There are three basic styles of microphone you need to know about.

1. Stick Microphones

Stick Microphones like the Shure SM58/SM57 are vocal/instrument microphones which are designed to reproduce a clean accurate version of what you are playing into them. These are the types of microphones you will find at almost all venues and will be what you need if you want an Acoustic tone on stage.

2. Bullet Microphones

Bullet Microphones the Shure Green Bullet are traditionally what harmonica players use to get that Dirty Blues tone. They are NOT good for a clean acoustic tone because they naturally distort (In a pleasing way) the harmonica sound. The modern Green Bullets are quite difficult to get a good sound out of so I would not recommend getting one. Instead, I would recommend starting with the next type of microphone…

3. Mini-Bullet Microphones

Mini-Bullet Microphones like the Hohner Blues Blaster HB52 or BlowsMeAway Bulletini are similar to Bullet microphones and will colour the tone in the same way but they are much easier to hold and therefore much easier to get a great Dirty Blues tone with.

I will be using and HIGHLY RECOMMENDING a Hohner Blues Blaster HB52 for the Dirty Blues Tone and a Shure SM58 for the Acoustic Tone in this course.

Further Exploration…

If you want to explore some more options here are some jumping-off points;

Modern: BlowsMeAway Bulletini, Jason Ricci Signature (Lone Wolf), Red Howler (Digital Reference), Bone Daddy's Lo-Fi Mics

Vintage: Shure Sher-O-Dyne PE53, Astatic JT30, Vintage Green Bullet, Astatic Biscuit, Akai DM13