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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
The many anti-feedback pedal options
The many anti-feedback pedal options
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digitalshrub
57 posts
Apr 27, 2018
1:46 PM
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Hi all, please forgive me, as I know there have been many posts on this topic. But I was curious about doing a roundup of all the anti-feedback pedals out there for us harmonica players, especially as there are some newer options. While I’m interested in the “hows” of these effects pedals (e.g. “well, this one is more of an attenuator, versus this one that does an EQ thing..”), but *overall* I want to know what people like to use the most, and what makes the most sense.
The main harmonica-centric anti-feedback pedals, as I see them, are:
- Kinder AFB
- Squeal Killer
- Lone Wolf Mojo Pad/Mojo Pad Deluxe
- Memphis Mini Little Fatty
- Voodoo Box (the newest option)
From a price standpoint, I’m a little turned off by the Kinder and Squeal Killer...while I definitely have guitar pedals in the $300 price range, it’s difficult to justify spending that much on an anti-feedback pedal. At that point, it would make more sense (to me) to put that money towards an amp spec’d for playing harmonica.
The Mojo Pad, Little Fatty, and Voodoo Box are more appealing to my wallet as well as my aesthetic (I’d rather have a small pedal to toss in my harp case than something as ginormous as the Squeal Killer).
Any words of wisdom from those of you who’ve played around with these pedals would be most appreciated. Naturally, pedals aren’t the only way to tame feedback, but I’m not looking to turn this into a mic technique thread (though I’m aware It’s something I need to continue to work on). Thanks!
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Moon Cat
757 posts
Apr 27, 2018
1:57 PM
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We are missing the Harp Shield from Lone Wolf. I like the Kinder option but it does change your tone and the process results in your signal running through the dreaded solid state circuitry option. This is fine for most people and would be for me in a pinch but once you do hear the solid state sound it's pretty hard to un hear . I'm not a huge fan of padding signals as I tend to find all good tone on the edge of feedback any way. The Harp Shield is a a "Gated" solution rather than a frequency isolating one. It can be annoying if your playing real soft but it WORKS and does nothing to color your original tone. It does indeed take much getting use to. The best thing you can do is turn your tone controls down and volume up then adjust your tone and reduce volume then worry about the feedback boxes after you almost doubled your volume... Hope that helps.
www.mooncat.org
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digitalshrub
58 posts
Apr 27, 2018
2:04 PM
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Thanks Mooncat — I knew I was missing one!
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garry
719 posts
Apr 27, 2018
8:10 PM
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I had a Kinder, but never liked it much. It added a nasty metallic tone that I could never get rid of. I sold it and bought a Squeal Killer, which seemed to work well. Didn't entirely eliminate feedback, but made it much more controllable when it did hit. I could just back off a little and it'd be fine.
At the time I was using a Samson Airline 77 wireless unit, so I had a case with power and space for the SK. I've since replaced that wireless unit for Xvive U2, so I use a smaller case and skip the SK. Haven't missed it much. I spent some time tweaking my (modeling) amp settings, turning gain way down and volume up, such that my presets are just below the threshold of feedback. This way I have a known base setting where I don't have to worry about feedback, but can crank it higher if/when I need more volume, at the cost of having to pay more attention to it.
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harpoon_man
243 posts
Apr 28, 2018
6:54 AM
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I have a Kinder AFB+ and a Squeal Killer and use them both on a fairly regular basis. I don't think it's correct to broadly characterize the tone of an amp with the Kinder as harsh or solid state. If you set the knobs on the Kinder carefully, it can be very transparent but still work. The two most important knobs for avoiding the harsh sounds are the calibrate and AFB knobs.
Start with the calibrate knob (with the amp powered off) and play a note into the mic until the blue light flashes on/off when you play a loud note, then you're good there. [Edit: now, turn on the amp.] Next, turn up the AFB knob until you don't have problems with high-frequency feedback. Finally, adjust the UB knob to remove any low-frequency feedback or to suit your tastes (higher settings remove more mid-bass, and lower settings let more mid-bass through). Hope this helps!
Last Edited by harpoon_man on Apr 28, 2018 5:54 PM
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snowman
343 posts
Apr 28, 2018
8:40 PM
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i use standard mojo pad and a harp shield thru a peavy 4x 10 fake bassman ---I also now use a modified boss eq to help
these are the settings I use copied from online
Boss GE7 Setting for harp (1 0f 4)
Harp Freq Response = 174 – 3135 hz [not inc overtones]
100hz: If u r playing live, u can remove some of this
because that is bass player territory.
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200hz and 400hz:
This is where the low mids of the harp lives.
It dependes on the harp and the amp, but a boost here is usefull.
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800hz: level it at 0.
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1.6khz:
Where the definition of harp lives.
Boost here to cut the mix better.
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3.2khz:
remove a few db from here
if your tone knob does not goes this far
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6.4khz:
remove 5db to 10db. u dont use this frequencies
but your mic can pick it up really fast (feedback)
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I use a Cm element in a chopped turner I made--I can play pretty loud----loud enough to hear myself over the band---we mic everything for foh and monitors
hope this helps
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Barley Nectar
1358 posts
Apr 29, 2018
11:05 AM
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Best anti feedback is my VC. The less processing the better. Another peice of advice, do not stand in front of your amp. That ain't no geetar you got stuck in your face.
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