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Hi Natalie,
I can’t help you out with the sheet music part, but I can wish you the best of luck rehearsing and making the music pieces your own…hoping you’ll have a great performance at the wedding!
PS if you like, check out my new electric Camac pedal harp in the Coffee Break section > in the showing off our new harps thread 🙂
Thx Gretchen! But I’m not sure about the vid (yet)…the sound of this harp is not easy to capture in a lo-fi vid like youtube, especially not the bass strings; the richness and depth would not be reproduced properly. But I can give it a shot and see how it sounds. Anyway, one can definitely compete with drums or any electric instrument on stage with this baby! 😉
Hi everyone,
I thought I’d give this thread a bump, because I wanted to share this with you:
I finally received my new Camac electric pedal harp, the Mini Blue! – although mine is black 🙂 I waited over 3 months because the factory didn’t have this specific model in stock and so it was custom made (which is nice IMO) but it’s well worth the wait. This is the 44 string straight model and at my request they strung it with gut light strings from the 2nd to the 5th octave, which improves playability (having played a nylon strung celtic harp before) and gives it a clear and bright sound in the mid and high section.
It’s a wonderful instrument and especially the electric sound is BIG! I hooked it up to a 2 x 15″ bass amp (the ‘fridge’ size) and the bass strings just blow off the roof…the mid and high section are very nice too, not too mid-shaped but crisp and clear. The cool thing is that it has separate outputs for the bass, mid and high sections so you can hook it up to a portable mixer to customize the sound of each section to taste and thus create the desired overall sound.
Check out the pic attached…it was taken at the shop when I first checked it out, so never mind the iphone pic quality, but you can imagine I’m really excited to be the owner of this brand new lovely instrument, which I named ‘Black Beauty’ 😉
Hi Christine,
I think it’s important to bear in mind that you’re gonna amplify a pedal harp and not a lever harp; a pedal harp is of course bigger and has more (low) strings, which means it has a wider frequency range. So Kay’s info can be useful, but is more or less narrowed down to lever harp amplification, considering the sound shape of those harps and the characteristics of the amp mentioned. Especially for the low frequencies of a pedal harp that means you would require a bigger amp of some sort and not an average guitar amp as it just doesn’t reproduce all the frequencies of a pedal harp well enough.
So I would say that the employees of Guitar Center have a point there somehow.The only thing I don’t really understand is the part about the drum amp, because those are not meant for amplifying harp and I think they don’t really offer the EQ possibilities you would want for the frequency characteristics of a pedal harp.
Regarding the suggestion of a piano amp: that could be an option, because a piano is also a string instrument, although electric pianos are technically not really string instruments but an electronically sampled version of it. But if the amp is not too small, you can check one of those out and see how it sounds.But since a pedal harp has such a wide frequency range and it is after all a string instrument, especially the low strings will sound more or less like a bass guitar when amplified, so a bass guitar amp is in my opinion be the best option for a pedal harp (I guess somebody mentioned that already in your other thread about the pickup). Also the high frequencies will be amplified very well (any maybe even too well) as bass amps usually incorporate EQ settings up to 3 Khz: high enough to reproduce the high frequencies of a pedal harp, I can assure you.
I have experience with a Peavey Mark IV bass amp top with a 2 x 15 inch speaker cabinet which sounds great, also on a lever harp. But this is quite a heavy set altogether and I guess you wouldn’t wanna carry one of those down the stairs for a gig every week. Considering this, it’s better to go for a brand like Mark Bass; they make great quality bass amps which are relatively small and light weight but they sound really well. Since you’re going to amplify a pedal harp, my advice would be not to take the smallest model (they make em quite small actually), because a small amp doesn’t really fill the room when you play larger venues, and especially the bass notes would not be audible in the back.Well …I guess you just have to bring your pedal harp to a music store, with pickup installed of course 🙂 , have a go on some bass amps by Mark Bass and also try a few other brands to see how they sound, or you might wanna try a piano amp. But once again: I would suggest you go for an amp with a decent amount of volume, let’s say at least a 12 or 15 inch speaker with a horn tweeter, if your budget allows you to. Anyway, just try to get a good deal somewhere….best of luck Christine!
Hi Christine,
I’m glad all of our posts helped you to make a decision. This forum is all about sharing knowledge and helping people out..it’s a great community indeed.
