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

[frigid midget]

Gonna probably put up my only played twice for less than 15 minutes each time Latent Lemon 1000 Hurts along with some other stuff in BST in a couple of days. Bought new last year, but really just to compare to the ones I made and to hear that f it had the same octave down in the posted videos. Played it then and today for a bit. Sounds great but I think I burned myself out on the circuit last year. If anyone wants to hit up before I can post it’ please do!

Does it?

Had mine for a while now, used in all kinds of temperatures both with single coils and humbuckers...The octave down is rrrrreally subtle, at best. Nothing at all like what you'd expect after hearing those clips

Still an awesome pedal in its own right, but if anyone here happens to know about an easy component swap to add some actual octave down toanz...Hook me up please

Fwiw, those trim pots on the inside: One's a gain control, the other one's for the octave range. Also, subtle at best, especially the trimmer for the octave.

Not that Justin (Mr. Laten Lemon Audio) wasn't eager to help out, but his advice didn't seem to do much for me


"The octave is best with the Harmonics control on full, the octave effect is usually strongest over approx one octave depending on the output of the guitar. See if there is a range of notes where the octave effect is strongest, then you can use the other trimmer to move it up or down. I have set it to be strongest approx around the low G and the octave above - this does vary a lot with guitar pickups etc though. Standard Jazzmaster pickups are quite low output compared to P90s etc so this will effect it, I would hope that you will still get some of the octave effect though. The germanium transistor does vary its gain/leakage with temperature so the octave can vanish when it gets really hot - playing a summer festival in full sun! That's why Stevie Ray Vaughan used to keep a spare fuzz face in the fridge! I prefer the pedal being plugged straight into the guitar, but other folks like it after a buffer (like a boss tuner etc) so experiment and see what works for you. Let me know how you get on and I will do my best to help"

Also fwiw: I mostly play a jazzmaster with seymour duncan antiquities and a Gibson Firebird with P90s.

[Chankgeez]

[Jero]

Had mine for a while now, used in all kinds of temperatures both with single coils and humbuckers...The octave down is rrrrreally subtle, at best. Nothing at all like what you'd expect after hearing those clips

Still an awesome pedal in its own right, but if anyone here happens to know about an easy component swap to add some actual octave down toanz...Hook me up please

Fwiw, those trim pots on the inside: One's a gain control, the other one's for the octave range. Also, subtle at best, especially the trimmer for the octave.

Not that Justin (Mr. Laten Lemon Audio) wasn't eager to help out, but his advice didn't seem to do much for me

"The octave is best with the Harmonics control on full, the octave effect is usually strongest over approx one octave depending on the output of the guitar. See if there is a range of notes where the octave effect is strongest, then you can use the other trimmer to move it up or down. I have set it to be strongest approx around the low G and the octave above - this does vary a lot with guitar pickups etc though. Standard Jazzmaster pickups are quite low output compared to P90s etc so this will effect it, I would hope that you will still get some of the octave effect though. The germanium transistor does vary its gain/leakage with temperature so the octave can vanish when it gets really hot - playing a summer festival in full sun! That's why Stevie Ray Vaughan used to keep a spare fuzz face in the fridge! I prefer the pedal being plugged straight into the guitar, but other folks like it after a buffer (like a boss tuner etc) so experiment and see what works for you. Let me know how you get on and I will do my best to help"

Also fwiw: I mostly play a jazzmaster with seymour duncan antiquities and a Gibson Firebird with P90s.

As alluded above, placement and input make a difference with these. IDK what values LLA used, or if he based his on a particular build, did his own thing, etc...but I can tell you, the "consensus" values (found on madbeans build doc for instance) will get the lower octave ghost notes, with the harmonic maxed. Not over the entire fret board, but it's there for sure.

The Albini spec will not (IME)...Which I find odd, because if you watch the video with Albini messing with his, it's there. The nuances of this circuit are extremely value and transistor dependent. There's a reason every builders take sounds different in some way...Smooth, spitty, bright, dark, upper or lower octave overtones, pseudo swells...Certainly an interesting design.

I have been messing around with these for a minute now (as an extremely awesome & patient member here has me making one for them ) and can get more into it later...If you go back in the thread though, DRod and I believe BetterOffShred, have made some good notes from their experiences.

[blueglass]

Damn this rabbit hole is deeper than I thought it was.

