Harmony pedal...if that makes sense

PermanentWaves

Hi all,

I'm in a covers band and one of the number we do is Hammer to Fall.

I've more or less  (more less than more!) got Brian May's solo nailed but he clearly either overdubs to get harmony or uses a pedal.

To do it live, I'll need a pedal.

Does such a beast exist and if so, what am I looking for.

All and any thoughts very much welcomed.

Cheers
Mike

joeyowen

pitchfactor is the high end

boss ps6 is cheaper, not sure it can do 3 part harmonies

thecolourbox

There's an intelligent harmonizer on most zoom multi fx, that harmonises depending on what hey you put it in. Again only two part though

PermanentWaves

I think I'd be happy with 2 part. I'm not Brian May and we aren't Queen but I'd like to try to capture as much of the sound of the solo as I can.

Listening to is, the harmony is only used on the first part of the solo.

It's only when you try to copy some of the guitar greats that you really appreciate how they made the complicated sound easy

EricTheWeary

Does Brian do it harmonised the same way live? In interviews I've read he says he doesn't bother with harmonisers live.

EricTheWeary

Had a quick look at a live clip - no harmonisers, although they do have Spike playing the rythm part underneath.

Grunfeld

PermanentWaves said:

To do it live, I'll need a pedal.

Does such a beast exist and if so, what am I looking for.

Yep, check out some YouTube of the Boss PS-6. 

I've had one on my board for quite a while but looking at some of the clips again just now I've remembered how much more it does than harmonise!

It has very good tracking.  And it can do some 3 part harmonies but the 2 part are really good.  I kind of like the pedal signal to be less obvious and then it sounds excellent in a live mix.  I use it for some Thin Lizzy, and use it a fair bit set to an octave below, blended in, for solos.  The only fiddly thing about it is the knobs are small and if you accidentally set it to the wrong key (e.g. you've forgotten that you all detuned a semitone for the second set *cough*) the harmonised result is awful!!  So you need to watch that one