Re: [Harp-L] Harp King "AFB" Box or Harp Commander?

["samblancato" <samblancato@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ronald,

 

I can't speak about the Harp Commander because I've never tried one.  I do
have the Kinder Anti Feed-Back + unit and can tell you it's worth every
penny - with certain conditions.  1.  This unit works best with tube amps
wherein the circuitry is simple.  An amp like a Fender Bassman, Princeton,
Super Reverb, or the like, where there is very little solid state circuitry,
are the best candidates for using a Kinder unit.  With these amps it does
wonders and can be used to eliminate feed-back and also to enhance the tone
of the amp by adding, if you so choose, a very nice gain/compression.  I
have tried to use it with a Fender Hot Rod and a Blues Junior, both amps
with a "fat switch" circuit and solid state rectifiers, and the Kinder Unit
didn't work as well.  The unit works by getting rid of the odd and even wave
harmonics off the top of the signal, and amps with fancy electronics that
loop the signal through the pre-amp faze a number of times, adding lots of
texture and what not, tend to un-do what the Kinder unit is doing.  If you
have a classic tube amp, it's a great tool.  If you have a modern amp with
lots of bells and whistles like a Line 6 or those mentioned above it's not
gong to work as well.  

 

Somebody else mentioned using an equalizer pedal to help fight feed-back and
I can vouch for that.  Before I got the Kinder unit I used a Boss Equalizer
pedal for feed-back and it really helped a lot.  I still use the Boss pedal
for shaping in my effects chain.  But the Kinder unit really enables me to
play VERY LOUD if I want to.  I can turn it all the way up if I want
(although I don't - who really wants to play that loud?  If it has to be
that loud then I'm going home).  And as I said, it adds a degree of gain to
your sound that you may or may not want.  I like it, but some may not.  That
real super crunchy texture that you hear in Rod Piazza's newer CDs and in
his live performances comes partly from the kinder electronics that are in
his amp.  He helped to develop the Harp King and the various outboard units
that Kinder sells like the Anti Feed-Back +.  It's expensive but it's worth
it.  

 

Sam Blancato, Pittsburgh