Cool lil vid that @steve.chevalier turned me onto.
I started with a green bullet and moved on to other things because I always had a hard time keeping them from feeding back. Found them to be a bit shrill.
But if it’s good enough for Sugar Blue…
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So cool!
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Nice video. Good history lesson. Having had a couple of green bullets I’m not a fan because of: A. Feedback issues; and B. Didn’t fit my hands. Plus, so many iterations - all green bullets are not the same.
I like the Shure black label CR elements and earlier CM elements - better life expectancy than vintage crystal elements. But I’d rather test and handpick a vintage element, add a new gasket (Greg Heumann at BlowsMeAway), put them in a shell that feels good in my hands (Astatic 200? Turner Challenger? RCA MI-12016?), and build in a volume control.
As far as who plays what mic - 80% of the tone comes from the player so whether it’s Big Walter, Little Walter, Junior Wells, Sonny Boy, RJ. Mischo, Flávio Guimarães, Jerry Portnoy, West Weston, or Gary Smith, the mic (and amp) are secondary. And the older guys played whatever equipment was handy on a given night.
But, the video was good.
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“…a bit shrill”? That sounds like a 520DX to me. Shure changed the element when they started making these in 1996 and it is not the same microphone, quite inferior to the earlier Green Bullets. I have never used one, but someone told me it sounds like an Astatic 332 I have, which can be best described as “shrill”. The earlier GB’s can be best described as “ferocious”. I too prefer to put the earlier GB elements into other shells as the Green Bullet itself is hard to hold, but I do have 2 GBs.
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