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Amplifying a Chromatic Harmonica
Written for Coast to Coast Music
by
"G"

This article is assuming a performer is wanting clean reproduction of his performance at a venue. For clean acoustic playing simply use a vocal microphone on a mic stand and play normally into the mic from an appropriate distance facing the mic.  There are many good vocal/instrument microphones available for the  purpose - usually in ball & stick form.  A vocal microphone with as good a response as possible will give the best reproduction.  Another form of vocal microphone I have found very impressive is the rectangular unidirectional style used by some popular singers. They are generally have a chrome grill at the front and stand on their end on the top of the vocal microphone. These have a very good frequency response, however a far more limited pickup range than ball & stick vocal mics I've used.  This makes them ideal for avoiding feedback.  

The transition from playing acoustically to playing in to a vocal microphone requires only a small change in technique.  Varying the way you project your music to the microphone and the distance that you play from the microphone can give additional effects in additional to normal acoustic techniques, such as fade in and fade out by moving towards or away from the mic, etc.  There are some hand held small harmonica microphones on the market which are easier to play chromatic harmonica amplified and allow more hand movement  for tone control requiring less adjustment to playing mic'd from acoustic.  (such as the Shaker MadCat, Harmonica Honker, and Silk MicroVox Mic)    And finally for acoustic playing you can always be hooked up with a lapel microphone just as presenters often are in stage performance situations.

It is also possible (with a lot of adjustment on the sound system) to play cupping a vocal microphone, this gives a grittier tone and changes the way the mic reacts to your "hand cup". With chromatic harmonicas this is somewhat awkward method of playing and would tend to be used in a "dirty tone" situation through a guitar/harp amplifier rather than a clean acoustic style.  Naturally popular harmonica bullet microphones can be used with chromatic harmonica. This is a lot more awkward than playing mic'd with their smaller cousins the diatonic harmonica. However it is very popular with 16 hole chromatics for blues numbers, although certainly not limited to this style!  Playing chromatic harmonica while cupping a microphone takes a lot of practice and requires a different set of skills than playing acoustically.  

Acoustics in itself is a tough subject - and something I'm learning more and more about is ... if you don't know about something: either learn it yourself OR pay someone who does to do the job better. Setting up acoustic for a venue is one of them IMHO. However some things I've personally noticed in the limited months of amateur live shows I've partaken and helped in - usually Bar, Hall, or home studio (heavily padded living room) situations.

• Reverb & echo in moderation are your friends. The louder you are going to go, the more you can get away with.... the key word is MODERATION. For a tenor voice reverb on the PA seems to work very well. For harmonica I find that even with chromatic harmonica playing clean, the lightest touch of echo with a moderate mix in helps create the illusion of fat sound. 

•  The LOUDER you go, the LESS Bass & LESS Treble you need - or rather the discrepancy in required enhancement in Treble & Bass compared to Mid-range reduces the louder you go. This is a critical point that often gets missed by those who aren't aware and then they wonder why what sounded great at low levels sounds flat or tinny or woofy when amplified. You could also say the louder you go the more mid-range you need, but if you've got an EQ you want to start with an almost inverted Bell Curve for low volume and work towards a flat line for 100db plus... not that I'd recommend going over 85db anyway... but these are the types of folk I've mixed with in my sordid dark past. 

• An excellent & powerful PA is a must. The more watts the better, not because it can get very loud but because its more effective at obtaining the levels you want effortlessly, you don't have to fight with loading levels on so on since you are playing a solo instrument through a system that is designed for less harmonics at any one time.... a powerful system easily overcomes this. Good powerful Quality Speakers also count... we're talking Hi Fidelity & PA's here, not tube amplifiers, so the rules are different. 

• More sources is better than a single source. I've been stung by this too many times. I use a single speaker amplifier, I'm on a stage with the audience spread 180 degrees around me, the band is all mic'd up to the PA... what happens ? People directly in front come to me afterwards and say "awesome harp man!" (really), the people to the left and right wondered what the hairy young kid who was bellowing into the mic was doing.... a mystery that stays with them for many nights I'm sure. They can't hear me properly. - To a lesser extent this would apply for a solo show - they may hear you, but in the form you think you are presenting yourself - it could reach them muted/muffled/deadened and so on - so make sure you have a good spread - at least two PA speakers on high stands with good exposure to all the intended crowd, better still have four speakers in a semi circle on stalks and a subwoofer to boot. 

For home I have a 100 Watt solid state keyboard amplifier amp head and a cabinet with a 15" woofer and 3" tweeter. Its not something you'd lust over, but its very clean and superb for what I do and would serve well in small venues. But I would rather use the PA with more speakers, more wattage and more power in the amp. This is all in my experience and my opinion. I have a personal interest in learning how to present myself live and getting acoustics right, and occasionally have been asked for constructive criticism for a few different bands since I'm in the crowd, so I like to learn. I don't do it professionally - and I don't think I'd want to. But I want to have a good idea of how to check that the right things are being done when its my butt up on the stage.

Please Visit G's "HarpOn!" web site for the most comprehensive chromatic site on the web at http://www.angelfire.com/music/HarpOn/