I’ve been meaning to write this post for a long time and I’m finally getting around to it, but you are warned: This is going to be long and is filled with really geeky stuff that will interest harp players, and only harp players. The rest of you: Move along. Nothing to see here.

OK. For the rest of you: I’ve been gigging out since 1984. In that time, I’ve played through at least a dozen different amps on stage — some horrible, most acceptable, a few great — and I’ve used more different harp mics than I can count. Like most harp players, I’ve done this in the endless search for tone.

But now I’ve reached the point where, if an amp can hit a few basic criteria, I can generally shape things to get the tone I want. I’m not talking about pulling out a soldering iron and doing some mods, although that’s always an option. I’m talking about simple tube, speaker or mic changes that will help me find my tone.

It took me a long time to learn some of this stuff, and a lot of trial and error, but that’s why the ability to share data online is beautiful: I went through this so you don’t have to. So, let’s get going.

First, a caveat. The only way you will ever get really good tone is through practice. Lots of beginners have this experience: They hear a harp player live, they go home and learn the exact same riff and they wonder why their riff sounds so much thinner.

The reason is practice. Nothing else will teach you how to project from your diaphragm instead of your throat; nothing else will teach you tongue-blocking and how to ‘grab’ and bend a note; nothing else will teach you how to generate your own tremolo effects or how to shape your embouchure. You’ll need these skills to take a cheap near-toy and turn it into one of the most expressive instruments you can play.

Having said that, there are steps along the way that will encourage you. For example, you’ll find that it’s easier to obtain the classic blues harp tone through a smaller, lower-power amp than through a bigger, higher-power one. The trade-off is projection and some bottom-end response, but you’ll still get that mojo. We’ll get to that.

Here are a few classic harp player problems and some solutions that I’ve used. Enjoy.

What should I buy for a first amp/mic? There are as many opinions about this as there are blades of grass in a suburban lawn. However, the classic harp tone often comes from tube-driven amps, driven by microphones that distort when cupped.

You don’t want to fork out too much money at first. I’d suggest a small tube amp and a cheap mic that has some harp player creds. One such combination would be the Bottle O’ Blues mic and an Epiphone Valve Junior amp. Together these will set you back less than $225. There are a lot of other low-power, small-speaker, fun tube options available as well.

I’m not loud enough: Almost all discussion of harp player problems starts here. The cruel reality is, though, that you actually may be loud enough. It may be that everyone else in your band is too loud!

Volume Wars are a sure sign of newbie musicians, or a sign that the musicians have a hard time playing with others. The first thing to do is to try to convince everyone else to turn down! This gives you more range to control your dynamics — to get louder and softer — which is one of the most emotionally powerful things you can do from a stage.

Normally it’s the guitarist who gets blamed for being too loud, but that may be because the bass player or the drummer are burying the mix in a wall of sound and the guitarist is cranking up to be heard over the din.

I recently played with a drummer who simply would not control the volume of his ride cymbal — he buried the entire band under it and simply felt the rest of the band was wrong/stupid. He was a nice guy and frankly a quite good drummer, except for that. He got fired. It was the only option left.

You very well might fail at the turn-it-down effort, though, so you need to look elsewhere. Other ways to address this:

Use a larger amp. “Larger” does not necessarily mean “more powerful,” by the way. To the ear, there is only a little difference between a 25-watt and a 50-watt amplifier. The difference often is that the 50-watter drives multiple speakers, moving more air. This is why a 4×10-inch-speaker Fender Bassman that’s been modified to use 6v6 tubes can sound almost as loud as one that uses 6L6 tubes (which have about twice the power of the 6V6 tubes). It’s also why a Fender Vibrolux (a 2×10 amp) sounds quieter than a Bassman, even though the wattage difference between the two is minor.

Mic your amp. This is the cheapest and easiest solution. Drop a microphone in front of your amp (or run a line out if your amp is capable of that) and send the signal to your PA system. There are a lot of really good players who use this setup — small amp to PA — with great results.

Use a more efficient speaker. This can get pricey, but it can make a huge difference. It’s not at all uncommon for one guitar speaker to be 3dB or even 6db more efficient than another. That’s the equivalent of doubling or quadrupling the power of your amp! This is an area that is wildly misunderstood by most musicians — and manufacturers take advantage of this ignorance when marketing their gear. Here’s an excellent primer that explains amplifier efficiency.

Too loud, but the tone is too thin when you turn it down. The answer there is obvious: You have too much amp. Use a smaller amp — and again, mic it if you need a little more boost. Small, harp-friendly amps can be found on the cheap these days — Epiphone and Crate, among others, make nice little 1×8-inch, five-watt amps that will set you back about $175 tops.

It’s also possible to boost your front end — or create pre-amp distortion — by using a pedal, but that is a dicey proposition. Lone Wolf Blues Co. makes several pedals that can boost your gain, depending on what you need. They’re excellent but not cheap — some can set you back as much as a small amp. Also, many players find that the classic harp tone comes from power amp distortion, not pre-amp distortion. You want to overdrive your power section. I frankly don’t recommend this solution, although other harp players have gotten excellent results in this manner.

