Who uses a Talk Box?

Nate Hofer · Post by **Nate Hofer** » 11 Jun 2014 8:40 am

Who uses a talk box today with pedal steel? A good idea? I'm thinking of getting one for the outlaw country band I'm in and freaking people out.

Bill Sinclair · Post by **Bill Sinclair** » 11 Jun 2014 10:10 am

You mean one of those Peter Frampton things? I've listen to some of your band's recordings (pretty cool, by the way) and I can see why your bandmates are freaking out. I think it's kind of a goofy novelty that has had its day. If you just want a different sound on a couple of tunes maybe a wah pedal or envelope filter? Or an old string-through pickup lap steel that will overdrive your amp for a different sound, plus you'll have another steel!

Jerome Hawkes · Post by **Jerome Hawkes** » 11 Jun 2014 11:18 am

man, steel players are freaky enough already....have you seen the pics of Pete Drake playing that contraption...it looks like some home made iron lung / life support device made from surplus hospital equipment

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 11 Jun 2014 1:40 pm

Today? I don't know of anybody.
Yesteryear? Here's Pete: http://youtu.be/Cm77Xck34GE
And Pete with Jim Reeves when Jim still did country (before he turned into Perry Como in cowboy boots) http://youtu.be/k-a5vxj1Oww

Craig Baker · Post by **Craig Baker** » 11 Jun 2014 3:40 pm

Buddy Charleton did an excellent job with "Going Once, Going Twice, Going Gone"
It's featured on the intro and ending of Leon Rhodes' 1965 vocal, "What Am I Bid"

Here's a link:

http://picosong.com/PYtx

Best regards,
Craig Baker 706-485-8792

cmbakerelectronics@gmail.com

C.M. Baker Electronics
P.O. Box 3965
Eatonton, GA 31024

Jeffrey Moore · Post by **Jeffrey Moore** » 11 Jun 2014 3:51 pm

Spencer Cullum of Steelism uses one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdWhsNkbg4U

Eddie Cunningham · Post by **Eddie Cunningham** » 11 Jun 2014 5:00 pm

Alvino Rey invented the "talk box" back in the 30s !! Pete Drake brought it back in the 60s? Then a lot of players started using it !! I guess it's kinda gone by now ?? But it was a fun gadget !! olde geeze - AKA Eddie "C"

Sandy Inglis · Post by **Sandy Inglis** » 11 Jun 2014 10:42 pm

I used one on guitar in my early 'Rock' days. It was home-made and after a while the energy coming out of the tube started to hurt my throat. It sounded good though. I just might resurrect it one day for a laugh!!!
Sandy

Leo Melanson · Post by **Leo Melanson** » 12 Jun 2014 5:58 am

Our guitar player experimented with one this year and found it difficult to work with. It takes a few minutes to setup and you have to switch out of your amplified sound to the tube only. With that .. you also need a good sound man to raise your mic to pick up your voice box. Not easy .. and he gave up on it after a few gigs.

We tried to list out all the famous songs (mostly rock) with VB:
There really aren't that many ...

Rocky Mountain Way
Show me the Way
Do you Feel Like we Do
Tell Me Something Good
Sweet Emotion
Livin on a Prayer
Walk this Way
Me and my Gang - Rascal Flatts

Joe Snow · Post by **Joe Snow** » 12 Jun 2014 6:55 am

there was Alvino Rey and stringy, the talking steel.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 12 Jun 2014 8:18 am

Joe Snow wrote:there was Alvino Rey and stringy, the talking steel.

I call him Creepy.

Nate Hofer · Post by **Nate Hofer** » 18 Jul 2014 12:04 pm

Great info. And sorta what I expected.
I may get one.

Nate Hofer · Post by **Nate Hofer** » 18 Jul 2014 12:15 pm

[quote=
Rocky Mountain Way
Show me the Way
Do you Feel Like we Do
Tell Me Something Good
Sweet Emotion
Livin on a Prayer
Walk this Way
Me and my Gang - Rascal Flatts[/quote]

Awesome!

Edward Rhea · Post by **Edward Rhea** » 18 Jul 2014 5:03 pm

Leo! You forgot -Kickstart My Heart-MotleyCrew

Jay Fagerlie · Post by **Jay Fagerlie** » 19 Jul 2014 6:01 am

Alvino used the Sonovox, a slightly different animal, based on the throat mics of WWII

I'd love to get my hands on one of those.....

...and I totally agree w/Mr. Bovine- that little guy was creepy!

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 19 Jul 2014 8:37 am

who uses a talk box?

no one!

