Memphis Maniphesto

UPDATE: The Lionel Young Band WINS the IBC Competition in Memphis!

Local blues maven Honey Bee Sepeda is live-blogging the trip to Memphis with Colorado Blues Society's International Blues Challenge winner, The Lionel Young Band.

Lionel Young won the national IBC title for solo/duo acts a couple of years ago, and now he's going back to win the band title. He's a great player and entertainer. My band Roadhouse Joe lost to Lionel's band in the finals of the IBC hosted by the Colorado Blues Society last summer.

Blues Jam

I like this video clip from the Ziggies blues jam last night: Dan Solem tearin' it up on harp, Todd playing his cigar box guitar, Bubba on drums, and Cal on bass. All of them belting out a fun tune, "High Heeled Sneakers."

Dan is playing a Sonny Jr 410 amp, about 3 years old, and a JT-30 mic with a Shure CM element.

Club Sound

I've played in lots of clubs over the last several years, and a couple days ago I played a club with the best sound system/sound guy I've heard in a long time. It was in Cervantes' Other Side in Denver. The photo above was shot during load-in, with the sound guy walking toward the booth.

There is not much that sounds better to my ear than a great harp amp running though a great system. The tone was glorious; rich and full. I could hear myself perfectly through the monitors, every nuance, so my dynamics were easy. I never had to strain or try to feel my way through.

The monitors were old EVs from the 80s: Loud and Heavy! I own the same beasts and I love the sound but hate the weight.

In the top photo you can barely see my Mission Chicago 32-20 amp peeking over the monitor. The amp was on a milk crate and it was mic'ed up with a Shure SM57 on a stand. It wasn't lined out. There was a slight feedback issue if I stood directly in front of the left monitor, so I moved to the right a bit and everything was cool.

Fans who follow us from club to club raved about the sound. So did my bandmates. This was off-the-chart good. Too bad all clubs don't sound like this...

Gig Flyer - The Blues Allstars

My Gig Rig

In my website traffic statistics I noticed a Google search for "what kind of harp does Rick Davis play?" Here's the answer: Hohner Special 20, Marine Band Deluxe, and Crossover harps. At this time all my harps are stock, out of the box.

Here is the rest of my gear, going down the signal chain:

1- Hohner harp

2- Front and Center mic w/crystal element

3- Line6 digital wireless

4- Deltalab DD1 digital delay pedal

5- Mission Chicago 32-20 harp amp

Thanks for asking...

A reader plays his stock VHT Special 6 amp

Nice!

Tube Showdown in VHT Special 6 Amp

Here are three videos that illustrate the sonic differences between three preamp tubes in the VHT Special 6 amp.

Harp players often change the preamp tubes in amps, almost reflexively... They want to quiet the amp down a bit to control feedback, and they want to warm up the tone slightly. All too often the harp player will rely on advice -- often bad advice -- gleaned from Internet harp forums or from other players. I wanted to do a test everybody could hear and make their own judgements.

I chose the modded VHT Special 6 amp because it is a Class A single-ended amp, which makes it a perfect test bed for a tube test. The circuit is simple yet sounds so sweet.

The tubes I chose were the stock 12AX7 that comes in the VHT amp, a NOS JAN Philips 5751, and a NOS GE 5965. The 5751 has about 70 percent of the gain of the 12AX7, while the 5965 (12AV7) has about 40 percent of the gain of a 12AX7. Both are thought to be warmer than the standard tube. The 5965 is quite similar to the 12AY7 tube many players use.

In these videos the audio is normalized to a common level, so you will not be able to hear the changes in volume from one tube to the other. I wanted too focus on tone rather than volume. NOTE: The back panel is off the amp in all three tests. Here are the amps setting for all three tubes. The pull boost was not on:

First, the stock 12AX7 tube: There is nothing wrong with the tone of this tube. I like its punchy, gutsy feel. You could leave this tube in the amp and love the tone. It is loud but just a touch bright without being overly harsh. Cuts through the mix like a hack saw.

As many of you know, the JAN Philips 5751 tube is my favorite preamp tube for harp, and I think it stands out here. It sounds fuller and warmer than the 12AX7, with a broader more complex tone. Breakup sounds more pleasing to me. It sounded as loud as the stock tube.

The 5965 tube had a rather large drop in volume, and the sound was kind of lifeless and un-dynamic. It was the darkest sounding of three tubes. In bigger, more powerful amps this may be okay, but in a 5- or 6-watt amp it just sacrifices too much punch and power.

Both the stock 12AX7 and the 5751 sound great in this amp. Either one is a good choice, but I give the nod to the 5751. What do you think?

The Phase Inverter Tube

The least understood tube in your vintage harp amp is the phase inverter. What the heck does it do?

In amps with two or more power tubes the phase inverter (PI) splits the music – after the preamp gain and tone stack EQ – into two out-of-phase signals. Each of your pairs of power tubes gets one of the signals to each tube, so that one tube pushes the sound and the other pulls it. If you have a master volume amp there is another gain stage after the phase inverter, but that is a different topic.

Amps with only one power tube don’t need a phase inverter. One of the main differences you hear between single ended amps and Class AB amps (with multiple power tubes) is the phase inverter. Stick with me here while I explain.

