Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box

This is, as described on the box and on Danelectro's product description, a very straight forward, "in-line" and simple effects pedal. This product is really aimed at perhaps more 'budget-orientated' players, rather than those who can afford and have space for a separate PA system to run a Heil or Banshee Talk Box.

All you need to do is plug your guitar into the unit, then connect the unit into the amp (front of FX loop, whichever is preferable), fairly simple.

The only problem (other than those noise problems) with getting the sound from this pedal, is that the tube is a fair bit longer than the length of the microphone cable, so to get the best sound (withouth gagging!) is to either cut the tube to length (probably not advisable) or as I have done, simply pull the microphone cable to the end of the tube so the tube has some slack, and you actually have the mics in your mouth as it is used, which can create unpleasant remnants on the end of the tube and on the mics.

I've had this product for almost two years, and have only just submitted this review as I've really worked out how to use it correctly.

As most reviews state, this product will generate huge amounts of noise when used through an amp with relatively high gain, making the product unbearable and embarrassing for live situations.

I've read the reviews, and I've tried putting this pedal in the front of an amp (clean and overdrive channels) and into the FX loop.
I previously used an original Marshall Valvestate 8100 head, with which this pedal I found some problems (said noise and unbearable feedback) through the overdrive channel, and not enough signal through the FX loop.

Currently, I am using a Marshall JVM410H half stack, and have experimented with the clean, overdrive channels and FX loop, with similar problems encountered on the latter two setups.

I have found that the best way to use this pedal, without changing the provided microphones, modding the electronics etc, is to set the "growl" low (and the volume to whichever preffered) and plug it straight into the clean channel.

This gives a decent representation of the classic talkbox sounds ala Frampton, Walsh, Slash. As said before, this pedal cannot really be used through overdrive channels, and although the sound is inevitably inferior to those of Heil Talkboxes and Rocktron Banshees, the pedal is quite novelty-like but still does a reasonable job if set up correcty.

Now that I have found a decent set up with this pedal, I would be comfortable gigging with it. I have cranked my amp up pretty loud, and the pedal doesn't give that uncontrollable feedback through the clean channel like on overdrive channels.

The pedal chassis is sturdy and could handle some abuse on the road. Not sure how long the microphones would last, but you can get replacement tubes and mics online for reasonably cheap which is no problem really.

Haven't dealt with Danelectro, so no comment.

I play a variety of styles, anything from blues, flamenco to classic rock and right up to thrash metal. This pedal is really suited to classic/hard rock, and creates reasonable sounds for those Bon Jovi and Frampton Comes Alive moments.

Still, with the setup I have found, the pedal can be used effectively with no excessive noise problems. The bottom line is, don't use this pedal through a gain channel. The pedal provides additional distortion which works well in boosting the clean channel to get a gainy sound, and has a volume knob which can be used to cut or boost volume, although this 'ideal' setup is limited to those with facilities available.

This pedal is fun to use and creates cool sounds, but even more ideal would be to actually use a Heil or Banshee talkbox. As said before, this pedal is aimed at players who don't want the hassle of blowing up their amp head or having to find a PA to run original talkboxes through, but is still useful in certain situatons and if used correctly.

Easy to use straight out of the box. That said here's the qualifier to that...you can really only get rehearsal or bedroom levels out of it through the amp. I even used it through the effects send on my Marshall as one user suggested but could not get enough out of the box even with a 100% wet signal.

I pulled the dinky little microphones off and strapped it on my mic stand and ran it through a Sennheiser 835 vocal mic into the PA. Job Done!! I'm able to run it through the distortion channel on my amp with full volume and full growl on the talkbox. I found I needed a hotter mic signal to the PA to get the talk box effect to sit well in the mix but as long as you EQ the mic properly it's no drama.

I play PRS Custom 24s into a Marshall DSL401 and extension cab. On stage it gets miked with a Shure SM57 into the PA. I have a Boss GT6 for my other effects and this little talkbox.

