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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > The POG 2
The POG 2
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Martin
1298 posts
Oct 04, 2017
11:46 AM
(This is of limited interest to most peple who only plays the blues, but I know we are a few here who regularly venture outside of this idiom.)

I tried a POG 2 today and got totally bowled over. "Gotta have one!" I screamed to myself as I left the music store with a stupid grin.
But it´s a costly thing and I always have to think long and hard about such matters before I enter into any payment plans.

Therefore I wonder, do any of you who have bought this pedal regret it? Did unforseen negative things crop up along the way of usage?

My interest is the organ sound. I toyed with it for almost half an hour, and found lots of nice combinations -- but do they grow old quickly, so to say?

I´m planning on using it as a backing device, in combo with a (discreet) rotary pedal and my Hall of Fame reverb.

Any input appreciated.
John M G
161 posts
Oct 05, 2017
12:33 AM
Hi Martin
I just finished my pedal board last night and had a quick test session while my wife was out today. It's going to take a while to get the my head around the variety of sounds and pre sets. I was seduced into it by some of Carey Bells live performance sets he did in Brazil that's up on YouTube. I'm getting very very similar sounds. How much I'll use it live though is another thing. Too soon to say and have to see what the other band members think of it!

Last Edited by John M G on Oct 05, 2017 12:43 AM
Martin
1299 posts
Oct 05, 2017
4:13 AM
Thank you John, and please follow up with your further impressions.
As I said above I´m probably more into that sound for non-blues material -- and more... "organ oriented" (I really liked it for playing somewhat stately melodies) -- but there seemed to be quite a few interesting options on the pedal.
hvyj
3487 posts
Oct 05, 2017
8:07 AM
Never tried the POG 2, but I've been using a Micro POG for years. Love it. Dialed in properly and used with a rotary sound pedal (such as the Strymon Lex or the Hammond Leslie G pedal) I can get a VERY convincing organ sound. Putting a reverb or delay at the end of the chain as you mention is also a very good idea. Audiences like it, the musicians I play with like it and venue owners/managers like it. Bu, yes you can overdo it, so one needs to be selective.

Btw, for funky material, the Micro POG on its own can be very good, too.
Martin
1300 posts
Oct 05, 2017
9:28 AM
@hvyj: I´ll make sure to take a comparative look at the Micro POG, before I settle on the POG 2. (I´m something like 90% convinced already, a serious case of GAS. It was quite simply too fun to let it rest.)

My TCE HoF reverb has a "church reverb" that´s gonna send chills down the spines of the unsuspecting citizens of Gothenburg when I turn on and tune in on the POG. Of that I´m certain!

Thanks for the input -- the Micro is quite a bit less expensive and definitely worth a trial.
hvyj
3488 posts
Oct 06, 2017
6:55 AM
Well, you can do more with the POG2, but I suspect you can do what you are trying to do with the MicroPOG. I do NOT like the NanoPOG, though.

Whether it's church reverb or a dark delay ( like the MXR Carbon Copy ) that sort of sonic ambiance at the end of the chain sounds good with the organ thing.

I "scoop" the settings on the MicroPOG. You have 3 knobs: dry octave, octave up and sub octave. I like the sound best when I set the dry octave lower than the other two. But, YMMV. Btw, the MP IS NOT true bypass. However, Analogman in the US offers a true bypass mod.

On the rotary pedal, my experience is that the organ effect sounds best with the fast rotar speed set at LESS than the fastest speed possible. On the other hand, I do set the ramp time or acceleration as fast as possible. But, again, YMMV.

Last Edited by hvyj on Oct 06, 2017 7:02 AM
Raven
101 posts
Oct 06, 2017
7:58 AM
Martin,

You may want to check out the Pitchfork which is about one third the price of a POG 2. EHX makes it, so you may see some similarities with the Pog series or their other organ type pedals. I run it last in the series on my board along with a Hall of Fame and a few other choice pedals from TC Electronics and EHX.
Martin
1301 posts
Oct 06, 2017
10:02 AM
@hvyj: Just checked into my local store, but the only POG they have is the 2.
Tried it again now w/ rotary effect and reverb, and well, it´s kinda staggering. However, the most efficient sound is the "church organ" type, and of course, there´s alwyas a question how multifaceted that is ...
Something more hammond like would be great -- but perhaps one can get closer to that with some fidgeting?

