Pedal for harmonica?

Jonnytexas

Active member
I have a good buddy I used to gig with who is a fantastic blues harmonica player. In a recent conversation, he said he would love a pedal to give him a little hair or grease while possibly having some eq options to tame highs and possibly boost bass. What would be a good PPCB option? Some type of mild OD with eq? Was thinking about doing a double with a reverb. He said he used to have a Lone Wolf pedal that he loved. Thanks in advance for any ideas you may have.
 
He currently has a Harp Octave, which he says is ok. He used to have a Harp Attack which he described as sounding" just like a tweed Bassman". Has a little mini-tube apparently.
 
A lot of guitar dirt circuits accentuate the mids. I think reasons include
-Some guitar amps such as Fender black panel era have a midscoop in the Bass-Mid-Treble tone stack, so a TS or Klon can fill that back in
-Mids are the frequency range that guitars most prominently fill in a mix, so accentuating Mids helps fill that role.
-Mids on guitar can sound cool
-With dirt, lows get muddy and highs get brittle, so combatting these naturally leads to a mid-focused result.

I don't know if all these apply to harmonica the same way. I think the Timmy would be a good place to start, simple to use the EQ but covers a wide range. Also, the Tommy V3 the hi-gain switch so it'll for sure get him in the right gain range one way or another
 
A lot of guitar dirt circuits accentuate the mids. I think reasons include
-Some guitar amps such as Fender black panel era have a midscoop in the Bass-Mid-Treble tone stack, so a TS or Klon can fill that back in
-Mids are the frequency range that guitars most prominently fill in a mix, so accentuating Mids helps fill that role.
-Mids on guitar can sound cool
-With dirt, lows get muddy and highs get brittle, so combatting these naturally leads to a mid-focused result.

I don't know if all these apply to harmonica the same way. I think the Timmy would be a good place to start, simple to use the EQ but covers a wide range. Also, the Tommy V3 the hi-gain switch so it'll for sure get him in the right gain range one way or another
Thanks!!
 
I'm thinking Barbershop (PedalPCB Chop Shop), but it's limited in its EQ abilities.


A few Harp Players I know like to blast through Fender Champs, 5E3 or even a Blues Jr... so maybe a Fender AIAB ?
Drive 55
Compare to Catalinbread Formula 55


ORRR...

These would be the ones I'd explore, but then I blow at playing harp (I've heard you actually have to suck at it):



Blues Captain Overdrive
Compare to MI Blue Boy Deluxe

Blues Lawyer Overdrive
Compare to MI Audio Super Blues Pro

Complex Overdrive
Compare to Friedman Smallbox Overdrive

Dirty Sanchez OD
Compare to Friedman Dirty Shirley

Little Debbie
Compare to Friedman BE-OD and Dirty Shirley

Decadence Preamp
Compare to Peavey Decade

Derailer Overdrive
Compare to Ethos TWE-1

Frost Drive
Compare to VFE Ice Scream

Sea Monk Overdrive
Compare to VFE Merman

Lamb Chop
Compare to Way Huge Pork Loin

Mojito Deluxe Overdrive (Boneyard Edition)
PedalPCB Custom Shop

Mystery Machine

Stockade Overdrive
Compare to EQD Palisades
Valve Stem Overdrive
Compare to MI Audio Tube Zone
 
I'm thinking Barbershop (PedalPCB Chop Shop), but it's limited in its EQ abilities.


A few Harp Players I know like to blast through Fender Champs, 5E3 or even a Blues Jr... so maybe a Fender AIAB ?
Drive 55
Compare to Catalinbread Formula 55


ORRR...

These would be the ones I'd explore, but then I blow at playing harp (I've heard you actually have to suck at it):



Blues Captain Overdrive
Compare to MI Blue Boy Deluxe

Blues Lawyer Overdrive
Compare to MI Audio Super Blues Pro

Complex Overdrive
Compare to Friedman Smallbox Overdrive

Dirty Sanchez OD
Compare to Friedman Dirty Shirley

Little Debbie
Compare to Friedman BE-OD and Dirty Shirley

Decadence Preamp
Compare to Peavey Decade

Derailer Overdrive
Compare to Ethos TWE-1

Frost Drive
Compare to VFE Ice Scream

Sea Monk Overdrive
Compare to VFE Merman

Lamb Chop
Compare to Way Huge Pork Loin

Mojito Deluxe Overdrive (Boneyard Edition)
PedalPCB Custom Shop

Mystery Machine

Stockade Overdrive
Compare to EQD Palisades
Valve Stem Overdrive
Compare to MI Audio Tube Zone
Thanks for such a detailed and thoughful response.
 
Thanks for such a detailed and thoughful response.


I tried to stick to the mandate of "mild overdrive with EQ", and there just seemed too many great choices.


One more suggestion...


I've no idea how the Drebbel would sound with Harp, it's meant to be a Bass Preamp, but it's very cool on bass with powerful EQ options (I wanted to include it in my previous post).

EMU for another powerful tone-shaper:




For the reverb, you could go with simple, the Sproing, or the Sproing Deluxe and then your buddy would have tremolo, to boot.
However, depending on which PCB for the dirt you get, with the Deluxe it may take a 1590DD to house it all.