The common theory you hear spouted over and over by harp players is that we want to reduce the preamp gain in our amps so that we get to that sweet spot of power tube distortion before we hit the feedback threshold. Heck, I used the believe that myself, but I've come to learn that it means a lot more in small single ended amps.

In Class AB harp amps the power tubes are almost never driven hard enough to distort much. What you hear is the phase inverter breaking up! The power tubes just amplify that and pass it along. It can be a very sweet tone with a nice organic breakup.

The phase inverter circuit is not a gain stage, so the difference in amplitude you hear from a 12AX7, say, to a 12AU7 is not as great in the PI socket as it would be in the preamp socket. The goal in the choice of PI tube is no so much to quiet the amp down as it is to get a nice warm dynamic distortion when you hit the amp hard.

In general, my advice is to leave the phase inverter tube alone. Many amp makers now use all 12AX7 tubes in the preamp section (first and second gain stages and PI tube) to keep things simple and cheap. Older Fender amps used a 12AT7 as the PI. (Note: Never use a 12AT7 tube in any circuit for which it was not specifically designed. The AT7 is a terrible tone generator and very different from other tubes in the 12A?7 family.)

But, you CAN improve the tone of your amp by plugging in a 5751 in the PI socket. As you may know, this is my favorite input tube for harp amps. It is an industrial grade 12AX7 with slightly less gain and a warmer tone. Going all the way to a low-gain 12AU7 will give you more clean headroom, which is not really what you want in the phase inverter.

Or, you can throw out everything you just read and try it yourself. The phase inverter does not have to be biased or anything like that, so this is pretty much plug ‘n’ play. The PI tube is usually the small tube closest to the bigger power tubes. In a Fender Blues Junior, for example, it is the third small tube. Start counting at the tube closest to where you plug in your mic.

I’d encourage you to try the 12DW7 trick as well: very interesting results.

Remember to turn your amp off when swapping tubes and BE CAREFUL! Getting zapped can ruin your day. But understanding the role of the phase inverter tube in your vintage-style harp amp can help you get where you want to be tone-wise.

NOTE: Coming up soon I will have a video tone comparison of three different input tubes in the VHT Special 6 amp: The stock 12AX7, an NOS JAN Philips 5751, and an NOS 5965 tube.

Feedback and the Rectifiers

[Hmmmm. That would be a great name for a band.]

A reader emailed me to ask if it is true that changing to a copper plug-in solid state rectifier “will get you more power without feedback.”

The short answer is, No.

Let’s review feedback for a moment: We all know it well. When your amp starts to howl the very first thing you do is turn down either your amp or your mic. In other words, you reduce the amplitude of your entire system: harp, mic, and amp.

Also, we all know that if we crank up the treble on our amp it is more likely to start howling feedback, so we usually have the treble set relatively low.

Swapping your tube rectifier for a copper recto of the same value will result in a slightly increased B+ voltage and a reduction in vintage sag tone, which gives the perception of a tighter, more present sound. Does it make your amp truly louder? Maybe very slightly louder, but it would be hard to hear.

Will it reduce feedback? How could it? All the remedies we know of for feedback involve reduced amplitude and/or EQ filters. The rectifier does neither. The claim is bogus.

Update: Here is a good article about rectifiers, solid state vs. tube.

Review: Dan Treanor – My Blues Diary

Dan Treanor’s latest album is a tour de force; a musical roadmap of Dan’s blues journey from 1997 to the present. Yet each cut shares a stylistic and thematic key with the others. This is truly the blues diary of the last 14 years from a man steeped in blues music, and blues harp in particular.

The talent on the album is impressive. Darryl Lee sings most of the cuts with an understated passion and brief moments of sobbing power. It is a unique and effective blues voice. People I know on the album include session man Rich Reno – a great slide guitarist – and my bandmate Charles Billiris. Outstanding bluesman Randall Dubis also makes an appearance on ‘Blue Bossa,’ the 6th track. The entire roster is impressive.

But this is Dan Treanor’s baby and you can tell he loves it. Dan is known mostly for his brilliant harp playing and it is on good display here. His teasing, lilting harp lines on Sonny Boy’s “Nine Below Zero” are beautiful. His tone on the Chicago-style “Love Me With A Feeling” is worthy of Maxwell Street. Dan is at his best in minor blues with a Latin beat, and there are a couple of those gems on the CD. Lonesome Railroad Track, 3 O’Clock in the Morning, Stoop Down Baby; they all kill. My band performed the song “Cut With Dynamite” at the Colorado Blues Society IBC Finals with Dan sitting in. All thirteen tracks are keepers.

The album is well produced. The sound is warm and personal across all the cuts. Vocals are vibrant and detailed. I thought the opening to Mean Woman Blues was a bit heavy, but that is mild criticism.

Mostly this album is about Dan Treanor’s love for blues harmonica. His licks are actually infrequent, but always beautifully soulful. I’ve already heard phrases I plan to steal.

I give this album a IV+ on the I-IV-V scale of blues harp excellence. Highly recommended. Contact Dan Treanor to find out how to get the CD: daniel2102@comcast.net