so ya wanna make that thing talk?

[pinkjimiphoton]

get one of these...

it's gotta be a FULL RANGE driver... i used a university ma-25 for 30 years until a terminal broke on me a week ago, and i found one of these on the bay:



i scanned the front page cuz i thought someone may find this kinda info useful

dig the specs... 80hz-12k, 130db spl.... "explosion proof" 16r driver, and you can make an adapter out of a few different things on the throat.
i use the rubber "boot" from a grounded 110 plug, can post pics if anyone needs details. i used a hose clamp to make it secure.

my old one i'd played bass and guitar thru with up to 100 watt amps, usually my 40 watt princeton monstrosity.

i gotta banshee, which is ok, but not enough ass. my old one was perfect, if kinda inconvenient. but it sounds better with some balls behind it.

so when my old one broke inside the casting, i went shopping and found this.

i'm using a crate gx15 to drive it, and with 130db it's got plenty of ass...even with an amp mismatched down to 16 ohms from it's usual 8, so i figure it should run a litle cooler,

eventually i'm gonna strip the crate and mount it under my pedalboard just to run the talkbox with... need some downtime for that.

but anyways, if anyone wantss to build one of these nasty gross things, this is a good driver to look for,  check it out.

make that shit talk. SQVACK!

[Brymus]

 
I'm a little confused are you using this to get that "Joe Walsh"  "I wanna *** You" effect?
So you have a tube running up your mic stand that you talk into?
Yeah post a couple of pics I would love a simple talk box set up,and have at least 3 small donor amps that could be used.
A 15 watt Peavey should be close to your Crate GX15.

And how about a link to the Eway store you bought it from?
thanks Jimi 

[karbomusic]

I'm a little confused are you using this to get that "Joe Walsh"  "I wanna *** You" effect?
So you have a tube running up your mic stand that you talk into?
Yeah post a couple of pics I would love a simple talk box set up,and have at least 3 small donor amps that could be used.
A 15 watt Peavey should be close to your Crate GX15.

And how about a link to the Eway store you bought it from?
thanks Jimi 

I built one from a Kustom PA cab horn driver in the late 80s and I still have it. As soon as I discovered how they worked, I decided I'd not be paying someone for a horn driver with some hose sticking out of it LOL. It was old school handmade so it had a foot switch that threw the amp's full power into your mouth. It could peel enamel off your teeth. Luckily I never had it that loud and it sounded great, used to do "Do you feel like we do" etc.

[pinkjimiphoton]

I'm a little confused are you using this to get that "Joe Walsh"  "I wanna *** You" effect?
So you have a tube running up your mic stand that you talk into?
Yeah post a couple of pics I would love a simple talk box set up,and have at least 3 small donor amps that could be used.
A 15 watt Peavey should be close to your Crate GX15.

And how about a link to the Eway store you bought it from?
thanks Jimi 

you don't use it to talk into. you route the sound from your guitar to the talkbox, and replace the sounds of your vocal chords with it.
the key is the specs of the driver. if you use a tweeter horn driver, you will get what's described below.  has to be a full-range driver.
notice the frequency range... 80hz to 12k. a midrange horn MAY go as low as 500hz... more likely 1k or even 2k. way too high, and way too much
power concentrated in the upper harmonics. the guitar only goes up to maybe 6k anyway, so 12 k is efficient, and 80-12k is a good wide range.

you'll have to look around on ebay for one. i'll see if i can still snatch a pic off my website, my shit's allready stowed for the show tonite.

take a look at it... you'll figure it out.

I built one from a Kustom PA cab horn driver in the late 80s and I still have it. As soon as I discovered how they worked, I decided I'd not be paying someone for a horn driver with some hose sticking out of it LOL. It was old school handmade so it had a foot switch that threw the amp's full power into your mouth. It could peel enamel off your teeth. Luckily I never had it that loud and it sounded great, used to do "Do you feel like we do" etc.

yeah, i tried those ones in the past. ya need a full range pa horn. mids or tweeters just hurt your head. been there!

that's why it's all about the frequencies and spl... these and others like them have the right range, and at 130db you got plenty of volume. you gotta get it up at least as loud as you sing, and preferably a little louder... better to always have too much. 11 matters.

[G.Neyrey]

That AC plug boot is a great idea! Mine are usually hose clamped PVC or plumbing nipples (what a mess). Thanks for the tip, Jimi. Hey....I see a ME-5 lurking under your squawk-box. Still have mine!

George

[pinkjimiphoton]

i still have 4 of 'em bro (me-5's)

[mth5044]

This thread is really confusing when work blocks pictures 

Wait.. you have 4 ME-5's? Like, the BOSS multieffect?

[pinkjimiphoton]

yeah, 4 me5's. i had 5 of them, but i gave one to Dick Wagner when he was visiting last year.
great boxes. i tend to keep several around. two of them looped together gives some unfathomable possibilities.

[italianguy63]

I built one (talkbox) but I never got around to posting it.  It is pretty cool.

