Step Away From the Pedal!

Lately I’ve been hearing this sales pitch from effects pedal makers:  “Change things up!  Give your audience a little variety!”

Blues harp players have been doing exactly that for at least the last 65 years without the need for any trick pedals that make you sound like a kazoo or a kaliope.  

      Loosen up, baby!  Don’t play with a tight cup all the time.  That big tone is best used for effect, not for your constant sound.  Open up on the bullet mic.  Don’t squeeze it in a death grip every time you blow.

      Dynamic Duo!  Change up your volume and attack on the mic.  Use dynamics to be expressive.   Try this on a typical 24 bar solo:  In the first 12 bars play low and slow, staying on the low end of the harp.  Leave lots of space.  As you get to the turn-around move up to the 4 draw, and then the 5 draw to build tension as a transition to the second 12.  Ramp up the intensity for the second 12 bars, playing more of the second octave of the blues scale using the reeds in the middle of the harp.  Finish with a flourish.  Smile and wave at the outburst of applause. 

      Drop the Mic!  Put your bullet mic away and step up to the vocal mic.  Play a few songs acoustically, using all the cool hand effects.   Just get all Sonny Boy with it.

      It’s all about the Chrome!  Pull out that big chromatic harp for a couple songs and blow those big chords, either through your rig or into the vocal mic.  Show it off.

Mix it up.  The audience will love it and you will come off as a harmonica master, not just a pedal user.

The MM amp wins blind tone challenge on Facebook

Recently an independent blind comparison test on the “Harmonica Gear” page in Facebook compared the Memphis Mini amp to the sound of a cheap imitator amp. 80 percent preferred the sound the Memphis Mini.

Without knowing which amp was which, the words used to describe the Memphis Mini tone included:

- better
- best
- pitched better
- more versatile
- nicer
- better break up
- easier to listen to
- more bottom end
- full round trumpet-like tone
- satisfying honk and bark when pushed
- less fizzy/fuzzy
- less grainy and biting
- smoother on attack and not as bright
- more pleasant on the ears

ACCEPT NO SUBSITUTES!

The Best Harp Amp

Pound for pound and dollar for dollar, the Memphis Mini has to be considered among the best harp amps out there.  Here are some newer videos showing its monster tone.

A Delicate Balance

A few days ago a customer asked me about using the Eminence 820H speaker in the Memphis Mini amp.  I tried that speaker long ago and considered offering it as a substitute speaker but I had to reject it:  The 820H comes only as a 4 ohm speaker and the MM amp expects to see an 8 ohm load at the speaker tap.  This would cause the amp to run hot, leading to transformer failure.  Nobody likes to see smoke coming out of the back of his amp.

Any amp based on the Classic 5 platform will have the same problem unless the builder has gone to the considerable trouble and expense of swapping out the OT to accommodate the 4 ohm speaker.  Even worse, if you are running a 6L6 power tube along with the 4 ohm speaker you are likely to burn the power transformer. 

We have hundreds of Memphis Mini amps in use, many for up to two years on stage.  We know what works and what doesn’t.  A well-designed vintage-style tube amp is a Rube Goldberg contraption of moving sonic parts that work together to produce a wonderful tone.  It can be a delicate balance.  Ask your amp maker before using a lower impedance speaker or bigger power tube.  It could fry your amp.

Amp Throwdown! MM vs. HG2

Two years ago in his blog Adam Gussow challenged me to an amp “Throwdown” between the new Memphis Mini amp and his Harpgear HG2 amp, both small “Champ” style amps.  He wanted me to ship him an amp so he could do a comparison test.  I declined for two reasons:  I didn’t have any spare MM amps to send to anyone, and since Adam is an official endorser of the HG2 amp I didn’t expect an unbiased result.

