Here’s more stuff for you harp gearheads.

At left is my harp mic collection. If I’m playing through one of my guitar amps (I’ll get to those eventually in this space), I’m using one of these mics. From left, they are:

An Astatic T-3. This is easily my favorite harp mic shape of all time — it fits great in my hands. I bought it off Ebay — the previous user had modified it so it had a guitar cable jack on it, but it had no element. I added a Shure controlled magnetic element from an old CB mic — I usually keep one or two around for spares.

A Shure 545SD. I recently purchased this used on the cheap from a local audio/video company. These mics are still manufactured, sound great for both vocals and harp, can be set for high or low impedance, have a handy switch and probably are the only off-the-shelf new mics I could recommend for most harp players. The gray gaffer’s tape is there to stop the shield over the capsule from spinning around in my hands — it makes noise when it does that.

A Shaker crystal mic. It’s sort of the odd man out right now. I’ve had this for many years and like to use it with small amps that distort easily.

An Astatic DN-50. This currently is just a shell — I have no element for it right now, but I’ve used it extensively in the past. It’s also been modified to accept a guitar cable easily, and I used this on stage for years. I need to get this thing working or just sell it — it’s too nice to just keep sitting around.

An Electro-Voice 650. It has an element in it right now and I really like the shape, but I need to get some felt to put over the element. It currently has a super-hot Shure element in it.

An Astatic JT-30. Every harp player needs a JT-30. This has an old, but not original, Astatic crystal element in it. I particularly like the way it sounds with a big amp like a Bassman.

The other day, I realized that I own four amps, dozens of tubes, six mics, three guitar pedals and a pile of cable — just to play a stupid $22 harmonica. I suppose there are worse hobbies.