I just got started playing my guitar using effects & stuff, & I discovered talk boxes! They sound sooooo cool! But umm I don't have any idea how to use one, hook it up, or anything! So could someone give me some advice? Thanks(:

Early boxes can be hard on the teeth

Wikipedia's description & history is good...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk_box

Now there is some new options on the market.

Usually it's just part of a speaker horn driven by a small 1 watt or so amp that can be toggles on and off with a footswitch. You connect a piece of tubing to the speaker horn and tape the tubing to a mic. The mic amplifies the sound of the talk box. The tubing goes in you mouth. Talk boxes have been around for ages. I remember Alvino Rey from when I was a young kid. He was usually on a show called "The King Family". My parents used to watch it every week. He played a pedal steel guitar and made it "talk".

It's a really fun effect. Craig Anderton had instructions on how to build one.

It made Peter Frampton a millionaire...

They are fun but, it can get old real fast.
Nice to have and play around with or to pull out for a song or two but,
if money's an issue, save it for something more useful.

Get one that runs as part of your pedal chain, that has a little itsy bitsy amp built in. Seriously don't get an old school one that takes the speaker output from your amp - THEY HURT after a while, and loosen your gums.
Man, I played hammond B3 through one at a recording gig (at a screaming volume I admit) and had sore gums for days!!!!

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"...Compared to the flowers and the birds and the trees, I am an Apeman."

I'm not sure what you all think of weezer but there hit song "beveraly hills" off make believe has an excellent talk box solo. Actually when they played on lettermen, Rivers Cuomo, there lead singer and guitarist really jammed out with the talkbox. Check out the song it's a great guitar moment for weezer.

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Jeff Beck used the box before Frampton but Pete was the most successful and associated with it. Richie Sambora is also creative with it as it really drives the Living on a Prayer riff and he used it on another hit they had. I never had one in my mouth and never even seen one in person though to try out.

Build your own

Instructions here

Never used one myself

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No no and no

The first Talk Box was used back in the mid 60s,it was a homemade device fabricated by a steel guitarist and it made it's film debut in a country music movie called "Second Fiddle To a Steel Guitar"he made it using a horn tweeter cut off at the neck and drove it with it's own amp and like others have said ran a tube from the tweeter to his mouth and miked it.There was a how-to article in Guitar Player back in the Peter Frampton era on making one but if my memory serves me correctly it used a 50W amp.I'll see if I can find the article as I have hundreds of back issues.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

You don't need a 30 watt amp! All you need is a 1 watter a splitter box and a decent pa system. You'll knock the fillings out of your mouth with a 30 watt amp. The tube from the Talk Box needs to be mic's.

+1 and another +1 on that.
Have a google for the Rocktron Banshee Talk Box and the Danelectro Free Speech - both these pedals have a little built in amp, a much simpler and easier, and safer alternative, and still sounds just as good.

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"...Compared to the flowers and the birds and the trees, I am an Apeman."

Thanks every1!

Ok so ive heard i will need 2 amps 4 the use of a talkbox?? Right?? & a mic of course...

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"being a rock star is the intersection of who you are, and who you want to be." -Slash

I built one using my Pignose, a funnel, some lightweight poly tubing and an A-B switch box...

...I run my signal through the pedalboard as normal, ending at the Morley ABY...one lead to amp, second lead to the Pignose "Talk Box"...when it is time for the Talk Box solo, just put the tube in my mouth, put my mouth near the microphone, switch "channels" and let 'er rip!

It's not as easy as the esteemed Mr. Frampton and/or Mr. Perry makes it sound--practice in private or it just sounds goofy...

...and if it were a higher wattage amp, it would knock the back of my head off...be careful!

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

cool thread GG, thanks for the link CB!

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

I remember Alvino Rey and that show.

Watch/listen at about the 0:45 mark :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPd9cxqKCVg

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

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