DG Harmonic Booster's Purpose and Pedalboard Considerations

[maaraksattack]

Hello Everyone,

I have been living under a rock and recently came out. I have not been up to date with all things bass and pedals in the past 5 years.

I am semi-retired and now back to active playing. I have been setting up my minimalist pedalboard and am considering the Darkglass Harmonic Booster.

Considerations/Info:
1. Gear: Fender PB57US RI CIJ (1997)
2. Incomplete Pedalboard assembly - Aguilar Tone Hammer/Hikari Compressor (local brand in the Philippines)/Zoom MS60B - and considering adding the DG Harmonic Booster.

Questions:
1. What is the Harmonic Booster's main purpose? (Been through youtube videos and I am still confused). Is this essentially an EQ pedal?
2. Will it be overkill if I have the Aguilar Tone Hammer as my Preamp and add the Harmonic Booster which essentially is also a preamp?
3. Can both work in harmony together?
4. Overall reviews and thoughts about the pedal and my possible Pedalboard set up will be appreciated.

Thanks a bunch in advance!

 

[WhoopingHonky]

Had a Harmonic Booster. It is, essentially, an EQ pedal that has the main points of the "Darkglass sound" baked in. You can do a lot with it outside of that, but on a plug and play basis, that's the quick version.

As far as using it with another preamp, shouldn't be any issues. You can use it to sculpt out the sound on the Tone Hammer, so you can have a warm and a scooped sound on tap for whenever you want to switch up.

 

[ddnidd1]

The Harmonic Booster Character knob alters the sound in a way the Aguilar cannot. Well I suppose you could come close.

 

[maaraksattack]

Bump.

 

[ImTheOnlyOne]

Questions:
1. What is the Harmonic Booster's main purpose? (Been through youtube videos and I am still confused). Is this essentially an EQ pedal?
2. Will it be overkill if I have the Aguilar Tone Hammer as my Preamp and add the Harmonic Booster which essentially is also a preamp?
3. Can both work in harmony together?
4. Overall reviews and thoughts about the pedal and my possible Pedalboard set up will be appreciated.

Thanks a bunch in advance!

A1: In my experience, essentially yes, it's an EQ pedal. Amos Heller's review sold me on its capabilities.
A2: Not overkill. Could use it to switch on an alternate EQ curve for a different song genre.
A3: Always nice to have another sweepable mid control, though it may interact oddly with other active EQ in your path.
A4: I preferred my HB later in the path to utilize as a character pedal using slight turns of the knobs.

The TH and HB may work great together. Give it a try.

And a little something else...
I didn't realize that Korg had acquired controlling stake in Darkglass, whereas I knew they'd acquired Aguilar.
Business acquisitions in the bass world

 

[RJ]

Why are you considering it or what makes you interested in it?

What're your goals?

 

[sunbeast]

Its a pretty useful 3-band EQ pedal (with sweepable mids) with a secondary Character control that lets you roll in a very specific EQ curve (something similar to the midrange notch of the B3K drive circuit). They have marketed it (in particular the Character voicing) as something that could be used to shape the sound of drive pedals put after it, so it could be useful to shape the AGS sound of the Aguilar that is inherently pretty midrangey into something a little more clear and bright like a Darkglass B3K (at least in theory, never tried that combo specifically). That said, having two preamps with similar EQ capabilities might be overkill unless you are specifically looking for two switchable tone pedals.

 

[maaraksattack]

Thanks for all the responses so far. For more context, I am still in the "figuring out stage" of my pedalboard build. Being quite new to the pedalboard world, I am exploring options for a very minimalist set up.

As mentioned above, I would like to have these on my board - Tuner - Compressor - DG Harmonic Booster - Zoom MS60B (only to be used for occasional Octave, Envelope Filter, Distortion etc) and the Aguilar Tone Hammer. My dilemma really is the DG Harmonic Booster and if it is redundant since i have the Tone Hammer as my main preamp already with robust options on tone shaping.

My main query - will the DG Harmonic Booster complement the Tone Hammer to add more clarity and serve as EQ and even have an option for a different sound by turning the Character knob up? Or Am i better off w/o since the Tone Hammer already serves its purpose?

I usually prefer the simple set up and not a lot of coloration on my tone.

 

[sunbeast]

Thanks for all the responses so far. For more context, I am still in the "figuring out stage" of my pedalboard build. Being quite new to the pedalboard world, I am exploring options for a very minimalist set up.

As mentioned above, I would like to have these on my board - Tuner - Compressor - DG Harmonic Booster - Zoom MS60B (only to be used for occasional Octave, Envelope Filter, Distortion etc) and the Aguilar Tone Hammer. My dilemma really is the DG Harmonic Booster and if it is redundant since i have the Tone Hammer as my main preamp already with robust options on tone shaping.

My main query - will the DG Harmonic Booster complement the Tone Hammer to add more clarity and serve as EQ and even have an option for a different sound by turning the Character knob up? Or Am i better off w/o since the Tone Hammer already serves its purpose?

I usually prefer the simple set up and not a lot of coloration on my tone.

Obviously having a second footswitchable EQ gives you more tonal options, but the two EQs are pretty similar with the exception of the Character control. The Character control could be a useful addition- if you happen to like that specific character!

 

[InkCow]

As mentioned above, I would like to have these on my board - Tuner - Compressor - DG Harmonic Booster - Zoom MS60B (only to be used for occasional Octave, Envelope Filter, Distortion etc) and the Aguilar Tone Hammer. My dilemma really is the DG Harmonic Booster and if it is redundant since i have the Tone Hammer as my main preamp already with robust options on tone shaping.

So this is near identical to my board, swapping out the HB for the Demon FX knockoff and the ToneHammer pedal for the TH amp sim in my Nux Melvin Lee Davis preamp.

I don’t generally use both the HB and the preamp at the same time, mainly because I generally boost mids in my “regular” sound, whereas I prefer a more (albeit not dramatically so) scooped sound with HB. Instead I use them for different purposes: the TH (or I also use the Nordstrand Starlifter sim, depending on the band) for regular “sit in the mix” tone, and the HB (along with a slight hint of chorus and reverb from the MS60B) for the couple of songs that call for more of a “Tony Levin backing up Peter Gabriel” type sound with my fretless.

I will say that I always miss the Harmonic Booster when I disengage it. I do sometimes wonder if I could use both preamps together, but I also don’t like twiddling knobs constantly during rehearsal to make it work.

 

[thebandcircle]

I also miss the HB when I turn it off. I keep it always on at the end of my pedalboard.