[Harp-L] Audix Fireball (V) vs Blues Blaster

[Greg Heumann <greg@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello, Jim

I have been playing for many years now and I've tried a lot of  
different mics, including both Blues Blaster (older and newer, see  
below) and Audix Fireball and Fireball-V. From your post I suspect  
you're learning to play blues. In my opinion the Audix Fireball is  
not what you want. It is a perfectly good mic, but it is very one- 
dimensional in sound - it will NOT allow you to get a warm, dirty,  
thick Chicago type sound. It will NOT exhibit a large difference  
between cupped and not cupped. As a new player, trust me, cupping  
technique has WAY more to do with good tone than any other factor and  
it takes time to learn. You should learn it with a mic that is more  
responsive to cupping technique.

The Blues Blaster comes in the same shell that the famous old JT30  
did. Hohner took it over when Astatic stopped marketing it. The  
original Blues Blasters were sold with an Astatic MC-151 element - a  
very good element. But then even Hohner couldn't get a supply of  
these elements any more. The later ones were sold with a really cheap  
element and frankly, they are pretty awful. I don't know which one  
you have - you can easily open the mic to find out. But I say this  
because you shouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater - i.e.,  
don't assume all "traditional looking" bullets sound like your Blues  
Blaster - they don't.

If I'm right that you're looking for good traditional blues tone,  
then I would recommend you either replace the element in your blues  
blaster with an MC151 or Shure Controlled Magnetic element (get a  
gasket to make it fit from harpmicgaskets.com) - or buy a mic with  
one of these elements or a comparable one. FYI - learning to cup well  
takes a lot of practice - and if your hands are small it can be a lot  
harder. I just put one of my custom mics on eBay, one specifically  
designed to help people with smaller hands. The auction listing is  
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130026583657

regards,

Greg Heumann
http://www.blowsmeaway.com