Talk Box

[DJGuitars]

Hey guys, i just have a quick quesion

Who wants to know how to make a talk box?

answer to the poll and post.

if enough people say yes then i will post a tutorial on the main page in the tutorial/electronics section.

i'll post on this thread if i'm posting it.

please respond

Thanks

[GregP]

I'd love to-- I've seen a tutorial or two online, so I understand the concept, but extra information and a different approach is always great. It's one thing to understand how it works, and another to have clear enough instructions to implement.

[DJGuitars]

I'll start taking pictures and put a tutorial up when i'm finished.

The one i'm making is pretty similar to the other one's on line.

ill tell you guys when it's finished and post a link to the instructions.

I'll go get the materials i don't already have today.

[aidlook]

Shure, extra info never hurst.

[aidlook]

It's pretty basic isn't it? horn driver into a tube and then stick it in your mouth?

After that you'd need a PA or something right? too bad I'm lacking one of those at home...

[DJGuitars]

there's a few different thing you can use. i explain it in detail when i post it to the tutorials.

And don't worry MexNoob, you'll be able to make it, it's really simple and it'll take about an hour, not even.

just wait a little and i'll post the tutorial.

[psw]

Ok...who voted no!

only kidding bit of a silly question!

Still, a traditional talkbox is a commitment, I believe there are talkboxes more like stompboxes and dont require the pa systems or special amp mods of old...anyone know how they work?

I am not sure of the hygiene aspects of those things either and that plastic tube, hmmm, a lot of synthetic estrogens in that stuff, might have some unwanted side effects if you suck on the thing too much...look at peter frampton for instance...hehehe

BTW...what are people's favorite talkbox solos?

I always loved Haitian Divorce by Steely Dan. Apparently the guitar solo's were all done conventionally and the engineer added the effect later...I wonder what it sounded like before...

pete

[Xanthus]

"Jambi" by Tool, definitely. Not much happens in it as far as a huge Frampton solo, but the atmosphere definitely fits the song.

And as for the Steely Dan song... I didn't know you could reamp with a talk box effect. Cool!

[madawgony]

The concept of the talk box has always intrigued me and I would love to see the toot.

Didn't Stillwater's song Mindbender have a talk box part?

[ihocky2]

"Black Cat Moan" - live. Jeff Beck Group. Please, nobody mention "Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi...

Ooops! I just did...

Whoa Ohh Living on prayer

Take my hand, we'll make it I swear

[billm90]

It's pretty basic isn't it? horn driver into a tube and then stick it in your mouth?

After that you'd need a PA or something right? too bad I'm lacking one of those at home...

That is exactly what it is.

I took a speaker, I cant remember the diameter, maye 4" or 5" (non horn driver) radio shack special that could take 50 watts

Ran my practice amp to it.

Cut the top off a 2 liter bottle.

Silicone glued the bottle top to the speaker (prefect fit)

stuck a 3/4" tube into the 2 litter cap hole. Taped it in place.

Bam, done. shove the tube in your mouth, play guitar and make movement with your mouth. You only need the mic/PA when you want other people to hear it.

[ooten2]

The concept of the talk box has always intrigued me and I would love to see the toot.

Didn't Stillwater's song Mindbender have a talk box part?

Wow, somebody else besides me remembers Stillwater? Cool.

I always liked Joe Walsh's talkbox stuff. "Those Shoes" comes to mind. Butt out... Butt out...

[psw]

Bam, done. shove the tube in your mouth, play guitar and make movement with your mouth. You only need the mic/PA when you want other people to hear it.

Cool..except I would have thought hearing it was kind of the point! Still, it would be kind of fun.

"she's a woman" is a nice talking part from Jeff Beck's classic, blow by blow. JB used the psychedelic version which looked like a paisley bag pipe thing that hung under the arm with a tube coming out of the top.

What would be cool is if someone could do a convincing "model" of the device in a wha or perhaps even something as crude as a balloon that is squeezed by a foot pedal changing the shape a bit like one's mouth...it would be a bit more hygenic. I also believe that over use effects your teeth at volume and that the plastic tubing could cause cancer...still, I don't see anyone habitually using it like this and it may be some kind of urban myth!

pete

[SwedishLuthier]

horn driver into a tube and then stick it in your mouth?

That is exactly what it is.

Not 100% because:

Cut the top off a 2 liter bottle.

That part is the most important bit. You need something that allows the driver to “breath”. You can’t jam the tube directly into the “mouth” of the driver and seal the opening with something (well you can, but it will not be “the” sound). Jeff Beck used a piece of hard PVC tubing (plumming department at the hardware store) that fit perfectly over the mouth of the driver (something like 2” long), a big cork jammed into the tube with a hole drilled for the flexible tube that is held in your mouth. I got this information from a guy that used to know him way back

A photo tutorial is of cause always welcome

[zyonsdream]

I had one of those digitech voice boxes that the guitar plugged into along with a mic. It sounded like a talk box but didnt track very well. there was always a delay.

[Xanthus]

So... 27 votes, and still no plans?!? My guitar is almost done, I need a new project.

