a good harmonizer...

[followthereaper]

Looking to buy one, but can't really go anywhere to try one and don't feel like driving all the way to GC. Looking for something in the $100ish price range give or take. I appreciate any input.

[lynchfan6]

I am really happy with the Boss ps-5. I run it between the slave out of my Soldano SLO100 and a separate ADA power amp for the effected portion of my tone, (the ada drives half of my 4x12 cab with the ps-5 and a tc electronic g major before it, and my SLO goes dry into the other half of my cab) and if you are in tune and intonated, it does fabulous harmonies. I was happy with how it sounded in a loop too,,,,but it has to be a series loop......or it will drop your volume when engaged. And don't even try it in front of a distorted amp as far as harmonies,,,,just won't work. It will do a LOT of other cool stuff too, besides the key specific harmonies. Pitch shifter, tremolo, detune, flutter. Some of these are far out there for me, but sound cool.... Goes for like $170 new, but used should be right in your price range.

[skarhead]

ips 33-b ? but the prices have skyrocketed recently iirc.

But last week i got one for 100 bucks in Poland

Intelligent 3way harmony and other effects (delay, flanger , dunno what else ,bought it for the harmonizer mainly and the delay as i don't have a multifx right now)

Harmonizer + delay + a dimarzio loaded 7 string = instant Trey from Morbid Angel sound

[petedz]

Good luck getting an IPS-33B to work right. I never got it to track worth a damn, and then it managed to crash on me permanently. Now I have a Rocktron Intellipitch that works pretty well for me. Very nice two voice intelligent harmonies, but I think it's a bit rare. I've only seen one for sale...ever.

[skarhead]

what were your problems exactly ?

tracking with distortion ? it fails to track distorted guitar properly if you don't set it the tracking mode to distortion.

My friend has it for 0.5 year now and have not encountered any problems.

and the whammy 1 IVL chipset is a nice bonus

[charvelguy]

Well.. outside of pedals, which the Boss is a good mention. Rackwise;
Boss SX700. 18 bit.. good effects for under a 100.00 used. Lots of delays & reverbs as well. This has the same harmonizer/pitch shift as the GX700 minus the distortions.. which, in its day was not to shabby and tracked ok. Both are discontiuned units. Expression pedal can be plugged in..up to 4 part harmonies. Can be a bit of bitch to setup.. takes some time. http://www.synthmania.com/sx-700.htm

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_articles/oct96/bosssx700.html

I would think some of the Digitech stuff from the 90's would put you in the same ballpark too. Lots of reviews on Sound on Sound site.
I think the Rocktron Intellifex has harmonizer as well, might want to look into it.

[petedz]

what were your problems exactly ?

When I was using the rack, I had a Voodu Valve->IPS-33B->Mosvalve power. The IPS-33B had great sounding delays and chorus, which is the only reason I left it in. Regardless of how I had the mode set, harmonies would glitch whenever I played on the fifth or sixth strings, or played anything faster than eighth notes.

I'm glad others are having better luck with the unit, but the thing pissed me off! When it broke, I replaced it with the Intellipitch. That one just plain works. No issues whatsoever. Of course, now my rack is "in storage" so I guess it doesn't matter anymore.

I still have the Digitech. It powers on and the display fires up, but that's about it. I wonder if it might be repairable...

[Robotechnology]

The least expensive still in production intelligent harmonizer devices are the ones in the Zoom G2 pedals. I have a G2.1u (the one with the expression pedal)... here's a direct recorded clip:

http://romero.justpassingthru.net/mp3files/ZoomHarmony.wav

[donvandam]

The least expensive still in production intelligent harmonizer devices are the ones in the Zoom G2 pedals. I have a G2.1u (the one with the expression pedal)... here's a directly recorded clip:

http://romero.justpassingthru.net/mp...oomHarmony.wav

hey can you do the intro from blackened on that?

[sl2lover]

Whats a harmonizer?? Is it like chorus?

[hippietim]

Whats a harmonizer?? Is it like chorus?

If you are Dave Murray, the harmonizer is Adrian Smith

IOW, it is a pedal that will produce the harmony of whatever you are playing. Unlike a typical pitch shifter, a harmonizer will choose notes that are diatonic to the key you choose.

[sl2lover]

[QUOTE=hippietim]If you are Dave Murray, the harmonizer is Adrian Smith QUOTE]
I wish I could play like Dave Murray!!

[lerxstcat]

I think the Rocktron Intellifex has harmonizer as well, might want to look into it.

The Intellifex only has parallel pitch shift, not intelligent harmony. The BOSS HR-2 Harmonist is a nice pedal harmonizer that tracks well. I have an IPS33 Digitech that works pretty well, it has a distortion loop that you have to use if you're feeding it a distorted signal though. I also have a Digitech RP3 and an RP7 that have reasonably usable harmonizers, and those are all available on ebay within the $100 range.

Petedz, those units have internal memory batteries that need replacing periodically. If you did that it will probably come back up with the factory presets only. Even if you don't like it, if you can get it working you can sell it.... Check your manual, the cost of a battery might be worth it.

[petedz]

lerxst--thanks for the advice

[Newc]

Be aware there were two versions (at least, not counting software revisions) of the Digitech IPS33 - the IPS33 and the IPS33B. Not sure of the exact differences, though.
I've got an IPS33 (not B) and it tracks better than the Eventide H3000 I had.

Pete (Twisteramps) had one for sale recently (can't recall if it was a B or not) so you might ask for his opinion on the matter as well.