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No reverb? Useless!
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11-21-2019 02:35 PM
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LOL. Well that's going a bit far, imo. It DOES benefit from reverb... I AM using my Surf Rider reverb pedal with it. However- I just did some digging and found a cool little reverb pedal for $30... this is what I'd get to "mate" with the Harmony, if it were going in the wife's living room...
Mosky Spring Reverb, $32 on amazon
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A larger efficient speaker or two could bring the level up to non drum/brush territory, at least I would think based on the single ended/low watt amps I’ve experienced.
Originally Posted by ruger9
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Probably. But that's not my usage. I WANT a quiet amp for this purpose. But yeah- if you wanted to use this in a band, if you put an efficient 10" in it (IDK if a 12" would fit), it could be made louder I'm sure. Loud enough? IDK.
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just a quick update....
Still digging this little amp. It really is cool, right out of the box. Crank it to 10, turn the guitar down, and it's old school tone. I have decided to try ONE experiment on it (it doesn't need any "upgrades", even the tubes are NOS, this is more of a slight tonal change, personal preference)... I just ordered a Weber Alnico 6" with a ribbed cone, for a little more headroom/later breakup, and a bit more clarity. (the stock Jensen P6V has a smooth cone, earlier breakup).
When the amp is on 10, it cleans up very nicely with the guitar's volume knob... I do wish for a LITTLE more treble... not much... just a touch... and I think the Weber will provide it (you can always turn a guitar's tone DOWN, but you can't ADD high end/clarity.)
Will let you know!
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Great update review. To expand the tones of your amp try using an EQ pedal. Not only can you fine tune each frequency, you can also use it as a clean boost. Enjoy that little amp. Originally Posted by ruger9
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I tried an EQ pedal, and I was able to get a more clean (by using it's volume control) and mid-scooped tone using it... it wasn't much different than turning down the guitar tho (my guitar has a treble bleed on the volume control). Think Johnny Smith vs Charlie Christian lol. I also have a reverb pedal I use to add just a touch of ambience. Originally Posted by Gitfiddler
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Old-school tone? Octal bliss? On a budget? I've been using a Bogen Challenger PA head, converted to guitar use. It's @70 years old, puts out 30 watts, and I can run any size cab I want with it (although I'm partial to this li'l 1x12 cab):
Last edited by Hammertone; 07-19-2020 at 11:27 PM.
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That's certainly cheaper than a Vintage 47 (which is quite awesomely priced, at about $1K, for their EH-185). The Harmony was less than half of that.... it does suffer a little from the 6" speaker and smaller cab, but it still sounds really good. I considered putting an 8" in (and a 10" might even fit), but decided it sounds so good "enough" that it wouldn't be worth the extra expense or bother (a new baffle would have to be made as well). Even the new speaker I ordered isn't necessary, it's really just for my own musings. They honestly spec'ed the 8418 out really well: I even tried some of my own tubes in it, and the OEM NOS tubes sounded best. Won't surprise me at all if the OEM smooth cone Jensen also sounds the best.
You can't beat the price, for a handwired, NOS-tubed, octal, Jensen-Speakered (no foam-surround POS in this amp... are you listening Fender Champion 600 Reissue???).... plus, it looks damn sexy enough to keep in the living room without the wife complaining LOL.
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OK.... the Weber Alnico 6" with ribbed cone: it tightened the bass, added some brightness and clarity... but IMHO, to the detriment of the amp/tone. This amp is designed to sound a certain way... old school (of course when it originally came out it wasn't old school LOL). But the Weber ribbed cone made it sound more modern. It wasn't a huge difference, but the plain strings before (with the OEM Jensen smooth cone) were nice and fat, while the Weber introduced enough high end to make them thinner/harsher, and less pleasant to my ear. The Weber had me wishing the amp had a tone control, so I could turn it down. (you could of course do the same thing on the guitar... but I like getting things as close to "good" on their own, without the help of EQ pedal, tone controls, etc. It give me more room to adjust that way.
However... this could also be guitar-dependent... a 17" archtop with humbucker could maybe benefit from the increased clarity, high end, and tighter bass. I'm actually going to keep the Weber around, as I'm keeping this amp, I'm sure other guitars will come and go... and it'll be nice having the "instant re-EQing" of the Weber, if required. Yes, an EQ pedal works too... but I like things simple. That's what I love about the Harmony: 1 knob, plug in, turn it up, and go. It is what it is. (I do add a reverb pedal for a little air).
BTW... the tonal differences were not huge. Big enough to give me a preference, but not that different. I think whoever designed this reissue did a really good job at spec'ing the speaker and the tubes... I've tried others of both, and the OEMs sound best to me.
Also BTW- it's built really well. I pulled the chassis and the baffle. The cabinet is very solidly constructed, and the chassis wiring and soldering is neat and clean. I remain impressed with this little, octal, handwired, amp for $400.
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good stuff!
celestion has a 6" speaker..non alnico..(drats)...but has an efficient 97 db sensitivity...which will really maximize those watts...6 db louder with 1 watt than the jensen...
cheers
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Originally Posted by ruger9
Hello, I recently built something similar. You may want to solder in a 470pf bright cap across the MV pot. Mine is on a switch. It’s a nice option to have, especially with humbuckers. It gives just that bit of air I think you’re missing.
