distortion for talkbox.

[birt]

 i have a very clean amp for my talkbox now. no clipping so the compression driver will have a long and happy life.

But a talkbox sounds better with some harmonics, so i am looking for a distortion to put in front of the amp.

requirements:
doesn't have to be good in the bass regions because i cut a lot of the bas in the amp.
Simple, lots of harmonics. basicly good with any type of filter.
constant output power. i have an amp that doesn't clip. i don't want to make it clip now. it only has to amplify the sound of the distortion. ideal would be constant output power with variable amount of distortion. but if that's not possible i'd wire a switch for clean and a set amount of distortion.

[petemoore]

  You can mic your distorted amp and use that signal for the TB [isn't that what Joe does?].
  or design around: "What distortion sounds good through an amplified Microphone, micing through plastic tube a HF driver diaphram?".
  Tone Control is going to be useful, especially for the HF [which could be harsh through a coneless HF driver/diaphram] and LF [diaphram may have difficulty reproducing a bassy signal, and blow more easily than a cone speaker].
  Distortion box may put more output to amp, [driver can handle it?].
 
     

[RJB510]

Sorry to dig up an old thread. But i've been doing a bit of reading... and found that people think you shouldn't run distortion through a talk box driver. My question is: is it that bad to have distortion through your talk box? I managed to score a cheap 20W practice amp to run my 200w driver. And it sounds great with the amps distortion on. I settled on a 22uf cap to protect it from the lower frequencies. and I realise that distortion is clipping the signal. But would the naturally occurring clipping of the amp being pushed hard be just as bad if not worse than adding a distorted signal through the amp to the driver?

I don't want to destroy my new driver but if a horn driver is capable of playing music through a PA system, which could be distorted. Then wouldn't it be fine through a distortion signal form and amp/pedal also?

Cheers

[petemoore]

  I think you can loosen your dental fillings first [assuming you have some.
  And run disto through the H-Driver @ about 5watts for 5 years.
  5watts of effecient HF driver sound is very loud.
  200w is a rather large motor for the project, should be able to handle...anything except what they can't handle, not sure if a 20watt amp could do it...so more than enough amp watts, and Morgan enough driver handling capability.
  You can put any dern distorter in front, have loud voicebox action.
  The sound is intended to be samplified [mic'd and PA'd] right next to where it's injected 'sternly' enough to exit the mouth/directly enter the mic...not to turn the mouth into a high output loudspeaker. 

[RJB510]

Yeah, thats what I thought. Thanks for the confirmation tho pete!

I have identified that it gets plenty loud, but the 200w driver was the only one i could get for a good enough price. Definitely have no need to push the amp to clipping either. So it should have a happy life!