biological Bellows Brethern of Beautiful Music ,

When I first started to seriously gig in the late 70's I would see various guitar players with set ups that where as varied as the player's styles were . Sometimes I would after a gig at a particular guitar players digs alone just a couple of musicians or so I'd asked if I could plug in my SM58 into their amps-n-FX(s) and saw-n-hoid a whole new world of new ways to push the envelope so to speak . Those experience left me thinking like " ShrimpDaddy "  & Richard Hunter and others who did the same .

Seeing them play their FX units & amps and then trying out these amps & FX stomp boxes with a hit and miss kind of " sorting out " that in time yielded what I basically shape my harp's sound in the many and varied tones & textures from Lil Walter , Cotton to Butterfield and that's my story on how I starter to do it .

What I Got-N-Why

I checked out basically in my GNX4 a " Swiss " knife type bang for your buck piece of equipment as it has an 8 track recorder with plenty of bells & whistles ( USB out & in , MIDI in-n-outs  n more), 10 really superb stomp boxes I really dig on my guitar and soon I will make a custom " patch "  for a harp to use . These units sport serious amp modelers that if one has a computer with really super sounding monitors on  that computer can custom out these parameters in a " User Patch "  :

Choice of tube amplifiers emulator sounds ( I can't  tell you all of them off the top but some these amps are Fenders , Marshalls - get the pic :), and also many different speaker cabinets as well to custom craft to your liking and that is a good thing mostly if your a person with a good ear and knows full well what a Fender 4X10 cab sounds like or for that matter what a Fender Bassman amp hooked to a  4X10 cabinet sounds like , the results are really surprizingly striking , you do hear the differnce from one amp to another as well as the speaker cabinet emulated sounds . I just found a really good factory patch of a British 4X10 that I will begin to " tune " . 

You get to do this and see it on your computer's screen as you actually hear how it's sounding while you take control of the shaping software with a mouse  . I have a digital oscilloscope that I downloaded off the net for free , with it and the GNX4's software editor I can see what I'm doing as well to check if I am clipping electronically on the sine wave signature of the sound right there on my computers screen - -  SaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaWeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeete man .

I said when I got this pit-bull unit out of the box : 

" Hmmmm if it doesn't work out as planned it will make an excellent boat anchor " . It's built to last .

Hooked up to my tube amp or my P . A . it's killer . And hooked together it's super wild as I can have both a stereo sound with different FX being placed in one channel while another is on the opposite . For just one  "  patch " I can have a " Rotary Leslie " type effect going down in full stereo ( now that's something ) while I have a " mono ' direct harmonica sound pumping the old fashion way with a little of it's own reverb unit ( a Fender type wet juicy kind ) with no FXs . I could write several pages on what this bad boy does . With out a CF casrd the unit holds 80 user made patches . The max CF memory availble to use on tis is limited to a scant 2 gigabites ! ! ! 

For myself , I have had a state of the art sounding P . A . a long time , and if your the " sound dude " in your gig like me at times , this addition is really wild to have . 

When I do a solo it along with my small system ( stereo power amp  100 watts with 2 JBL 8 inch drivers and piezo tweeters ) is all I need because my GNX4 also has one lo HZ ( with phantom power if I need it ) microphone input with reverb & delay  so I can sing my @$$ off .

If I am at a club with a super P . A . system this unit ( GNX4 ) plugs directly into a snake/P . A. and I say to the sound tech :

Take all FXs off and keep the EQ totally flat . 

Then when together we adjust the sound and then I save all my FX , EQ , amp&cab info to the CF memory card that also doubles as a hard drive to let you record , which can be done on the fly with a foot switch  hooked to it with out compromising you amp& cabinet / stomp changes when going from one groove/sound on a song to another . Next time I play at that place again it's  a snap to get the sound check done fast and correctly since I saved the sound check set up parameters for that club already on myh CF memory card - - super sweeeeeet huh .

With my big P . A . add a 12 channel mixer and some hernia making big speaker cabinets with big hernia making horn drivers and the appropriated sized power amp(s) I got it covered -oh- add in a roadie or two as well . 

When I see/saw how guitarists ( electric )  have had it made with these stomp box's to make them sound super dooper good

 - - ¡ I SAW DEE LITE MAN ! - - 

For a true died in the wool harmonica player , with bass harmonicas , tremolo & Echo , chromatic(s) & diatonics it lets you record these parts individually and upload them via it's USB to your computer , a guy could make recordings that sound ala Harmonicats ! Which is where I'm going now that I see the light . I soon will start collecting a bass harmonica and a few other specialty harps :)

In a way I owe this increased potential(s) and possibility(s) to my guitar miracle back in 1998 that let me return back to the guitar after a 36 year lay off . Once my guitar playing started to bloom and sound good from a heavy duty regime of practicing these past 7 years dictated to me what I needed to do to incorporate my guitar playing in to my harp act , what followed that led me to purchasing this unit ( I never ever thought in my wildest dreams that I would be typing this letter ) was a series of serendipity steps and good counciling from friend guitar players I have know and or worked with since the 70's .

Reading Richard Hunter's posts on this ( other issues like his MP3's too ) issue was/is refreshing along with others here in this forum who are using FX to the betterment and advancement of things harmonica 

- - and - - 

The tube amp & pre amp tech builders like Ron Holmes , Scooter & Sonny ..

- - WoW - - 

What can I say about these trail blazing mental amazers - -I love you guys keep on keepin on partners it's going to be a hard choice to decide when I am ready for another tube amp purchase .

Here's to all you guys and the other great members who actively contribute and share knowledge , and here's to all the novice players too because it's nice from my view point to have a place where not only I can comment and contribute things harp , but also receive the feed back emails , they make my day :)

Sincerely :

Hurricane Ramon 

Aka :

Party_Man1@xxxxxxxxxx

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