Rob's answers are below, and are certainly illuminating. We note in particular Rob's fondness for the Sennheiser 441 microphone for acoustic recording, a preference shared by Mike Stevens and jazz diatonic monster Howard Levy, among others. Thanks to Rob for this terrific contribution to harmonica players (literally) everywhere.

It's really hard to pick 5 favorites. I've had to leave out some of my favorite players, e.g. Howard Levy, Charlie Musselwhite, Lee Oskar, Norton Buffalo, James Cotton, Walter Horton, Larry Adler, Al Wilson . . .

1) The Butterfield Blues Band Live, Elektra 7E-2001 (1970)
The extended versions of "Everything Going To Be Alright" and "Driftin' Blues" on this record portray one of the greatest players ever in his prime. This record helped me to get inside my own sound not only as a harmonica player but as a singer as well.

2) Charlie McCoy, "Charlie My Boy," Monument Records
A great record that contains the old standard "Back Home in Indiana", a study on how to blow masterfully over changes in "Cross Harp".

3) Little Walter, "Boss Blues Harmonica," double Chess CH 60014
Contains many of the gems from the Granddad of Electric Blues. It's The Bible. Magic Dick turned me on to Walter's records. Thanks Dick!

4) Bill Evans and Toots Thielemans, "Affinity," Warner Bros. BSK 3293
The Master of Jazz Chromatic at his peak, one of the top soloist in the Jazz World. This record is in my opinion a summit of two seminal giants of Jazz. A must have for a Jazz enthusiast!

5) Robert Bonfiglio, "Romances," High Harmony
This record is a masterpiece of superb Classical Harmonica, beautifully played and recorded. It includes THE best recording to date of the Vaughan Williams Romance for the Harmonica, String and Piano.

Diatonic: Hohner Marine Band, customized Marine Bands by Joe Filisko, and LaVoie Titanium Combs with Hohner MS Plates and Big River Covers.

Chromatic: Hohner Toots Hard Bopper (wood comb) for recording; Farrell Lifetime Comb w/ Hohner Hard Bopper or Mellotone plates for live work; Hohner CBH-2016 for Classical Playing. I've recently tried and really liked the Hohner CX-12 and the new Renaissance harmonica (a $3,000 instrument manufactured by Douglas Tate and Bobby Giordano).

For live gigs, I prefer a Shure SM-57 mic with a 1/4" transformer jack (note: the SM-57 ships as a low-Z mic only; the transformer is necessary to transform the signal into a Hi-Z signal suitable for input to a guitar amp input) into a Fender Deluxe, Fender Blues Deluxe, or Fender Twin Reverb amp. (Note: this is very similar to the setup used by Paul Butterfield, one of Rob's favorite players.) Most of my "dirty" sound on Diatonic is achieved via the throat and diaphragm, not the mic. Sometimes I use a Boss Digital Delay pedal for a slight "slapback" effect.

For studio work, the same setup works for electric blues. For acoustic work, a Neumann 87 mic works well, as does the classic Howard Levy setup of a Sennheiser 441 for both chromatic and diatonic.