I know we have seen some dodgy antifeedback devices before but this seems the real deal.It is well known 'Harpsucker' demostrating this so i think we can trust him.
That demonstration does not sell me on this device being anything more that the competitors. It may be better, but he also might merely have the threshold maxed out. Not enough playing and not enough MIC experimentation to sell me on it. Of course, if you want to dedicate 1 pedal to your crystal JT30 for a particular song or style of song, this will probably give you what you're looking for.
Fair enough Thievin. but if you were going to demonstrate an anti feedback device what better mike to use than a Crystal element? Surely they are the most prone to feedback prone element there is? If it can calm the 'deef' on a crystal surely its gonna be good on any other element?
Not gear educated, but isn't an anti feedback pedal just an EQ with certain bands lowered? I had an old 10 band graphic EQ that I used to play with and it seemed to do the trick once it was determined which area or bands were the culprit. I seem to remember setting it at flat response, cupping the mic in front of amp and getting a feedback to begin, and then I'd sit and one at a time raise those sliders one at a time until I created the same pitched feedback. Then, I'd just bump the offending band down a little and it seemed to work - was different for different rooms, mics, amps, etc.
Is this better than a "fixed" anti feedback device? ---------- The Iceman
That´s a really good question there, Iceman, and as an owner of a parametriq EQ pedal that I´ve never really grasped, I hope someone steps up and answers it.
@iceman ,that's exactly what i do and it does work fine albeit can take quite a bit of time to set it up. I guess maybe there is no 'one stop shop' way to conquer the problem
This device works in a different principle. Using an eq in that way is one way to fight feedback. Obviously it will impact the sound, not necessarily a bad thing. Could be good. This ‘passive’ box is more akin the LW mojo pad I think. It’s attenuating the signal from the mic. You can control how much attenuation. This allows you more control over the preamp, you won’t be as subject to those spikes whichsaturate the preamp and not only cause feedback but also make it difficult to get the sound you want from the amp. Some amps are like a 2 stroke motorbike, whenyou cross the threshold into the powerband it can quickly get out of hand but below that it’s very tame. or Greg H likes to draw an analogy with the amount of travel in the throttle. If you go from zero to full in 1/2 an inch it’s gonna be hard to control the vehicle. Top speed will be potentially the same but your likely to lose it on the first bend. No analogy is perfect but the idea is there. These devices work on the idea that the guitar amp is designed to work with signal from guitar pickups and the signal from a harp mic will typically be much higher, which makes the amp hard to control. Other devices address other aspects of the feedback problem, we are seeing this one operate in an isolated situation. I think it’s a good thing
Last Edited by SuperBee on Apr 19, 2018 7:13 PM
@bee yeah i see where you coming from. Trouble is most of us seem to love a hot Mike but when it comes down to it they are probably our worst enemy..our Esteemed leader and Mooncat are both on record as stating that they like a 'cool' mike and a hot amp. Trouble is that a nice Bullet mike ,all chrome or painted up is a beautiful thing and within its seductive charms is the promise that it will make us sound like(fill in the name).When you play at home with one through your amp they can indeed sound great,it's only when you take them into a live environment that they show their shortcomings.ie they feedback like hell. So ironically what do we do about it,we look to attenuate the mikes output(which is the reason we bought it) so it doesn't feedback so much. Wish i knew all this stuff back in the day when i was regularly on a stage LOL
You know I don’t really know exactly what’s the deal with Simon’s voodoo box, but it’s a passive unit so there aren’t too many options I can think of. But yeah, with some amps a hot mic is really kinda difficult. Over the past few years I’ve been modifying my amps to handle the hot mic. Some folks like to run a volume control on their mic and operate at half throttle or so, which lets them turn the amp up. I run a VC but mainly turn it up or off. I haven’t had any feedback problems for years. One fellow commented to me that feedback mainly comes from being on stage with other loud instruments bleeding into his mic, so he likes a noise gate. A noisegate has never been any use to me. When I struggled with feedback it was always due to me chasing more volume. What I needed was something which let me turn up louder, and I mean more actual usable volume. I had a switchable cap on one of my amps which shifted the tone, I guess it cut some low frequency, and I could turn up more, did seem to get more cut through.. the lone wolf harp octave gave me more feedback free range too. Not sure why that is but it’s a fairly common report. It’s not night and day difference but it’s enough to notice. I’m on a soldering kick atm and considering returning my harp-modded hot rod Deville to something more like stock spec, then maybe using one of these units with it.