[InSasquatchCountry]

I made a talkbox out of a little marshall I had laying around. I used the information I could find on this great "system of tubes" we go here. I made a how to on this awesome site called instructables.com.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-A-Talkbox/

Edited July 27, 2008 by InSasquatchCountry

[psw]

Hey!!!...

Look what I found...early Jeff Beck Live

She's A Woman - Jeff Beck with Talk Bag

Here is a great clip of JB in the blow by blow era with the ox-blood LP and includes a short spot using the "talk box" which is actaully in a bag slung over his back (you can see the strap over his left shoulder)...I still don't quite get how you swap from straight guitar to talk and back...

Amazing clip though, JB using a pick, but then showing that he was already adept at playing without...JB on a les Paul with no trem trickery...JB getting funky...JB showing that even in the 70's he had all the innovative chops like no other...JB showing the clear influence of Roy Buchanan there that inspired 'because we ended as lovers'...

Great stuff...anyone know more about this bag thing, I referred to it earlier in the thread...

pete

[Twoods196]

A talkbox tut would be awesome. Been wanting one forever and I would rather build it so...YES!

[Anti-Idiot]

i'd love a tutorial!

but, from the 3 popular models, i guess the easiest is the Heil (the instructables one is some Heil variation)

maybe we can try to make some best-of using the 3 models.

driver: Heil (dunlop)

preamp + driver: Banshee (Rocktron)

preamp + driver + mic: Free Speech (danelectro)

while the dunlop is the most efficient, the banshee seems to be cool for those who are afraid of damage their amps.

also, the danelectro is good for those who have just 1 amp, or can't afford some 100w head; or just want to fool around.

i was doing some research long time ago, and analizing lots of schematics, came with something like this:

-guitar

-preamp (for dual channel: clean/distortion)

-talkbox

---small practiceamp, from GGG, Richardo's page

---horn driver

---mic

---mic preamp

-guitar amp (only clean channel)

the preamp was some Dist+/uAmp combo. using a DPDT will engage the talkbox circuit, and a momentary switch will activate/deactivate the talkbox (now you hear it, now you don't). some mic preamp was supposed to pick-up the sound and send it to the guitar amp (that's why a preamp was needed, the guitar amp would be on the clean channel only).

sorry for my bad english.

btw, thanx InSasquatchCountry, i loved the instructables tutorial!

PS: my favorites TB songs are:

Anything Goes (Guns N' Roses)

Man In The Box (Alice In Chains)

Hair of the Dog (Nazareth)

Haitian Divorce (Steely Dan)

Edited August 5, 2008 by Anti-Idiot

[psw]

Haitian Divorce (Steely Dan)

+1 on that...did you know that the engineer put the talk box effect on it after the player had left....hehehehe

I know basically how a traditional talk box works but I am not entirely sure how it works in practice or the variations and how they fare...

driver: Heil (dunlop)

preamp + driver: Banshee (Rocktron)

preamp + driver + mic: Free Speech (danelectro)

You only really explore the top two...does the danelectro have its own mic and amp in it. There are others to like the framptone and some old obscure ones like the bag thing beck was playing.

Ideally, I'd want something fairly self contained. How much power really needs to be forced into the mouth to create the effect and how do you switch from one to the other. Is the talkbox tone clean or distorted in sound. Better yet would be something that you didn't have to put in your mouth...but that might not be practical and missing the point.

I guess what I am hinting at is that if it doesn't require a lot of volume or a hi-fi sound then there are plenty of simple amps that could suffice driving small speakers in an enclosure and perhaps a small mic close to the end of the tube would suffice to be pre-amped and sent into the guitar amp in some way more like an effect than an outlay in dedicated mics and amps just to produce the effect. A lot of us probably have small practice amps that might do the job with a bit of PVC pipe enclosure and a little tubing and some cheap midrange speaker...

just thinking out aloud. I suspect this talkbox tutorial may not actually appear!

pete

[Skiye]

this looks rather promising:

http://www.houseknecht.net/HowToMakeATalkBoxOnTheCheap.aspx

and i know its not a talk box solo, but i like pete townsands subtle use of the effect (or something reeeeeeeeeally similar) in "The Punk Meets The Godfather"

[psw]

this looks rather promising:

http://www.houseknecht.net/HowToMakeATalkBoxOnTheCheap.aspx

and i know its not a talk box solo, but i like pete townsands subtle use of the effect (or something reeeeeeeeeally similar) in "The Punk Meets The Godfather"

Thanks Skiye...and welcome to PG if you haven't been already

That is the best so far and more what I was thinking right down to the funnel! I actually have a whole bunch of little speakers in the garage that need a home...maybe I should make some talk boxes out of them. I suspect a little LM386 amp like a ruby would provide enough signal up the tube...so to speak...

I think with something like this you could run the mic into input 2 of the guitar amp and have a stop switch to go between the straight guitar amp sound and the talk effect...you could even have it so you have both the straight and talk signal which might sound interesting.

I love PT's playing and the Who (best bit of CSI is the theme ) but I don't know this song...

pete