Great vid. Jason...love all Randy's pedals...just one question. Is there a specific order for "types" of pedals? EQ vs distortion vs delay/reverb/chorus vs compressor/maximiser pedals...?
...hmmm, I never heard a real dinosaur but one of the big tooth eat whatever they want ones probably sounded something like this. The harp gets a little lost in the wall of sound but it is fun.
Very informative, and useful info. Thanks, Jason, for pointing out the circumstances where the pedal is a valuable addition.
Thought you'd like to know that Johnny Winter was in my neck of the woods last Summer, and in an interview on Fat Music Radio with Felton Pruitt, noted that among the younger generation of blues players, Jason Ricci was a good harmonica player. I remember him mentioning Derek Trucks, in the guitar realm, as well.
I thought that was pretty neat as he didn't mention many people.
I've been learning more about effects pedals lately. For the last 3 years or so I've just used LW delay and Octave pedals and been really happy with them. Lately, mainly due to Jason's videos, I've been experimenting with harp break and shield. I can say I learned a lot more about them by using them. I'm still not totally sure I've got this right, but it seems to me that if you think you can get louder using a harp shield than you would otherwise be able to, you are mistaken. The pedal doesn't work like that. Unless you do not have a volume control for your mic. Since I do have volume controlled mics, I get no benefit from the harp shield. I'd really love someone to dispute this and show me that I'm wrong. I honestly would, so please do. I have mine boxed up ready to return but I'd be super happy to keep it if someone could switch the light on for me in this regard. Re the harp break, I have found that it is only really useful if you are in a situation where you have an issue with your sound being too clean at a given volume. Fairly obvious I guess. But additionally I have found the pedal significantly reduces the volume at which I get feedback, so if I have plenty of level it's useful but if I'm on the edge I can't use the pedal as I will have to run at lower volumes. Again since I seem always to need every pre-feedback decibel I can wring out of whatever rig I'm using, I have not found a good application for the pedal yet. I will hang on to it though because I think I may yet find a PA I can use it with. What I'm hoping is that someone who knows this stuff is gonna tell me I'm wrong and open my eyes. I've raised this before so sorry if I'm being a bore
@superbee I am in pretty well the same situation that you are in. All pedals as i understand it are designed to work on the Preamp stage of an amplifier whether through a Mike,pedal imput or through the effects loop on the amp.So what we are doing in reality is increasing the Gain to achieve that distortion/breakup that most of us want.
This where the problem starts "gain is the monster that feeds Feedback"" Its all a trade off in the end.One 'trick i have found with both the Octave and the harp break is that it is a less is more sort of situation. They work better if you ,say, put the gain knob to about 10 and then use their volume knobs to edge yourself up that feedback stage. I've found that if you want to dirty up an already powerful amp at lower volumes they are great but once you start winding the amp up to cope with a too loud band they start to feedback at a lower volume than the amp on its own would. Its always a trade off of some sort. Where i find the pedals realy shine is if you are playing through a PA.I did a gig today with a Harp break/Octave into the PA and was really happy with the sound.Not Valve saturation of course but hey is it better to have awesome valve tone and not be able to hear yourself or just have some nice audible grit through a PA and be able to put some nuances into your playing. Bands playing too loud just seems to be a fact of life this days and it is always a battle for most harpists. So: yep i love my Wolf pedals but like a car you have to learn to drive 'em. Sometimes i just wish i played guitar ;-)
Jehoshaphat, I am on the same page with you I think. With the Octave pedal though, I find I can actually get a volume boost. Recently I used it with delay and break and found with the way the PA was set I could not get loud enough with the break alone or break plus octave, regardless of how I set controls on the break. Had I been able to mess with the PA who knows, but the way it was I just couldn't hear if I involved the break in the action. With the octave pedal and no break I had usable stage volume. Kinda irritating as the main reason I got the break was to use with PA systems I was gonna encounter when touring without an amp. I haven't written it off though, expect there will be more opportunities. ----------
hmm guys Im confused! All I know is if I unplug the Harp Shield the amps starts feeding back like crazy and I have to turn down....In the first video when I was stepping on and off pedals the amp started feeding back I turned up the sensitivity knob and it stopped....Im assuming yall have obviously tried playing your rigs at the same volume and settings with then without the pedal as I have.... so I guess I don't know. In the studio recently I a/b'd it with the Kinder AFB box and found the shield to be way better at fighting feedback ....maybe Ill have to make a video using only the shield. I for one would not be doing gigs and recordings with it and defintley not trying to sell them if I thought they didn't work right on any level. bI can literally hear the thing working if I turn the sensitivity knob up to high hear it gating and creating a delay in reaction time form blowing to audible notes....I wish Randy would post here...I would advise calling him or emailing him or me for that matter. Meow
The octave reduces feedback the higher you crank it
The new antifeedback seems to work the way I expected. You can get maybe a bit more volume as it will help between playing but it's not going to change the fact that It is for when signal is stopping. It prevents screeching when the cup is released. Not during play.
A kinder afb works great at suppressing feedback from actually raising the volume on an amp. At least near as I can tell I can get more afb than I need with it. It has a decent amount in common with a notch filter and the harp octave. In that it cuts the offending frequencies out and introduces additional harmonics like the octave.
Both pedals work differently and neither seems better than the other. Just different.
The harp attack is the much better pa preamp. If you are feeding back and can't hear yourself with the pa then the sound guy is likely an idiot
Last Edited by on Nov 11, 2012 7:07 AM
Also I wanted to say Jason that new compressor sounds good. Far more transparent than the bbe even at barely on settings.
For an effect one generally wants to sound as nonexistent as possible it seems great. Granted YouTube video plus computer listening clouding the actual nuance.
Had you ever experimented with a keely 2 knob by chance. That is what I used to use for guitar but it is out on loan and I never tried it for harp.
One of the things I alway look for in buying Harmonica related products, is high quality and ethics of the individual that makes or sells the product that I am buying. Greg Huemann is one such person and Randy Landry, Manufacturer of Lone Wolf products is another. They both stand behind their products.
Nice Vids, Jason. BTW, we had our annual Crescent City Harmonica Blues Review last night, and the guys were asking about you. Keep in touch please.