Noise through the unit is a little high but disappears as soon as the band is at performance level. As I said earlier, you really have to run it through a proper mic into and amp or PA to get the effect level to sit really well in the mix. If you're just rehearsing in your bedroom the little mics will be enough.

I can't emphasise enough that you read all the reviews and get what you can from them as far as different setups people have used and methods that worked or didn't work.

I got this specifically for Livin' On a Prayer and after an hour of facial contortions I've pretty much got the Ritchie Sambora sound nailed. No problem using a gain channel as long as you use an external mic.

It looks like a pretty solid peice of equipment but I've only just got it so time will tell.

Not needed it yet but if the user manual is anything to go by... I hope I never have to!!

If it were stoled, yeah I'd get it again... I'm only using it on a couple of tracks, Livin'on a Prayer and Foo Fighters - Generator so I can't see why I'd spring the extra cash for a higher spec unit. I looked at the Rocktron unit but this functions exactly the same way but has the stand alone mics as a bonus so it's perfect for me.

got it to sound great in rehearsal & studio settings. live: beware - it didn't work at concert volumes

easy to get good sounds in rehearsal and to tape. not useable in live settings.

i wouldn't use it live, again, after being embarrassed by it onstage. another of Danelectro's pedals with a similar footprint, the reverse device, has failed, i think it's the switch. metal case is nice, plastic knobs will break off.

30-year-ish+ pro musician, tech, FOH engineer, etc. have many effects setups, and experiment. device was disappointing live, but brought smiles in rehearsal and in the studio. danelectro effects are the tinker toys of the rock world, fun and neat at home, but... won't weather the road, my friends.

ease of use is pretty simple two knobs and a button.Got it used so no manual.It's pretty much stock.

Here lies the problem with the free speech talk box.This thing is not usable with an amp.Upon reading previous reviews having to go through what you have to go through this thing is worthless.I don't have a PA so running this thing through my crate vintage club30 amp will not work with factory mike it just kicks out a high pitch squeel.Tried using it without the mike through garageband vocal mike and no dice.I have a fat strat configured guitar and tried all switch positions and to no avail crappy sound.

Would not dream of using this thing in a live situation.IN all fairness to danelectro this pedal was purchased with a box of other stuff at a pawn shop so I only paid a few dollars for it.It came without the mike and tube so I bought that for 13.00 bucks.I would say it's probably reliable because there's no reason to use it.I'm not much on the talkbox thing gave it a try and discovered I don't like it.

never dealt with em

Play jamband music.Been playing 15 years.Playing an old casio pg 380 midi electric guitar and a custom thinline tele copy with a humbucker on the neck and a hot rail on the bridge through a vintage club 30 all tube crate amp with a rc20xl loop station into a boss ns2 noise supressor,danelectro fish n chips eq,ibanez de 7 delay echo,small clone eh4600,bbe greenscreamer,boss ph2 phaser and a jimi hendrix crybaby.Wish this thing worked but the old saying rings true you get what you pay for.

The pedal setup is pretty straight forward and easy.

Well, the pedal is extremly prone to feedback!!! Have tried numerous things to get the feedback to stop and nothing has worked yet. This pedal is NOT usable in a live gig situation.

Typical Danelectro.....beat it, kick it...and it keeps working!!

Do not buy this effect. Nothing but alot of feedback. If your thinking of using this in a live situation, think again! It will not work!!! Buy a Heil talkbox, you will be glad you did!

Easy to use.

ok here's the deal, i just bought it, didn't get in the mail yet but i've seen it, i showed this guy how to use and set it up for him and now he is really happy and thats why im buying it.

#1 DO NOT USE THE MICs THAT COME WITH THE PEDAL.

#2 buy a stereo 1/8" plug and wire the ground and the hot together, in other words you need to kill the sound of the mics that way, why would you do this? so this way when you turn the pedal on it'll shut off the sound of the amp and you wont get any noise thru the amp

#3 use a mic for the pedal going to the PA

#4 use a Humbucking Pickup, this is not a HIGH END pedal or a HIGH END brand so the components on it are cheap, which means the distortion is gonna be noisy and if you use a single coil pick up you are in for trouble.

