Amp for Blues Melodica

Hi MM,

Yes, the Vox AC 10C1 is a new amp this year that fills the gap between Vox’s 4-watt amp and 15/30 watt amps. I liked the 15 and 30 watt versions too, but they have weights the 60 to 80 pound range or something like that. This amp seemed like the perfect compromise.

You can’t believe how loud this 10 watt amp is. Playing loud is the norm at Guitar Center, but the clerk had to come over and tell me to turn it down.

With the gain turned up–but the main volume turned down low–you would swear you were listening to Little Walter. (At least the tone, not necessarily the playing. :-)) Yet the volume was not loud. Crank up the main volume, and you had the same tone but with sufficient volume to play with an electric band.

I should have the amp in late this week. Musician’s Friend and Guitar Center just got the second batch in and they are in stock. No special order required.

I never knew much about guitar amps because I did not play guitar, but I guess there were two major players in the 60’s; Fender and Vox. The American rock and rollers used Fender, and the British invaders brought the Vox with them. Each brand of amps had a characteristic sound, with the Vox offering a simpler circuit, a less scalloped EQ response, and a smooth creamy distortion that came on a lot faster. This is what I have been told and what I have read. It certainly seemed right on to me when I was testing the amps out.

Will keep you posted.

Regards,

Lowboy

So let me correct one thing I said above after rehearsing with my acoustic trio this morning. The Hohners do not sound terrible with the clean JBL monitor. They just don’t seem to be optimized for it. After rehearsing for an hour or so using Yamahas and Suzukis and a small-keyed Hohner Piano 26, I took out a full size Hohner Piano 26 or 27 for a song I thought it might work in, and fact, is sounded pretty good. I mean, basically this has been my setup (Hohner 26/27/32 with the JBL) or about a year. So take my comment with a grain of salt. Lowboy

Hi Melodica-Me,

I am not using a microphone on the amp. The amp is more than loud enough for what I am doing. The signal path is as described above. Bass control setting on the Vox is all the way up. Treble control setting is about half way up. The Vox has lots of high end and midrange. I get the low frequencies by holding the melodica against my chest and play it this way most of the time. Then when I want to bring in the highs, I move or twist the melodica away from my chest to open the sound holes to the mic. I get a dramatic variation in tone, from big muffled bass frequencies to piercing highs all by physical manipulation of the melodica.

I just bought a chorus pedal for my clean sound. I have finally resigned myself to the fact that it is okay to process the the sound of a melodica to make it sound better. We do it with organ–might as well do it with a melodica.

Regards,

Lowboy

I play the melodica into an Audio-Technica AT897 shotgun condenser mic. The mic cable goes to a 250-to-50K ohms “microphone impedance matching transformer.” This converts the mic cable 3-pin connector to a 1/4-inch phono plug and increases the impedance to match that needed by the delay pedal. The 1/4-inch out from the delay pedal plugs directly into the amp.

Now that I am using an amp for my dirty sound, I will have to mic the amp for recording purposes.

I have a nice Radial DI box, and I used to use it all the time. However, I found I do not have problems noise and I dons have long cable runs. I could not hear any difference with or without the DI box. So I don’t complicate the signal chain with stuff I don’t need. So now I only use it to give the a soundman my signal for long cable runs to the mixing board.

I am pretty sure I will end up with a small pedal board including the following: compressor, Harp Delay, chorus, and Harp Break. I will probably leave the compressor and Harp Delay on all the time. The chorus and Harp Break will be used for effect as needed.

Hope that helps MM.

Regards,

Lowboy