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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Just won a Lone Wolf Harmonica Effects Pedal
Just won a Lone Wolf Harmonica Effects Pedal
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Blocker
53 posts
Jun 01, 2010
3:35 PM
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I am a member of David Barrett's BluesHarmonica.com and I have been drawn out of the hat to win an LW effects pedal.
I quite excited, as I didn't even know the draw was on! I was able to pick a pedal up to $155.00 in value. I ended up choosing the Harp Break pedal.
I have no experience with any pedals; can anyone who has one share their opinion.
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omaha
14 posts
Jun 01, 2010
4:11 PM
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Mazel Tov!! We got to play around with Randy's effects pedals and they were all awesome. The trouble is trying to decide which to get!
Randy is a great guy and does great work. In fact, just today I sent him a Epiphone Valve Jr to customize. Not sure what pedal I want though.
Adam G just uses a delay and Billy Branch had a delay and an octave pedal. I'm sure what ever you get you'll have fun with.
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Tuckster
564 posts
Jun 01, 2010
5:11 PM
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First thing we need to know: do you have an amp? If not, you might want to opt for the Harp Attack,so you can play it through the PA.
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Blocker
54 posts
Jun 01, 2010
9:01 PM
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Thanks guys, yes I do have an amp. I have a Roland Cube 20x and my mic is a Superlux D112.
I haven't been playing very long (approx 18mths) and I was one of those guys who got all excited when starting out and tried amplification way too early, without developing any sort of tone at all, only to find out that now not only did I sound bad, but I was also very loud and bad :)
I don't totally regret buying the gear though, as I still enjoy plugging my ipod into the aux and jamming along, also the amp also has some effects that I play about with, but of course it’s not a tube amp and doesn’t sound a warm as some I seen online.
I never would have bought a pedal like this however, so winning one is a great opportunity to play around and try and improve the sound I'm producing.
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htownfess
119 posts
Jun 01, 2010
9:25 PM
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Blocker, you are in luck, congrats.
@Tuckster: Harp Break is the SS counterpart to the Harp Attack so he's good to go straight in the PA.
Amp drill below. For PA use I suggest this: Set pedal volume halfway up and modest amount of drive, maybe 10 o'clock? Need for dirt from the Drive knob varies by player/mic but the main idea is not to overdo it so that it doesn't sound like harsh SS overdrive. Bring the volume up in the house at the PA, not too much gain on the channel if the PA has a knob for that.
The Bass Boost is something else you do not want to overdo--it's most useful in helping out mics that inherently lack bottom end by filling that out a bit, but too much makes bass feedback a problem. A given mic will tend to need consistent amounts of Drive and Bass Boost and you can mark those with a Sharpie for reference, but until I know what a mic tends to need (if any boost) I leave the pedal's Bass off to set the PA.
PA EQ drill: First make friends with whoever runs sound or owns the PA :-). Start with PA bass boosted a little, treble backed off a little, mids backed off a little also if there's a mid knob, and bring the house volume up so you can hear your cupped harp clearly. Do not use any monitor volume yet, listen to the house sound.
Cup up a G or A harp and play a sustained 2Dbb bend and bring the bass up till it doesn't increase anymore, then back it off below that point where it turned muddy. Check mids by turning them down and playing 3D bends on the same harp and working your hand wahs. Bring the mids up till your wahs pop out the way you want as you work them. Then turn PA treble down and play a sustained 4D note, bring treble up till you get the definition you want on the note.
Then bring house volume full up and see what you've got. You can run through the EQ test again to confirm but once usually gets it. Check Drive level, are you too dirty or clean? Changing Drive will affect your volume and it's best to compensate for that at the PA if sound checking, then the player can compensate on the fly with the pedal volume knob if needed. You can check Bass boosting once the PA EQ is set, but watch for bass feedback; like I said, bass boosting is more aimed at specific mics that could use more meat, rather than something used all the time. Bring monitor volume up last & don't overdo it; work on listening to the sound out front as much as possible. Add reverb last if desired.
Bet that sounded a lot more complex than it is; you'll master the drill quickly and it gets still quicker when you get familiar with PAs in given venues. *Write down EQ/volume settings that work.* You are at the mercy of what the overall EQ settings for the PA, their graphic EQ field for example, but if they've done a good job with that, it's easy to get a good Harp Break sound. I can see that I ought to try to make a demo video of this PA process, though, might be able to enlist Sonny Boy Terry to do it with me this week.
You can run the Harp Break into your amp--set the amp EQ as you like for harp, use modest Drive on the Harp Break to feed the amp an overdriven tone. Run the amp clean, get the overdrive from the pedal. You should be able to work that one out for yourself at home--the EQ drill's easier without people watching :-). Superlux is a mic that can use a little bass boosting.
The Harp Break doesn't eat batteries but won't sound good on a weak battery. If you use a wall wart for AC, using a music-specific one can be better because the hum filtering will be better.
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Blocker
55 posts
Jun 02, 2010
12:31 AM
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htownfess, mate wow thanks for the info. Its great for a newbie to get specific info like that as there appears to be endless options in terms of settings.
The pedal will only be getting a workout at home for the time being, as I'm not sure the general puplic is ready for my level of playing just yet :)
My amp comes with a clean channel and and a lead channel where you can select a number of effects. I gather the clean channel is the go, and then let the pedal break up the sound
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