John Popper - Blues TravelerIm a big fan of hacking your equipment around your needs, and re-inventing the wheel. Sometimes I see mods that really interest me, and leads me to poke around and check out what the hell these guys are doing.
I saw this photo of John Popper, and after checking Wikipedia for his equipment list, I found the following:
Equipment
John Popper has expressed a preference for the Hohner Special 20 brand blues harp, calling them "the Porsche of harmonicas".
Popper uses Shure microphones and Mesa Boogie amplifiers, a setup nearly identical to what Blues Traveler guitarist Chan Kinchla uses himself; Popper noted in an interview that "I just asked Chan what he used". He also uses D'Addario strings.
Popper has developed some equipment innovations to accommodate his use of harmonica during onstage performance: Because diatonic harmonicas are tuned to one particular key, he has fashioned belts (worn as suspenders) with enough pockets to hold an entire set of harmonicas in 12 different keys, plus extras. This allowed Popper to change keys during a performance quickly without looking; he often exchanges harmonicas multiple times within one song. After his weight loss, it no longer fit Popper, so he gave it up in 2002. He now carries harmonicas in a small black attache case.
Popper has also rigged a special microphone with switches that change the audio effect of the harmonica as it is played through an amplifier. This is similar to a guitar effects pedal. He has also fashioned a number of floppy-brimmed hats with flattened harmonica plates on the band, which he
almost always wears during appearances with Blues Traveler.I would say that your looking at a prototype for future harp microphones. I see 1 volume knob, 1 toggle switch and 4 stomp switches. I wonder if Red Rhodes used black tape when he invented the Fuzz Box?
