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

[ck3]

Though it's all silicon, this one seems raunchy enough for good times and appears to have most of the same features as the Barge Concepts BP-1:



I know nothing about the builder, though.

[krr149]

What's the knock against the karma suture? It seems to me most reviews are positive and it's a readily available hp clone. What is it that makes other versions better?

[dub]

its like steve albini is actively trying to get that barge pedal to sound like shit in that vid

just dial it back man

It's really an unfair comparison since they didn't flick the internal switch to turn off the buffer.

[The Eristic]

I have an Urso Splinter, which is a Harm with a bunch of mods. Hi/low gain modes, New/Old (bright/tight vs round/squishy). rotary w/ stock + 3-mode bass boost (which gets it more into thicc & sludgy territory) and an internal trim for overall gain. I think I read (on old HC or somewhere) the guy that built them may or may not be dead, though, so, um, I guess that's no real help whatsoever, aside from just keeping an eye out for a used one. They usually go for under $100 when they pop up.

[MechaGodzilla]

Though it's all silicon, this one seems raunchy enough for good times and appears to have most of the same features as the Barge Concepts BP-1:



I know nothing about the builder, though.

It's a pretty new brand, but he posts on OSG and Instagram a lot and seems like a cool guy.

[frigid midget]

Thanks a bunch, keep em coming

Update on my HP hunt: Looks like that -too good to be true- deal for that Chuck Collins clone I mensioned...is too good to be true
Obviously I wasn't the only one who knew a good deal when they saw it, so the seller just started realising what the pedal's actually worth, and he's no longert in a hurry to hand it over to me for his initial asking price

Also: Bumped into an okay-ish deal for a couple of Boss peds I've been looking for for ages, so the HP funds are sorta spend for now :/

[LaoWiz]

Great and relevant thread. I've built a lot of pedals and a HP clone is next on my list. Madbean had the Pepper Spray PCBs which was an HP clone and offered two parts lists for the original - or close to whatever source schematic or other circuits were used to evaluate that - and an Albini version. I'm inclined to build the latter.

I just built a second one of these. Built one on the pepperspray board a couple of years ago and went with the Albini specs. Was very underwhelmed, was like an overdrive. Had a interesting character but lacked the fuzz. Saw a build at the Madbean forum a month or so ago and it got me intrigued so went back and did some research on the schematic. Here's a good thread:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/i ... ic=99596.0

Check out Mark Hammer's reply 8 replies down where he lists his values. I'll paste here too as thats a great read and I think leads to another long HP thread.

There are differences between what I made, using the Giblet drawing, and what Bean shows in the Pepperspray.
1) he shows R1=51k, I used 220k
2) he shows R2=91k, I used 20k
3) he shows R3=3M9, I used 750k
4) He shows C4=2u2, I used 100nf
5) He shows C5, I did not use C5

On my second one I did this (Here's the Pepperspray build doc for ref http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/P ... rSpray.pdf):

R1 - I used 220k
R2 - I used 15K and put a 10K trimpot in series
R3 - I used 1M
C4 - I used 100nf
I did not use C5

Basically, my second with values closer to the "stock" schematic yields lots of nice beautiful fuzz much better that the Albini one I built but maybe I fucked that one up! If you are into breadboarding, I highly recommend it for this one because it's a super small footprint and by changing some of the resistor values you can really tweak it just right to your ears. I also tried different transistors and got so many different sounds. Put sockets on the board but very happy with some germanium transistor I found at an estate sale and a metal 2N2222 for the silicon.

Build it! It's my favorite now....

[ck3]

What's the knock against the karma suture? It seems to me most reviews are positive and it's a readily available hp clone. What is it that makes other versions better?

As I mentioned earlier, I found the Karma Suture to be a versatile overdrive. It also works well as a clean boost and cascades well into other gain sources. However, Catalinbread neutered the original circuit a bit, so their version isn't quite as inherently unruly or crunchy-sounding as the majority of the other HP variants referenced in this thread ... at least to my ears, anyway.

If it's any consolation, the Karma Suture I recently posted on Reverb has the highest watcher count of all my current items.

[frigid midget]

The online demos don't sound bad, but other clones just made a better impression, plus they usually cost considerably less. So yeah, that and a handful of reviews saying the Karam Suture drifts a bit too far from the original design to really be a convining HP clone, made me look furhter

[krr149]

Thanks for the information! If I go for an HP I want it to be wild and fuzzy - I didn't realize how many other clones are out there until this thread.

[penelope tree]

I'm happy with the Fredric clone but my experience with Harmonic Percolator derivatives is pretty limited. Fredric often sell them on eBay for significantly less than the RRP, I think mine was about £50.

[frigid midget]

Thanks for the information! If I go for an HP I want it to be wild and fuzzy - I didn't realize how many other clones are out there until this thread.

You're welcome

The more we put the HP in the spotlight the more hype/myth we may be creating, in a Klon sorta $$$ way :/
Otoh, the original interfax ones are already unobtiatium'd, so I guess that boat has already sailed anyway

[Dheuthymos]

New here. Glad someone posted about this.

I've been doing similar research, and what I really want to find is an HP that is about 50% useable and about 50% unusable/wild feedback machine. Considering all of the aforementioned clones/versions, but can't realistically try them all.

What say you?

I have a UNIT 731 Harmonic Percolator clone from Lone Wolf Audio, and it's exactly what youre looking for.

It can dial in some of the exact same tones as my Collins HP, but then it also does self oscillation, shrieks, squeaks, and blarts with the second footswitch. It's built to order with a long wait, but if you want ugly feedback it's the way to go.

Personally I am in love the Collins HP-1. For the last couple months its been the only dirt on my board, but I recently put on a Lone Wolf FOAD to get some trashy black metal sounds too. Chuck also gets those boxes mailed out FAST, I think mine was in my house in like 2 days.

[drmaxell]

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

[frigid midget]

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

Good question. I've got zero first hand experience with HP's. But every single distortion or fuzz pedal compromises a bass guitar's ability to cut through imo, there's usually at least some amount of low end cut too

There's this though, doesn't sound too shabby to my ears