[tcsned]

Has anyone else out there used a talkbox for Dead music? I think it's a cool trippy effect and have been using one for 10+ years or so. Here's a Feel Like a Stranger from our shows last summer in Kill Devil Hills, NC:

the talkbox comes in around 6:00
http://www.vtcli.com/media/tom/01_Feel_ ... ranger.mp3

not the best performance but a good recording of the talkbox, let me know what y'all think

[Grateful Dad]

I like it! It fits well with the Stranger jam. Good choice. Do you use it with other songs? Has possibilities.

Feel Like a Stranger > Do you Feel Like We Do > Feel Like a Stranger maybe?

[tcsned]

I like it! It fits well with the Stranger jam. Good choice. Do you use it with other songs? Has possibilities.

Feel Like a Stranger > Do you Feel Like We Do > Feel Like a Stranger maybe?

Thanks! It's one of those things you have to use sparingly - it can get overdone pretty quick. I usually break it out a couple of times a night - we do "Tell Me Something Good" by Rufus on occasion - that's the only "talkbox" tune we do but I'll use it on Shakedown, the jam in Music Never Stopped and on random tunes as the mood hits me.

[rugger]

While not a very good quality recording, I could still discern that you guys have your sound down. I especially like your "Jerry" player--very smooth, great sound imo.

Count me as impressed.

John in San Diego

[tcsned]

John,
Thanks! I know it's not the best recording - it was one of those portable digital recorders set on the stage back by the drums. It's picking up the backblast from my guitar amp and the monitors mostly. It's hard to put anything out in the front of house at that place since it's a beach crowd and they get a little rowdy and like to destroy stuff. I like using the talkbox there since it's a fairly big stage with a big, loud crowd so I can turn my amp up enough so that it's a reasonable volume match for my vocals and is audible. Surgical tubing attached to a speaker in a box isn't the most efficient transmitter of sound in the world.

We are headed out to the Outer Banks in a couple of weeks for our 19th year playing at that club. I love that place! Paid vacation to the beach - woo-hoo!

[JonnyBoy]

I always love hearing your stuff!! Great jam, talk boxes are neat, any yes can be overdone, but as always your stuff is tasteful. You were really nailing the Jerry tone there, what was the rig set up you were using, was being loud as you want helping with that good tone?

[tcsned]

I always love hearing your stuff!! Great jam, talk boxes are neat, any yes can be overdone, but as always your stuff is tasteful. You were really nailing the Jerry tone there, what was the rig set up you were using, was being loud as you want helping with that good tone?

Thanks JonnyBoy!!
I was using my Warmoth WGD with Joe Barden PUPs --> T-Rex Dr. Swamp --> Mutron (Haz-labs) --> Lexicon MPX G2 (mostly for delay) --> Mesa Mark IV (at least it sounds like the Mesa, I brought my Twin to that gig also but I think I set it up for a guest player to use). Pretty much the same set up I use everywhere (though the studio stuff I use an amp simulator in Logic not an actual amp). The volume may have something to do with the tone though I usually set the amp at 25w and crank it about to the same place as I did here but had it at full power (100w). It's also only a 1x12 combo with stock Boogie speakers - I want to get my old Mark III to the shop and get it up and running again I have a 2x12 Mesa cab and a 4x10 Marshall that it sounds cool through - but more crap to haul around in the truck.

I hate to admit, but I get pretty lazy about my tone a lot of times I just plug the guitar in and play and don't even look at where the knobs are set unless something sounds strange.

Can't wait for our gigs down there this year - only 3 weeks away! Got old members coming in from PA, CA, HI, FL, & NC to join in the fun. Also a couple of extra percussion players. Plus, the usual stragglers that come in off the beach. I'm gonna try to bring my video cameras down this year.

[JonnyBoy]

OOOH yhea about the MArk III I wouldn't balk on that proposal. That has to be one of the nicest amps out there IMO. I seriously considered going the Boogie route prior to my existing rig. Your tone sounds great, even for not making huge notice of it.


where exactly are the gigs and dates? Is it your production or are you hired for it? I keep telling the guys here and a few other bands we know around town we need to go "up River" where hundreds of boats, sand bars and White sand beaches riddled with gators and topless chicks all party over the weekends. Get a pontoon boat and set it up like a stage docked on this huge sand bar people like to anchor and drink on. The most common thought is,"I dunno, It would suck if I fell in". I'm sure it would be humid too being so close to the water... but that would get us noticed around here and I bet the Dead would have said,"Sure!! Great idea!!" back in the mid 60's.


In the spirit of the Dead we are playing on the back of a Flat Bed this weekend at the Memorial Day Bash... Last year I almost fell off the damn thing! I think that's the fear with the Pontoon boat, but it has guard rails all around it, and like the flat bed, if you fall off your guitar is gonna break anyway.

[tcsned]

Yeah, that Mark III is badass - it started popping fuses about 6-7 years ago and I had to switch to something more reliable as there were no tube amp repair guys around here that could figure out the problem - we now have someone here I trust so I'm gonna hand it over to him to see if he can breathe some life into it.

The beach gigs is my Dead band The Kind's gig - we're playing at the Port O'Call in Kill Devil Hills (one of my all-time favorite town names), NC on June 18th & 19th - it's a cool club decorated like a 19th century brothel. It's the town right next to Nags Head.

"Get a pontoon boat and set it up like a stage docked on this huge sand bar people like to anchor and drink on. The most common thought is,"I dunno, It would suck if I fell in". I'm sure it would be humid too being so close to the water... " - yeah, well it would suck if YOU fell in, it would be hilarious if it was someone else

[jeffm725]

I thought I was the only wacko to use a talk box in dead and jerry tunes! it sounds awesome! I always thought jerry would kick ass on a talkbox. He could have rigged it up so a little nitrous was coming out of the talkbox tube while activated and gotten REAL trippy with it!

I have never heard a Haz mutron sound that good either. great job!

[tcsned]

I thought I was the only wacko to use a talk box in dead and jerry tunes! it sounds awesome! I always thought jerry would kick ass on a talkbox. He could have rigged it up so a little nitrous was coming out of the talkbox tube while activated and gotten REAL trippy with it!

I have never heard a Haz mutron sound that good either. great job!

I have never heard a Haz mutron sound that good either. great job![/quote]
Right on! Another talkbox aficionado. Can't get a more primitive guitar effect than that. I thought about the nitrous thing but wouldn't the heavier gas cause tuning issues?

I wonder if the Barden pickups make the difference with the Haz Mutron - they've got really hot output and the Mutron likes a strong signal. I don't think I still had the Q-Tron when I got this guitar so I never did a comparison.