Who the Hell is This Guy?

Simple Mics was born while I was researching places to buy good, vintage, bluesy microphones.

And there are a lot of great places to buy them:
Blows Me Away, Fat Bottom Mics, Badass Harmonica, Jeffery Spoor. They have been making great blues harp microphones for years, and have the experience and customers to show for it. All of those guys can PLAY too, so they know what makes a good mic.

But I like to build things, so I started studying, experimenting, making mistakes, and learning from the process.

Eventually, I put together a mic from parts I bought at other harp vendors, and realized the enjoyment that comes from making something old new again. So now I rebuild classic harmonica mics for fun, and sell what I build here.

And I’m serious about my fun. I rebuild microphones using the best quality new and vintage parts. I test each microphone I sell, and often show a video of the results.

Good Products, Fair Prices

The mics here are put together with great care, trying to maintain the highest standards out there.

Many mic builders and modifiers are gracious enough to share their techniques, and I listen hard to every one of them.
I think you’ll be happy with the products available here.
If you’re not, I’ll do everything I can to make it right.

SaveSave

With-Bo-Diddely-Stowe-Stickman_With-Bo-Diddely

Simple Mic’s mechanic James “Stickman” Waldron playing with Bo Diddley
I’ve been playing harmonica since 1975, and am a member of the blues band Walk That Walk. Day to day I’m a web designer.

SaveSave

The Workshop

I don’t have a big shop. I have a bench under the stairs in my house.
But over time I’ve collected or built most of the tools needed to remanufacture bullet-style harp mics.
Get beyond a JT-30, Green Bullet, or Turner 254 and I’m not your guy. If that’s what you need, go to the shops that specialize.

I dig up vintage shells where I can, like garage sales, ham radio fests, eBay, or Modern Blues Harmonica. I’ve worked hard to know where to locate good-quality vintage harp mic elements. If you know what you’re looking for, you can eventually collect a number of them, play them, and see which ones sound the best.

Then you take the parts and make them better. Some shells are in pretty good shape, some are a disaster. The good ones I clean up and build as-is. The rough ones take more work, and I usually have them sandblasted and powder coated before wiring them up with a nice vintage Shure controlled-magnetic or controlled-reluctance element. I try to add a volume control when I can, cause I think they’re pretty handy onstage. Then I reassemble the shell, buff it up, take some pictures and put it up on this site.

SaveSave