Picture this: you’ve been hired to play your harp at a party. You arrive early, settle into a cozy corner, tune up, and begin to play. Your harp fills the room with delicate but sumptuous sound—that is, until the room fills with people. Halfway down your tune list, you realize that you and your instrument have become a visual aid, not an audio asset. Your patrons can’t hear you, the guests can’t hear you. In fact, you can’t even hear yourself. You need (gulp) amplification.
As one of the country’s prominent harp builders, we’re often asked by players for our recommendation on how best to amplify their harps. For years we’ve tested likely pickups and microphones as we’ve come across them, forming our opinions about what works well and what doesn’t. We’ve sold various products, yet remained on the lookout for better possibilities.
If you’ve ever explored the world of microphones, pickups, and amplifiers, you know about the myriad choices available. How do you sort it all out so that your basic needs are met? How do you make your harp louder, while maintaining the sound quality of the unamplified harp? How do you find a system that works well for your playing situation and is easy to set up and use?
Dusty Strings has developed some solutions that will allow you to concentrate on your music with confidence that you are delivering a professional sound. We’ve worked with makers of high-quality microphones and pickups to develop two systems that are very well suited to the harp, each with its own strengths and specific applications: the Harp Mic™ and the Dusty Harp Pickup™. Paired with a good quality amplifier, either of these devices will deliver clear, strong sound from your harp, and both are very easy to use.
Download our Harp Amplification Brochure in PDF format.