Distorted effect for live vocals?

[petemoore]

  sing into the other end of a PVC tube.

[GravityRobert]

Use this mic http://www.myspace.com/Carbonmicrophone

[petemoore]

  Make an electric kazoo.

[theundeadelvis]

Try the Sure Bullet harmonica mic through a guitar amp.

[jessetrbo]

I'm sure that Kim Deal used a bullet mic to sing the distorted vocal on the song "Cannonball." 

Jesse

[petemoore]

  what is this bullet, and why is it so strange ?

[jayp5150]

  what is this bullet, and why is it so strange ?

It's a mic intended for harmonica, with that gritty, Chicago sound built in (distortion, that is lol)

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Shure-520DX-Green-Bullet-Mic?sku=270175

I need to get one now that I'm trying my hand at harp... but I still suck lol.

[Elektrojänis]

How about something that is based on full wave rectification (or even half wave) like most octaver fuzzes. That kind of thing can sound quite gritty without massive gain. The sound is different from normal overdrives and stuff, but it can sound cool too. A friend used scrambler that was modded for a bit lower gain (actually built for use with his organ) on a recording and it sounded quite cool.

[runmikeyrun]

I sing and play bass in one band and just sing in another.  Like you it's balls out screaming.  I have tried many different approaches, so here's my experiences:

I scored a couple of mics from our old ambulance radios @ work and wired them up to xlrs.  They feedback like crazy!  Using the switch works well though, but you basically have to have the monitors off, but that shouldn't matter because you're screaming anyways and can usually hear it in your head (especially if you wear earplugs) or off the back/side walls of the clubs from the FOH speakers.  I used no effects on these whatsoever but i got tired of soundmen who didn't want to mess with trying to eq them and deal with the feedback.  Half the time they wouldn't do it and made me use a standard mic.

I just bought a green bullet.  It's gritty, midrangey, and lofi-ish to the max, similar to the ambulance radio mic but more controllable.  They have an extremely sensitive proximity effect- the volume drops off dramatically even if you are only a small distance off the mic.  You MUST stay right on top of it the whole time to have consistent sound levels.  Keep it on your lips at all times. 

The nice thing about it is the adjustable volume control on the bottom- you can easily overdrive the sound guy's input for distortion but he's probably going to get mad at you!  There is no on-off switch though.  It's comfortable to hold in the hand albeit a bit heavy and would be a deadly weapon if you get it swinging around your head like a medieval flail.  You're supposed to use it with an amp, it even comes w/ a 1/4" plug.  So maybe you could use it with your own amp, pedal, or whatever and have them mic that.  It's an idea i've been toying with.

I made a microphone out of a LM386 circuit w/ adjustable gain.  It uses a condensor element inside a steel tube with an opening on the side.  This thing feeds back like crazy and only works in a studio situation but sounds phenominal.

A distortion pedal might pose a problem- most sound guys aren't hot on you using your own pedals, especially distortion, because they are no longer in control of the signal level.  Crank it up by accident and you could easily blow a driver.  Use one pre-set with an insert on the vox channel and set w/ a helper though and you'd most likely be good to go.

Lastly, building a small dist circuit into a mic might be the best way- discrete so the sound guy doesn't know you have it and something you can always use.  This is something that could be built on a small board and wedged into a telephone, maybe where the mouthpiece would be if you sing through the earpiece.  Plus screaming into a telephone would look awesome, like you were having a 30 minute fight with your girlfriend on stage.

Imagine showing up to a show as a guitarist and some times not being able to use distortion but having to play clean.  Yeah, that would suck!  I think the green bullet with an amp might be the best way to go, they can always mic and amp and you can set the amount of dist and eq the way you want it.  They most likely won't let you use it and worst case scenario you have to plug straight in and the mic still provides you with some crappy sound on your vox.

Best of luck!