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From: sk~te.com (Rod Thomas/Sandra Teare)
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 08:25:49 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re:Tone Junkyisms

fjm writes;
Let's see, Rod Piazza, known for his tone, is an equipment junky.
Charlie Musselwhite, a fine player and multi talented is not known for
extra super tone and he plays through the P.A. Too small a sample but
you get the idea.

I'm not sure Piazza is any more an equipment junkie than many other
pros out there. He sets his system pretty hot, but still, he works his fat
lungs, his tight hand seal around his harp, and his continuous expert use
of note-splits, shimers, tongue slaps, deeply bent vibratoes and other
musical effects to get his sound. The guy never rests.
Last time I heard him though, I have to say, I thought his gear was
set too hot. The reverb and distortion etc. almost seemed to work against
him. It felt as though he was at a point where all his hard work was
starting to get buried in mush. Maybe he should try Musselwhite's
approach for a month. Go cold turkey. Then see what sound he likes.
While I've heard Musselwhite play with a pretty hot sound system too,
it seems his real genius is for melody IMHO. He shines not so much through
his tone (although his tone is great, and he uses the same musical effects
that Piazza does) but in the creative slippery way he flys all over the
"harp key board". He doesn't want us to miss a note, so he usually avoids
the mush of too much reverb and distortion.
I love both their sounds and would hate to have to commit to one of
them as a performer. Heck I can't decide between my Astatic and my Green
Bullet from one hour to the next. It surprizes me that more harp players
don't have an array of different mics plugged into their gear when they
perform, so they could pick and choose throughout the night.

Rod (Thomas)

- --
Rod Thomas email: sk~te.com