History of The Harmonic Percolator

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[@Geeztown]

Thanks for making this video. Ed Giese was my grandpa. I’ve just recently been finding out how popular this pedal is. I played in some rock bands in high school and college. The HP-1 through a Marshall Amp was my sound. Here’s a video from back then in the year 2003, if you look close around 43:08, you can see the pedal on stage. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2fHeoutpMaGZqM Back then, it was just this weird pedal that my grandpa built that no one really knew about. But I liked it, so I used it. I’ll be putting out a video on this soon and including more info about my Grandpa, Ed Giese. A few quick pieces of info though. He was a drummer and played in a band in the army. He designed and built one of the first recording studios in Milwaukee for Dave Kennedy. He hand built the mixing desk for that studio. He was a musician and an electrical engineer. He passed away when I was 8 in 1993 from complications of ALS. P.S. Love the Taking Back Sunday riff!

[@EricMerrow]

Dude! I’m so glad you found this video! That’s absolutely wild that Ed is your grandpa. That video takes me back to my days of playing in a band during high school 100%. Thanks so much for sharing a bit more about Ed. He seems like a heck of a smart guy!

[@doubled5383]

Wow so cool, thanks for sharing that.

[@millennialanimal]

Whaaaaa?!? Wasn’t expecting to see this comment, amazing!

[@trashpigeon1164]

Some days I wish I didn't fall in love with Albini's music so that I could just be satisfied with my guitar tone instead of feeling an overwhelming need to find something super unique like he did.

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks for watching!

[@cranklabexplosion-labcentr8245]

I felt that way until Daughters released You won’t get what you want. That was like an HP-1 on some next level overdrive

[@daddyrocker1000]

The Land Devices HP-2 is an excellent HarPerc sounding pedal..highly recommended...cool vid, Eric!

[@EricMerrow]

easydeath haven’t tried the HP-2 but I did have their EP-2 and the No Masters! They make some great stuff! Thanks for watching

[@FFGG22E]

@@EricMerrow do a side by side!!

[@Rarebirdeffects]

I just built one of these on vero board and WOW I’m in love. I can’t believe this circuit isn’t more popular. Especially building it so the diodes can be switched on and off. In off mode you get anything from treble booster / full sounding overdrive to fuzzy distortion. Diodes on..... pretty much what you hear in this video. There are hints of sub-octave in there as well. I made it after watching your video. Thanks.

[@EricMerrow]

That’s awesome to hear!! I’m really glad the video inspired you to build your own!!

[@CablesForClouds]

Same here. Built mine today, sounds a little different from the video though 🤔

[@johnstizza5135]

I just recently discovered this fuzz circuit and snagged myself a Vaderin HP-X. I seriously love it. It’s great on guitar but REALLY great on bass.

[@EricMerrow]

Right on!!! Thanks for watching!

[@johanascorpsebramble2522]

Deep dive videos are cool. Loved watching this one! There's probably a million out there already but a deep dive on fuzz faces... ? Great work, man

[@EricMerrow]

Rastas Bohanan oh a fuzz face video would be awesome! I own an old one so... that may have to happen! Thanks so much man!!

[@djefferson5669]

The original HP1 did not have paint and epoxy over the circuit board. There was one single component that was disguised with a brass ring potted with a tiny bit of a dark red epoxy. I've owned two original HP1's and gone inside a third and none of them had any paint or epoxy on the circuit board.

[@Talisk3r]

I think you playing and riff selection was perfect for that pedal. Great tone overall.

[@EricMerrow]

Thank you!

[@hommedammn7132]

Wow, that’s a very cool texture to that distortion sound. Sort of a crunch that ends in crisp that cuts through.

[@EricMerrow]

Homme Dammn such a unique sort of drive! Thanks for watching!

[@dylanclay5267]

This was really cool! I dig my champion leccy divvy which is perc based. It would be cool to see a video like this on old Japanese fuzzes like the super fuzz or fy-2

[@EricMerrow]

Dylan Clay right on! I’d love to play some of the champion leccy stuff for sure! Thanks for watching

[@breakerPaul]

Great video Eric! The harmonic percolator is sorely missing in my pedal collection. The riff you play at 02:00 sounds super familiar, but can't put my finger on it. Is it of a particular song? Keep it up!

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks for checking out the video! That song is Taking Back Sunday’s “Up Against”

[@binface9]

As far as I know, the circuit has a fixed level of gain and the harmonics control attenuates the signal from the pickups (much like the volume control on the guitar) and the balance control attenuates the signal going to the amplifier. Nice rendition of Dude Incredible, btw.