A more manageable combo pedal would be to select 2 x 1590N1-sized — as that will fit a 1590XX.


Once you've selected a Dirt-EQ circuit, for the additional effect...

I highly recommend checking out the FV-1 projects MODULE8 and OCTAGON








The Arachnid is the same as the Module8 and the Octagon, except you (or your friend) can select the eight algorithms to be included in the pedal, via the EEPROM BUILDER. A bespoke set of reverb, &/or delay, &/or chorus and more.

There is some overlap between the MODULE8 and the OCTAGON, so perhaps an ARACHNID with custom EEPROM is the way to go.

EEPROM-BUILDER ——————— MODULE8 8️⃣ —— OCTAGON ✳️ —— SPATIALIST ✴️ — — MY CHOICES FOR HARP 😺


REV001 — Hypernova ✳️ ✴️
REV002 — Glimmer ✳️ ✴️
REV003 — Spring 😺
REV004 — Blackface
REV005 — Brownface
REV006 — Spatialist Room ✴️
REV007 — Spatialist Hall ✴️ 😺
REV008 — Spatialist Chamber ✴️
REV009 — Spatialist Cavern ✴️
REV010 — Spatialist Pitchverb ✴️ 😺
REV011 — Spatialist Touchverb ✴️
PIT001 — Dual Pitch Shifter ✳️ 😺
PIT002 — Pitch Modulator 8️⃣
FIL001 — LoFi Machine ✳️
FIL003 — Sample Hold Filter
FIL003 — Filter Modulator 8️⃣
MOD001 — Chorus 8️⃣
MOD002 — Flanger 8️⃣ 😺
MOD003 — Phaser 8️⃣
MOD004 — Tremolo
MOD005 — Harmonic Tremolo 8️⃣ ✳️
MOD006 — Pulsar 8️⃣
MOD007 — Ring Mod 8️⃣ 😺
DLY001 — DigiDelay
DLY002 — Modulated Delay ✳️
DLY003 — Tape Delay 😺
DLY004 — Pitch Delay ✳️
DLY005 — Space Delay
DLY006 — Kaleidoscope ✳️
UNI001 — Unison Dual Detune
UNI002 — Unison Modulated
UNI003 — Unison Double Take 😺

I find Flanger can fake chorus or sound phaser-ish, but not the opposite way around — not sure if the controls on the FV-1's Flanger have enough adjustment to do that, but nonetheless I'd go with Flanger for modulation. A few Reverb choices, as I imagine 'verb would be a staple — Spring natch (but Blackface or Brownface could be subbed), a good hall as counterpoint to the spring, and lastly a Spatialist PitchVerb for a one-two punch.

Tape Delay chosen for its repeats' ability to get out of the way of the clean signal. Unison double-tracker for a thickener. Dual Pitch Shifter for a more complex rich thickening of tone.

I threw Ring Mod in as a wild-card, might not sound good with Harp, though. 🤷‍♂️
The other wild-card if I were to replace Ring Mod would be Sample Hold Filter.
I can imagine what harmonica sounds like through a Ring Mod, but can't imagine the Sample Hold Filter — would love to hear what that sounds like.


Again, I don't play harmonica, wish I could if only to build a cool board for it; so my choices are best-guesstimates, at best.
 
For a very short time i was the soundman of a band with a harmonica player. He used a tube preamp the HK Crunchmaster or HK Tubeman to go into the PA. I used a low gain tube in it, a12au7 or something. Sounded pretty good.
 
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Ok, it lives. I ended up doing a Black Tiger Boost into a Luxury 763 OD into a Sproing reverb. The Black Tiger and Sproing were fairly easy choices having built and used both in the past. The OD choice was much more difficult; there are a lot of good options here at PedalPCB for low gain OD's. Having built many, I settled on the Luxury 763 for its overall tone and simple yet effective EQ. Everything works as expected very quietly with no switch popping.

I took the pedal to my friend's gig and we fiddled around for a few minutes. I was shocked how easily those damn bullet mics feed back!! He was able to get it dialed in and loved it. The Sproing is definitely a nice complement to the harmonica. Boost was usable. 763 sounded amazing at lower gain levels. It really didn't take much to grease up the harmonica tone in a very pleasing way. I am going to do a quick mod next time I see him to lessen the overall gain on the 763 as he reported not really wanting anymore than around 1/2 of the available gain. I guess I will tack a 500k resistor across the gain pot? If anyone has a better idea, I'm all ears, but I dont want to take it all apart if possible!! My drilling sucks and my pedals aren't the neatest, but it sure works great and made my buddy happy, so mission accomplished. Thanks for all the suggestions!!
Harmonica triple 1.jpg Harmonica triple 2.jpg
 
Very cool. Yeah a 500k across the volume would do it.

The 763 circuit is pretty similar to the Timmy, but the HPF is set at a higher frequency (where it cuts lows, unless the lows knob is turned up) (R3 and C1)

A trick you could take from the Timmy is 2:2 diodes instead of 1:1. This would also basically reduce the gain since it would have a higher clipping threshold
 
The best way to solve the gain issue would be to just use an A500K instead of a B500K IMHO. Or even an A250K. But your solution should do the trick.

And I second @phi1 's idea. Both mods would make the OD easier to use. Glad it worked out! You're a good friend.
 
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