Too clean/thin even when loud: Try this trick: Remove and examine your phase inverter tube (it’s the tube closest to the power tubes). If it is not a 12AX7 but is a 12A–whatever—7, try replacing it with a 12AX7. A lot of amps come with 12AT7 tubes in this position, and a 12AX7 will drive your power tubes harder, often without creating feedback issues in my experience.

Other than that, you very likely have an amp that’s designed to provide a lot of clean tone (a Fender Twin Reverb, which puts out 100 watts, is a classic example of this). You’ve simply got the wrong amp, my friend.

Too mushy/doesn’t cut through band, even though you’re loud. First, try boosting your midrange-highs in your tone controls. This might lead to feedback issues, so that may not be much of an option for you.

Are you using a ‘bullet’ microphone for harp? Try a cleaner dynamic microphone, making sure it’s either high impedance or has a transformer/adapter to make it high impedance. I use a Shure 545SD when I need this kind of mic. It’s adaptable for either high or low impedance and has a warm tone with only a bit of overdrive when cupped. It’s a great mic overall.

Again, changing your phase inverter tube can help here. Check what tube is in the phase inverter position and go to a lower-gain tube. The following are ranked from highest to lowest gain and generally (but not always) can be substituted for one another without worry:

12AX7
5751
12AT7
12AY7
12AU7

Scale down your phase inverter gain by a step, or even two, and see what happens.

You also can do the same thing with your pre-amp tubes. I generally like to focus my pre-amp gain mods on the first tube in the chain — the tube furthest away from the power tubes. Again, using the scale above, try a lower-gain tube.

Amp feeds back like a howling banshee. There are a lot of potential reasons for this. Some common solutions:

Cut your pre-amp gain. See the note a few paragraphs above.

Use a mic with a volume control. My classic way of setting up an amp is this: Turn mic volume control all the way up, turn amp up just until it starts to feed back when I cup the mic, then back off the mic volume control a notch. This often gets you to the ‘sweet spot’ in your setup, when the harp will overdrive the amp without feeding back. It’s a beautiful thing!

Make sure the pre-amp tubes aren’t microphonic. Did your amp suddenly and unexpectedly start screaming at you? Try this test. Turn on your amp, and once it’s warmed up, carefully tap the bottom of each pre-amp tube. Is the tapping amplified and coming out of the speaker — in other words, is the tube acting like a microphone? If so, replace the tube; it’s microphonic. This is a classic cause of feedback and can happen at any time — even some brand-new tubes are microphonic.

Use a lower-gain microphone. Duh — although it’s a lot cheaper just to use a mic equipped with a volume control. I have four microphones that all are fitted with the dynamic elements that Shure used in its Green Bullet (and other mics) for decades. Every one has a different level of gain!

Tone is too ‘dry’. Looking for a little more ‘thickness’ or sustain in your tone? Try adding an echo, delay or reverb pedal between your mic and the amp.

Three I have used and can recommend are the Lone Wolf Harp Delay (pricey, but gets the job done), the Danelectro Dan-Echo (dark, warm echo; often available for cheap on eBay; doesn’t match up well with all mics, though, especially ones with crystal elements) and the Ibanez De-7 (flexible and also readily available on eBay).

I personally avoid digital delay pedals, which ideally provide a very clean signal (think of The Edge from U2 and his signature echo sound), although some harp players love them.

Keep in mind that too much delay will ‘mush out’ your signal and make it difficult for your harp to cut through the mix and be heard.

Another option is to use a warmer/perhaps cheesier-sounding speaker. Ted Weber makes some excellent Alnico magnet smooth-cone speakers that are clones of 1950s Jensens. They can be pricey and may not be what you want. The descriptions of their tone on Weber’s website are very accurate. Note that the speaker is the last option I choose when looking at tone — you can sink hundreds of dollars into speakers without trying very hard. Having said that, Weber also offers an option on many of his speakers to use an extra-large dust cap in the center — he calls it an ‘H’ cap — that cuts shrill highs and speaker beaminess.

Tone is too bright: This can be a problem in particular with an amp that uses EL84 power tubes (although it’s not always an issue). You can help tame this by using a dynamic microphone instead of a crystal-element microphone. I also find that using JJ or Philips pre-amp tubes can cut amp brightness, and the JJ EL84 — which is an excellent power tube — is less sharp and ‘glassy’ than some of its competitors.

Also less bright/glassy among new-issue power tubes, in my opinion: TAD and (Russian/modern) Tung-Sol 6v6 tubes and TAD and SED 6L6GC tubes.

Finally, see my previous advice about speakers.

Tone is too dark: Try a crystal-element microphone; try Electro-Harmonix or Shuguang pre-amp tubes; reduce your phase inverter or pre-amp gain and see what happens (see previous notes); try a speaker with ‘sparkling’ highs (again, see previous notes).

Hopefully, this will help you out. Feel free to drop me a comment or note if you’d like more information.