talk box

[Shack]

does anyone have clear instructions on making one? I have a peavey solid state amp and can find a driver.....the 3 how tos ive seen  kinda get vague on how to do it

[eleventeen]

I've looked at a few of these but never built one. You get the general "theory"? You have 1: a little speaker that drives 2: an air column inside a plastic tube that runs up a mic stand and is strapped alongside a vocal mic. The air column 3: resonates inside your mouth cavity and then that warped out sound 4: gets picked up by the vocal mic.

The thing is that a somewhat delicate balance has to be struck as to how efficiently the little speaker in the box drives the air column. Too much drive and the thing will rattle your teeth loose. And probably overload the vocal mic. So the forces and amplitudes have to be kind of worked out and balanced out so the thing works. I think the critical thing is the connection to whatever driver or speaker you use in the
"guts" box---and how efficient that coupling is. I do not know if you WANT it all that efficient. I just don't know. I think you'd have to rig up a test setup to get an idea of how much drive your particular driver/speaker needs and conduct some tests. Kind of an interesting project.

[Willabe]

What I've read over the years is that talk boxes use a horn driver not a speaker.

I had a good 1 and yes they will rattle your teeth. (I lent it to a friend years ago and it's now somewhere in Cali.)

I read an interview with 1 of the better known players (Derringer, Perry,?) that used a TB and he said you better not have any teeth problems like cavities because you wont be able to stand it. Now they were running a 50w head into it.

           
                  Brad     

[Willabe]

Here's a couple of pic's;

[Willabe]

It seems that 11teen is correct, the earliest talk boxes used a little speaker.

Do a search for talk box and look at the wiki page, good history on them.


              Brad   

[Willabe]

Found a forum post that said the guys Heil talk box has a non polarized cap in series going to the + driver connection of 15uF @ 50v, crossover/hi pass filter?

But, New Old Sounds sells replacement parts for the Heil TB and does not list them? So maybe Heil got rid of the 15uF cap on latter models? If so I wonder if they changed the driver? 


                  Brad       

[super&plexi]

got 1 of those Heils out in garage...was brought to me ''broken''...turns out the in/out markings  were reversed. have run into wahs from way back that were mis-marked like that also.


Way back in studio days I improvised a talk box out of a pair of over-ear headphones, a funnel, piece of hose, and duct tape for a producer that wanted 'that sound'...worked like a charm, and I got paid.


those Heil, among others often just use a high power mid horn, cut off at the throat, w/just enough left (of the throat) to connect a piece of hose to. 


I bet a ruby amp/noisy cricket, along with a distortion circuit, and maybe a phase shift/or? into an old horn pulled from a cab (maybe blown driver(s) would do a pretty convincing 'Do You Feel Like We Do'.....


long blond locks, Gibson Les Paul/Black Beauty w/staple p.u.,  & tight pants optional.

[Willabe]

I found this showing the series cap;

[Ken Moon]

Any outdoor horn driver works good, like this one:



Here's a new one from MCM for $35:

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/prod/555-8905?utm_expid=8634549-26.Dd9EzNMpSwu0F_ZUPjdD2A.1&scode=GS401&utm_medium=cse&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=google&catargetid=530004080000290655&cadevice=c&gclid=CLm9-Mqd-8QCFdgGgQodHj4ABQ&utm_referrer=www.google.com

When talk boxes were popular in the '70s, many just unscrewed the driver from the speaker at the local high school football field

[Ritchie200]

When talk boxes were popular in the '70s, many just unscrewed the driver from the speaker at the local high school football field

Is this a confession!?!?


Jim

[alerich]

Buy a Rocktron Banshee. Seriously. It's a little mini amp in the box. Shuts off your guitar signal to your rig and send the amplified signal from the box up the tube. No blowing you brains out with a 50 watt Marshall. No risk of blowing up your valuable tube amp. Sounds just as good as the Heil Talk Box - once the sound goes through that tube, into your mouth and out to the mic you cannot tell the difference. You can even use it alone without your amp if you want, say for recording purposes. I don't use mine all that often but I have not regretted the purchase. Much better system than the conventional talk box.