Boss Harmonizer

[Riffmeister]

Does anyone know anything about the boss harmonizer pedal they have out? I don't know exactly what it's called, but I heard it is intelligent, meaning that is won't play a few notes out of key.

How does it sound? I don't play any whacky kind of stuff, just 3rds and 5ths here and there and I can't afford an Eventide. Just looking for some input on the thing. Thanks.

[JiMoSiTY]

Re: Boss Harmonizer

Hi Rick,
I've got the Boss HR-2 Harmonist:



It's not bad for the money - I've found that if you set the key you're playing in on it and tweak it correctly it's not bad. The only Eventide I've ever had was a 910 and this thing is as good as that thing was I'd say (not that that's saying much). I also have an old Ibanez HD-1500 harmonizer/delay and it's pretty close to this thing as well, but tonally, the Boss pedal is a little better.
Maybe I'll record some samples with it this weekend and let you check 'em out.

[lerxstcat]

Re: Boss Harmonizer

I used to have one and I found it to be pretty good. It has 2 harmony voices, which I'd set one as a detune and one for
a 3rd up harmony, and they track pretty
well on fast scales. You need to put it
first in the signal chain for best tracking though; a distorted tone will hurt the tracking. I got rid of it when
I got my RP-7 which also has IPS. You can get the HR-2 for about $75 on Ebay and it is simple to use as long as you know that C major is also A natural minor
and simple harmony theory. The RP-7 has
more modes available though.

A Digitech IPS33 is also pretty cool and you can define your own custom harmonies
as well as 99 presets. These also go for
about $75 on Ebay, and have a built-in tuner and aN AWESOME detuned chorus, but
you'll need a MIDI pedal to get to your presets on the fly; I got an ART X-11 for $30 that works fine. 59 scale modes to pick gives you a lot without even programming too. You definitely have to feed this a clean signal though; in fact it has a loop for your disto sound to go through so it won't hurt tracking.

All of these track roughly the same for me, which is, they work for the fast part
at the end of the first solo in "Modern Day Cowboy" by Tesla, a fairly fast A minor triplet scale. It's not Racer X fast, but it's fast. They work for "Sacrifice" by Racer X too, which IS by
definition Racer X fast! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Edit: Forgot to mention, you HAVE to be in perfect tune for these, and your guitar must be properly intonated too, or you'll have tracking problems. That's basic, but
you may not know it if you haven't played with one before. If you downtune, these problems could be compounded if you're using light strings, and you'd also need to remember to choose D on the device if you're playing in 'E' position but tuned to D.

[ May 24, 2003, 06:10 PM: Message edited by: lerxstcat ]

[Riffmeister]

Re: Boss Harmonizer

What about bending notes with these things? Can that be done or is it gonna go all out of whack.

If you set it to say C\Am can you just play any notes in those scales?

Lerx...

What about the parts in Modern Day Cowboy in the middle of that first solo, that harmonized part that plays over the C to G change , this is the kind of stuff I want to do with it, or play leads like Detroit Rock City with one guitar.

[lerxstcat]

Re: Boss Harmonizer

Bends CAN oscillate between pitches, but I find if I do them smoothly I can keep
full-step bends in harmony. Your bent note has to be in tune, though, so it will improve your ear by forcing you to play your bends in tune.

Yes, it'll do Modern Day Cowboy and Detroit Rock City, but bear in mind it only does Major and Natural Minor scales.
The RP-7 has several different modes including harmonic minor as well as natural, and the IPS33 will actually let you program custom harmonies, like in E minor, when your lead note is B (the 5th
of the scale) you can program the harmony to be the E above the B, wheras the HR-2 will play a D. The D is harmonically correct, but the E sounds 'stronger' for a rock/metal lead harmony.

So the HR-2 is easiest to use, then the RP-7, then the IPS33, increasingly more complex to program (though not really hard). The most versatile harmonizer is the IPS33, then the RP7,then the HR-2, as
far as varied capabilities. The most versatile overall is the RP7, which has
3.5 seconds of delay, distortions, phase,
flange, "dumb" pitch shift, compressor, noise gate, chromatic tuner, EQ, cab sim,
reverse attack, intelligent pitch shifting, wah, and an expression pedal.

The HR-2 and IPS33 can be had for about $75 to $100 on Ebay, but the RP7 goes for an average of $125. You can get an RP-3
which is a simplified RP-7 without the 12AX7 tube, for $75-$100 also, and it does the intelligent pitch shift as well as the RP-7, though it has fewer mode choices that the RP-7, but more than the HR-2. Be warned if you're shopping Ebay
that the RP-5 and RP-6 DO NOT have IPS;
they are both older than the RP-3 and RP-7, though their model #s confuse this issue.

So, HR-2, RP-3, RP-7 and IPS33 will all do the kinds of harmonies you've described, and will all track fine at Modern Day Cowboy speed IF you're in perfect tune, If you put them first inlne
ahead of other effects, and IF you play the parts cleanly. You'll BE Hannon AND
Skeoch!

Hope I've helped and not muddied the waters!

Regards,

Lerx/Rich

[Riffmeister]

Re: Boss Harmonizer

Rich,

Actually this is all helping a lot, I don't know too much about only major and natural minor scales as far as what I'm playing, but it sounds like I might be more interested in the digitech unit.

Is the tone comparable to the boss? I use a ground control system so I think that would work for presets on the fly. Do you have any sound clips of stuff you have done with it?

You mentioned a loop for the distortion, is that like the detector input on the Boss? I was thinking I could run from the passthrough in my GCX unit to the ips or the boss and then just run the unit in the fx loop. Is that right. Thanks for your help.