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

[raj007]

Can confirm the Divvy is killer.

[DannDubbleEwe]

I’m really close to jumping on that Surveyor preorder. That Divvy sounds awesome too

M Design Haus just listed this (clean-lookin' on the outside anyway) beauty:



https://reverb.com/item/26852994-m-desi ... diodes-new

Thread derail, but that guy’s shop name has been changed to “Fuck Reverb” and there are no more listings. Wonder if some clone(s) got him in trouble He had some amazing looking builds I’ve been wanting to snag.

[Chankgeez]

Yeah, they kept taking down his listings and he kept repostin' 'em. I've never bought any of his pedals, but I've always admired 'em.

[Dandolin]

yeah - bummer. I have a MKIII Tonebender of his which is about as awesome as MKIIIs get. Shoulda hit his take on the Moonrock....

[Chankgeez]

https://reverb.com/item/28408389-mr-bil ... -prototype

This is the hand-wired on breadboard prototype of the infamous "Pussy Fuzz" HP-1 Harmonic Percolator clone - the first one Mr. Bill ever made.

Years ago, Steve Albini commissioned Mr. Bill to make these for his friends' band Pussy Galore. Bill made three units for them- two for Pussy Galore and one for himself. Mr. Bill has built several more since, but this one was the one he made to make sure he had it right before he went to work on making the others.

So, I guess you can say that Albini's HP-1 clones are actually a clone of this clone!

[Dandolin]

Cross-posting this from LaoWiz's Heatsaw thread in the Shark Tank:

I keep meaning to post about how much I love my Heatsaw. I have a few (too many? ) Percs, and the Heatsaw stands out. It has such great range between the clipping options and bias control (which is chef's kiss in it's range). It can definitely get splatty and/or spitty like any true Perc should, but it also has a broad range of tones available that deliver simultaneous attack clarity and gnarly decay, a tough trick to pull off, in my experience.

It was my main dirt when I did the processional music for a wedding this August, and it was the perfect blend of chewy character without screaming "let's take this solemn occasion to the bacchanale!" - composure without collapsing into blandness. It sounds particularly sweet with lap steel. I can't decide yet whether my favorite settings were lower gain/higher bias silicon clipping or higher gain/lower bias LED clipping, but overall, the LED clipping options are a big part of what makes this Perc stand out....

I recently had it up against two other, more fancypants, Perc variants, and I'm not gonna mention their names because they're fine, upstanding Percs and I don't want to besmirch their reputations, but for my purposes the Heatsaw just owned them.

[LaoWiz]

Cross-posting this from LaoWiz's Heatsaw thread in the Shark Tank:

I keep meaning to post about how much I love my Heatsaw. I have a few (too many? ) Percs, and the Heatsaw stands out. It has such great range between the clipping options and bias control (which is chef's kiss in it's range). It can definitely get splatty and/or spitty like any true Perc should, but it also has a broad range of tones available that deliver simultaneous attack clarity and gnarly decay, a tough trick to pull off, in my experience.

It was my main dirt when I did the processional music for a wedding this August, and it was the perfect blend of chewy character without screaming "let's take this solemn occasion to the bacchanale!" - composure without collapsing into blandness. It sounds particularly sweet with lap steel. I can't decide yet whether my favorite settings were lower gain/higher bias silicon clipping or higher gain/lower bias LED clipping, but overall, the LED clipping options are a big part of what makes this Perc stand out....

I recently had it up against two other, more fancypants, Perc variants, and I'm not gonna mention their names because they're fine, upstanding Percs and I don't want to besmirch their reputations, but for my purposes the Heatsaw just owned them.

My man! That is so great to hear / read Glad you are digging it! After building these, I definitely love the clipping options compared to the standard germanium clipping diodes which seem to put a wet blanket on the circuit making it sound too compressed and muffled to my taste. Silicon clipping is a bit better with more bite but I definitely love the LED option the best, just big and open like the no diode setting but with a tad more crunch.

Again thanks so much for the kind and delicious write up. As of now I think there's one left out of the bunch but I'm making some boards for a V2 but not sure if I will put them out into the wild....

[ck3]

There's currently an Urso Splinter posted on Reverb, which is super tempting, though it's unclear if the trimpots are still in stock position.

[Chankgeez]

Comparing the Outsound Heatsaw and the Land Devices HP-2 with the diodes out:

I think the HP-2 has a darker overall character, but the Heatsaw has more low end. The Heatsaw is definitely clearer in both the upper and lower registers. Heatsaw's overall tonal character falls somewhere between the HP-2 and the very bright Dirge Even Anguish. The Heatsaw is nice & versatile. Most versatile of the three.

No reason not to have all of those Percolator variants (& more).

[LaoWiz]

Comparing the Outsound Heatsaw and the Land Devices HP-2 with the diodes out:

I think the HP-2 has a darker overall character, but the Heatsaw has more low end. The Heatsaw is definitely clearer in both the upper and lower registers. Heatsaw's overall tonal character falls somewhere between the HP-2 and the very bright Dirge Even Anguish. The Heatsaw is nice & versatile. Most versatile of the three.

No reason not to have all of those Percolator variants (& more).

Nice to read! You played Dandolin's?

[Chankgeez]

Yep, borrowin' Dandolin's.

[LaoWiz]

Yep, borrowin' Dandolin's.

Excellent, have fun

[Davin]

There's currently an Urso Splinter posted on Reverb, which is super tempting, though it's unclear if the trimpots are still in stock position.

Someone should grab this. I got mine almost ten years ago and it’s never left my board.

[Chankgeez]

Yep, borrowin' Dandolin's.

Excellent, have fun

Oh, I am!

There's currently an Urso Splinter posted on Reverb, which is super tempting, though it's unclear if the trimpots are still in stock position.

Someone should grab this. I got mine almost ten years ago and it’s never left my board.

Any way to tell if the trims've been messed with greatly? Either way, shouldn't really be a problem to get it back to stock by ear.

Looks a little messy in there though:

[Davin]

Yep, borrowin' Dandolin's.

Excellent, have fun

Oh, I am!

There's currently an Urso Splinter posted on Reverb, which is super tempting, though it's unclear if the trimpots are still in stock position.

Someone should grab this. I got mine almost ten years ago and it’s never left my board.

Any way to tell if the trims've been messed with greatly? Either way, shouldn't really be a problem to get it back to stock by ear.

Looks a little messy in there though:

That’s what mine looks like inside. A little messy and gooped up.

The trim pot is definitely an adjust to taste thing. If I remember correctly he would tune them to minimize the hiss. But it basically just changes the amount of gain. If someone messed with it it’s not a big deal to dial it into the sound you want.