Harmony Pedals? What's out there?

[miserneil]

As a total FX novice (I have only ever used an A/B box and something to make it louder!) I am looking into a Harmony pedal as my band are experimenting with Allman Bros type harmony guitar lines....and we only have one guitar player, me.

So other than a thread in the Personnel section, how can I get a twin harmony guitar part live? :-)

[Bidley]

There's the Boss Harmonist and PS-5, the Mooer Pitchbox will do it too.

[swlabr]

As a total FX novice (I have only ever used an A/B box and something to make it louder!) I am looking into a Harmony pedal as my band are experimenting with Allman Bros type harmony guitar lines....and we only have one guitar player, me.

So other than a thread in the Personnel section, how can I get a twin harmony guitar part live? :-)

Also interested in this thread. After son octave pedal with harmoniser.

There's the Boss Harmonist and PS-5, the Mooer Pitchbox will do it too.

Bit complicated the large number of Boss octavers out there. Any real difference? What about the MIJ Boss PS-2, any good compared to the others?

Aparte from the POG, POG2 and MicroPOG, the Digitech Whammy, and the mooer (don't know if the Pure octave is any good), I've encountered an interesting Earthquaker Organizer. Anyone have experience with one of these?

[Not_the_DJ]

The Micro Pog/Pog 2 are only octave up/down so I'm not sure they'll suit the OP.

It's worth considering something like the Line 6 M5 or Zoom G3, both of which have full harmony capability, and a load of other stuff besides.

[ICBM]

Bit complicated the large number of Boss octavers out there. Any real difference? What about the MIJ Boss PS-2, any good compared to the others?

Only the Harmonist and the PS-5 are harmonisers. The others are either octavers (OC-2 analogue, OC-3 digital) or digital pitch shifters with fixed intervals. The PS-2 has variable pitch shift but not in a harmony sense, you just set it to a specific amount, which does not have to be a whole note value. Great for whacky space noises (especially with the feedback set high) which is why it's still popular, and it does have a tonality that MIJ Boss fans like, but it won't play harmony parts.

[flanging_fred]

Digitech harmony man
Eventide pitch factor

[Col.Decker]

I had a Boss PS-5 for a bit. Ditched it in the end though as I had real trouble with string bends thru it, almost as if the Harmonised note was auto-tuning up to the next note in the key instead of the 'blue note' I was playing. YMMV

see them on ebay quite often

[ragingben]

I had the Mooer Pitchbox, and while in general I thought it was a good pedal, the harmonizing was not to my tastes. It has no way of adjusting the level of the harmony, and to my ear it was a 50/50 dry/wet mix, which just didn't cut it fo me. I found that the pedal made my original 'dry' signal soiund very processed and not at all natural, and the harmonized 'wet' part of the signal even worse.

[Not_the_DJ]

I had a Boss PS-5 for a bit. Ditched it in the end though as I had real trouble with string bends thru it, almost as if the Harmonised note was auto-tuning up to the next note in the key instead of the 'blue note' I was playing. YMMV

see them on ebay quite often

I've had similar experiences. Never got any of the ones I've tried to sound any good. Lots of great ideas to do Thin Lizzy style harmonies, but it always sounded cack.

[Bidley]

What everyone else said. This is something you need to spend a bit of money on if you want to use it as a big part of your sound (and even then you won't get anything as good as a second guitarist). I've not used it but the Boss Harmonist might be a good bet for the cheapest option.