EHTBMThe Electric Violin Shop staff is always on the lookout for tools, devices and technology that suit the strings player, enhance their performance and expand their expressive palette.  Let's face it though--there aren't many purpose-made effects for bowed strings.  Therefore, we spend a lot of time testing guitar technology with electric violins in order to be able to find those that work best and offer them in our catalog, hopefully saving electric violinists lots of time and money having to do the same for themselves! We recently dipped our toes into legendary guitar effects maker Electro-Harmonix's catalog of guitar electronics.  Electro-Harmonix is a New York-based company that makes high-end electronic audio processors.  It is best known for a series of popular guitar effects pedals introduced in the 1970s. The company continues to innovate and makes some really solid, great sounding effects.  We found that the following units, all of which we now offer in our catalog, work great with electric bowed strings and fulfill common needs of many strings players:

Electro-Harmonix Headphone AmpElectro-Harmonix Headphone Amp

Turn your passive electric instrument into a silent practice instrument with the compact and affordable Electro Harmonix Headphone Amp.  Now you can rock out anywhere without disturbing your neighbors.  Simply use a 9V battery and any pair of headphones you like, as long as they have an 1/8" plug attached to them.    

Electro-Harmonix Micro POG octave pedalElectro-Harmonix Micro POG octave pedal

Become each member of the violin family on just one instrument! The MICRO POG (Polyphonic Octave Generator) delivers perfect tracking and smooth polyphony for string players. Play an octave above or below (violinist becomes violist or cellist, cellist becomes violist or bassist, bassist becomes cellist, etc.) or play octaves in parallel for a unique effect that is otherwise difficult to execute in tune on stringed instruments!  

Electro-Harmonix Ravish Sitar PedalElectro-Harmonix Ravish Sitar Pedal

Whether you play ragas or just want to add Indian flavor to your music, the Ravish Sitar transforms your stringed instrument into a convincing, authentic sitar. The Ravish Sitar is a powerful, highly customizable sitar emulator that offers a polyphonic lead voice and tunable sympathetic string drones that dynamically react to your playing.     Electro-Harmonix MicroSynth

Electro-Harmonix MicroSynth Analog Synthesizer

From the classic vintage sounds of the great early Moog synthesizer to custom creations, the MicroSynth creates fat analog synth sounds heard on classic recordings by some of the finest musicians in the world.     Electro-Harmonix Nano Switchblade passive channel selector

Electro-Harmonix Nano Switchblade passive channel selector

The Nano Switchblade is capable of carrying out all of your simple switching needs, without having to worry about batteries and power adaptors.     What gear originally made for guitarists have you successfully repurposed for a bowed strings instrument?  Let us know in the comments...

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