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That would actually be detrimental to me- this isn't a gigging amp, it's a home amp. And cranked, it still doesn't disturb neighbors. It's actually perfect in the home-playing-volume dept. Originally Posted by neatomic
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Correct me if I'm wrong... but what that cap does is retain treble as you roll down the volume? Just like a treble bleed cap on a guitar. My guitars all have treble bleed caps, so I don't need one on this amp... and it's a quiet enough amp (it's the quietest 5W amp I've ever owned... 5W can be LOUD), that there's no point in turning the volume down anyway LOL. Just leave the amp at full whack and turn the guitar down, works beautifully. Originally Posted by vintagelove
Good news is, being neatly handwired, and with very few components, modding the thing wouldn't be any trouble for the novice.
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Just to sort of give you some audio examples of what I get out of this amp...
At full whack, guitar full up, it's in this neighborhood, except a HOME volumes, which is brilliant.
And then, just listening to this again last night, this is what you get when you roll down the guitar vol a little (and maybe the tone knob too, rig dependent...)
Charlie Christian is definitely in there too... I suspect with an ES-125/150 (and the P90/CC pickups), it would be very close. I think of this little Harmony as a "home version" of an EH-185 (not that the EH-185 is too loud to use at home, as the below video demonstrates... but the Harmony is smaller, and less than half the price of say, the Vintage 47 EH-185G... which I STILL want, lol). And, just like the EH-185, just crank the amp and control everything from the guitar... most of you guys have probably seen this, our forum member and titan player, Johnathan Stout...
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facinating the different ways people experience things ... Originally Posted by ruger9
earlier , it was stated that the amp hums on full volume !
also it was stated that the amp was not loud and therefore was good for home use
maybe i’ve got something wrong somewhere ....
if they made a version with the same octal pre amp but a bigger power amp (2x 6v6 or 2x 6L6) with a 10” that would be very cool indeed ....
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It does... as does EVERY tube amp I've ever owned. They were never intended to be run on full volume, that's just how the players' did it, whether because they WANTED the distortion (Fender Champs in rock and roll) or because they needed as much clean volume as they could get (Charlie Christian, turning amp full up and then reducing the distortion by using the guitar volume control.) Originally Posted by pingu
Yes. Not sure where you're getting confused? Originally Posted by pingu
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The amp I built has ZERO hum, even at full volume. I suspect the choke and proper grounding help.
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Well, I can't say, because I don't know, how close this reissue circuit is to the original... it SOUNDS like an amp from the 40s-50s. I have no idea if they stayed true to the circuit to get the same tone, or if they did something else... it does have a 6SJ7 preamp, along with a 5Y3 and 6V6, so they kept THOSE parts of the circuit. If it's a circuit clone, then I would imagine the original also hummed when cranked. UNLIKE FENDER's Champion 600, which resembled the original in LOOKS ONLY... it sounds nothing like the original, using different preamp tube, different speaker, and entirely different circuit. It was a Champion 600 in appearance only. Originally Posted by vintagelove
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Realizing this is an old thread, but I figured I'd resurrect rather than start a new one.
I got one of these Harmony 8418 reissues about a month ago.
As others have said, it stays surprisingly clean all the way up to full volume. Not clean clean, like a Fender Twin, but thick, midrangey clean. Full power is still a comfortable home volume - just encroaching on the territory where your spouse might come in and tell you to turn the TV down. Even with rather strong Les Paul pickups, you don't get much beyond light crunch with the amp alone. If you're after that crunchy blues tone, you'll need a boost pedal of some kind. I've used a Joyo Sweet Baby (clone of a Mad Professor Sweet Honey), a Tubescreamer, and a Joyo American Sound in that role. Any of those will push it into pleasant overdrive territory.
The American Sound pedal in particular is a great match for this amp, because its tone controls give you a zillion more options than the amp alone. You can even approximate a blackface Deluxe Reverb with the right settings on the American Sound pedal.
But just the amp alone is a lot of fun, as long as that vintage, somewhat dense, midrange-prominent tone is what you're after. To my non-expert ears this amp sounds and behaves nothing like a Fender Champ and more like a Gibson amp. Mostly I play an American Standard Telecaster through it with the amp's volume no higher than 50%, and it nails that 1950s sound.
It's definitely a gimmick amp. If you can only have one amp, this probably shouldn't be it. But still, I'd sell off several other more versatile amps before this one, because the 8418's gimmick is right in my wheelhouse.
One thing to be aware of, this amp has no "Power On" light. The only visual clue that it's on is whether the on/off toggle is up or down. That took a little getting used to.Last edited by The Angle; 09-08-2020 at 05:53 PM.
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^ good review... hah, like your labeling it a gimmick amp!
a one trick pony perhaps..but an interesting one!
all about the octal pre-amp tube...it distorts differently than common 12ax7 tube type amps..weirder overtones
cheers
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Well heck, if you think about, a jazz box is pretty much a "gimmick" "one trick pony" as well, for the most part. Not many people playing anything other than jazz on a full-hollow arch top with a P90 or HB neck pickup..... that's why they've earned the moniker "jazz boxes". Originally Posted by neatomic
Great review, BTW- and yes, the the amp's unique personality is why I love it... no gimmick about it.... it's a cool, unique tone that you're not going to get out of any other new/affordable amps these days.... plus, it's hand-wired. And it looks cool (IMO). I'd still love a GA40 someday, but until I find one and buy it, the little Harmony is working out very well.
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