neepheid Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 (edited) With new singer comes requests to change the key of some songs. It is inevitable. No, I will not buy a 5 string bass. Our guitarist recently swapped his pedals out for a multi-FX unit and one of its tricks is pitch shifting. So that got me thinking, after I faffed around with retooling Whole Lotta Rosie and basically said "hell no" to retooling and just detuning all the strings for Hallowed Be Thy Name that maybe I could get in on this. So the research begins. Digitech Drop, EHX Pitch Fork seem to be the go-to devices. HOW EFFIN' MUCH? (full on outside Scots voice, inside voice didn't even draw breath). So I dig deeper into the more budget conscious end of the market. Spot the Mooer Pitch Box, ok, that's £60ish, that's getting a bit more reasonable. I look/ask around and the feeling I get is "OK for live work, wouldn't record with it". Then I stumble upon the Hotone Harmony - brand new, £47. Hmm, it's probably hot garbage at that price but I can easily return it if that's the case. Watched some videos (admittedly mostly guitar-centric) about it and no-one said it's awful. So I bought it. Well, I laughed out loud for about two minutes straight when I got it out of the box... I mean look at it - it's so cute, it's like doll's house furniture. I kid you not, for two straight minutes I just looked at it in my hand and laughed. Then I put it on my pedalboard and laughed some more... This has no chance, I thought to myself. Wrong! It's not bad, not bad at all. I've tried it through headphones, and live with a band in rehearsal. It seems to track OK and latency is acceptable - it didn't put me off or was noticeably off in the live context. Used it to go -1,-2 and -3 semitones and tuning seemed fine, it does get a bit warbly down at -2 and -3 on the lowest notes but I suspect that it's not strictly speaking designed to handle bass. It's not noisy when engaged, it does suck a little high end off the signal but that can be EQed back in a bit. I also used it in harmony mode to add in an octave above and found that surprisingly successful with added OD in a one guitar band, really helped fill the sound out. I did give the "detune" mode a try, again, pretty good, sounds a bit like the intro to Come As You Are, it's chorussy, and watery if that makes sense. Haven't fully explored that one yet. Despite being teeny tiny, it's a doddle to use - the top controls are just far enough apart and the top knob for the pitch setting is disproportionately large (probably and most disconcertingly larger than the knobs found on most full size pedals). And in case you were wondering how to tell if the effect is engaged or not... All in all, would I recommend the Hotone Harmony? Yes, with caveats. It's in the same ballpark as what I gathered about the Mooer Pitchbox - fine for live, probably wouldn't record with it. What it does, it does very well for the price, and if you can't find room for it on your pedalboard then you're not trying hard enough! The bad news is that it's discontinued by Hotone, who seem to have repositioned themselves upmarket with multi-FX, multi purpose expression pedals and inscrutable looking programmable pedals. So hoover one up while you still can! Or don't - I don't care, I've already got one! Edited May 3 by neepheid 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lidl e Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Look at that lil' fella... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 I always wondered... Is it Ho-tone or Hot-one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted May 3 Author Share Posted May 3 20 minutes ago, uk_lefty said: I always wondered... Is it Ho-tone or Hot-one? I say Ho-tone, but that's because I'm peurile like that. It's probably Hot Tone, but smashed together into one word so hard that one of the letter Ts got squashed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 23 minutes ago, neepheid said: I say Ho-tone, but that's because I'm peurile like that. It's probably Hot Tone, but smashed together into one word so hard that one of the letter Ts got squashed. Damn, didn't think of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted May 4 Author Share Posted May 4 I did some quick and dirty recording of it. Deets - G&L Tribute LB-100 bass going through a Boss TU-2, Hotone Harmony pitch shifter/harmonizer, Yamaha CO-10 MII compressor, Joyo Monomyth preamp/OD. DI out from Monomyth with a slight low mid boost and cab sim on. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 That’s some impressive tracking and reproduction, not at all ‘synthy’ to my ears. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted May 4 Author Share Posted May 4 Unfortunately, I'm going to have to return the Hotone pedal. It has an intermittent fault with the dial at the top, it sometimes fails to register the transition between positions 1 and 2. Sometimes it stays on 2 when you turn it to 1, and sometimes it stays on 1 when you turn it to 2. Bummer. I'm going to give a replacement unit a chance because I do like it. If it happens again then I'll be out. Can't work with it if I can't reliably know which pitch it's in - especially at a gig. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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