Thanks to members of this forum, I chose a portable amp and have ordered it. I really appreciate your help! Now I have to choose a microphone. As with the amp, I realize that asking for recommendations for a microphone involves personal opinion and it's all very subjective. But the responses I received about the amp were so helpful that I thought I would ask for your help again. As before, I am looking for that dirty Chicago sound. After all, I live right outside of Chicago! I spent a few hours today reading mic reviews and, if anything, I'm more confused than ever. From my limited research, my inclination is to get a Shure 520DX. It seems that most harp players love it but those who don't hate it. I have big hands so size shouldn't be a problem at all and I don't think I would mind the weight. I understand that this mic is prone to feedback which can be controlled with good cupping. I think I would prefer buying a brand new mic to avoid getting one that is blown or otherwise not working right. I have read great reviews of other mics but some of them seem to be almost unknown so their is very little information available about them.
So, I would like to hear what people here would recommend and, especially, any opinions you may have about the 520DX. I have also read about the Hohner mics but their reviews seem to be very mixed. I'd like to order the mic in the next couple day so I can use the amp when it is delivered.
the 520dx has a thinner sound then most people like. i wouldnt recomend it. an in my experiance cupping the mic is what creates feedback sometimes. if you want a good chicago sound go vintage. get a mic from http://myworld.ebay.com/deluxe8765/ thats where i got mine. its top quality an i couldnt be happier. all the mics he sells are great an he records videos of them so you can hear what they sound like before buying it.
What are you going to be playing through? I have a 520DX and it SOUNDS GREAT through certain amps. Just keep the treble and mids down. But, I believe it was Greg from Blowsmeaway that said if you buy one of those BluesBlasters and then push the element further back into the shell it would sound MUCH better.
harmonicanick: I did search the forum before I posted my question but I was taken outside the forum to websites that weren't helpful. Sorry about that. I always try to search forums before asking a question because I don't want to waste anyone's time. When the search feature didn't take me to anything useful in this forum, I posted the question, anticipating that someone would suggest that I search the forum. :-)
jonsparrow: Believe it or not, I did check him out earlier today. I also found two other guys who have videos demonstrating their mics. I also checked out a bunch of demonstrations on YouTube and videos by manufacturers and harp players. The problem is that they all sound good and each mic is claimed to be great by the person demonstrating it. That doesn't help me narrow down my choice very much, especially considering those people are trying to sell them so I don't get the negatives for any particular mic. That's why I asked the question here; I wanted to get unbiased recommendations from knowledgeable people like you. I should also mention that I am a beginner and the fine differences of amp/mic matches probably wouldn't make any difference for me and I probably wouldn't even notice it because, at this point, I suck! I'm just trying to get started for my own enjoyment. Nothing fancy or elaborate. Also, I was surprised by your comment that most people find the 520DX to sound thin. Almost everything I read about it said just about the opposite. I appreciate your feedback on that one. I'll have to look into that mic some more, I guess. Thanks.
BTW, I chose a Pignose 7-11 for now. I'm just playing for myself at home and I think it will give me the sound I want at a very good price. I can always add another amp later but the Pignose will get me started and I also found some very good harp players who love that little amp. It sounded like what I'm looking for in the videos I saw too. But I would like to get a good mic that I will stick with.
Anyway, back to my original question: Does anyone have any mic recommendations? Any more opinions on the Green Bullet? Thanks in advance.
Last Edited by on May 09, 2009 3:19 PM
If you are after the Chicago sound, a vintage is the way to go, but these dont come cheap. I have owned a new Bluesblaster, which I subsequently sold because the element is not good, I tried moving the element back with no significant improvement. I would recommend against the bluesblaster and Hohners JT-30 model which has the same cheap element. I have read a lot of good reports on the 520DX, most seem pretty happy with it, I've never played through one. It seems well priced and I think would be a good starting mic, if the vintages are too much.
i would say get any vintage mic with a CR element. black labels are better imo but more pricey. you can do just fine with a white one. dynamic mics can sound nice too. ill tell you what some one else on here told me when i was lookin for a mic. if you want that vintage sound then get vintage equitment. they dont make em like they used to. but it all depends on what you like too. when i was chooseing my mic i narrowed it down to about 3 or 4 choices an i must have listened to the videos a million times before chooseing. its those "micro tonal" differnces that matter the most to me. but if i was to suggest a specific mic, id say shure bullet with a black CR element. that what i got an im very happy with it. heres a video of the exact mic i got.