[@binface9]

and Copper :D

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks for that clarification! And thanks for watching! 👍👍

[@binface9]

@@EricMerrow No problem. It's nice to see a video on an HP by someone who knows what they're talking about rather than repeating lines they've heard about it being THE Steve Albini sound.

[@EricMerrow]

binface9 that was actually a misunderstanding that I had when I initially got the percolator. I thought it was going to be the albini sound in a pedal. But then I did some research and found out he didn’t use it for his ‘normal’ sound.

[@binface9]

@@EricMerrow Me too, then I really started to listen to his guitars in Shellac and realised it's more of a pushed clean tone much of the time. There are probably half-truths about that around the internet too

[@chriscurran1967]

Very cool video Eric!!! Keep up the great content!!!

[@EricMerrow]

Chris Curran thanks so much for watching!!

[@Curdle7]

This is the best demo of it. I just got one in the mail

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks for watching! That’s awesome you got one!!

[@gentGTR]

Excellent video--and nice playing. Thanks!

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@binface9]

Thumbs up to the deep-dive format.

[@EricMerrow]

binface9 🤘🤘

[@Cavemaaaan]

WooHoo!!! Go Us Lefties!!! I ran across your video and it made me dig out a Dirge Harm Perc copy that I bought non-functioning last year to see if it's wurt-a-turd :) Great composed and executed video - I work at a TV station locally so I know a lot about nuttin hehehe :) DG

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks so much for watching and the compliments!! I hope your perc copy gets working soon

[@jesperbc]

Great video, would definitely like to see more. I can't decide if I like the Harmonic Perculator or not. I've been checking it out regularly for a long time, but haven't been able to come up with a clear decision.

[@EricMerrow]

Jesper Bøggild-Christensen thanks for watching!! I totally get the hesitation. In the right context, the percolator can be amazing!

[@fedir_sh]

Thanks for the info! My HP is on the way now.

[@EricMerrow]

Nice!!! Thanks for watching! 🤘🤘

[@clairecampbell8328]

Very raspy sound! Love it. Great video always wanted to hear one just never looked it up! Would like to see a dive into the mosrite fuzzrite

[@EricMerrow]

Claire Campbell thanks for watching!! Great suggestion! I don’t know much about the fuzzrite, so I’d love to learn!

[@sebastionhawk5565]

that is a cool sound

[@EricMerrow]

SEBASTION HAWK 🤘🤘thanks for watching

[@ralvknights]

Eric i like this type of videos. Please try to also show single string riffs, note decay and separation on single strings and some chord sustained notes to grasp the sounds of the pedals even more. Keep rocking.

[@jimtroeltsch5998]

Fucking rad video! Very cool to see you explain a pedal like this, you do such fantastic breakdowns. lol If I was more knowledgeable about the pedal world I would suggest one! But I'm not knowledgeable so I'm going to just suggest you keep doing this type of video! Thanks! Oh and that SG looked so sweet and dope!

[@EricMerrow]

Jim Troeltsch thanks so much for watching!! The SG is my main guitar! 🤘🤘🤘

[@shiftertron6143]

Dude, Incredible!

[@EricMerrow]

Kai Woolen-Lewis 🤘🤘🤘 thanks for watching!

[@bbkoopmeiners8816]

Great show. Great pedal. I realy want to know how the newer Hurts Bass version will sound on bass. And I would love to hear something from the old Ampeg Scrambler. Not the new one!!!!! Thats realy not the same.

[@EricMerrow]

BB Koopmeiners thanks for watching!! I’ll have to read up on the scrambler

[@ZanderCircuitry]

Perfect! This is one of my favorite circuits, I'll have to get one of our Cafetieres to you at one point as that's also HP based. We'd be happy to throw some stuff your way if you want to dive into some other classics (American Geek/Siva for big muff, Foxxton woods for Foxx tone machine etc) and compare them to a newer unit. Keep it up man, you're one of the best channels out there right now!

[@EricMerrow]

Dude thank you so much!! I will absolutely hit you up when I'm planning the next videos! I'm really looking forward to exploring some more classic circuits in this way!

[@GuyIncognitoFR]

I'm a fan of the Harmonic Percolator but even a bigger fan of the Foxx Tone Machine. If you deep-dive the Foxx Tone Machine, I recommend the Foxxton Woods and the Laowiz Error Machine. They're exquisitely good!

[@GuyIncognitoFR]

I really dig the Harmonic Percolator's crunchy and higher gain settings. I have a Big Jon Electronics Harmonic Percolator that sounds good on its own and is fun to stack with overdrive pedals like the JHS Pedals The Bonsai and the Joyo Baatsin. You made the HP and Latent Lemon Audio Hurts sound excellent!

