Effects for Harp

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxx>]

BradKava@xxxx wrote:
> So, please, don't go all blues or acoustic tone nazi on me....just 
> let me know if you have some fun effects...

First, just learn how to play...  okay, I'm just kidding!

I have an amp with an Alesis Midiverb IV installed, though I don't 
really use it for "effects" -- just a bit of reverb.  I do, however, 
play through a couple of stomp boxes, a Boss OC2 and a Digitech 
SynthWah.  Both of these boxes have their limitations.  The OC2 seems 
to fail to recognize notes that are too low in picth, making it 
difficult to use with harps pitched lower than about D.  The SynthWah 
is a great effect, but it takes quite a bit of messing about with it 
to get the sound you want.  The range of sensitivity seems quite 
different from one effect to the next, though this is likely a 
product of running a microphone rather than a guitar through it.  I 
did find one setup that I like quite a bit, which is the standard 
envelope.  Preceeding the SynthWah with the OC2 makes for a nice 
synth-horn sound, provided you don't try playing a lot of chords and 
octaves through it.  Thanks to Richard Hunter for suggesting placing 
the OC2 ahead of the SynthWah, as it tends to make the input a little 
more "synthetic" sounding, which in this case is a good thing (to 
me).  

- -tim