[Harp-L] gear, tone - my 2 cents




Can a good player get better tone through ANYTHING than an average player? Of course, Yes


But can a beginning player get better tone with good gear? Absolutely, Yes. He still won't sound nearly as good as an experienced player, but good gear ABSOLUTELY HELPS. When I was starting out I bought some lousy gear because I didn't know any better, and when I tried gear I could barely hear the difference from one thing to another. But I got frustrated wasting money on gear, and I began to pay more attention to what was available. So I went out and bought myself an amp I KNEW was capable of sounding AWESOME. It instantly made me sound better, but it also showed me I didn't sound like I wanted to - and at that point I KNEW I couldn't use the amp as an excuse. The fact is I decided to spend the money on the amp because I didn't WANT to be able to use my gear as an excuse. I wanted to KNOW that my gear was fully capable of sounding as good as anyone. That forced me to confront my shortcomings and really head down the right path toward better tone. But even at the beginning of that process, that amp had a lot to do with getting me my first gigs. The amp was a Sonny Jr Four-Ten. There are other great amps too - I'm just saying that the most common beginner mistake is to buy lousy gear because a) it is hard to know what is good based on your own trials before you've developed tone, and b) it is hard to get good advice when you don't know where to turn to get it. A beginning player doesn't know that the Shure 520DX is any different than the vintage Bullet he saw some great player use, for example, and believes an amp called a "Blues Junior" from a company named Fender simply must be a good blues harp amp. (I'm not calling singling this amp out - just pointing out the kind of logic a beginner is likely to apply in the absence of good advice.)

The more you learn, the more you are able to recognize what you don't know.

/Greg

http://www.blowsmeaway.com
http://www.bluestateband.net






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