[@legatomodi3522]

Karma Suture from Catlinbread is supposed to be a version of the percolator. I dont know how it measures up to the original, but i do know its quite good and i highly recommend it. It seems pretty mellow to me so its weird to hear Albini used it for specifically for noise. The catlinbread might be a tamer version, i dont know. Either way, it is a really good pedal but was recently put out of business cause i was gifted a chase bliss brothers (which blew my mind to be just given. my conscious has been bugging me alot accepting it). Either way, i sure wish i could try out an original and see how catlinbread measures up

[@EricMerrow]

Legato Modi right on! I’ve heard that the. Brothers is pretty great! Thanks for watching

[@legatomodi3522]

@@EricMerrow Youre welcome. keep making cool vids and ill watch'em. the brothers really is awesome. its a real swiss army knife of drive. i run that into a Zvex Fuzz Factory and my range for distortion is insane. I used to use a Karma Suture and a Proco Rat and have a 10-band mxr eq and i could get almost anything but with my new setup its alot easier.

[@DavidMadeira29]

I think Kurt would liked it too... 🗨😉🚁

[@deathbymyside]

Nice playing man

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks so much!

[@patrickbutcherine142]

I think you should make your deep dives longer... 20-30 minutes or so. Take the circuit board out so we can see what they look like inside, cuz there's certain types of circuits and board styles that I don't care for too much so it's be nice to know whats inside so people can not spend money on a pedal that they'll ultimately end up selling even tho it sounds wonderful. I don't care for pedals with components smaller than half watt. I've never had any luck with ¼w pedals lasting more than 1.5 maybe 2yrs at the most. And I don't really care for 100% SMD circuits. I do have a couple and I absolutely love my hot tubes nano, 08 digitech death metal distortion and even my 08 Behringer vt999 but they are SMD and the hot tubes is the only that don't have some sort of issue. I swapped the tube in the vt999 for a higher spec tube and it burnt up a couple components cuz I wasn't able to mod the circuit to accommodate the much better tube. Should of just left well enough alone.. 11yrs no issue then I got curious... Big mistake. And the death metal has always had "noise" even with good power supply. Good cables, Egnaters Rebel 20 and an left handed Epi LP standard plus top it still had the wrong type of noise. If it was thru hole I could figure out what's causing it and fix it but since it's SMD that's a no go. I do plan on making thru hole versions someday. Other than those things Eric. I absolutely love everything you do. I just wish you got more indepth circuit wise and even tried assorted pedals before and after the demo pedal and even ways to unconventionally use it. That would help out ALOT of people if you had a hr episode where you used a bunch of OD or Reverb, delay pedals etc... in front of and after whatever pedal is being demo'd. Nice job man as always. Love your tone no matter what pedals you play. You always sound good

[@EricMerrow]

Thank you for watching and the feedback Patrick!

[@HOLYISLANDAUDIO]

This is sick, please make more dude. 🙏

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks so much! I’ve just made one on the RAT a few weeks back!

[@HOLYISLANDAUDIO]

Eric Merrow will check that out! think the Hm2 could be fun too

[@EricMerrow]

That would be an awesome one to do!!

[@staybobo]

Do a deep dive on the Super Fuzz and Modulated delays ex. Eventide H300 - "Micropitchshift" w/longer delay.

[@EricMerrow]

Bobo Bohannon thanks for watching! The Super Fuzz would be an excellent episode!

[@13aphomet]

I do like the sound, I would never buy one tho for myself.. Also, I feel like I could almost get that sound from a Hyper Fuzz pedal.. Maybe not tho.

[@kosmicwizard]

Great vid! Really enjoyed this, looking forward to more deep dives. Is the Crowther Prunes and Custard based on this pedal? Rangemaster treble booster episode or Clone Centaur please?

[@EricMerrow]

kosmicwizard thanks for watching!! I’m not familiar with the Prunes and Custard but from some limited googling it doesn’t seem like it’s based on the percolator. I’m definitely planning to do more deep dives! This one was really fun to make and film! And thanks for the suggestions, all of those are great 👍

[@danielkorladis7869]

I like the sound of the Latent Lemon Hurts, but I hate that it has side controls.

[@EricMerrow]

The one with side controls was actually an older version. The newer version has all the controls on the top of the pedal! Thanks for watching!

[@ralvknights]

Also Eric it would be great if you demonstrate the tone range in the tone knobs of pedals.

[@wvo2m]

Good history of the pedal, but would have liked you to show how adjusting the harmonics pot affected the sound. It seems like a bit of an acquired taste pedal.

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks for watching!!

[@pfcomalley1]

Great video! I would love to try a HP based pedal.

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks for watching! 🤘🤘🤘

[@MrDanieloneill]

Do a deep dive on the Danelectro Fab Tone!

