Re: [Harp-L] Re:Question re small amp.

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ray Beltran wrote:
<Honestly, buy a Zoom H4 or similar recording device:
<
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LGA2K6
<
<They are a GREAT investment.
<
<Record then listen to what you sound like in any venue, and adjust  
<your tone controls to your individual taste, how YOU want to sound.

I agree completely that a recording device is a terrific learning tool.  And I own a Zoom H4 and think it's a great piece of gear--probably the best recording device I ever bought for less than $1000. But at about $300 street price it's pricey if the only thing you plan to use it for is  recording practice sessions.

Cassette recording technology is good enough for this purpose, and it's a lot cheaper.  Radio Shack sells a recorder with a built-in mic that uses standard audio cassettes for a price of less than $40, as I recall. Cassettes are cheap and still readily available, too.

If you want a machine that will do high-quality live recording, then by all means get the Zoom H4 (or its little brother, the H2, which sells for $100 less--the only thing it seems to lack compared to the H4 is inputs for external phantom-powered mics).  But if all you need is a practice recorder, a cheap cassette recorder will do the job for a lot less.  When I was practising for the recording sessions for my CD "The Act of Being Free in One Act," I used the built-in cassette recorder in a cheap boombox to tape my practice sessions. It worked fine.

Regards, Richard Hunter
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp