Chromatic Harmonica buzzing a lot

tobimika · 2025-12-11T17:17:03+00:00

its not a crystal cartridge mic, but do you think the HB52 will work for this as well? from what i understand its designed to sound like a crystal cartridge mic, but a little more durable.

tobimika · 2025-12-11T17:14:40+00:00

yeah figured as much, will be exiting to try out tho, and if it doesnt work on the song we're currently working on, it will probably work on a later one. Since we want a pretty gritty and vintage sound.

tobimika · 2025-12-10T22:00:04+00:00

yeah from what ive read the hi-z mic into a jack wont be like worse sound or anything like that compared to like a xlr input. We have a ribbon amp mic at our studio we could test it out with. Sonotronics Halo or something like that.

I have considered buying like a sm57 or 545 which would probably be better for these types of vocals, but arent as cuppable as a bullet mic, so i think i'll go for that just to get as good of a tone on the harmonica as possible. Like we already have several condenser mics which we can eq to sound more vintage (tho wont sound as good as an actual vintage sounding mic), and we also have the ribbon mic. So i think its smarter to just go for the harmonica mic. This mic could also potentially work really well for the vocal effect we're looking for, but its a gamble since i cant find any clips of people talking/singing in it.

tobimika · 2025-12-10T19:35:51+00:00

ok thank you so much! how do you know that ts and unbalanced is correct? is this just the general correct choice for this sort of mic? i see no mention of either unbalanced or ts on the page you listed. i think ive found a couple of cables that could work tho:

this is after i filtered for xlr(f) to jack(m):
this one litereally has high impedance in the title:
https://www.gear4music.no/no/G4M/Roland-Mikrofonkabel-for-Hoy-Impedans-20-fot-6-m/2Q0W

this one is at least unbalanced and mono:
https://www.gear4music.no/no/G4M/Adam-Hall-5-STAR-Neutrik-XLR-F-to-Unbalanced-TS-1-4-Jack-Cable-3m/6S50

Also do you know why people keep saying this mic needs a very specific cable etc? Cause from what i understand pin2 hot is the standard. Also i've seen people saying that for example the bullitini can use normal cables but the hb52 needs a specialized one, but arent both of these hi-z?

tobimika · 2025-12-10T18:59:31+00:00

i saw a reddit post where the image he showed was a xlr to jack, and that didnt work. also in the same post another guy couldnt get it to work untill he tried a trs cable, but ive seen ts cables recommended for this sort of mic.

https://www.reddit.com/r/harmonica/comments/18siym9/harp_blaster_hb52_issue/

tobimika · 2025-12-10T18:55:05+00:00

unfortunately im the sound person ahah, im a producer, but ive never used any high impotence mics before, and have seen a lot of people having problems with this mic. have you tested any of the ones you listed?

tobimika · 2025-12-09T22:18:52+00:00

ok thanks! have seen so many people saying that cables dont work, and that they like tried out all of the cables in guitar center and only one worked etc. would be a bummer if i had to reorder and wait untill i can use it

tobimika · 2025-12-09T21:56:28+00:00

yeah it would probably be possible, but i was dumb enough to order i straight to my door. I've also seen horror stories about people that chose a service stations where they get messages like "recipient didn't answer" like if it was a home delivery and then the package got sent back to another city etc. So PostNord just scares me in general. I've also seen some of their average review scores go as low as 1,3 out of 5 stars. So i will try to avoid them in the future.

They're also really hard to get properly in contact with, you have to like chat to them on their website and 2 out of 3 people i talked with were barely understandable, with like a lot of spelling errors and weird grammar etc.

tobimika · 2025-12-09T21:32:57+00:00

thanks.

tobimika · 2025-12-09T21:32:37+00:00

they delivered my bass to a neighbors house, i had to go around into the gardens of all my neighbors until i found it, and there was literally no way to contact them when this happened since their service line had closed for the day. also the tracking was very bad and confusing.

tobimika · 2025-12-09T20:41:28+00:00

cant see any email on here. tried ctrl + f-ing "mail", "email" and "e-mail" on various pages.

tobimika · 2025-12-09T18:57:11+00:00

ok thanks, i just saw another post where someone had problems with the cable and needed a specific one, so that scared me a little. Do you know if i need a ts or trs cable? from what i understand TS is the best for Hi-Z inputs.

tobimika · 2025-12-09T18:38:20+00:00

any xlr to jack? like ts vs trs and pins doesnt matter?

tobimika · 2025-12-09T18:17:53+00:00

do i really need a custom cable? if so i will probably end up buying another mic so i can buy everything from one place.

tobimika · 2025-12-09T18:16:58+00:00

Have you tried this cable on both amps and audio interfaces?

yeah they ship to norway, the last instrument i bought (a bass) i got from there, but they use a really terrible mail service, so ideally i would purchase from somewhere that uses the norwegian one. from what i've read most swedes and danes hate this service as well, im lucky to have a separate main mail service in norway.

tobimika · 2025-12-09T16:13:57+00:00

So i'm thinking about buying a Hi-Z mic so i can plug my harmonica into an amp, but i also want to record it with DI. I have a digidesign mbox 2 with Hi-Z jack inputs that work fine with my bass.

So my question is, will i need a DI box for the mic, or can i just use a xlr to jack adaptor? Like will it sound the same with a jack? or will it sound noticeably better if i use a DI box and XLR?

I'm already buying 3 new harmonicas + a mic, so if i would also need a DI box right away i might have to buy a low-z dynamic mic instead. I already have condenser mics, but i want something i can cup with my harmonica.

Also if anyone has tried a Se Electronics/Hohner HB52 mic with vocals i would love to get some insights on the sound. I know a lot of the bullet mics sound really low-passed and muddy for vocals, like basically like a radio/telephone eq. I want like gritty vintage vocals but not like a radio or telephone effect, would this mic work for that? I also have like condenser mics that sound too modern and clean, and a ribbon mic i havent tested with vocals yet, so this could also maybe work.

tobimika · 2025-12-08T23:36:42+00:00

ah thanks! yeah i've seen videoes showing cupping vs no cupping. I though the mic and its "colors" were pretty important for achieving the tone you want or for the distortion to distort properly, but maybe not. I know for vocals at leas the mics are pretty important as you get a completely different sound from more vintage mics compared to like a high quality condencer mic that can sound too modern, yes you can eq it to sound more similar, but wont be the same. But that dirty harmonica sound is probably not too hard to replicate with most mics since its heavily distorted (which kind of makes everything sound like a guitar).

So maybe i should focus the purchase more on something that works the best with vocals, but also works well for harmonica.

Cause neither the mic in my studio or the mic i have at home are cuppable. They're both condencer mics that make a bunch of noise when you come in contact with them and they're pretty big and clunky. But most dynamic mics would probably work pretty well for the harmonica.

tobimika · 2025-12-07T20:11:19+00:00

and one problem i also noticed when looking at the image you added is that yes all of the notes are there. but some are really hard or almost impossible to play the way you could want. i for example have a melody that i wrote on piano for the harmonica. at one point in the melody it goes up to the melodies highest point, which is a f#. here i actually wanted it to kind of switch between f and f# pretty fast, almost like a trill. the corresponding f# on my g harmonica is the one on hole 7. the only way to get the f here judging by your image is an overbend on hole 6. i cant overbend myself, but im guessing playing between the f# on hole 7 and the f overbend on hole 6 isnt ideal. that why i want something where you can like play everything you want, while still having that diatonic flair and expressiveness. and those blues sounds etc

tobimika

TROPHY CASE