When I get a chance to sit in with friends at gigs, it is usually at places too small or too inconvenient for me to add an amp. I usually plug directly into the PA with my Bulletized 545 mic. Am considering adding either the Harp Attack or Harp Break from Randy at Lone Wolf. Any suggestions?
I had the Break...that's the one without the tube in it. It was ok. I wasn't crazy about it for straight to PA.
IMO, the Tech 21 Bass Driver DI is FANTASTIC for playing to the PA. The Blonde is great too, but it is only a 1/4" line out. 99% of boards will accept that without any other gear, but just like the LW stuff, a DI is sometimes nice to have.
The Bass Driver gets you to Bassman tones. It has a fully interactive EQ, Drive Control, and it lets you blend your dry signal with affected signal.
It also has all the outputs you'd ever need. It has both a 1/4" and XLR out to go to a PA, powered speaker, amp, recording device, etc. You can also take an UNeffected line out! It also has a ground switch, phantom power switch....I mean, it can do just about anything!
It sounds excellent too. It is all analog, and I believe it uses the same FET type stuff the Harp Commander and LW stuff uses.
At any rate, it is PERFECT for harmonica. I would be comfortable gigging with just that pedal. For my solo show it is just as important as the looper. ---------- Mike Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas VHT Special 6 Mods
Have you checked the Lone Wolf forum? htownfess has experience with both pedals. He had excellent results with the Harp Attack straight into the PA. He has YouTube videos with that pedal.
Mike, do you know of any harp demos for the Tech 21 Bass Driver DI? I need something to branch out. I plug in to great amps and that's it. My take is that I can run through the Tech 21 Bass Driver DI to the pa, switch to my amp alone, or through the tech running through my amp. True?
I will make one eventually. Son of Dave uses one. The pedal is not an amp switcher. You can control whether the output is on or off, but you either always run an uneffected lineout to an amp or you don't.
You can't manipulate the uneffected out. It is exactly like using no pedal and plugging straight in.
It would be good for creating the illusion of a two amp sound FOH...that's what I do. I set it up to send a signal optimized for my beatboxing/bass singing. I then take the parallel (uneffected) out to my HG2. I mic the HG2 or use the lineout.
The HG2 would suck balls for doing everything. I think it would sound bad even if it was built to handle singing bass through. The beatboxing sounds thin and blah, the bass sounds really thing and blah...but the harp tone is outstanding. If I only had one to use, it would be the Bass DI.
I am 100% cool using it as a direct rig for regular harp playing too. You can get Bassman-like tones if you play with the dials, but I am usually content using it set a bit cleaner. ---------- Mike Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas VHT Special 6 Mods
>>>>>"I am 100% cool using it as a direct rig for regular harp playing too. You can get Bassman-like tones if you play with the dials, but I am usually content using it set a bit cleaner."
I used to use a Harp Attack, but found I didn't like the tone. It had nice breakup, but there wasn't enough bottom for me.
Now I carry a Pocket POD and a DI with me to jams, or when I think I might be able to sit in with a band. I wouldn't use it for a whole gig (except for a backup in case my amp fails...it's happened), but I found that the Tweed Deluxe model with a bit of delay sounds perfectly good from onstage, and if I need a line to the board, I can always connect it to the DI. Nothing to plug into power (there are usually more lines to the board available than there are power outlets), as the POD runs on batteries and the DI is passive.
Pocket POD is a bit outdated technologically, but it works. I believe Zoom has a battery operated pedal that Richard Hunter has been playing with and having good results. But you can find Pocket PODs on Craigslist pretty cheap and they're OK for the occasional jam or sit in.
I've often wondered about the Tech 21 pedals, especially the Blonde. Mike, if you've got one, I'd love to hear a demo. ----------
I get real nervous doing demos, but this is all I got. My pedal actually had a problem with the switch, so I returned it and got the Bass Driver DI. I set funds aside to get a new Blonde, as I really like it, but haven't reordered yet.
The Tech 21 stuff has cool eq's. There is a 10dB boost/cut. I think it is hard to hear bottom end recorded compared to live applications, so regardless of demo, if you aren't hearing it live, you lose some of that.
This is my new board in progress. I just got the Pedal Train after my other board had two issues. 1.) There was a lip making it hard to hit the looper and 2.) the bottom started to come loose from the board.
All that is missing here is the power supply (which is underneath the board anyways) and the XLR cable going out of the Bass DI. I have mine set very different than S.O.D.
My comparison of HarpAttack and HarpBreak. http://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/board/board_topic/5560960/1966261.htm
About 5 years ago I had a nice experience with Bass Driver DI while rehearsing, but for home recording it seemed too harsh for me and I gave it back to the owner. Possible I have to take a look on Bass Driver DI again. ---------- Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
Thanks for responses. I ordered Harp Attack from Randy last night before I saw Boris' response. I think it was what I was predisposed to all along. I will now have Lone Wolf's Harp Delay, Octave and Attack. Eventually hope to have 'em all. ---------- Twitter ~ BossoBrewingCo