Godfrey Arthur · Post by **Godfrey Arthur** » 17 Aug 2014 3:43 am

Lane Gray wrote:Today? I don't know of anybody.
Yesteryear? Here's Pete: http://youtu.be/Cm77Xck34GE
And Pete with Jim Reeves when Jim still did country (before he turned into Perry Como in cowboy boots) http://youtu.be/k-a5vxj1Oww

Dang Lane, that PD clip was something out of Klaatu barada nikto J-rod stuff. Weird to see that from that old a clip. Sounded like a wah though. The Perry Reeves clip didn't work btw.
Third party problems so it said.

It helps if one knows how to sing to use a talk box. I think with all the busy work a psg guy has, adding that tube is pulling too many hats out of the rabbit.

But experiment away.

Here's a good unit if you can find one;

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 17 Aug 2014 7:23 am

Here's another video of the same song, but without the goofy graphics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhTSZcA7kG8

Godfrey Arthur · Post by **Godfrey Arthur** » 17 Aug 2014 7:48 am

And it would have to be that version to hear Pete. Now that I know the title, Jim had another version out, different arrangement. More Mr. C. Thanks.

Ian Worley · Post by **Ian Worley** » 17 Aug 2014 12:26 pm

Leo Melanson wrote:We tried to list out all the famous songs (mostly rock) with VB:
There really aren't that many ...

Rocky Mountain Way
Show me the Way
Do you Feel Like we Do
Tell Me Something Good
Sweet Emotion
Livin on a Prayer
Walk this Way
Me and my Gang - Rascal Flatts

Don't forget Steely Dan, Haitian Divorce

I played with a guitar player MANY years ago who made his own. There's not much to them, it was just small speaker from a car stereo, 4" or so, mounted inside a little enclosed wooden box. He drilled a hole for a little brass fitting opposite the speaker, shoved a rubber hose on it and plugged it into the back of his amp when he wanted to use it. It was... interesting...

chris ivey wrote:who uses a talk box?

no one!

Godfrey Arthur · Post by **Godfrey Arthur** » 17 Aug 2014 2:23 pm

Actually, a horn driver is used to get the SPL's to drive enough air into the mouth cavity for the sound to be shaped by said cavity. This then makes the device a little dangerous if you close your mouth over it like blowing your ears clear if you misjudge the volume from your amp.

Finding a sturdy enough horn driver proves to be expensive for the DIY guys finding one small enough so the box retains a small footprint.

A 50 watt 16 ohm driver, in the case of the vintage Maxon, MD-TM101 is the what is used.

A wild guess would be the Atlas PD60-A, a 60 watt 16 ohm driver used as driver replacement in Leslie speakers. That's a $200 driver. And it is a chunky one.

Like everything, there are preferences in tone over other drivers for this app as talkbox.

Maybe the Atlas PD-5VH with 40 watts will work as well. Smaller driver, a little less in the Fed Res printouts dept.

Getting a good no-leak seal from the driver to the tube is not unlike plumbing work. And a speaker switching circuit with the right type of switch is needed as this device connects to the speaker out of your amp to turn the device on/off.

Atlas PD60-A

Atlas PD-5VH

That said there are "effects" pedal types that will simulate the original talkbox head grenade. Not sure how effective they are.

Danelectro DTB-1

This u2b clip gets closer to camel-ville for the Dano box;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRkEXfbAfxA

Mark Fowler · Post by **Mark Fowler** » 21 Aug 2014 4:14 am

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifie ... 1870555867

Godfrey Arthur · Post by **Godfrey Arthur** » 21 Aug 2014 2:56 pm

May as well give the guy responsible for the most prolific use in recent memory a represent for his product since his songs were mentioned.

I read about the box Frampton devised a while back, don't know much but here it is. I hear Keeley makes/made an electronic version now. Not sure of the status or models.

Godfrey Arthur · Post by **Godfrey Arthur** » 21 Aug 2014 4:21 pm

MXR has an entry. This one has its own amp as seems to be the trend these days for these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWpu9jsyhrM#t=21

I had a home made box back in the day someone sold me.
Looks like the idea has some staying power.

I have a Maxon now, but this new MXR looks attractive.

Nate Hofer · Post by **Nate Hofer** » 25 Jan 2015 6:27 pm

Thanks for the help guys. I wanted to circle back.

I did get a talk box (Rocktron's Banshee) and started to integrate it into band practice and now we have a country record coming out in April with talk box pedal steel on a few songs.

Success!

The Steel Guitar Forum

Who uses a Talk Box?

Who uses a Talk Box?

Buddy Charleton with Talk Box

Talk Box history

Fun idea but hard to implement

Re: Fun idea but hard to implement

Re: Fun idea but hard to implement