Been a while since we had a HARMONIC PERCOLATOR thread, no?

[penelope tree]

How are the HP or clones with bass...as far as holding the low end?

I think the Fredric clone definitely cuts bass frequencies (but it wouldn't usually be a problem with a guitar in standard tuning).

[frodog]

Tried a Nine of Swords Headache a friend got recently.. sounded good but extremely loud and it came with a bad input jack.

[agiant]

I am also in love with my Chuck Collins HP-1.



FWIW I've had a Chuck Collins percolator in studio and side-by-side with the studio's old school percolator. They sound essentially the same. Minor differences of the kind you would espect as tolerance in any production run of something. I wouldn't hesitate to use the Collins pedal anywhere I was using my Percolator
Steve Albini (electrical audio forum post).

[frigid midget]

Tried a Nine of Swords Headache a friend got recently.. sounded good but extremely loud and it came with a bad input jack.

Hmmm...Seems like I made the right choice than :/

Another side question, now that I've got the attention of the HP connaisseurs: Any (type of) dirt pedals in particular to try or avoid when it comes to stacking?
It'll be a trial and error thing for sure, I'll experiment with what's in my arsenal at the moment...But I'm just curious what others are doing

[skullservant]

The one that I built in that photo is more of a solid drive than crazy fuzz. Doesn't do the oscillation as I used different transistors than the normal pair

[frigid midget]

The one that I built in that photo is more of a solid drive than crazy fuzz. Doesn't do the oscillation as I used different transistors than the normal pair

Didn't even know a "normal" version could oscillate

[soapbars]

I have owned 5 different percolators and currently have 3.

Headache
The nine of swords one is a cool fuzz box but the least accurate in terms of re-creating the sound of the original, doesn't really do the low gain stuff very well. The dude who makes them is super cool though, I sent him a message before buying and the moved the knobs away from the bypass switch.

Fredric Effects
This one is pretty cool and very accurate, I know there are a bunch of options out there I can't really remember what mine was. had a 3 way switch for stock, silicon or germanium diodes. It was fairly accurate sounding, although I don't think it was true bypass and although that doesn't bother me it did something to other fuzz boxes I was running.

Chuck Colins
I've got an early one without the decal, it's cool, sounds like you'd think. This is the one to get if you want a true percolator, however it comes with the same charms as the original, i.e. battery only, jacks backwards, and no led.

Catalinbread
The Karma Suture is great, easily the most versatile, the low gain sounds are really great. Still does the typical percolator thing, the controls are totally intuitive, I actually use this on my board as a clean(ish) boost and that's because it stacks perfectly with everything including a maxed out percolator.

Montgomery Appliances
This is my favourite, it's very close to the original but has a little extra bass and gain, the general tone, attack and decay are spot on. I'm pretty sure these aren't in production anymore but if you see one pop up buy it and end your percolator search.

None of them oscillate.

[oldangelmidnight]

Another side question, now that I've got the attention of the HP connaisseurs: Any (type of) dirt pedals in particular to try or avoid when it comes to stacking?
It'll be a trial and error thing for sure, I'll experiment with what's in my arsenal at the moment...But I'm just curious what others are doing

The ones I've had tend to be pretty noisy so you might want to avoid anything that'll add more noise. HPs can be fun to boost a Muff. I don't know that I've tried it with an octave down fuzz but now that I'm thinking about it, I want to.

[aedes]

Montgomery Appliances
This is my favourite, it's very close to the original but has a little extra bass and gain, the general tone, attack and decay are spot on. I'm pretty sure these aren't in production anymore but if you see one pop up buy it and end your percolator search.

I had one of these (it was the only one I've tried), but sold it. I tried to find another one for a while, but Dave (whoismarykelly) doesn't build any more, and he said that he only made 20-25 of them. I had arc effects build me one on the same specs as the MA one--it's fantastic. The one aaron built has two footswitches instead of the toggle for the diode lift that the MA had.

[whoismarykelly]

Montgomery Appliances
This is my favourite, it's very close to the original but has a little extra bass and gain, the general tone, attack and decay are spot on. I'm pretty sure these aren't in production anymore but if you see one pop up buy it and end your percolator search.

I had one of these (it was the only one I've tried), but sold it. I tried to find another one for a while, but Dave (whoismarykelly) doesn't build any more, and he said that he only made 20-25 of them. I had arc effects build me one on the same specs as the MA one--it's fantastic. The one aaron built has two footswitches instead of the toggle for the diode lift that the MA had.

Aaron bought a large number of components from me when I stopped building and those included all the 2N404 that I was using in the Harmonic Dominator. We chatted a bit when he built your pedal and I'm sure its extremely rad!

I've thought about starting to build again and the HD is probably one of a very few pedals I would do again. Its just such a great circuit.

[Chankgeez]

Interestingly, this just popped up on Reverb:

https://reverb.com/item/3838854-feel-be ... dark-roast

[Eivind August]

There's also a Frederic one for cheap in the BST.

[taco satori]

None of them oscillate.

This has been my experience as well, with one caveat*. The only strangeness with normal operation is that, with it dimed, it gets kinda wooly, picks up radio noise, and is easier to get feedback with, generally like other fuzz and distortions.

*I've found that, if you don't completely plug all the way into the input of the Collins HP, you can get it to oscillate depending on the harmonics control and your instruments volume, tone, and pickup controls. Not sure of the mechanics regarding how this oscillation occurs - when the pedal's bypassed the clean signal sounds thinner and quieter than under normal operating conditions - but it's a cool sound nonetheless.

If there was a way to cause this without making the input connection tenuous (it's easier to yank out the cable and get no sound, obvs) I'm all ears and wallet for a modding

[BoatRich]

Interestingly, this just popped up on Reverb:

https://reverb.com/item/3838854-feel-be ... dark-roast

My bass player builds these, they're really fucking cool, especially the ones with a clean blend

[frigid midget]

That pink one seems cool indeed. But clean blend or not, if I were spending $160 on a HP clone I'd be looking for a Chuck Collins one
Or two used Frederic HP's