Yeah and I guess DHC can be of great help; after all she has a lot of experience with electric harp and amplification. No wonder she has an endorsement with Camac who developed the electric DHC light for her…
Have fun with your pickup, I hope you can purchase one soon!
Hi Christine,
I can’t tell you much about the Fishman because I never heard it, but I have a Dusty Strings installed in my lever harp and it sounds really good, considering it is only a single output. This is the lever harp pickup (DS makes two types, for lever and pedal harp), the only difference with the pedal version is that the 4 piezo pickups attached to the inside of the soundboard are slightly smaller than the pedal version. The sound characteristics should be the same, that’s what they suggest in their PDF flyer, also to be found on the site of a Dutch harp shop where I bought the harp and pickup…check out the link:
http://www.zingendesnaar.nl/pdf/Harp_Pickup_Flyer_Jan_2013.pdf
So the pedal harp version must have the same quality as the lever version, which has a balanced sound with deep lows and clear highs. But it can also be a bit (too) ‘middy’. I guess this also depends on the characteristics of the harp acoustically…plus the frequency range of the strings that are usually played most (say 2nd to 5th octave) are in the mid, low-mid and high-mid/high regions. When amplified, you can also adjust this a bit by tweaking the EQ settings on the amp.
Of course I use my pickup to amplify the harp but I also connect it to a pedal board with guitar effects such as chorus and reverb. On stage I usually play with a band, which in my case means instruments such as drums and percussion; in this setting it can sometimes be hard to compete with the volumes of the other instruments. I use monitors on stage (not a guitar amp) and the harp has to be cranked up quite loud to compete with the rest…that’s when feedback problems can occur. It also depends on the sound technician, but this DS pickup does have its limitations to which level it can be amplified, otherwise it starts to feedback.
But I don’t know in what setting you will use your harp, so this might not be an issue for you at all if you perform on your own.Last November I ordered my Camac electro acoustic pedal harp and as far as I’m concerned, this is the best amplification system for pedal harps available on the market right now… 4 outputs: for separate low, mid and high output (with single string piezo pickups) plus a soundboard output for the overall acoustic sound. Alas, this is not available as an inbuilt system sold separately, but after all it’s probably the best option for amplified harp. Then again, it’ll cost quite a bit more than a pickup installed in your pedal harp.
Oops this has become quite a story altogether, but I hope it can be of help… anyway, best of luck choosing the best pickup Christine!
Hi Ben,
I guess what your teacher probably means is that those ‘false’ strings are the ones that have to be regulated because they don’t produce a correct natural or sharp once the pedals are in use. But if the strings can be tuned correctly when flat (on a pedal harp that means when the string is not shortened of course), the strings themself should be fine. After all, you may expect that every string of a renowned brand should be of a certain quality, considering that they are not 15 years old, as ageing will decrease the tuning possibilities of every string of course.
The only way I can think of when a string could sound false is when you pluck it really hard, which would bend it up just a little to a sharp and then it comes back to its natural pitch, but this is not what your teacher means I suppose.My own harp has some strings that respond different than others acoustically, but that doesn’t make them false…basically it has to do with the construction of the harp, mainly the sounboard and the way it converts the vibration of the string to a tone with specific frequency characteristics. Some of these frequencies can sound a bit strange to the human ear and produce overtones which make it harder to tune (for instance your tuner can sometimes swiftly detect a G when tuning a D, which makes sense because a G is an overtone of a D string). Usually when the string is plucked once again, the tuner will detect the correct note. This can be different on every harp, on various strings (with different frequency characteristics).
As said, this can be noticeable when tuning…some strings might not be tuned as accurately as others because of this, but most tuning machines can pick up the correct pitch; if not at once, then after one or two more plucks. A clip-on tuning mic can also help to improve pitch detection by a tuner, because you can attach it on the soundholes near the lowest or highest strings which are sometimes hard to detect.So if you ask me, a string can only be ‘false’ when it’s not regulated properly and this basically has nothing to do with the string itself.
Just tune your strings regularly (for starters, they will stay in tune better in the long run) and once it is regulated, you should notice the difference.Best of luck Ben!
Hi James,
Welcome to the world of harp and more specifically the nail players corner 😉
Until now, Sherri and I were probably the only nail players on this forum, so it’s good to know we have some company now.