[@EricMerrow]

That would be awesome!

[@majorstokem8839]

Yeah, great video, well done..... and honestly I don't consider this a deep dive as compared to other 30+ minute videos out there, but I like you 7:00 minute video better! cheers!

[@EricMerrow]

Glad you liked the video! Thanks so much for watching!

[@platformvi415]

That pedal sounds mean af.

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks for watching!! 🤘🤘🤘

[@jonzackharley9386]

catalinabread karma suture sure expensive pedal but very very very good!!!!!! better quality that ehx!

[@EricMerrow]

👍👍

[@bodyminusMe]

Great video enjoy learning about the history of this pedal. Seems to be the flavor of the month. The LD HP2 is impossible to get 😒 might have to settle for a different percolator clone. Nobody records drums like Albini 😏

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks for watching!

[@matthiasreichert4016]

Can you please make a demo of the brassmaster? Or the one from latent lemon ofc? :D

[@timhulio1]

I enjoyed this video, but I don't think you make it clear that the main pedal being demo'd isn't an original Interfax HP-1 made by Ed Giese, but rather the Chuck Collins / Theremaniacs clone of the original pedal. As such the comparison later on is just one clone vs another.

[@EricMerrow]

Check out 4:10 in the video. I quite clearly say that the pedal I’m playing is a reproduction. Thanks for watching!

[@wesmitchem825]

Are you running your amp dirty while your using the percolator I just had one built to Steve abinis specs I guess but it's so weak I can't see how anyone would like it perhaps I just need to pay for a more modern version cause I have hot pickups and I still need to max it out to get even close to your examples

[@EricMerrow]

Honestly, I think it’s kinda built into the the design of the circuit - needing to have things maxed, that is. I know you checked out the Bean Machine, but there’s also the Hurts from Latent Lemon Audio and the Clubber Lang from Malaise Forever that could be more appealing takes to your ears! Thanks for watching 🤘🤘

[@wesmitchem825]

Oh yeah I've heard the other percolators out there but the bean machine I can get for like 120$ right now for a blemish edition and I do think the one I got built is messed up somewhere maybe didn't match the transistors or just all around weak ones in the first place.i talked to the builder and he said he could do a diode bypass and that should help

[@ayeshadequeiroz4857]

I always thought that sound difference was because of tuning.

[@EricMerrow]

The harmonic percolator circuit is definitely tuned differently than other prominent fuzz circuits

[@chrisgrabowski2678]

Wow!

[@EricMerrow]

Lost Smoke 🤘

[@i_cat_i6567]

Fender blender would be great

[@EricMerrow]

That’s a circuit/pedal that I don’t know much about at all! I’d love to learn more!

[@MikeBatzler]

Trying to place the riff at 2:01.... is it Ethyl Meserve? or possibly Lincoln... hmmm

[@EricMerrow]

That riff is from the band Taking Back Sunday. The song is called Up Against. Thanks for watching!

[@tili_]

when you play the .nam captures without IRs

[@bartwitek9526]

Any way you could demo HP-1 with a passive bass ? I’m thinking about getting one

[@EricMerrow]

I don’t have the HP-1 in my possession anymore. Sorry. Thanks for watching though! I hope you enjoyed the video

[@cloudedleopardeffects5010]

Hey Eric how's the output on your percolator? I have to crank the balance all the way up just to get to unity on mine. Is that normal?

[@EricMerrow]

I was just borrowing the interfax so I don’t have it anymore but if I remember correctly, I had to max out the output and it wasn’t insanely louder than unity.

[@cloudedleopardeffects5010]

@@EricMerrow hmmm. Maybe it's just the way it's supposed to be. Thanks Eric🤙

[@StupidEarthlings]

The interfax seems "thicker" somehow...

[@EricMerrow]

👍

[@telecasterman18]

I think these pedals make all the players sound the same, which is sad. It most definitely encapsulates Milwaukee’s music scene… it all sounds the same, and is noise. 😂

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks for watching

[@StupidEarthlings]

AAAHHHH! Why does his head need to be so close to the camera? Jeezus!!

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks for watching

[@klepetar]

sounds like crap...can't stand and play with anything close to a fuzz..yuk

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks for watching

[@abyad000]

It kind of pissess me off that you don't have a scottish accent. I don't know why. Sorry.

[@EricMerrow]

😂😂 I mean.. I could try to do my best CSGuitars impression! Thanks for watching

[@lonewolf5973]

Overrated pedal < People want> what they can't have🕵️‍♀️

[@EricMerrow]

Thanks for watching!

[@lonewolf5973]

@@EricMerrow You're welcome

[@cranklabexplosion-labcentr8245]

Is this supposed to be an attack comment??