Arrick
39 posts
Apr 30, 2017
8:56 AM
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I have a rotary/vibrato/chorus pedal and a fuzz pedal that I use on my guitar. They are fun to play around with on harp, but I notice it seems to suck some of the low tones. They are true bypass so I leave them in my my chain and use same board for harp/guitar.
Is there a mod I could do to make them more harp tone friendly? I'd want them to still be usable on guitar also. I don't mod, but have a friend who can do electronics work so long as I can tell you what I'm after.
Last Edited by Arrick on Apr 30, 2017 9:01 AM
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Arrick
40 posts
Apr 30, 2017
9:00 AM
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It's a Mooer Soul Shiver and Donner Stylish Fuzz (Big Muff clone) if that matters. Both are mini-pedals.
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Django
19 posts
Apr 30, 2017
9:13 AM
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The extra length of cable will cause some loss of sound. If you have a buffered pedal (boss or something) you can try to put that after all your pedals and see if it helps.
Plugging a guitar instead of a harmonica you'll find a loss of sound also so it's not just the harp.
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Arrick
42 posts
Apr 30, 2017
9:23 AM
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Django, thanks for the info. I'm only noticing it when the pedal is engaged. Sounds fine when in bypass. I think it's something in the pedals circuit that's not jiving with my mic(s).
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hvyj
3279 posts
Apr 30, 2017
10:36 AM
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What specific pedals are you using and what mic(s)?
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Arrick
43 posts
Apr 30, 2017
3:05 PM
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@hvyj I have a hot vintage ceramic bullet mic and a CM green bullet mic. Pedals are Mooer Soul Shiver and Donner Stylish Fuzz (Big Muff clone). Both are mini-pedals.
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hvyj
3280 posts
Apr 30, 2017
4:24 PM
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Bullet mics can be problematic with pedals. Once upon a time I used to use a green bullet with a Quadraverb GT rack mount multi effects unit to give the sound more "texture." But the point is that a bullet interacts with effects pedals and not always in a positive way. My suggestion: Get an impedance matching transformer and try an SM 57 or a 545. That would probably work with the effects pedals better than a bullet.
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Arrick
44 posts
Apr 30, 2017
4:49 PM
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I have a Shure 585 Unisphere "James Cotton" mic. I'll test it also. It's still hi-z though.
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dougharps
1418 posts
Apr 30, 2017
5:33 PM
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The 585 hi-z should work better than the ceramic or CM, it does for me. If it does, and you still want the bullet sound with your pedals you might need a buffer that offers high impedance before the pedals, such as:
Lone Wolf Terminator pedal
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Doug S.
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hvyj
3281 posts
Apr 30, 2017
7:19 PM
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585 would be fine. Certainly more pedal friendly than a bullet. High impedance 545 would work well, too. It's not necessary to use a low impedance mic.
Last Edited by hvyj on Apr 30, 2017 7:40 PM
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SuperBee
4660 posts
Apr 30, 2017
7:36 PM
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'sucking tone' is kind of inevitable i think due to the way a lot of signal processing works, by using capacitors to filter out certain frequencies and leaking to ground.
the bigger signal you have to begin with, the more you have to work with i suppose.
as i understand it the problem with longer cables and hiZ is more to do with loss of signal quality rather than 'signal loss' per se, because they pick up noise along the way. with a balanced cable the noise is cancelled when the signal is reunited at the business end, but an unbalanced lead cant do this. i try to keep cable runs short but if i have to go to 40' i've not found it to be noticeable. its better to have the pedals at my feet and a 20' cable running back to the amp, and a 20' between mic and pedal than a 10' cable between pedal and amp and having to turn back to the amp all the time to switch the pedals.
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hvyj
3282 posts
May 01, 2017
5:41 AM
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Long unbalanced/high impedance cable runs will erode highs more than lows.
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hvyj
3284 posts
May 01, 2017
7:41 AM
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You know, I use an Xotic EP Booster as an (almost) always on preamp at the end of my effects chain. It is supposed to convert the signal to low impedance (unbalanced). That's not why I use it, but it may be helpful for long cable runs. FWIW.
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LittleBubba
345 posts
May 01, 2017
5:31 PM
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I will never buy a pedal without trying it with my whole setup..esp.the different mic elements. I have pedals that just don't work with some of my amps. If you can try out a chain in the techs' workspace, they will critique the sound for you, but that assumes that you buy from a store that will accomodate your needs.
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barbequebob
3410 posts
May 02, 2017
9:01 AM
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Part of the problem here is an impedance mismatch. To begin with, anything over 600 ohms is considered hi-z, but really happening is that once you get away from low-z, where things use a 3-pin XLR connector with the balanced line, there's medium, high and ultra hi-z. If you use crystal or ceramic mics, they're ultra hi-z and need a resistance of at least 1meg to function properly and many pedals aren't even close to that. Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the two most popular delay pedals for harp, the Boss DD-3 and the Dan Electro Dan Echo, often times needed to be modified because of impedance mismatches that caused unwanted noise or mess up the tone or both. Lone Wolf makes the only pedals I've seen that automatically seems to adjust to those varying impedances of different mics being used and most others do not.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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