[Harp-L] Greg Heumann Custom Mic from Blowsmeawayproductions



This is my post to Greg Heumann, after recently receiving my custom mic from him. I'm posting because this truly is a one of a kind mic, with unquenchable tone! Greg works tirelessly and passionately for us and deserves a huge dept of gratitude. Also, it's a nice story ;)

I discovered Greg Heumann in a very random and funky way. Back in the UK, on New Year's Eve of 2012, Charlie Musselwhite was to appear on the BBC's Later with Jools Holland's "hootenanny"... I watched with delight as he came on and played with Cyndi Lauper... he goes into a bit of a solo... HANG ON! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT! It was then that I spotted the back of Charlie's mic, red as a chevy, popping out of the cup of his hands. I saw the Bassman he used, made sense, but what on earth was he using!!! I then did my research, avidly... to discover at long last, the Blowsmeaway.com site and the lovely man who is Greg Heumann. The next bit was MY luck. My father was a great harp player in his own right... An English Bluesman called Pete Mitchell-Smith who died sadly 15 years ago, who played with and supported many of the greats when they visited the UK, including Charlie Musselwhite *and* Jools Holland... This only added to my delight and seemed to make the whole scenario very meaningful indeed. My mum and step dad caught me talking about it, avidly, and called me up, and told me to get on the email, and get designing my own mic! I did... the rest is history!

Hi Greg,

It's here!! In fact it's been in my possession now for a fair few hours... Enough time to really blow and get a feel. I sat down again pretty much instantly after my first go as I was so emotional and gob-smacked. Greg, it's amazing!!! I've been speechless now for over an hour!

I've *never* experienced such a magical tone as this before and in particular, I simply cannot believe just how responsive and subtle this thing is... Every nuance and inflection is expertly amplified with a creaminess of tone and power that the Bassman thrives on and relishes throwing at you. The airtight chamber allows me to really dig in to my bends and doesn'tgive you that brittle after-honk that the modern 520DX's tend to deliver. This means the 50s reverb unit I use actually sounds authentic and reverberates the harmonica sound instead of the muddy after-honks, giving me that wonderful "Little Walter" tone I've craved all these years. The stealth volume control is simply the most inspirational and well-designed idea for a harmonica microphone that I've ever seen developed. I've never found it so easy to incorporate volume changes through control before... It's just so "use-able"!

There are light years of distance between the 520DX and the custom blowsmeaway mic, in terms of tone, feel and weight, use-ability, sensitivity, sense of quality to name a few... the best way I can describe it, is as though you've been sat playing a Casio keyboard for the majority of your blues life, and then one day, you sit down at a Steinway Grand piano. The quality devours you. It's incredible.

Greg Heumann is a very very talented man indeed. His craftsmanship and passion runs through this mic like a Stallion's pedigree. It is the prettiest and most special thing that I own. I love it!

Thank you so much for making a grown man feel like a kid again, and for making me the "perfect" mic.

Yours faithfully

Ryan Mitchell-Smith

UK
2012

And there you have it.... A lovely little story and a champion of a man.. Greg Heumann we salute you ;)



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