I took a 2W amp apart, and stuffed it in a box with the driver.  It is wired so you can use it as a talk box, or a portable head unit to drive speakers.  It will actually drive my 4x12 with a 9V.  Plus, it has Gain/Tone/Vol controls.

It's the size of a large stompbox...

MC

[pinkjimiphoton]

this one i'm splitting off just after my fuzz face with an a/b/y box. instead of switching the speaker at the end like i used to do, it's easier (slightly) this way for me.

[GibsonGM]

I got one from my buddy's father.  Made a box out of 1/2" plywood, seated the driver in there & filled with 'blow foam' insulation to hold it.  I pre-plumbed it with brass fittings, so all you do is put a tube on the barb on top of the box and can pop it off to clean/replace as needed.  Pretty cool!

I use a small practice amp to drive it.....A/B my guitar into it, and make sure my reg. amp's input is grounded while on the 'box.

They're tons of fun ;o)

[italianguy63]

Jimi-- what I did was pretty cool.  When it is "off" the guitar bypasses right thru (input on right/output on left).  When you turn it "on" it runs through the internal amp to the driver, shutting off the feed downstream (so your tone goes through the mic).  Finally if you plug into the (switched) jack on the back-- it bypasses the internal driver and sends amplified signal out the back to a speaker cab (as a tiny practice head unit).

BTW.  Self-contained.  No extra boxes.  No 110V to electocute you.  It runs off battery or 9V pedalboard.

Similar to a Banshee I guess.  Not high power, but it gets the job done.  It won't rattle you fillings out..  A 5W circuit would be perfect I think if I was to redo it.  It is a extended frequency driver too.  What was cool about it was the output was inpregnated nylon-- so I was able to just tap threads into it for the hose fitting.  The two screws are extensions of the driver construction-- so it too was convienient to mount the driver snuggly into the enclosure.

Here you go:



MC

[zombiwoof]

I'm a little confused are you using this to get that "Joe Walsh"  "I wanna *** You" effect?
So you have a tube running up your mic stand that you talk into?
Yeah post a couple of pics I would love a simple talk box set up,and have at least 3 small donor amps that could be used.
A 15 watt Peavey should be close to your Crate GX15.

And how about a link to the Eway store you bought it from?
thanks Jimi 

Minor correction, that is from Peter Frampton ("Do You Feel Like I Do"), not Joe Walsh ("I wanna......).
Made the girls go crazy, I guess (from the audience reaction, and several women I knew)!.
No big deal, though.

Al

[pinkjimiphoton]

still makes the girls crazy.

it's like playing zeppelin.... suddenly they're all naked.

hell, even our drummer got laid last nite.... again.

i love the self contained aspect. i gotta have more power tho, this was JUST right last nite with the little crate full blast.

i'm gonna pull the pcb from the crate and mount it under my board i think.

the ioriginal one is a box with a dpdt in it, and three wires coming out... 20 feet back to the amp X 2, one plug marked red... thats to the amp speaker output, the other to the cab.
last wire fed the talkbox. that way i could run the whole mess with my stage amp, WITH all my effects (including my guitar synths)

too lazy now.


too las

[Tony Forestiere]

Ah. Another "misheard" lyric. Listen closely. Frampton actually says "I want to thank you"!  (Of course, "There's a bathroom on the right".

[italianguy63]

Understood.  I still think a 5W or 10W board from a cheap practice amp would be more than enough.  The 2W is nomimal.  Self contained is the way so you don't have a heap of stuff and wires at the mic-stand.  Keeping the 110V away is a good idea too...  MC

[Tony Forestiere]

The EHX Golden Throat wiring diagram from Ron Neeley:


It is plugged in between the amp output and your speaker cab. No separate amp or power supply necessary. Switches between your cab and the horn driver.

[pinkjimiphoton]

yeah tony, that's how i do it.

but.... unless the driver is wicked efficient... 2-5 watts won't cut it on stage, at least the ones i end up on. the banshee is 5 watts, and not enough.

the crate i'm driving it with now is just about right... it's 15 watts at 4r, so figure maybe 10 watts at 16r. i can work with it, but i have to have it full-tilt boogie.
the 40 watt princeton is better, but a lot heavier and bulkier.

when i asked frampton on his facebook page what he used to drive his with (now he uses bob keeley's framptone but it's the same old same old) and he said one of his 50 watt plexis.
better to always have too much power than not enough. last nite for the first time since the marshall years, i actually got to turn it down a little bit instead of wishing for a few db more.

[Digital Larry]

I imagined one of these mounted on a hardhat, sorta like a beer hat, with the tubes coming down along with your Miley Cyrus style headset mic, so you could be like a wireless Frampton.  Although you'd probably need a Die Hard in a back pack to deliver the required power.  Nobody said rock and roll was for wimps.

[Digital Larry]

Ah. Another "misheard" lyric. Listen closely. Frampton actually says "I want to thank you"!  (Of course, "There's a bathroom on the right".

Hey, where's Peter?

Ah, he's thanking one of the audience members in the bathroom on the right.