@orphan I agree. The tremolo effect on the amp (I'm guessing it's some sort of fender amp w/ a built in tremolo) Is a bit much for my taste. The playing is great. Good phrasing, good use of time, great dynamics. But That tremolo (IMO) is distracting. Especially when he play the shakes. It's sounds a little too messy and you can't hardly hear the shake.
That's my 2 cents. ---------- C. Adam Hamil HOHNER CERTIFIED Free Reed Instrument Technician
When this recording was made back in 1951, there werent't ANY amps that had a tremelo effect nor were they available in the studio. What you're hearing is Big Walter's throat vibrato and unlike the way too many players tend to play, he's getting this by playing EXTREMELY soft. I've seen him many times during the 70's and I've seen more than enough to know as I hung out with him a lot back then. There isn't ANY tremelo effect happening anywhere on this recording at all because, to reiterate, there was no such thing as amps or even studio effects like this back then. Amps with tremelo units didn't appear until 1957, and this was recorded in 1951. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Easy along with Juke and Steady is one of the seminal tracks for blues harp instrumentals. LIke Bob says, this is all pure Walter. There ain't no tremelo effect on the amp. I'd say that if a traditional blues harp player doesn't like this track, then he probably needs to reassess whether he really likes amplified blues or is more into something else.
Last Edited by Kingley on Feb 25, 2013 10:02 AM
@barbequebob: I stand corrected. I'm no history expert, so thanks for the clearification. After re-listening, I can hear that It's his vibrato. He slips in and out of it a few times. I still think It's a bit distracting at times. I think he could have been a little more dynamic in the way he uses the vibrato. He keeps it just about the same speed and intensity. I wish he had changed it up a bit. I fully repect what he is doing and I'm sure he had his reasons for playing it this way.
@Kingley: I really like this tune, just not this particular version. I'm also a big fan of amplified blues. I don't think I need to reassess any of my opinions b/c they are just that, opinions. I can respect a track/artist and not like to listen to it. I love Big Walter, just not this particular version of this tune. I've heard some other versions that I dig a lot more. David Barrett's Live version from "The History of the Blues Harmonica In Concert" album is one of the best recorded versions of this tune that I've heard. Very similar phrasing, excellent use of dynamics, and wonderful tone. He uses a heavy vibrato at times, but overall the track is much more listenable. ---------- C. Adam Hamil HOHNER CERTIFIED Free Reed Instrument Technician
Last Edited by Adam Hamil on Feb 25, 2013 10:53 AM
Adam - Yes I know what you mean. I was just being generally a little harsh to folk. It wasn't aimed at you directly. I've found that most people tend to imitate "It's Not Easy" when playing the tune and just call it "Easy". It has a lot less throat vibrato than the Sun recording and is in many ways more "modern" sounding. It's is also a far, far easier track to imitate than "Easy". I can't recall anyone ever doing a version of "Easy" that doesn't owe more to "It's Not Easy". I'm sure if there is then either tmf714 or BBQ Bob can point us in the direction of it.
This track was recorded in 1953 in any case, Walter's next recording after Muddy's "Flood/My Life is ruined/She's All Right/Sad Sad Day" session (Horton's only Chess session with Muddy), where...you guessed it, Muddy used amp tremolo. ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
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Last Edited by 5F6H on Feb 25, 2013 11:18 AM
Please, can´t we do away with things that we MUST like? That always feels a bit stifling.
I like amplified blues harmonica when it´s played well etc, and that most certainly is the case with "Easy" which is a formidable track; but I also dislike numberless lousy imitations of it (and I´m quite frankly not too interested in a new version of "Easy"). If I´m somehow obliged like something out of some murky sense of loyalty or whatever, it tends to activate my anti-Stalinist mentality and I start looking for things to dislike. (Which in all honesty I find rather hard on "Easy" from -51 -- but his new take on it in, was it -62?, is not at all that hot. Not that I "dislike" but ...)
There is no way in the world it is a tremelo on an amp. It took me awhile to play this tune but I learned it. He just had monster Vibrato. The timing and speed moves around and cuts on and off. It is obviously him doing the vibrato
"Walter's next recording after Muddy's "Flood/My Life is ruined/She's All Right/Sad Sad Day" session (Horton's only Chess session with Muddy), where...you guessed it, Muddy used amp tremolo"
Nope-there was a recording in between Muddy and Jimmy DeBarry-it was with Johnny Shines "Evening Shuffle-the complete JOB recordings" on Jan 2,1953.
Quite right TMF714. Nevertheless, the point remains that amp tremolo was available and Horton was aware of it prior to the session in question.
Martin, unlike the late Fender LDR tremolo (’63 onwards) that actually cut the signal completely, many earlier tremolos (and contemporary bias trems) were much more sensitive to frequency & signal level. Sometimes you'll hear a great guitar tremolo from an amp, where the effect has an easy time wobbling the decaying guitar signal, but blowing a harp through the same amp can diminish the effect significantly.
