Dreaming....

I remember the first time I ever played a mic’d harmonica through an amp. It was through a cheap karaoke microphone from Circuit City and a Behringer amp that came with my first electric guitar. I’d had a Paul Butterfield fetish for years and knew that I wouldn’t be close to replicating that sound until I had a mic and an amp. Any description of how it felt to play amplified harp for the first time would risk some pretty gross hyperboles, so suffice it to say it felt something like what I imagine this feels like:

Playing any sort of amplified instrument (especially one as loud and distorted as blues harp) is never fun while living in an apartment. Invariably somebody is going to tell you turn down or stop altogether. And punching them in the groin only works as a response so many times before you have to concede to these demands. That’s why I got one of these:

It’s a wonderful little amp that’s only 20 watts and has some really nice features, without making it fussy (you know how you know you’re NOT watching a blues band? When the bass player has 13 pedals). But when you’re playing with a band, 20 watts goes about as far as the front of the stage.

I intend to remedy this problem with these:

Fender '59 Bassman Re-issue

Fender '65 Twin Reverb

I have some pretty big plans for these kids, but I’m gonna need to wait a little bit until I save up enough (insert corny term for money here i.e. “green”, “dough”, “dead presidents”) for them.

Of course there’s always this:

(I’m not kidding)