Whoops! My mistake. I just tried searching again and it does take me to threads in this forum. For some reason, it took me to stuff outside the forum earlier. I get a bunch of hits in this forum but they are almost all the same thread and it doesn't address my particular question.
Last Edited by on May 09, 2009 3:30 PM
jonsparrow: Thanks much! I watched the very video that you link here just before I posted my original question.
Since I am just a beginner who still sucks, the micro differences probably wouldn't make any difference to me at this point but I would like to get a mic that I won't outgrow as I get better. The classic mics that I have found are all so expensive! I really can't justify that at this point. I would like to keep the cost down to about the $120 or so that the Green Bullet costs, if possible.
you could allways make your own mic. that would be realy cheap an still sound good. i cant remember his name but he made a thread an a bunch of videos on how to do it. its very simple. you could do that an use that till you figure out what kind of mic you want.
Belive me or not, but when you're buying a quality mic it will serve you life long, so a good Shure is a lifetime investment. Those mics are not cheap, but I can assure you, that Ron is selling only the best stuff. I've got my ceramic Astatic 10-C from him and this baby ROARS! But I've checked today his listings and his got some decent mics (but not bullet style) for less than 100$. And if you look closely on other sellers you can find a really nice Astatic 200S with Shure element for 150$. A bit more than 120, but still worth buying.
A good lesser known mic is the shure 575s. It is a plastic body dynamic element stick mic with an off/on switch. I read that Walter Horton used this mic on ocassion. To my ears it sounds like a shure 545 with more bass response. It is also much lighter than the 545.
yeah I'd agree with sonvolt, the shure sm57 is another and I think thats what Jason Ricci plays. The bullet mics are cool and sound great but so are the stick mics. Any way thats my 2cents.
Tryharp: Thanks for your opinion non the two Hohner mics you mentioned. I was checking them out but couldn't find a whole lot of information about them.
The homemade mics are called I-Mics. I found plans for those early in my search. Being a hopeless tinkerer, I probably will try making one but I want to get a mic that I know is good first. But it would be fun to design a shell and build one later on.
The consensus here is clearly that I should be looking at a vintage mic. I will have to look into that some more. Besides, I love classic equipment of all kinds.
Yep, on Ron listing there are few mics below 150$, or even 100$. Here's the listing:
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/deluxe8765
Some Electro Voice, little Shure, Akai, Calrads and Fenton. The EV 664 is massive, very BIG BOTTOM. Maybe not all of them are bullet type, but they do have tone.
I recently spoke in emails to one of the other Members of the message board discussing amps and sound that got much deeper and into mic's and such. He asked me to post it here and against my better judgement I will because it seems appropriate in this thread. Please remember these are my opinions and as such are worth only that. These are the mics I own and attributes they have:
Mid 90's Green Bullet 520 - Mid strength signal can overdrive amp but you are pumping amp vol up to get there. hardly used
Shaker Retro Rocket - Lower strength Crystal mic not much drive have to push preamp. clean sometimes brittle sounding. hardly used
Voice of America Sonotone cut down stick mic - This is a great little mic it's carried in my harp case instead of gig bag so I can grab and run if I'm sitting in with friends and not bringing my whole rig, You can plug this in directly to the sound board and boost the bass, put the middle at about 5-6 and cut the treble out at 1-2 and get a nice warm sound it has a ceramic element that has a nice warm sound med strength does not push tubes terrible hard but a nice little mic - used fairly often. I might add I use this at home to record, overdub on my lil recorder. It's just a handy little mic. These mics appear on ebay every so often and are reasonable in price I paid $80 for mine and it's well worth it. If you see one for that kinda price I suggest grabbing it.