A few months ago Ronnie Shellist asked me to co-sponsor a Blues Harmonica Workshop he and Adam would be presenting at Ziggies in Denver on January 16.  I wasn’t certain that Adam would be bringing his HG2 amp since he was flying in for the event, so I didn’t expect the throwdown to happen.  But, as soon as I walked in and carried the MM amp to the stage some of the attendees at the event started yelling “Throwdown!”  It was on!

Ronnie Shellist is an official endorser of the Memphis Mini, and Adam endorses the HG2 so this was a level playing field.  Both are monster players, and the room was full of enthusiastic and talented  harp players attending the event.    It was perfect.

In my opinion both amps are excellent, both have great vintage tone, but there are some notable differences.  You cannot hear all the differences in the video, which tends to compress the audio signal.  To my ear – and to most of the attendees who spoke to me later -- the MM amp sounded much bigger and punchier, with more crunch and presence.  The MM also had significantly more volume before feedback.  The MM seemed more giggable.

Some people will prefer the HG2 amp, and for good reasons.  I was very proud of the comparison, and gratified by the enthusiasm of the players in the room.  The bottom line is this:  The MM amp sells for more than $400 less than the HG2, and it sounds at least as good.  I booked several orders that day.

One of my favorite parts of the video is when Ronnie wondered if perhaps the HG2 amp has a little more bottom end, and most of the people in the audience immediately disagreed with him.  You can hear them on the video.  The discussion is funny.  BTW, when you are standing close to your amp, as Ronnie was, it is hard to hear the low end. 

I am grateful to Ronnie and to Adam for doing this.  I didn’t direct it at all:  They ran with it themselves spontaneously, chose their own amp settings, and I think they tried hard to wring out the similarities and differences in the two amps.

I hope you enjoy the video.

REVIEW – LITTLE BOYS BLUE – “BAD LOVE”

The challenge for many blues CDs is to broaden the appeal for the traditional blues format without wrecking its roots. This new CD from Little Boys Blue, a band from western Tennessee, hits the mark. And it is all tied together by JD Taylor’s smoky harp playing. This is a fine blues album.

Of the 11 tracks on the CD nine are original, written by JD Taylor and his son Alex who plays guitar in the band. Their version of “Death Letter Blues” is swampy and fresh, and their take on Muddy Waters’ “Can't Be Satisfied” has a wonderful Delta feel. The originals range from traditional blues to Cajun to Memphis blues to one song – “Howling for You” – that sounds like slow, greasy Southern rock. I love it. JD Taylor’s blues harp is the real magic in this album. His command of his tone is remarkable, and his phrasing is like a conversation with a Southern gentlemen: It has a certain drawl and a clever humor that will keep you listening. My favorite cut is “Go Back Home,” an original slow blues song with two guitars, horns, a B3, and JD’s harp and voice. Like all the songs on this album the rhythm section is solid. The record has a good pro recorded sound. I recommend it to all blues fans, and particularly to those who are blues curious. If you are a blues harp player you should have this disc on regular rotation. “Bad Love” from Little Boys Blues is available at iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby. -Rick Davis Sheridan Wyoming USA

Watts Up With That?

Let’s talk power for a minute. An amps output is measured in watts, which generally determines how loud the amp can play. The Memphis Mini produces an honest 6 watts of power when measured accurately. Not all wattage claims are measured the same way.

We run a 120Hz test signal into the amp while it is driving a dummy 8 ohm load. Much of the sound of a well-played blues harp is low, so we use a low test signal. We send the amp’s output to a dummy load – not a speaker -- so the impedance is stable across all frequencies. A speaker will change its impedance unpredictably as the frequency and volume change, so getting an accurate wattage reading will be nearly impossible.

The standard method is to increase the power until audible distortion occurs, and record that level as the nominal watt rating for the amp. But since we are using a dummy load there is no sound. We take the measurement to a higher level of accuracy: We record the watt rating at the first visible appearance of distortion of the sine wave signal while viewing it on an oscilloscope.