[LaoWiz]

I was able to dial in and out the octave using a trimpot between the base and collector of the Silicon transistor. But I remember having the octave down set perfectly and then coming back to the circuit a week later and it would be gone. This was last summer bleeding into the fall so my conclusion was that itthe inconsistency had to do with temp change and the Germanium transistor. The octave down is definitely more subtle and was definitely more pronounce with certain notes. I gave up on trying to find the consistency as it's just easier to get octave down with an octave down pedal but the perc octave down does have a strange and unique character and all this talk makes me want breadboard it again!

[frigid midget]

Yeah, I'm sure the random character of the germanium transistor and the influence of temp chances are the answer to the unpredictable behavior of the octave down.

My "solution" makes it sound just as awesome, if not more...I just put an old dod octaplus in front of it. Doesn't have a huge range of tones that don't suffer from bad tracking or over the top synthy-ness, but there's a sweet spot that's easy to dial in with the two level controls. Not entirely sure why they couldn't just do the same thing with one blend control, but I really couldn't care less, it's pretty much a set and forget pedal that gets fed to my dirt peds.

[PeteeBee]

I had a really excellent time last night running my Even Anguish into a Tetanus Booster, straight to amp. I don't know if it was just a matter of not playing guitar for a little while or what, but this was seriously so much fun.

[kosta]

a strange and unique character

You're a strange and unique character.

[ck3]

Anyone try the latest iteration of the Fredrick Utility Perkolator yet (with a built-in Green Ringer circuit)?

[BetterOffShred]

I made one with a boost and a green ringer built it. It's great.

[LaoWiz]

a strange and unique character

You're a strange and unique character.

[ck3]

I plan to conduct a few direct comparisons later today:



Managed to take the Porkolator for a spin earlier and am definitely digging its sustain and sensitivity to playing nuances. The only issue thus far has been extra loud hiss when 18v effects are placed earlier in the chain. Also, not really a problem, but it probably yields about 3/4 of the amount of saturation a more stock HP configuration can produce when dimed. More to come after the great perc stankout of 2019 ...

[raj007]

^^Dope

[Snufkino]

Oh Lordy.

I made one with a boost and a green ringer built it. It's great.

I had a really excellent time last night running my Even Anguish into a Tetanus Booster

Does anyone else regularly use their Percolators in combination with other pedals to get something magical? I keep coming back to Percs but they never really stick. I might build one with a mids boost for extra... phatness? Or maybe something fuzzy, gated/squelchy/biscuity?

[ck3]

Big Muff and HM-2 variants seem to receive percolator gain well and become much beefier. Hitting the front end of a perc with an analog octave divider also sounds nifty, especially if it can produce doubling in both directions like a Pollyanna or Octron. Dual Percolator cascading is another approach that yields interesting results. I had all 9 of mine engaged in series at one point yesterday, and it was like playing a demented kazoo with infinite sustain.

Speaking of the current collection, here are some thoughts after yesterday's comparison noodling:

1) Champion Leccy Divvy: Probably saw less action than its bretheren, but worked well for shaping amp gain into perc grind or adding more girth to other options.

2) Land Devices HP-2: Still the muffiest of the bunch and seems most useful in medium gain range.

3) Barge Concepts BP-1: Probably the 3rd most versatile unit on hand in terms of versatility with footswitchable gain/volume boosting. Tends to "crackle out" sooner than other options in its upper gain range.

4) Zander Circuitry V1 (Si) Cafetiere: Still one of my favorite options, and the only one of the lot that produces lower octave harmonics when playing in a certain range.

5) JDM Pedals Little Steamer: Sounds more round and fat than some of its present company and able to get fuzzy without crackling out of existence. Unfortunately, the clip switch is starting to act up a bit.

6) Catalinbread Karma Suture: I once referred to this as a neutered version of the circuit (when exclusively using solid state amplification) and am now finding it to be another one of my favorites and the second most versatile perc on hand.

7) Joe Gore Porkolator: Probably the lowest gain variant of the lot and has more of an (obscenely touch sensitive) overdrive feel, though may prove fuzzier with a fresher battery.

8) Zander Circuitry V3 Cafetiere: More clipping options than anything else on the board along with starve, tone, footswitchable dual gain, and pregain bass controls. The germanium mode is still significantly quieter compared to other variants, but can self oscillate at more extreme settings.

9) Customeffects Harmonic Percolator: Has the most basic features of the bunch, though can still hold its own offering everything from crusty drive to blarty bursts of kazoo fuzz.