Building a talk box

[llmdcll]

So I plan on making a talk box found on the ggg page. I have a midrange horn driver that is 40 watts and 16ohms. I understand that it doesn't take a lot to drive these and that you should be careful about how much power you put through it. I was gonna hook it up like the heil sound talk box that only has a 15uf 50v cap from the positive end of driver. One of my questions is how important is that cap? Could I leave it out with out destroying stuff? And I was gonna use a dedicated amp for the box with an ab switch. I have a little 10 or 20 watt amp I was gonna use but could I get away by just making a noisy cricket amp and putting them in the same enclosure? Would 10 or 20 watts be overkill? And could a little 1/2 watt amp have enough to power the horn?

[aron]

I built one long ago. I can't remember what I used to power it, but it wasn't much. I don't think you need a lot of power to make it work. OK, one thing. The TUBING YOU USE - make sure it's ok. I went and bought some kind of aquarium tubing and hooked it up and that night - it tasted like poison. Not only that - I think it was.... I got sick from using the box!

Yes, keep the cap in.

[llmdcll]

Ok I only asked about the cap cause I didn't have one on hand and I was wondering if I could leave it out or not ill definitely pick one up. I was gonna go to lowes and see if they had anything for the tubing.

[italianguy63]

JimiPhoton is our resident talk box expert.. but I have not seen him posting lately.

Yes, the cap needs to be there.

10W is actually a good #.  I built one with 2W and it is not enough really (although it works).  Jimi says 5W is not enough.  So a cheap 10W practice amp would be perfect.

MC

[digi2t]

JimiPhoton is our resident talk box expert.. but I have not seen him posting lately.

Probably still locked away in a hazy room, with that Ludwig Phase II I sent him. 

[italianguy63]

JimiPhoton is our resident talk box expert.. but I have not seen him posting lately.

Probably still locked away in a hazy room, with that Ludwig Phase II I sent him. 

No doubt.  I am looking forward to building the Fuzz Monster and being locked away for awhile.  I was actually testing forward voltages on LEDs this morning.

[llmdcll]

Ok thanks for the input I'll have to test it out sometime soon I just gotta find an enclosure for this thing and grab some tubing and I'll be good to go

[pinkjimiphoton]

JimiPhoton is our resident talk box expert.. but I have not seen him posting lately.

Probably still locked away in a hazy room, with that Ludwig Phase II I sent him. 

my guitar, man.... it's been talking to me..... i can't seem to leave it alone... it's been a couple weeks now... it keeps going YOY YOY YOY YOY....


OK... here's the scoop. all ya need to know is in a post i made called "so ya wanna make that thing talk?"
search function.

next. the cap? unnecessary. first off, it's gotta be non polarized, but it's only purpose is to roll off frequencies that could damage the driver. if ya have a full range 40 watt 16 r driver, you're good. 

a lot of bad advice gets thrown around. you need power.... at least enough power to get the talkbox volume AT LEAST AS LOUD AS YOU SING.

15-30 watts minimum if ya plan on using it on stage.

for tubing, read that other thread... but clear plastic tubing from a hardware store is good. softer tubing can be used in a smaller guage to put in your mouth... it will add a bit of compression.

i'd reccomend using an a/b/y splitter, so you can have straight guitar, talk box, or both, and i would put it after your dirt pedals so you can drive the amp powering it hard... distortion can really help with the consonant sounds.

don't use a driver tho if it doesn't go low enough.... most midrange drivers cut off at about 1k, which is the equivalent of wiping out everything under the g string on your guitar.  the ones ya wanna look for are full range PA drivers, not MIDRANGE drivers... look for a response of around 80hz for the lows and about 12k on the highs. that'll cover your whole guitar range nicely.

don't worry about "going deaf" or "rattling your teeth"... old wive's tales. you lose a LOT of the volume, it's attenuated by the 7 feet or so of tube hooked to it. if you use a midrange horn, yah, it'll be annoying... too much treble.. but a good horn will feel almost like you're singing.

i applaud ya taking the plunge. talkboxes can be a lot of fun.

[llmdcll]

Nice! I'll def check out that thread I searched "talk box" on the site and there wasn't a whole lot that showed up. I bought my driver from mcm electronics it's rated 100hz~8khz I have everything to build it besides the tubing that I'm gonna go get soon. Thanks for the info I was gonna use the a/b switch method and use a little crate amp to power the driver. I figure I could turn up the distortion a little bit and see how it sounds. It probably won't sound the best but I'm going to experiment with it and maybe try some other amps to get a good sound. I can't wait to mess with it I've never played with a talk box before and I'm exited to finish it I've been addicted to diy pedals for a few months now and I like making more unique effects more that distortion/fuzz pedals. I just wish I could fit in the amp section into the enclosure with the driver I like that idea better than having to set up another small amp to the side to drive the driver. I was hoping I could get away with using a noisy cricket or something like that but if that won't cut it I plan on making a "tiny giant" head for my next talkbox so I can fit it in with the driver. It was weird trying to find a good driver for this project I saw a decent amount of drivers that people would comment on and say they used it in speakers and such but I got antsy and found this one where a few people said they used in tb's and sounded good so I just got that one.

[Nasse]

silicone tubing might be available and non toxic

[pinkjimiphoton]

you got the right kinda driver, so you should be good to go bro. if ya need any help, let me know.

i use a crate fifteen watter with reverb on the distortion channel to run mine. works out really well usually.

[llmdcll]

Niceeeeee I can't wait to finish this guy so I can mess with it. I've been working a lot and I keep jumping around on my project list. I'm gonna try to get the tube and drill the enclosure tomorrow in between my double shift I'm dying to mess with this little guy the horn driver is just sitting there staring at me

[Jdansti]

Look for "food grade" tubing. Make it so you can remove it to clean it with dish soap followed by dilute bleach followed by lots of water. Store it in a clean ziplock bag.

Here's an example. 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00A85ZSAO?pc_redir=1408661228&robot_redir=1

[pinkjimiphoton]

good tip, i usually just sterilize mine in tequilla lol

[Jdansti]

That'll work too! 

[J0K3RX]

Whatever you do DO NOT USE recycled enema tubing!! It tastes like sh!t

[bluebunny]

Thanks, Jim.  I'm glad it's not lunchtime over here yet!      I guess tubing for home-brewing would suit, too.  As John suggests, that would be "food grade".  Plus all the sterilising paraphernalia would be on-hand too.   But I quite like Jimi's tip.   

Any particular tequila you recommend for the purpose, Jimi?  I guess you don't really care after the second bottle...   

[pinkjimiphoton]

well, i like cafe patron, it's dark and stains the tube so you don't see all the lilliputians growing in there.....

jim.... now THAT was @#$%in funny

[Mark Hammer]

Rarely discussed is the length of the tubing.  The tubing itself has a damping, and treble-killing, effect on the sound.  I wonder if talk boxes would sound "better" if the tubing was kept as short as possible, essentially fulfilling the role of a funnel from the driver to your mouth, rather than a long tunnel.

[pinkjimiphoton]

good point, mark. indeed, softer tube absorbs the most sound. on mine, i use a thicker translucent stiff hose from the driver to the mic, and a smaller soft hose that goes to my mouth. 

it's one of the reasons ya need a full range driver, and a good ten watts or more to drive it.