Letting the Harvey off its leash
Tour boxes are great. It gives players a chance to sample gear that they might ordinarily not get to sample and the manufacturers get feedback on their products directly from their target audience. Earlier this year, we were a stop on the Mojo Hand Harvey DC tour. The Harvey DC is a dual channel distortion unit capable of everything from neutral low gain tones to full-on distortion. With boxes like this, the Goosoniqueworx Seventheaven and others, smaller builders are running with the two-in-one trend aiming to give users more bang for their precious pedalboard real estate. Does the Harvey deliver, or is it two sides of the same old coin?
The Harvey comes in the official issue little white pedal box with a sticker affixed sporting the Mojo Hand logo and pedal name. Inside the box, at least for the tour, was just the pedal itself. The Harvey has individual Volume and Tone knob controls to balance the two channels. A foot switch on the right turns the unit on and off, while the foot switch on the left switches between channels. The Overdrive channel is designed to maintain clarity for rhythm parts, and provide full frequency range reproduction without a mid hump. The Distortion channel is optimized for rhythm and lead by maintaining clarity. Both channels are optimized for minimum compression. The channels do share the Gain control – a compromise due to limited space. The channels operate independent of one another and are not stackable.
To the Strat first, bridge pick-up, we whip up a little descending rock riff. On the clip, you will hear the OD side first and the Tone knob will start full left and roll full right. Then you’ll hear the Distortion side with the Tone knob following the same path. With the Volume knob at 10 o’clock and both the OD and Distortion Gain at 2 o’clock…. heeeeeeere’s Harvey! First clean, then effected!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
You can hear the two distinct voices of the Harvey. The OD is a gritty, but warm crunch while the Distortion is a thicker wall of dirt with a bit of boost. Both sides of the Harvey offer good drive qualities with nice articulation. Shifting to the neck pick-up, we dial it back a bit. With the Volume at 1 o’clock, both the Gain controls at around 10 o’clock and the Tone knobs at 3 o’clock, here’s both sides of the Harvey. Clean, then OD… then distortion.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The OD adds the right amount of sizzle to the bluesy progression, while the distortion side gets a bit boxy on the neck pick-up. You can dial that out by adjusting the tone to taste. Switching to the Les Paul, we let the Harvey breathe. With the Volume at 10 o’clock, the Tone controls at noon and the Gain knobs pegged, here’s one Mojo Hand pedal to another – the Harvey feeding a riff from The Mule! First clean… then the overdrive channel… then the distortion channel.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The Mojo Hand Harvey DC stomp is one cool, dual dirt-dealing tool! With one side favoring organic enhancement of your natural amp tone while the other pushes an articulate distorted tone great for chunky rhythm work. The ability to jump between the two sides via a single footswitch gives you an extra weapon in your rock arsenal without sacrificing the extra pedal board space. Priced at less than $200, the Harvey could have you making your own tonal luck on two unique fronts for the price at or below most single channel boutique dirt boxes. That’s our opinion anyway… your mileage may vary!
PLEASE NOTE: All YMMV Review clips are played through a Fender ’65 Princeton Reverb RI using Lava Clear Connect cables. No reverb or other effects were added to the clips. Guitars used in this review include a 1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom and a 1998 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster.
