Martin
1030 posts
Jul 02, 2016
5:13 AM
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Having recently bought a Harp Attack I must say I was somewhat underwhelmed by what it did for my sound when used with my small tube amplifier. I had hoped for distortion at lower volume, but nah, not much.
On the other hand I was really pleasantly surprised by what it did when going straight to PA: warm, mellow sound, exactly as I like it. Not so much action in terms of distortion, but there are more ways to skin a cat.
I wonder, you who use this gadget, is this a general impression?
(And yes, I have noted that there is a "drive" control.)
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Kingley
4021 posts
Jul 02, 2016
6:24 AM
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Not my experience at all. When using it into the PA I find it has too much distortion if I crank the drive on it. I always play it with the drive around 9 o'clock (about a quarter on). That gives me more than enough drive for my taste. If prefer it to be cleaner. I never use it in conjunction with an amp as I find it gives me far too much distortion than I ever want or need.
Here's some examples. In all of these clips the drive is on 9 o'clock, tone is on 9 o'clock and volume is on 12 o'clock.
545 and Harp Attack into PA
clip 1
Shure 99A86 and Harp Attack into PA
clip 3
Astatic MC151 crystal and Harp Attack into PA
clip 2
Last Edited by Kingley on Jul 02, 2016 6:30 AM
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Killa_Hertz
1659 posts
Jul 02, 2016
8:21 AM
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NICE SOUND KINGLEY!
I particularly liked the sound in the last video. Broken up, but nice and crispy highs.
I also have very good results with the harp attack. I actually bought a used bundle of harp attack, harp break, harp Delay, and harp shield.
The harp break and harp attack run together really nice. But i couldn't justify keeping both. So i traded the harp break for the harp reverb. Which i don't regret. The reverb is excellent. But i don't really find the delay to be anything special, so it may be the next to go. I want a Micro Pog or EHX B3. Already have a zoom multistomp with plenty of nice delays and reverbs. While the delays and reverbs are great, the reverbs just don't touch the harp reverb.
Anyways (back on track) ... Martin perhaps you should Make some sound samples aswell. I really love that pedal, so it's funny that your results are so very different.
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Martin
1031 posts
Jul 02, 2016
6:52 PM
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Thank you very much, Kingley, for reply and samples. I wish more people would do this and be a bit more concrete in their indications of what they prefer than just saying so and so. (I have tried elswhere to do just that myself.) Sound is a very diffuse thing to describe.
For instance, I hear immediately that we differ on the, shall we say ... treble issue. You obviously like quite a bit of that in your sound, whereas I am, sometimes to the point of non productive fervour, constantly trying to chase treble out from the room I´m in. The harmonica, that is my thinking, has such a lot of treble in it by itself that it must somehow be tempered.
Also, I`m in this pursuit of "distorted warmth" that appears not to be at the forefront of your notion of sound, but that could possibly be achieved with the pedal. I´m really not sure.
@Killa Herz: I´m kinda stinko right now (late Saturday night) but I will try to make something with the H A pedal in the near future, indicating what I like and not. Mostly the things I´m recording aren´t for me to make public, but I can use Audacity and all that jazz.
Last Edited by Martin on Jul 02, 2016 6:55 PM
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Prento
17 posts
Jul 02, 2016
11:45 PM
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I often use the HA straight to PA. I too found it not much benefit in front of a valve amp, I tend to use the harp tone + for that. I discovered that pushing the mids on the PA rather than the bass, really fills out the tone and adds more rasp. And, as Kingley stated, you don't have to push the drive too hard. Having the drive between 9.00 and 12 o'clock and the volume at about 1 o'clock works for me, but the important thing, I think, is the mids setting on the PA.
Hope this helps.
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Martin
1032 posts
Jul 03, 2016
5:40 AM
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Interesting Prento. I will give that a try next time I´m in an acoustically safe environment.
Thank you.
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Killa_Hertz
1662 posts
Jul 03, 2016
8:47 AM
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Martin i agree with you on the treble aspect. But that one sound gets old to me sometimes. I like to play around with different sounds. No matter Edgar sound you like it still comes from the harp and kingley sounded awesome.
Prento i too have been finding that i like the mid boost area much better. Like high end bass low end mid.
For me the HA works great infront of my tube amp because i play it at lower volume in my home. So it let's me get a little warm breakup at even the lowest volume.
I find a eq type pedals really help.
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Georgia Blues
211 posts
Jul 05, 2016
7:19 PM
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Martin. Just a suggestion. Get a BKButler BlueTube. Put in a 12au 7
And enjoy.
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