[Harp-L] Re: Organ sounds on harp

[Mike Fugazzi <mikefugazzi@xxxxxxxxx>]

Any of the Line 6 M series or POD HD's will let you do all three
effects at once.  There are a several patches that get you the low
octave and you can use one of two devices to get the upper octave.
They you will, of course, use the rotary/drum model...which is ok.
Had I known about the HD's before getting the M9, I would have gotten
the 300HD the second they came out!

Total cost?  Well, new, anywhere from $300 on up depending on what you
buy.  However, you can get the M9 like I have for well under $300
used.  It works great for harp, BUT it won't sound as good as one of
the EHX POG/HOG pedals with something like a DLS Rotosim or H&K
Rotosphere.  Not all the models track chords well.

With the M9, you have access to six effects per scene on the pedal
board.  You can run any three at once.  You can actually set and cycle
through up to 24 "different" pedal boards.  I have to official ones
set up, but will now try Richard's suggestion on my "main" board of
six.  I run a delay separate from the M9, although I wouldn't have to
- my signal would be dry if it takes me three patches to do the B3.
The pedal is true bypass and typically off with a BBE Two Timer delay
always on.

I haven't tried it yet, but several guitar players have posted a two
patch B3 sound that uses a synth patch with the rotary patch.  To be
honest, until this week, I just played octaves into the rotary model.

My main board on the M9 is the bass octaver, ring mod, auto-wah,
rotary, octo, and tape echo.  My second board is all super crazy
effects that I don't use a whole lot...things like a bass synth, sweep
echo, particle verb, etc.

I started a third and fourth board as well.  One is all delays/verbs
and the last one is my experimental patches.  The M9 is great as I
rarely use and non-delay effect more than 1-3 times a set.  Meaning
many of those get used once a night and it didn't make sense to buy a
separate pedal.

All this being said, if I played in a rock band as a sideman, I'd snag
a EHX Micro POG or POG 2 and a H&K Rotosphere for my rhythm tones.  I
would BE the B3 in a band.  You could do it on harp, totally.

Mike





On Oct 23, 6:00 pm, Richard Hunter <turtleh...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> There's been a lot of discussion this week on how to get a great organ sound from harp.  I've been doing a lot of experimenting since Jorge posted his video, and here are a few of the things I've discovered.
>
> 1) A rotating speaker effect is necessary to get an organ sound, but in itself it's not completely convincing. If it's all you've got, better than nothing.    
>
> 2) In addition to the rotating speaker, you want octave doubles. If you only have one FX device for that purpose, and it won't do multiple octaves at once (which is what an Electro-Harmonix POG does), you use an octave up or two octaves up.  If you can, you use octave doubles up and down.  With most FX devices, that means using more than one device for the octaves.
>
> 3) You put the high octave doubler after the rotating speaker effect.  That gives it a lot of high-end cut, very much like a rock band Hammond.
>
> One thing I haven't tried yet is setting up one of the RPs to do a different interval than a high octave or double octave, such as a 17th (octave plus a 5th).  You can do that on a Hammond organ using the drawbars, and it might be very cool.  
>
> Jorge showed that you could do all this with two devices: a POG and a Korg G9 (I think), which he said was no longer in production.  If you're using anything but a POG or a HOG, you'd need three devices: two for low and high octave doubles, and one for the rotating speaker.  
>
> I'm using the second setup, with three Digitech RPs, on a loop I recorded last night. I'll post the results here soon.  
>
> The cost of Jorge's setup is at least $375 new, and could be as much as $525 depending on which rotary speaker effect you use. (Behringer makes a stompbox that sells for $50, Roland makes one the goes for $200. It has to be something besides the Korg unit that Jorge uses, since that's no longer in production. It costs $324 for the POG.) The cost of 3 RPs is about $450, fifty dollars more if one of the RPs is a 355.  Three RPs will do a lot more than either a POG or a rotating speaker, of course, starting with reverbs and delays, not to mention a lot of other FX and sounds.  But that's how many RPs you need to do two harmony voices plus a rotating speaker.
>
> So basically, if you want to get a really good organ sound out of a harp, you need at least $375 worth of FX (less of course if you can get one or more of the pieces at a discount, used, etc.), and probably more like $450-500.  The good news is that you really will get a great organ sound at that price, and that's a very nice sound to get.
>
> Regards, Richard Hunter
>
> author, "Jazz Harp"
> latest mp3s and harmonica blog athttp://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
> more mp3s athttp://taxi.com/rhunter
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