The Easy session was after the other Walter's "Don't need no horse" session, also featuring heavy amp vibrato.
It's not the same effect/intensity on the Little Boy Blue session from the tweed bassman in 1980 (that’s all the man, I obviously agree that Horton did have a great, shimmering, vibrato...it's just not what you are hearing on Sun 180).
@Bigtone...you're setting yourself up for a demo there ;-)
Anyone interested in this song should check out 'I almost lost my mind' on which it was based. There is a version of it on Itunes by Pinetop Perkins with a great (unidentified) harp player who plays it in a low and normal F harp. ---------- Lucky Lester
Paul has played that piece pretty well right into my ear, he's great at the Big Walter stuff, but that isn't the same sound as the OP's clip. ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
@5F6H-No,it's not the same sound as the OP,but I like it. It's one of the better acoustic versions I have heard.
Last Edited by tmf714 on Feb 25, 2013 1:22 PM
Ok I recorded a acoustic version in Bb on my crappy comp mic. You can hear the vibrato pretty decent.I played it real straight no frills etc.. Just like he played it nice and relaxed. It obviously rips and shows much more through a mic and amp but since theres no way to disprove the vibrato with my throat I did it acoustic. Can someone tell me how I can post it on here. It came as a WMA file. I will email it to someone if they can post it
Last Edited by Bigtone on Feb 25, 2013 1:30 PM
@TMF714 - Harmonica Henry AKA Jan Sjostrom also did a cool version on the Swedish joint effort "Horton's Briefcase". ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
Thanks. I will get an amplified one up later. I do not know if the crappy computer mic could handle it. My neighbor who plays guitar with me a lot has one of those hand held recorders. I may just walk over and use that thing.
Nice job Bigtone, but note with Sun 180 how there is oscillation even right at the front of the note, the oscillation even merges the sound on changes of hole like at 0:23-0:25 & 1:22-23..it's over the top of the note changes, not in between them. Good though your version is, you're not getting that.
here is an electric version you can hear my vibrato way better. Old gibson amp a astatic t3 with a cm in it. kinda sloppy but hey
https://soundcloud.com/bigtone1/easy-electric
There could be a trem but I like to think BW could have done anything he wanted to. I mean I am a fool to think I could have half the technique as him but I feel like If I could get close to the Vibrato then he could have easily done it. No pun intended
Last Edited by Bigtone on Feb 25, 2013 2:14 PM
Thanks, yours too. Killer tone man!! Are you using that little black amp? If so I have the same one but mine has white crinkle finish, one of the best harp amps I have heard. Tweed Champ transformers and circuit made by epitome. Killer either way on your end!!
Thanks brother, that tune is a work in progress for sure....You definitely got some sweet skill with that vibrato your sportin on that tune - it is sounding nice and authentic!
I believe that it is that black amp that's miked...
Haha yep thats it man!! Killer amps man hold on to that one. I have seen them bring over $400 on ebay. Small and loud!!!
Thanks it took awhile to get the technique down I started like making myself stutter while playing harp to try and get it then after awhile I got better and more consistant with it. It is a great technique to fill up space in a band situtation.
5F6H - I agree Jan Sjostrom does a very good version. Hortons Briefcase has some great playing on it. Our Scandinavian cousins have certainly nailed that big tone.
Last Edited by Kingley on Feb 25, 2013 10:17 PM
@Adam_Hamil -- Big Walter throughout the tune in varying parts DOES use a different breath level for effect, basically which can be described as dynamics within the phrasing, which you have to have GOOD breath control, which is something the average players does not ANY of that at all.
I've seen him do this tune plenty of times (seldom ever the exact same way twice) and this tune is a classic execise in things most players have a huge lack of and that's:
1. breath control 2. tone control 3. dynamics, especially during the phrase itself. 4. improvisation based more on embellishment of the melody rather than just mindless riffing (this tune is actually an instrumental version of Ivory Joe Hunter's Almost Lost My Mind).
Right before my eyes I heard him use this same vibrato and if you listen to this recording very closely, there's no way that he's using an amp tremolo because any tremolo unit when used, never shuts itself off at any period of time and there's plenty of times that you don't hear this at all, and this is true of tremolo units being used at its lowest possible settings.
I can remember woodshedding to this for many months and hearing Big Walter doing a demonstration of a tune he did using one of my harps was the eye opener.
Playing that vibrato at such a low breath level, which is barely breathing thru it at all is extremely difficult for most players to learn and I can personally attest to that very fact.
Paul Lamb is one of the very few who really have the BW sound down really well. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
@BBQBob - There are many ways to execute tremolo on an amp including, for example, harmonic pitch vibrato, bias trem, Fenders LDR which does exactly kill the signal(but I agree that particular trem is not what is being used in this case, bacause it didn't exist then). You simply can't generalise like that. There are as many trem circuits as there are manufacturers who employ (well, more in fact). There are even amps from the 50's & early 60's with no specific tremolo cicuitry that will oscillate as if they do have it when pushed!
