Re: [Harp-L] RE: Squeal Killer

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lare Sattler wrote:
<I tried another anti feedback device that I won't name because I know they make fine equipment and the following is my personal <opinion. The pedal seemed to fight feedback, but I didn't care for the effect it had on the tone. I use small amps and need to be able to turn them up, and the Squeal Killer does a very good job of fighting feedback and the only effect on the tone, I found favorable. IMHO it was a good investment!
***

Feedback usually occurs in a specific frequency range--whatever range is being hyped by the signal chain, the room, the environment, any or all.  Anti-feedback devices react to excessive energy in a specific frequency range by suppressing those frequencies. In doing so, they necessarily change the tone.  

Different devices will certainly change the tone in different ways, depending on how the designers implement a given device's feedback detection and suppression algorithms.  I think it's useful to discuss specific devices and the ways in which they do the job, just as it's useful to discuss the sounds of particular amps, mics, etc.

Mark Hummel told me that he wouldn't have survived a particular Latin American tour without a Kinder anti-feedback device that compensated for the bad behavior of a lot of the backline amps he encountered.  That said, I've never heard a clip in which the use of any anti-feedback device was explicitly identified, and never used one myself, so I have no real idea of what one sounds like, except that it's different.

Thanks, Richard Hunter