TubePad 5.0
I've been looking for a while for a nice simple schematic drawing tool for tube amps. I just downloaded Tube Pad 5.0 and it appears to be a bunch of images that you can drop into your own drawing program. I've been using them in Visio.
TubePad 5.0
Here is download off of my site if the link above doesn't work. TubePad 5.0 - copy at harpamps.com. The download at their website was very slow. 
¶ Tuesday, February 28, 2006 1 Comments

  MP3 on bending notes
I have another quick little mp3. This one is on bending notes. It is about 9 minutes. It's hard to explain bending, but I give it a shot here. Bending Notes on the Harmonica mp3.
David Harp has a good tutorial on bending the blues if you need more help. 
¶ Thursday, February 23, 2006 0 Comments

  Sony Media Software - Free Loop Sampler and Calendar
Get this CD. It comes with Acid Xpress and a whole bunch of music loop stuff. I don't like computer music, but it is quite possible to mix up some nice background music or rhythm lines for harp. You can download all of it from the Sony site, but it is nice to have it on CD and it is the right price - free.
Sony Media Software - Free Loop Sampler and Calendar 
¶ Friday, February 17, 2006 0 Comments

  The Last Time I Saw Allan deLay
The artist Mike Russel writes about Allan Delay, the father of Blues Harp master Paul Delay, in his Comic Strip CulturePulp 047: The Last Time I Saw Allan deLay.
Read the comic and smile - Allan was one of the good guys. 
¶ Friday, February 17, 2006 0 Comments

  Sonny, Jr. with Carlos Colina
I went to Pete's Saloon in Elmsford, NY last night to see my brother's band, Carlos Colina and the straight up Blues Band. Carlos had a few guests including Sonny Jr, the amp maker. I managed to record this video clip on my cheapo Eujoy recorder. There are two clips, one is 20meg and the other is 10meg. They are the same the 20meg has more detail.

Carlos Colina and Straight up with Sonny Jr. 20 meg
Carlos Colina and Straight up with Sonny Jr. 10 meg

Sonny plays some incrediable 2nd and 1st position stuff and Carlos plays some cool 3rd position. Leo Jordon brings down the house with his guitar solo. My brother. Larry, does a great job on Bass 
¶ Saturday, February 11, 2006 4 Comments

  Polish Blues Harp
This is a Polish Blues Harp band called Teenage Beat - West Coast Blues Band. They're from the west coast of Poland, I guess. They treat Little Walter classics with reverence and are a good listen. The site is a little slow to load, but it is well worth the wait. There are half a dozen great MP3 files on the web page - grab them all and add them to you library.

Teenage Beat - strona zespołu

When you're done, leave your comments in their guestbook - it's in Polish, but you can figure it out. 
¶ Friday, February 10, 2006 0 Comments

  Basin Street Blues (Kid Koala)
Check this out: Video Bomb - Basin Street Blues (Kid Koala)
Animated music video for the song Basin Street Blues by Kid Koala. 
¶ Thursday, February 09, 2006 0 Comments

  Kalamazoo Model 2 Restoration
Paul Harker sent me this URL that has the details of his restoration of a Kalamazoo Model 2 Amp. The model 1 and 2 are the same circuit except for the tremelo.
The Kalamazoo amps are famous for two things. First is wonderful tone. It is one of the best sounding amps for harp around. You can get a good range of effects from dirty to warm and smooth out of one amp. The other thing that is known for is not being very loud. In fact it is what you would call a quiet amp. So if you decide to get a Kalamazoo amp, be warned that you will have to mic it to the PA in order to be heard over the guitars.
Kalamzoo amps are very common. I have two dead ones in the cellar that I have to get around to fixing. You can pick them up on eBay very cheaply because guitar players generally want a louder amp.
Paul put a bit of work into his K and it looks pretty good considering that it was a junker to start with. 
¶ Tuesday, February 07, 2006 1 Comments

  Juke Riff Tutorial MP3
Here's a short (a little over 2 minutes) tutorial MP3 on how to play Little Walter's Juke riff for beginners. No bends. Drop it into your iPod and play it on the subway. C harp, key of G. 
¶ Sunday, February 05, 2006 0 Comments

  6th Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival

If you can make it to Taiwan this summer, this looks like it might be a great event! 6th Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival. From Aug 3 (Thu) to Aug 6 (Sun), 2006. I wonder if my old friend Tomcat, who I met at Blues Week, will be there. He was the only blues harp guy in the Phillipines for a while, and he's been knocking around the Pacific Rim for 20 years or more. 
¶ Sunday, February 05, 2006 1 Comments