You might wonder why we measure the clean signal when amps are usually played with lots of great sounding distortion. Good question! The method described above is the only way to arrive at an honest number that can be used to compare one amp to another. There are ways to juice up the signal and make grossly exaggerated claims about watts, but that does consumers no good at all.

Not all the breakup we love comes from the sine wave distorting its shape. It starts with the element in your microphone and ends with the cone in your speaker. A good vintage style tube amp rig is an organic thing with many moving sonic parts, including the rectifier tube and tone caps. Understanding wattage ratings helps the consumer make better choices.

Okay, so what does all that stuff mean? Well, it doesn’t mean that a 12 watt amp is twice as loud as a 6 watt amp. In fact, it would require a 60 watt amp to deliver a sound that is perceived as twice as loud as the 6 watt amp. I know, it sounds crazy but it is a fact. As with many things we perceive, the measurements are logarithmic. The 12 watt amp would be perceived as barely louder, and an 8-watt amp – for example – would be no louder at all.

Of course, all this talk about amp volume depends on the sensitivity of the speaker. The Memphis Mini uses a Weber Signature ceramic speaker that is efficient and punchy. Six solid watts into a high quality speaker like the Weber make the MM amp surprisingly strong. It happens every time the MM is played: People are amazed at the bigness of the tone.

Amp Myths Debunked

Printed Circuit Boards 
The only advantage a printed circuit board has over a hand wired PTP circuit is that it costs a lot less.  If you were to put a LOT of money into a PCB you could probably make it perform as well, but then you will have lost the only advantage it has.  PCB's are used in cheap amps for one reason only, to make them even cheaper.

That's why the Memphis Mini is hand wired point to point on a turret board.  No printed circuit boards.


Mounting Pots and Jacks on the Circuit Board
Cheap amps that have the pots and jacks mounted on the circuit board instead of the metal chassis are well known for developing noise and reliability issues.  The mechanical forces are death to component connections, particularly the thin fragile traces of metal on printed circuit boards  But it is a cheap way to make cheap amps..

That's why the Memphis Mini has the controls and jacks mounted firmly on the metal chassis, not the circuit board.


Small Transformers
Tiny transformers do not make a harp amp sound better.  They might give a guitar amp a sparkly singing quality, but they kill  the low frequencies to do it.  That's just not what we want with a good harp amp.  It takes some bigger iron to deliver the punch and volume you get with the MM amp.  Custom amp makers including Meteor, Sonny Jr, Harpgear, Mission and others use oversize transformers for bigger tone and more bottom end.

That's why the Memphis Mini uses oversize transformers

1951 Fender Champion 600 5B1 Two-Tone -- SOLD!!!!

This is an amazing unmolested vintage Fender amplifier.  Everything is original, right down to the leather handle and the old 2-prong electrical plug.

There are no cracks, tears or rips in the tolex , and the grill cloth is perfect.   I have never seen a 64 year old Champion 600 in such perfect shape.   I have done nothing to it, not even cleaning off the patina.  It has been sitting in a closet for at least 40 years.  No mouse turds or insects.  It is time-capsule find.

The amp plays perfectly.  The pilot lamp glows.  There is no hum or static, and there is no smoke or smell.  The sound is pure vintage Fender tone. 

I decided to leave it a perfect example of the era rather than making any upgrades or changes.  I will leave it to the new owner to decide if he wants to change the plug or replace the caps.

The price is $1150.  No trades.  The amp is offered AS IS with no warranty.  Payment through PayPal.  You can contact me via FB message or email at bluesharpamps@gmail.com.

Big Iron = Big Tone

I was talking to an very well-known and respected amp maker about the weird notion that smaller transformers are good for tone. Here is a quote from the conversation:

"A slightly bigger output transformer with the proper impedance, turns ratio, leakage inductance and parasitic capacitance.... will always be a better choice unless you are tuning for a junky, cheap ass sound."

There you have it. That's why we use beefy transformers in the Memphis Mini amps.