I should add that I´m being offered a great price for this one -- it is a demo ex.

Last Edited by Martin on Oct 06, 2017 10:08 AM
Martin
1302 posts
Oct 06, 2017
10:06 AM
@Raven: Thank you. I have tried the Pitchfork at one time, but perhaps my tech-ineptness showed itself, since I could not get it to sound good. I.E, didn´t get the organ sound. (I gave it half an hour or so.)
If I can find one I´ll give it another shot -- believe I heard something here on the forum that sounded quite good.
Raven
104 posts
Oct 06, 2017
2:42 PM
Besides the Lester G & K, EHX came out with a whole line of organ and synthesizer effects including the B-9, C-9, Key-9 Mel-9 and Synth-9, but we always have to keep in mind that other than Lone Wolf, most electronics companies are catering to the guitar gang. There have been some posts on this forum about issues with some of these pedals in certain ranges wherein they seem to lose their effectiveness. And the available combinations with four different pots on the pedal give you literally thousands of combinations to try to dial in. You combine that with your echo, chorus, delay, etc. and you'll spend many hours trying to figure out what gives you the best results you're looking for. Maybe that's why a lot of forum members prefer to just play directly into the PA and hang their hats on choice of mic and personal technique.
hvyj
3490 posts
Oct 06, 2017
6:44 PM
@Martin: what rotary pedal are you playing through?

Last Edited by hvyj on Oct 06, 2017 6:45 PM
Martin
1303 posts
Oct 07, 2017
6:20 AM
It´s a cheap piece of crap from Tomsline (Chinese). I got it at an extremely attractive price, and it outperformed some other budget options, but I´m well aware that there are Leslie simulators etc out there that makes you want to hand in this gadget to the nearest police station.
Martin
1304 posts
Oct 07, 2017
6:25 AM
@Raven: I tried the B9 and C9. They didn´t come close to the POG2, not by a country mile. They were more about presets and I only found one on each of them that was passable -- the POG has almost unlimited varieties.
They are a bit less expensive, sure, but I think in this case I´ll stick to the POGunless I hear something really shaking.
hvyj
3491 posts
Oct 07, 2017
7:47 AM
Well, I can get VERY Hammond like with my rig--close enough to fool professional musicians. Now, I have fewer parameters to adjust on the MP than you have to worry about on the P2. If you're interested u can set the dry octave at the equivalent of 10 or 11 o'clock and the octave up and octave down each at about 1o'clock and use that as a baseline and start tweaking from there. Also, rotary SPEED makes a big dtfference. Slower will be more church organ like. Faster ( but less than wide open ) will be mor Hammond like.

Hope this helps.
Martin
1305 posts
Oct 07, 2017
10:15 AM
Sure does, hvyj, and I thank you.
My general impression is that the POG 2 can do anything that the Micro and Pitchfork can do -- but that´s my impression and I don´t know for a fact.
The POG 2 is going to take a bit of work to get around it, that´s clear.
But I very much like the detune and attack functions as well as the church organ -- and I´ll work on the Hammond feature.
Thanks for concrete pointers.
hvyj
3492 posts
Oct 07, 2017
9:04 PM
Yes, the P2 can do anything the MP can do--and more. Don't know anything about the Pitchfork, though. I did use a separate detune pedal for a little while but eventually took it off my board. Sounded pretty good at home, but when I played it with a band it would actually make me sound out of tune. (Imagine that.)

Does your rotary pedal give you a pretty decent organ sound WITHOUT kicking in the P2? If not, you may have problems creating that Hammond sound. The rotary pedal creates the basic organ tone for me and then kicking in the MP is like pulling out the stops or draw bars on a real organ--it provides a fuller, bigger sound which sounds more organ like than what the rotary pedal does by itself. BUT if the basic rotary pedal sound isn't at least half way decent on its own you may experience difficulty getting the type of convincing Hammond sound you are after.

Last Edited by hvyj on Oct 07, 2017 9:05 PM
Martin
1306 posts
Oct 08, 2017
5:08 AM
Nope, I can´t say that it does. Especially not if you compare with the Strymon Lex or Hammond Leslie, as you menation, that costs about the same as a POG 2 ...
There will have to be an upgrade in that department. But an advantage of the POG is that it sounds pretty decent by itself in terms of trad organ sound.


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