SOMA Harvezi Hazze Operation Manual

HARVEZI HAZZE
OPERATION
MANUAL
Harvezi Hazze is a versatile and quite unique distortion pedal with a wide tonal palette. The heart of Harvezi Hazze is a waveshaper designed
around a unijunction transistor, a relic from the early days of the semiconductor industry unearthed from the e-waste bins of flea markets in
Tbilisi, Georgia. The unique properties of the unijunction transistor allow one simple component to replace a number of very complex devices:
depending on the operating mode, we can get a distortion, a limiter, a waveshaper and a generator — with a smooth transition between them.
Experiments have shown that this transistor is an excellent basis for a distortion stompbox. The name translates from Georgian as
„a fault on the transmission line" or „signal jamming", and both the semantic and phonetic natures of it unequivocally imply what
to expect — an impediment to the input signal, ranging from pleasant harmonic distortions to complete obliteration. The signal chain
of the unit consists of an optical compressor with fixed parameters; a dual-mode distorting amplifier with either softer or harsher
clipping; a waveshaper built around a unijunction transistor; and a tone stack section trying to tame all this mess.
SIGNAL CHAIN
INPUT COMPRESSOR DISTORTING AMPLIFIER
CONTROLS
GAIN — controls the output amplitude
of the signal in the distorting amplifier
section. Depending on the position of the
switch, the distortion introduced by this
section is soft (switch in the left position)
or more aggressive with an abundance of
high harmonics (middle position).
SPOIL and SPREAD — control the opera-
tion of the unijunction transistor (wave-
shaper section). Spoil sets the point on
the amplitude axis at which the wave will
fold, and Spread sets the amplitude of
the folding. The sonic meaning of these
knobs can be described as follows: the
higher the Spread value, the more severe
the distortion will be, and Spoil changes
timbre and response threshold. By ad-
justing Spoil you can achieve various
gating and cutoff effects. At low Spread
values, distortion sounds are mixed into
the clean sound.
TONE — adjusts the brightness of the
sound; the higher the value, the more
high harmonics are present in the signal.
The SWITCH regulates either the distor-
tion mode in the amplifier section (left
WAVESHAPER TONE STACK
and center positions), or it turns on the
total feedback mode (right position),
when the values of all knobs begin to
influence each other and effects occur
such as resonance at certain frequencies
and self-oscillation.
LEVEL — controls the output volume of
the signal.
The FOOTSWITCH routes the signal
through the effect circuitry or from input
to output directly (true bypass).
OUTPUT
The array of switches on the side of the
unit gives a few more tonal options:
TONE STACK — routes the signal
through the tone stack section (Tone
knob).
BASS BOOST — enhances bass fre-
quencies.
TONE MODE — changes the behaviour
of the Tone knob (tilt or lowpass).
NOTCH FREQ — changes the central
frequency of the filter.
HIGH CUT — attenuates high frequen-
cies.
COMPRESSOR — routes the signal
through the compressor.
The lower position of the switch enables
the function.