Ralph Katz

Music Equipment Page

This is all that is significant.

C instrument: Stephen Fox #02006.

Options: short barrel, center tuning ring, LH Eb/Ab, modified Stubbins register vent/throat Bb.

For more C clarinets: http://RalphKatz.pbwiki.com/CClarinets

Ligature: Bonade inverted - for the best mechanical coupling of the reed to the mouthpiece. My feeling is that this will give you the most flexibility. IMHO harder reeds, softer ligatures, and all the other stuff that lots of people use to attempt to "darken" their sound, just muffle things and limits control. That I can use a softer reed and relax for darkness when needed, has surprised several clarinet DMA's. A softer reed will also give the flexibility to better control your clarinet intonation, which is not as precise as any other woodwind instrument. But this is just my opinion.

Mixer: Mackie 1402VLZ - flexible and portable, but with a learning curve

Powered Speakers: JBL EON 15 P1 - 150 watts. The Eon 15G2 is 450 watts. I like this lower-powered model, because it is $200 less, and there is no need for enough power to permanently lose my hearing in 12 seconds flat.

Other: Behringer Digital Feedback Destroyer Pro - this is a cheap, and very cool unit. Note that it works at Line Level, not Mike Level. You need to buy it from a store that has someone on staff who has actually used one of these on live events, as the manual was written by German engineers and translated - enough said.

Newest toy: M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 - this small hand-held USB device will record to Compact Flash cards in stereo to uncompressed WAV files from a supplied mini-mike, or from 1/4" inputs. I got a 4Gb CF card online for $35. Three weeks later, the price dropped to $32, so I got another one. Each card will hold 4-1/2 hours of live audio. I ripped all 32 of my Klez CD's (at 256K bitstream) to the first card, plus another dozen clarinet concertos, and still have 1GB left. The 2nd CF card is free for live recording.

Other: Line6 Pod XT Live - for all you frustrated clarinetists who want to play with a rock band, this and a pickup (barrel or mpce mounted) is your ticket.