Harp Commander III - Any experiences
Greetings,
Can anyone give me any feedback on the Harp Commander III? Good, bad or indifferent experiences will be appreciated.
Thank You Rob for your input!
When you wrote "Another advantage is that you can crank up the volume with less feedback... house PA. This is useful if you play with a guitarist who likes to let rip ...... often be a problem without a massive amp of your own"
I play with a Rockin Blues Band and by the end of the evening they are up to "Eleven" and I can't get pass four with my standard unmodied guitar amp. I've tried pedals that claim "anti-feedback" but only small volume gains were acheived.
Thanks
I will buy one now!
Harmonica Hank
No problem Hank. Take a look at this youtube link for comments and a demonstration of the Junior being used as a preamp plugged straight into the power amp of a Blues Deville. Nice work!
Hey Hank, any news on the Commander? After posting my enthusiastic review I realised that there are many variables between harp players as to what is or isn't a good sound. What works for me might not work for somebody else and I was concerned that you might buy a Commander and not be as impressed as I was! Anyway, let me know if you get one!
Hello Rob,
Just saving up some money. If you and Kim Wilson use it, so will I.
Harmonica Hank
I`ve got it for several years now and it works great wtih those newer small amps.
I have Fender Pro Junior and Princeton Reverb -re-issue, you`ll get pretty nice deep sound with that, ofcourse depending of mice.
One thing is that you can adjust and controll feedback much more !
Somehow it don`t work with my Bassmaan re-issue ( tube swap) at all.
Hello Robfraser,
Can you run a echo pedal with the junior? Just trying to decide if I really need the HC 3 instead of the Junior.
Thanks
Hank
Hi Hank
I asked a similar question (regarding a reverb pedal) to Ron Holmes before buying the HC Jr. Here's the dialogue:
MY QUESTION:
Hi Ron
I am considering buying a Harp Commander from Coast2coast after reading many positive reviews online about your products.
I am interested in the HC Junior as I feel it will suit my needs as I typically play weekend gigs at small venues. I currently play a Shure Green Bullet mic through a Fender Pro Junior amp (15watts) and I often struggle to hear myself on stage over the rest of the band (mainly the guitar, as you would expect!)
My question is, can I use a foot pedal in conjunction with the HCJ? I know that the HCIII has an effects loop but I prefer the simpler setup of the HCJ. I have a reverb pedal which i would like to put either in front of or behind the HCJ before going through a small PA, currently only being used by the singer. Can you clarify whether this would work OK for me?
many thanks,
Rob Fraser
Harp player from Hull, UK
RON'S REPLY:
Hi Rob,
Greetings from Bakersfield, California!
Yeah, I built the Jr. for guys that wanted just a great sounding basic setup. To keep the enclosure compact I left out the Loop. Yes, you can use the Jr. with your pedal. Since you need the elevated line out function, you will have to use the pedal in front of the Jr. Depends on what its input impedance is, though.
Your Bullet will probably work OK right into the pedal. Keep tone controls as flat as you can on the pedal and go for a “clean” tone at the pedal. Obviously make your ‘verb sound good but don’t use extra cut or boost on your mic tone at the pedal. I don’t know what tone controls you have. Goal is to keep tone thru pedal as “hifi” as you can.
The high input impedance on the Jr. will work fine with your pedal out. Use the tone controls on Jr to do main tone sculpting. Here you can dial in any compression you want to add.
Then you can use both your Jr outputs-one to your Fender and the line to your PA. Should work fine.
Now, your pedal probably wouldn’t work very well with a Jt 30 or other crystal mic since its input Z probably is only about 1 megohm or so.
Using any magnetic mic should be OK. Try it all together and you should have a portable, great sounding tone. I am always here to assist with any questions or problems you have. Your little Fender is exactly what I had in mind as a “monitor” for you. This arrangement I think is the future of playing harp.
Thanks for your interest in my little box and let me know if you have more questions. We are here to help.
Best Regards,
Ron
Holmes Engineering
...So, I would guess you can use an echo pedal on the same basis, depending on your mic. I've used Shure SM58, Shure 545 and Shure 520DX and all worked fine.
Hope this helps!
Rob
Hank, did you get a Commander in the end? If not you may want to give the Lone Wolf Harp Attack pedal a look. It appears to be similar to the HC Junior insofar as being a preamp to use through the PA with basic tone and drive control. Lone Wolf describe it as having a "subminiature beam power tube" offering the sound of "an overdriven single ended amp". There's only one line out so you would need to put a splitter after the pedal if you wanted to use your amp as an onstage monitor as well as going through the PA but it is somewhat cheaper than the HC.
I haven't tried one and am still happy using my HCJ but I'm intrigued by the Harp Attack, especially with the built in "tube technology". If anyone has any experience of this pedal a review would be most appreciated!
Hello Rob,
I have not purchased a HC yet. Now I have to save more money for the new HC4.
I do have a LW Harp Break and Tone + and they are used as follows;
Palomino 32-212 amp with lowest gain tubes
Harp Break = Good for breaking up the sound. Small improvement for feedback.
Tone + = Good for getting a full sound. Small improvement for feedback.
.I will try the LW going straight into the PA first chance I get and let you know.
Hi Hank. If you still need an opinion on the Commander here you are (I've only justy subscribed to the site hence why my reply wasn't earlier!):
I have a Harp Commander Junior which is a smaller version of the III, having less dials and mic inputs (no xlr). It's a superb preamp whose best application is when used straight into the PA. It does a great (and I really mean great) job of imitating tube tone given that it's a solid state piece of gear.
You can adjust the gain, treble and bass to suit your style. Push the gain and bass up and lower the treble- hey presto you have an awesome Chicago heavy tube amp sound! It's not cheap as preamps go but I find it so easy to get the tone I want when playing a gig. I've stopped carting my tube amp around anymore and just use this.
Another advantage is that you can crank up the volume with less feedback issues as you are playing straight through the house PA. This is useful if you play with a guitarist who likes to let rip as you can match the volume and hear yourself play which can often be a problem without a massive amp of your own.
The Commander III has more functions and I haven't ever used one but for ease of use and simplicity the Junior is fantastic. Its impressively robust and it's compact size means you can fit your complete kit, harps, mics and preamp, into a small hand case. No hassle and superb, authentic tone. It will accept high or low impedance mics and makes the whole business of setting up for a gig so easy.
I can recommend the Commander Junior without reservation. Ron Holmes (the Commander's creator) was prompt in answering my queries regarding using effects pedals with the Commander before purchasing and I'm sure would be as good with after sales service, not that I've needed any.
Hope this helps if you are considering the Commander!
Rob, harping in the UK :O)