Just as myself, you only have nails on the right hand (I’m a guitarist by nature as well, although I play harp for 20 years now) which is fine unless you want to focus on classical music…the brighter tone of the right hand obviously sounds different than the left hand without nails, and that mix is not the preferred sound there. But still you can play lots of other styles and have great fun. You just have to find that out for yourself.I wish you a great time playing harp, and welcome to this very useful and friendly forum; there’s lots of knowledge and practical info available here!
All the best
MarcoWell Jamie, that just illustrates the most important thing about a harp: how it sounds. I heard several stories harpists told me when checking out a harp in a shop or factory…at first they usually chose the good looking harp to play, but then when they tried different harps it often turned that not the most gorgeous looking ones but the ones you wouldn’t choose for their looks had the most beautiful sound…
Of course this isn’t always the case, but looks CAN be deceiving.
I guess L&H mainly focused on the sound with this 150, in which they succeeded when I read your review.Yeah Eddie, the Salvi is a bit pricy indeed. I wouldn’t go for that, regarding its age.
But it looks like you have some more options now when I read the posts above. I’m sure some day soon you’ll come across a harp that you like (and is affordable).Let us know when you’ve found it ok? Best of luck!
Hi Eddie,
The salvi is a very nice harp indeed. I can’t find the age of the harp in the add? It seems a bit pricy but it also depends on the age…if it’s only a year old then this price would probably make sense.
As you have the option to rent a harp, you can also start from there and if you really like playing harp, then buy your own. Question is if that salvi is still available by then…that’s a decision you have to make.Best of luck & happy holidays!
Hi Eddie,
I totally agree with Patricia here; finding a teacher with contacts can help you to find a good harp. Always better than to order via the internet I guess…and to rent a harp is also a way to find out which kind you like.
The harp is a fantastic instrument and it’s great fun to play, so I hope you’ll find a decent harp and make a good start. All the best!
Hi Mae,
I have Camacs on my Silver Spear harp and I’m really satisfied.
-They preserve string life; I have this harp for about four years now and I only broke two strings just after I bought it…this was probably caused by a climate change from the shop to my home and had nothing to do with the levers I guess.
-They don’t change the tone much; perhaps only a little when you have all levers up (E tuning), then the tone seems to have just a little less sustain, but that’s also because of how the body of my harp responds to that tuning I think.
-I only had it regulated once after two years and it’s still accurate now. I can’t really tell what’s average when it comes to regulating, but it’s not that the levers need very frequent regulation so I’m satisfied.
-They don’t come loose…as Angela questioned, would they ever come loose when mounted properly? My Camacs don’t and I never heard of anyone having problems here.
-They are really easy to engage/disengage..even more than one at a time is no problem…very smooth action. This also makes them suited for blues note bends (watch Deborah Hanson-Conant doing that on her DHC light, she uses the same Camac levers).>maybe the only minute downside is that the coloured levers are only marked with a coloured plastic band, the lever itself is chrome just like all the others..it would have been nice if they were painted entirely blue or red.
That’s it… I hope this is valuable info for you Mae!
Somehow it’s an interesting question, historically, but on the other hand I don’t get it…does it really make a difference how many men or women play this wonderful instrument? I think the most important thing is that we all just enjoy playing our harps, apart from gender or playing styles. My 2 cents…
Hi Andee,
I have tried a Janet at the shop where I bought my Silver Spear harp, some four years ago, and from what I recall it is definitely a nice harp. The closer string spacing is not really a big difference IMO. I also tried some Dusty harps during the same visit and compared them all, which made me buy the Silver Spear in the end, but that’s a decision made for a specific reason which you can read below.
I think you describe the sound of your Dusty quite well: a deep, rich sound. In fact they produce the most powerfull tone of all lever harps I’ve tried, with quite a lot of sustain, even more than what I personally want from a harp… I play Vollenweider style, which means melody lines and staccato chords instantly muted most of the time, so that’s why I don’t want too much sustain and chose the harp I finally bought. But the sound is beautiful and I consider it to have a richer tone and a wider sound range than the Janet.
But I guess your suggestion of bringing your Dusty there and compare it with the Janet is the best option…just let your ears (and your heart) decide. Good luck!