Big Walter had a great tremolo, no dispute there (LW had a good tremolo too, but still used amp trem on occasions). I don't have every recording BW made, but I have several versions of Easy/It's not Easy, Sun 180 is the only one I have heard that features this particular & distinctive amp tremolo. I haven't heard any other of his recordings from other sessions, that have the Sun 180 tremolo either...I can stand to be corrected if you want to post some examples.
As you point out, at times the audio is killed outright, if this was simply BW's MO, then it would be all over all his recordings, but it's not.
The tremolo is only absent on the 3 draws as far as I can tell, this may be due to a quirk of pitch sensitivity or signal intensity. It's quite usual for that to be the case with a lot of amp trems (apart from maybe Fender's LDR). Listen again to the sections I quote, the tremolo is 'on top of' articlation, not following it. It is external of BW & the harp.
Amp trem was well established both in terms of amp circuitry and featured in blues recordings at this time, I don't see any great leap of imagination being required. Nevertheless, it's my ears that are driving my assertion, rather than what I know about amps etc.
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Last Edited by 5F6H on Feb 26, 2013 8:47 AM
@Frank -- that amp you've got pictured from the back side looks a lot like a 1948 Sears Silvertone amp that I've owned for the last 30 years, which at times could actually be too dirty for harp, IMO, but if you have a guitar, tune it to open D, and played slide, it was pretty much instant Hound Dog Taylor. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
@5F6H: You remember several years ago when you asked me to try the tremelo on my '54 National 1289T Stage Star, and I discovered it was easy to make the effect come in and out simply by how hard I played? I was also able to use a footswitch to confirm a useful feedback reduction with the trem on. That was playing both the trem and mic channels bridged, and I'm not really sure the feedback suppression is as good if one runs only through the trem channel of a Valco amp, but I know my Harmony H410A has the same ease of making the trem come in and out at will by how hard one plays. It may have something to do with the size of a microphone signal compared to a guitar one, but there is definitely something up with the use of a Valco-style trem on some of those 1950s recordings, and if it suppressed feedback a little, they may have done it live when they could.
@Htownfess - Cheers 'Fess, yes I remember. I had also found a noticeable reduction in the amp's tendency to feedback with the trem engaged on certain amps.
You can negate the trem on some amps simply by increasing bias current...when you play (as you know) big audio signals in the amp can lead to a rise in plate current, smaller signals, like the decay of a guitar note, may have a negligible effect on bias and leave the trem intensity unaffected.
I am often surprised, with the interest in the classic 50's recordings, by the fact more players don't use amp trem when recording at least. (Though, Sun 180 is the only one I can think of where Horton did so). ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
To my ears he is creating those fast tremolo like articulations through technique...that said - I wasn't there - so I can't say if the song was doctored up in any way or not?
Here is a cool piece by David Barrett on the tune :)
@Frank, compare to these contemporary BW recordings. Yes, I appreciate BW was perfectly capable of creatively applying a tremolo & was free to do it, or not, as he chose, but nowhere else (& when no one else attempts to copy it) does the trem affect note separation in the way it does on Easy, it's a pretty "mechanical" sound, even compared to BW's typically pronounced & disciplined tremolo...
Here's a couple from LW from a few days/weeks prior to Easy being recorded...
As you say, we weren't there, but give this selection a careful listen & draw your own conclusions.
Amp tremolo was available from at least 1949 as far as I am aware.
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Last Edited by 5F6H on Feb 27, 2013 6:36 AM
For me, what I hear when listening to these Masters is - if any effects are added to the harp ... It is still their technique that I am primarily hearing...In other words - it is their masterful technique that would be mainly influencing the final results of what I'm hearing, not any effects that may be present.
From the way things are being posted here, I can't help but think that more than a few of you are either confusing tremolo with vibrato or possibly thinking that they're the same thing because they clearly are not the same thing, as vibrato does involve a certain amount of actual pitch changing wheras tremolo has more to do with volume going on and off at varying paces.
Having personally seen Big Walter tons of times over the years, he never used any effects from the amp or outboard units, EVER, and often never even checked the controls on the amp, just plugged in and played and that was it.
From knowing this fact up close and personal, I have to very VEHEMENTLY disagree with anyone thinking that he ever used a tremolo effect ever, live or studio, as he was classic old school, where gear was the least important thing on his mind (if it was ever) and the idea of him using the effect is just flat out not true at all. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Post this on Harp-l and Tom Ball may shed more light on the subject - Joe Filsiko would have some great insights too - though would probably have to e-mail him...I did mistakenly call Btones technique as vibrato - should of stated it as (tremolo.)
I'll take Bobs word as golden-he was around Walter as was Ray Norcia and Jerry Portnoy-and those three grew up in the same area-if anyone knows Walters technique and the gear he used or did not use ,it's Bob.
Last Edited by tmf714 on Feb 27, 2013 8:28 AM
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