Talkbox

Hammeron · 2012-03-24T12:14:38+00:00

Ok, found a good deal on one of these. Now the dude in the shop tried to explain to me how they connect to the amp. He said you can only use it on an amp tha...

Talkbox

MikeM

What's a mouthbox?

Hammeron

Mike, it seems that the correct term is actually Talkbox.
It is an effects module that allows you to manipulate the guitar signal with your lips by means of a plastic tube connection mounted on a mic stand.
Frampton used them extensively, also Sambora and Slash.

AlanRatcliffe

Tamla Kahn 'Hammeron' McMahon wrote: The talkbox sits between the Amp and its speakers ?

Yes.

And the guitar plugs into the talkbox ?

No. Guitar into amp as usual. The tube from the talkbox goes into your mouth.

Hammeron

Thanks Allan.
So, The overdrive or clean selected on my pedal in front of the amp will work thru the talkbox when it is on. And when I switch the Talkbox off with its footswitch I am back to normal overdrive/clean.

Gearhead

See the talkbox as a speaker with a garden hose. You play with whatever effect you want through the amp into yer mouth and modulate the sound into a mic into the PA. No funny stuff comes out of your guitar speaker, you need the mic and PA.

Tokai-SA

Hammeron wrote: Mike, it seems that the correct term is actually Talkbox.
It is an effects module that allows you to manipulate the guitar signal with your lips by means of a plastic tube connection mounted on a mic stand.
Frampton used them extensively, also Sambora and Slash.

Do not mention talkbox without mentioning, David Gilmour. >☹

?

Btw, the ones available in music stores these days don't work....I'd rather just use a good wah. ?

AlanRatcliffe

Something else which does work very well in your loop (or up front of the amp) is the Boss VF-1 half rack multieffect (or the older SE-50 and SE-70) - that has a modulation/vocoder algorithm where you can plug a mic into the second channel and use it to do talkbox type stuff. Plus you can use the same patch and modulate with any source (drum machine for beat synced stuff, LFO for ring modulation, etc.). I've seen them going quite cheaply lately - even new. http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/products/en/VF-1/index.html

Hammeron

@ Gearhead. So the tube is mounted next to a mic and the mouthed effect is put thru the mic into the PA.
@ Tokai. Apologies for forgetting the mighty Gilmour! ?
You say proper boxes are virtually unattainable these days, gotcha.
This makes things quite complex, exactly what I would like to avoid.
I do so like the effect and hear that a good Wah pedal would fill the gap. Always wanted one anyway.
@ Allan. Will check out that Boss multieffect.
Ta.

Hammeron

Allan, just one thing.
In your experience, how does the Boss compare to an original box, sound wise, no what I mean?

AlanRatcliffe

Hammeron wrote: Allan, just one thing.
In your experience, how does the Boss compare to an original box, sound wise, no what I mean?

Similar, but different - very different in the way you operate them. I prefer the Boss method because of being able to use a microphone rather than the pipe and you can have the sound of your voice mixed in.

Tokai-SA

Hammeron wrote:
@ Tokai. Apologies for forgetting the mighty Gilmour! ?
You say proper boxes are virtually unattainable these days, gotcha.
.

Seriously, you can build one yourself.
PJH (Peter Hanmer) built one from an old 10watt solid state amp combo he had lying around.
He stripped it down and used just the amp section, bought a horn, enclosed it all in a box.

Here's the amp before it was stripped down.

Here's the talkbox...notice the same 6 knobs that the amp had. ?