American D-4 with modded transformer- The "Salt Shaker Mic" looks like an old shower head the one I currently have is the mid impedence model and I had a guy put in the transformer. There is a model D-4T that is factory transformer and is an extremely hot mic. I had a soundman tell me it put out a stronger signal then most keyboards. Unfortunately I had a gig bag stolen out of my vehicle 2 summers ago and my D-4T was in it. The D-4 is a very clean mic with lots of volume but strangely does not overdrive particularly well great Country mic. not used often enough but I just got it back and am still toying with it.
Shure Bullet mic 1940 small shell w/ 1960's CM White label element - Very Hot mic I love the small shell I have small hands (no jokes here, please) This mic is hot hot hot you need to be careful with settings if you push amp too hard all you get is grit and a more farty sound. if you back off a bit you can get a warm, but growling sound. This is my back up Stage mic only because I have a new Samson Airline wireless that adds compression and I'm still trying to get the settings right to avoid the "too much growl" I restored this mic myself, was a project and I like it.
1960's CM Element Bullet mid impedence element with a transformer - This is my current Stage mic I bought it on ebay for $145 and it's well worth it good warm sound drives the preamp tubes well need again to be careful of the settings, there is such a thing as too much grit n growl. But I've spent a lot of time dialing this monster in and I'm happy with it Used all the time.
Please keep in mind there are other mic's that are widely used such as Shure SM57 stick, older 545, JT30 that I cannot honestly describe because I don't use them. I'm just trying to benefit you with what I know of mics and amps
I'm currently using my Big Box Amp it's a '59 Bassman LTD Reissue on stage I changed out the pre amp tubes from 3 12ax7's to #1 12au7 #2 12ay7 and left the 12ax7 in #3 this is the normal change from guitar amp to harp amp and it's by far the best amp I've owned. I'm considering changing the bottom 2 speakers out for Eminence 10" Delta Demons or Swamp Thing speakers to get the kind of mixed sound you get in Sonny Boy or Harpgear amps. As you already know I think Eminence speakers are fantastic for harp. Will let you know if I do. You know about the Epi Vjr amp and I'm working on 2 different Bogen Challenger amps as my current project.
Sound is a relative thing that everyone chooses for himself. Mine is a more Blues oriented warm growl sound. Chris Michalek (hope I spelled that right) uses a cleaner sound from what I heard and he has phenomenally good tone which may be why he prefers a cleaner sound. I also have heard only small YouTube pieces so I may be wrong, never really heard him onstage unfortunately, but you can hear his tone in anything he does. Jason Ricci has a very compressed tone from his effects but when gets playing fast it cleans up and gets brighter. Adam has a very gritty amplified tone yet when he plays acoustic it's very early Mississippi Honk sounding, again great tone. Aaaah the choices are endless and I probably just rambled on enough to confuse the hell outta you. Welcome to the Club, I think none of us really know sound and just get lucky.
Last Edited by on May 11, 2009 5:29 AM
Gotta agree - the 520DX is a lousy investment. Element isn't great, the mic is heavy enough to use as a weapon and the circumference is huge making it harder to cup. ANY pre-520DX green bullet is a better choice.
Based on what you said you absolutely shouldn't spend the money it takes to get a good CR element. An average CR costs 3x what a good CM does and doesn't sound any better. The best CR is the best there is, but not all of them are that good.
Unless you hear a crystal and hear a sound you really truly prefer over a good CM element, I would say "avoid crystals." They're all on their last legs and are extremely fragile. A perfectly good crystal today can be dead tomorrow. They're also extremely high impedance and therefore you have to be much more careful about what you connect them to and how, in order to avoid tone loss and hum.
A good CM bullet mic that's light and smooth (so most comfortable to hold) will make it easiest for you to learn what proper grip/cupping technique is and what it sounds like.
Please consider to check out a series of 7 video tutorials I made about building your own mics. I talk about elements and construction techniques as well demonstrate how to do the soldering and assembly. There is a thread on this forum (diy harp mic tutorial) with discussions from forum members. Or you can click the link below and see the videos on my YouTube channel. You may find these videos helpful even if you do not want to make your own mics. ---------- -------------- The magnificent YouTube channel of the internet user known as "isaacullah"
