Hello, I’m a band leader, lead singer, guitarist, and harmonica player with a band that plays rock, folk, reggae, blues, etc… I’m looking for advice on gear to bring the harmonica piece to our live shows to the next level. The trouble I’m having is that I have not found a way to effectively play into a nice harmonica mic while I’m playing guitar. I have tried various head/neck racks and they are Ok for our folk songs but I can’t really get the attack and tone I want for my rock/blues solos. Plus, even after all these years of using them, it’s still hard to get the positioning right to go back and forth from singing into a mic then blowing the harp on the rack into the mic (I have used another mic on another stand to get some different effects and separate mix). I am currently trying out the Harparatus on my mic stand with a Shure SM11-CN Miniature Dynamic Lavalier Microphone (below my vocal mic). This is the best solution I have found so far, but the mic stand still isn’t stable enough for me to really wail into the harmonica without taking it off the stand, and then I need to blow into my vocal mic instead of the SM11 (because of the weird positioning), which defeats the purpose of having a separate mic and harmonica channel mix. Now, my band is a 5 piece and we have another guitarist, so I am able to stop playing guitar when I take a lead harmonica solo. However, ideally I would like to have my harmonica on a stand so I can play it hands free some of the time, but then grab it (and stop playing guitar) when I take a solo. I want to be able to mic it with a nice harmonica mic (bullet style?) and run it through an amp simulation pedal so I don’t have to set up and mic another separate amp. My questions to the group are:
Is there a harmonica mic/stand combo that will allow me to play hands free some of the time, then play with my hands cupped around the harmonica and mic for solos?
Can you recommend a variety of harmonica pedals to get sounds for blues, reggae, folk and rock without using a separate harmonica amp?
Many Thanks!
Erik Johnson
The Johnson Party