Paperboy Pedals Harmonic Percolator Clone

There are a lot of effects pedals out there shrouded in mystery – vintage units that have little public info about them, pedals only made for a short time, or reclusive builders who keep their secrets, well, secret. The HP-1 Harmonic Percolator is most definitely one of these pedals, a weird fuzzy distortion creation that creates an extremely unique sound. The effect we’re looking at today is a Harmonic Percolator Clone, made by the also semi-mysterious Paperboy Pedals…

This white beauty is a clone of the Interfax HP-1 Harmonic Percolator – it’s a genuinely unusual design with a very identifiable sound, originally established in a small electronics repair business in Milwaukee, WI, by a man named Ed Giese. The Paperboy version utilizes an AionFX.com PCB and loaded up with NOS vintage components, this thing sounds amazing. Throw in a toggle switch that allows you to activate 2N3565 Silicon or 2N404 Germanium transistors, which pass even order harmonics while suppressing odd order harmonics, and you’ve got yourself one hell of a dirt machine.

Made famous by recording engineer and guitarist Steve Albini (Shellac, Big Black), the HP-1 Harmonic Percolator is still a bit of an under-the-radar effect, but there are some excellent clones out there. A few we’ve seen besides this one from Paperboy Pedals are the Nine of Swords Headache, one from Bowman Audio Endeavors, the Malaise Forever Clubber Lang and the HP-X from Vaderin Pedals. Paperboy Pedals have a minimal online presence, but you can find them on Reverb.com and over on Instagram – be sure to watch our demo video, too, and like, comment and subscribe…thanks for your support, cheers!!