[Harp-L] Kinder AFB+ questions answered

["samblancato" <samblancato@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Some guy who didn't tell me his name/handle writes:

"I am considering getting one of these units. What amp and mic are you
using?"

I have a Holland with a 2x10 speaker configuration.  The Holland is a class
B amp I think you call it - 2 power tubes in a push pull set-up. I did ask
John Kinder about weather my amp was a good match for the AFB+ and he said
that it works best with amps that don't have two power controls as in a
Drive knob and a Master knob like my old Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.  He didn't
go into that issue any more than that.  He did say that since the Holland
had design features and circuits that made it similar to a Bassman it would
be a good match for the unit.

My Mic is a Blues Blaster body (JT-30) with the 151 element removed and
replaced with a Sure CR element.  I tried it with my Sure 520/CM mic and my
Electrovoice 641 and it worked with all of them.

JP writes: "

"a couple of questions, if you don't mind. how big is the unit?
how expensive is it? what are the controls like - does it just do
anti-feedback, or does it have any tone-shaping controls? also,
how does it connect to your rig?"

Its slightly bigger than your average effects peddle and takes 2 9v.
batteries. It has 3 knobs- UB which adjusts even order breakup harmonics,
AFB which adjusts odd order breakup harmonics (these two are the ones that
squelch the feedback) and Calibrate which sets the internal level.  this
middle knob acts sort of like a preamp in that it adds power to the signal.
This unit doesn't do anything but anti feedback but it does seem to add some
bass and some extra overdrive when you turn the calibrate knob up.  You
connect it to the amp by jacking the mic into the line-in jack and jacking
the box to the amp via the line-out jack just like any effects box. You can
chain other boxes with it but I haven't tried it in different orders. I do
it with a digital delay with the AFB+ first, then the Delay then the amp.
The unit costs $359 and there is no shipping charges.




mark writes:

"How did it effect the tone of your amp Sam? I got the impression that the
pedal takes away some of the sparkle or ring of an amp, but on the plus
side,
sounds good in a compressed, overdriven sort of way? Sound about right???"

I'd say that it does have a slightly more compressed sound but only when you
really play hard.  In other words, there is more of a spread in the
difference of tone from light playing to hard playing than I have without
this unit in the chain.  So far I haven't noticed the it removes sparkle or
ring.  The sound is a little bassier but at that same time I found myself
backing off the middle and treble controls - I put them at 1 whereas I
usually have them at 3.  If you set the calibrate knob all the way back at 7
o'clock, which is off, or all the way down, I can turn both amp channels (I
play through both the bright channel and the regular together via a cross
over using a patch cord) up to 10 and still get no feed back.  If I keep the
amp at 3 I can turn up the Calibrate knob and get almost the same volume but
with much more compression.  I prefer to keep the calibrate know low and use
the amp's volume controls.

It goes without saying that I don't have Rod Piazza's chops but it really
does have that Piazza sound - very, very fat, a little blurry, but with a
lot of cut too.  My only criticism, and it's not a little one, is that the
mic becomes very sensitive to every little nuance of playing.  But that was
my complaint when I first got the Holland amp and I got used to it after a
while.  The line-in jack on the AFB+ is set at a very high level of
impedance so the mic cartridge can develop it's actual, full tone so it
changes your mic's performance a little.  All my mics seem "hotter" with
this unit in the chain. I've been used to playing through a Boss equalizer
for several months now and I got used to that sound. The equalizer made it
possible to play louder but I lost lots of the mids in the tone.  But, you
know, you get used to the sound you spent time dialing in and when it
changes you have to get used to the different facets of the new tone so it's
still hard to tell; it's all so subjective.  At that same time, my own
actual tone has improved drastically in the past year so I've had to
re-evaluate my own sound so many times I'm not sure about that whole
continent of nuance.  I should also mention that I use a 5Y3 rectifier, and
2 of the preamp tubes are 12AY7s.  I might decide to go back to the 12AX7s
and a higher gain rectifier tube now that I can get around the feedback
issues.  Yippee!



Sam Blancato, Pittsburgh