Hi Guys, I've never been much into the use of effects pedals with harmonica but there's a few tunes I do with my band where I play the keyboard parts and I thought it might be fun to try out pedals that might produce more of a hammond organ sound. Does anyone have an suggestions of particular types of pedal and particular brands that would work well with Harmonica?
The Strymon Lex is excellent and harp friendly if dialed in correctly, but it is a PITA to adjust. I have it on a pedal board with a Micro POG and the organ sound is very convincing. The Lex responds well to technique.
But my favorite is the Hammmond Leslie G pedal which I have on my other board with a Micro POG that has the analog man true bypass mod. I love the G pedal's ease of use and it is also harmonica friendly, responds well to technique and sounds convincing.
To do it right, besides the octave divider in front of the rotary sound pedal you also need a delay pedal at the end of the chain. Both the Lex and the G pedal are true bypass. Both are superior to what is heard on the vid. If used properly, both are capable of causing experienced musicians to walk up to the stage to look for the keyboard when there is none.
Last Edited by hvyj on Jul 18, 2015 7:46 AM
I got the Behringer Rotary Machine RM600 a few years back for my Leslie sound and I really love it. There are a lot of pedals which are more expensive and probably have better tone but for the price you really can't beat this pedal.
It sounds VERY good and has a lot of tweaking options.
A cautionary note: you need to be VERY CAREFUL using this type of set up. Remember, a harmonica can't build chords like a keyboard can. We are stuck with the primitive chords and chord fragments the harmonica offers. So you have to be selective about what you play and when. It's easy to get carried away so you really need to watch yourself.
I love my EHX pitch fork for octave effect and Option 5 Destination Rotation Single for rotation effect (it is a full analog emulator of fender vibratone).
In this video I've used pitch fork with vst plugin leslie simulator. But I like the sound of option 5 better, it's cleaner and warmer with good natural growl. I've used it during recording of my last album (please see CDBABY link) ---------- Konstantin Kolesnichenko(Ukraine) my new album on CDBaby my music
Last Edited by wheel on Jul 19, 2015 11:19 AM
I have like new Digitech Digital Delay and Multi Chorus, I would sell both for 160 plus shipping. Multi Chorus has unique, more of a organ type sound. ---------- And I Thank You !! KCz Backwoodz Bluz
It would be REALLY interesting to hear an example of the Behringer RM 600 with harmonica. The price is so extremely low compared to other pedals that I get somewhat suspicious ... but I´m seriously considering it as something to use to increase my backing options with a more organlike sound.
I use the Styrymon Lex, which takes time to dial in, and ALWAYS get compliments from the crowd and bands. I do not use an octave effect with it. I just play octaves and chords.
