Vocal effects

[H4T]

I didn't find quite the answers I was looking for in the archives, so I'll ask it anew. Can I run my voice (via mic signal of course) through guitar pedals? I know its possible to modify effects for bass->guitar and vice versa quite easily, so I guess it would follow that you can do the same for voice? Has anyone tried this (I don't have a mic or enough faith to try myself )?

[grolschie]

I ran a cheap mic through my old Zoom 505 pedal years ago. Worked ok. A bit of reverb and compression was nice. 

[widdly]

Add a preamp between the mic and the pedal and bob's your uncle

[Mark Hammer]

Guitar pickups often put out a signal that is at least 10-20x the amplitude of a standard passive voice mic (can't comment on mics that have their own on-board preamp).  Consequently, to get many of the guitar effects to behave appropriately (particularly those depending on the input level, like distortions or compressors), the signal level of the mic needs to be increased.

Besides, signal-to-noise ratio depends not only on having devices with a low noise floor, but also on feeding them with hot enough clean signals that the difference between the signal and the device noise is large.  Something like a chorus or EQ pedal will "work" with voice mic, but it will sound much better if the voice signal is as hot as the pedal can comfortably take.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Yeah, amp it up. Or use the effect send in a mixer (a mixer that has a suitable mic input, of course).
Go for a ring modulator & get Daleking!!

[H4T]

Excellent, this I can do. Anyone happen to have a preamp schematic for mics?

[Mark Hammer]

balanced or unbalanced?

[ignsk]

balanced or unbalanced?

May I interfere and ask for the "balanced" one (I have the same kind of issue in a project)
Thanks

Max

[H4T]

Well, I don't actually have any mic/vocal equipment, I'm just real curious about this subject atm; so I'm not sure which. Does balanced/unbalanced relate to the relative volume levels of multiple output speakers, or something else I'm not understanding? If you have both, post them!