I know Simon and he is going to let me have a pedal to try out. When I get it, I'll post a link to a video so you can hear what it does. I currently use the kinder AFB, with which I'm extremely happy. Simon has assured me, however, that his pedal does not work in the same way as the Lone Wolf Mojo PAD as certain frequencies I'll post it with his pedal. I'll let you know.
I wish these pedal makers would just say what's in the box. At least with Lone Wolf they tell you, the Harp Shield is a noise gate with some particular features useful for harp. And the Mojo Pad is an attenuator - they even tell you the spec.
Without this info, you've got to suspect it's all a bit of an expensive leap of faith. As mentioned above, feedback is very room specific to the conditions - equipment and room. If it is a notch filter, which I doubt, where's the notch go to work in every room?
And what, do you reckon, is the difference between a gain control and volume control in a passive circuit?
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Apr 22, 2018 2:07 AM
Simon said nothing about it being a notch filter. He has described it as affecting the gain of the preamp tube: “The difference between mine and lone wolfs is my gain control effects the amount if the gain on your preamp tubes it's not a. Volume pot and it won't increase the volume. Wear as lone wolf attenuates the input tube to a set amount. Doing a similar job”
Notch filters: I have an acoustic guitar preamp with two notch filters. It knocks out feedback with my acoustic bass but seems to have no effect in a harp mic / feedback situation.
SuperBee - I was responding to rogonzab's suggesting a notch filter. Maybe he means that's what he'd like, or what he thought this might be. Either way, a passive notch filter is a bit tricky to implement well.
"The difference between mine and lone wolfs is my gain control effects the amount if the gain on your preamp tubes it's not a volume pot"
...what on earth does that mean? Again, what does anyone mean by a difference between a (passive) gain control and a volume control?
Like I say, why not just say what's in the box? It can't be anything that startlingly new, but might be practical. Like the Mojo Pad is just a bread-and-butter attenuator, but the fact that someone has made one and you can buy it online makes it worth the money. I know you don't find the Harp Shield useful SuperBee, and for good reasons, but you know what it does and so can judge why it does/doesn't suit your circumstances.
Similar with the Mojo Pad - it does a specific thing to address a specific harp issue: playing a cupped HiZ mic into an amp designed for guitar. If you have an amp modified for harp, you don't need it.
Actually I think the new Mojo Pad Deluxe has a filter switch on it? I expect that will be a passive high-cut - which will tend to be pretty gentle. To me a circuit like this has the most promise to really reduce feedback in a live situation - where you tune the mic attenuation.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Apr 22, 2018 5:05 AM
Sure, yeah thats just my ‘economical’ posting style. I was just putting up info, but saw a couple of notch filter comments so threw that in. I agree. The difference he refers to is i think that the mojopad has a couple of preset settings and the voodoo box allows you to dial it in with a pot.
There is a filter incorporated in this box, labelled as a bass boost, but I don’t know how a passive circuit is going to boost anything. It’s a separate circuit to the attenuation.
I have the LW harp tone plus pedal which probably does much the same thing but is an active circuit
I owned a cool 5 band eq pedal and it not only got rid of feedback but I could add bass response n turn little Harmony amps into tone monsters. It had a hard wired plug n no batts. I think MXR made it. It was cool because you could see your settings. I play without pedals nowadays. ---------- Reasonably priceid Reed Replacement and tech support on Hand Made Series Hohner Diatonic Harmonicas.
'Making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time. Click MP for more info. Aloha Mark .
Superbee - OK I see. Yes, the Mojo Pad uses a T-pad design I believe, which is harder to make continuously variable.
I guess a 'treble cut', which can be done passively could be called a 'bass boost' when you are attenuating the signal anyway. Probably similar to the Mojo Pad Deluxe's Normal/Dark switch.
In that case it looks like a useful pedal, which could be tuned to lots of situations.
Harpsucker's demos are great viewing in general - but really this one isn't much help: switch an attenuator on, no feedback. Switch it off, lots of feedback! Ok... that's the same as turning the mic VC down and up.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Apr 22, 2018 12:28 PM
