Re: [Harp-L] Octave Effect T

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Tom Albanese" wrote:
<What's your general opinion of octave effects for amplified harp? What are
<you using and why do you like it? I see a lot of Boss OC-2 and 3 pedals out
<there on ebay for not a lot of $$ but don't know if they're much good for
<harp or not. I know Lone Wolf is coming out with one but not sure if it's on
<the market yet. I'm playing in a project with harp as the horn section on
<some soul/R&B type stuff and I'd like to get a feeling of more than one 
<horn playing. Thanks.

I love octave doublers.  One of the biggest issues with harp is that the instrument just doesn't put out a lot of energy at low frequencies, so you can't slam the big low notes like a tenor sax can.  A decent octave doubler solves that problem for sure. 

I've heard a number of people using POGs, and they do have a great sound.  If you've got $400 to spend, that might be the way to go.  The key advantage of the HOG and POG is that they give you MULTIPLE simultaneous octaves (and other intervals too in the case of the HOG)--I think up to 3 or 4 at once.  So you can get a sound as big as your speakers will handle.

I use the pitch shifter effect in the Digitech RP200, and it's very good for a single-octave doubler.  It tracks very accurately all the way up and down the harp, on chords and single notes, with a very nice, full tone.  You can also assign the level of octave doubling to the foot pedal, so you can fade it in and out on demand. I can tell you that a lot of people's heads turn in my direction when I crank that thing up. The device has been discontinued, but there are plenty of them in good to excellent condition available used for prices ranging from $70 to $90 (check daddys.com, reputable dealer that offers a 15-day moneyback guarantee).  I think it's great value for money.  The newer Digitech devices, like the RP250 and 350, also have octave doublers, but I haven't worked with those devices so can't comment.  

I would avoid the Boss OC-2 in particular.  Jason Ricci uses one as a compressor, but it's not a great octave doubler for harp--won't do chords, won't track above the halfway point on most diatonics, sounds more like a bass than a horn.  The OC-3 may be a different story, but I haven't tried it so can't say.

You can hear the POG on Hazmat Modine's records.  You can hear the RP200 on my recording of "In The Night" at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp. For that track, I played the harp part twice, once with and once without the octave doubler.  Pretty fat sound.

Final comment: octave doublers put out a lot of energy in the low frequencies, pretty much by definition.  If you're going to use one, you probably want a 12" speaker in your speaker cabinet.  8" speakers are great and I love them, but they're not the thing you use to shake the floor with your dinosaur roar.

Final final comment: getting the sound of two horns playing, as opposed to one instrument putting out a bigger sound, takes more than just doubling the octaves.  You might want to think about putting a very short delay between the harp and the octave doubler effect, or putting a phaser or chorus on one or the other, so you can simulate two players playing very slightly differently, like human beings do.  Otherwise, it just sounds like a big harp, which is cool (hey, the bigger the better), but not the same as a horn section.  The Digitech would let you put a delay on the doubled part, but only after the double, not before it.  You'd also need a signal splitter box to let you send the mic signal to two paths at once, but those are pretty cheap, like $35 for a Morley A/B/Y pedal (path A, path B, or both at once).

Regards, Richard Hunter