#5 keep the growl at a very low setting, the guy i set it up for plays les pauls with burstbuckers which are HOT pickups so he kept the Growl at 9 O'Clock so if you have HOT pickups keep it very low, your mouth will still overdrive the sound and give you a talking sound even at low distortions, frampton used the talkbox using his amps which at the time didn't have the amounts of distortion that new amps have or that the actual pedal has, soo keep the drive low!!!

#6 Use a Vocal Mic like a SM58 not a SM57 like others use, why? becuase this way you won't need to crack the volume on the talkbox to get a great sound, the 57 needs a loud sound to come into it to make it work good, so this will save you feedback and also a HEADACHE which is what happens when you use most talkboxes (yes i've own plenty of them and this is for experience)

#7 don't expect it to sound just like a high end talkbox! this is just a wah controlled by your mouth, you wont get the Living on a prayer sound right away.. you gotta learn how to use it and get used to it!

I Hope this helps, I just wanted to show you hows the best way to get a great tone out of that cheap piece of crap, sometimes the cheap pedals are the best.

strong pedal

nope

read above and you'll get the best sound out of it

This is pretty easy to use technically but there are a few problems, Mainly Mics. Other reviewers have had problems with the provided mics, and i have to say they don't pick up a great deal unless they are right up close, and keeping them there is difficult. The controls are easy to use (Volume and growl which is distortion) but i imagine using a stage vocal mic like a shure SM-58 would greatly improve things. The provided mics are suspect to feedback, and if you are using them you need to be careful and make sure the amp setting is totally clean otherwise you WILL get feedback, even at low volume. In conclusion it's easy to use, but not so easy to use to it's full potential.
The manual was typical danelectro style briefing. a paragraph or two telling you how to use it and a little bit of advice on how to get the best sound. Fair i suppose.

I was looking for something to the effect of Joe Walsh's Rocky Mountain Way. This thing does the trick if you have the tube in the right place. People are saying there's not a very throaty sound and it's too quiet. I disagree with that. Firstly, the volume is about the same as someone singing, so using a proper vocal mic would be fine on stage. Secondly, It won't provide a throaty sound if you don't have the tube right in your mouth. It can gag you but you get used to it, if you place the tube above your tongue about 2 inches into your mouth it will do the trick. When used correctly, speaking clearly is still difficult, but it can be recognisable. Remember you need the mics really close to your mouth for them to get the sound. The distortion is great on it's own, i wish i could use that as a separate effect!
I had a lot of buzzing to contend with but that was just my fender strat and probably wouldn't happen on my other guitars (if you own a strat you will know what i mean). I am using an old Torque Tube amp which is very powerful and has a very clean channel, i haven't gigged with it yet and will probably be using the house PA through a real mic.

This thing looks indestructable. My other Danelectro pedal (Dan-Echo) is all bashed about and looks terrible but still works perfectly, i think that this one will probably still work after taking that sort of punishment. I would (and will) gig with it definitely, and since dano pedals are nearly indestructable i doubt i'd need a backup.

Danelectro are notoriously terrible for customer service. Just look at their site, it's just a big advertising space giving no useful information on their products at all. I haven't needed customer service yet and hope i don't have to.

I play rock and blues mainly and this sounds great for the sort of things i do. I have been playing guitar for about 10 years and have picked up some pretty nice stuff along the way, like an original crybaby wah pedal, a Rickenbacker 4001 bass among other things. If this pedal was stolen or lost i'd get a Danelectro again, there's just something i like about Dano stuff. I like the sound but i also like the paintwork. The worst thing is definitely the microphones, for a start they make the tube look a bit suspect.. But they are a good feature to have in a recording environment i guess, and the distortion is nice too. If could be used as just a distortion pedal it'd be perfect for my needs as the distortion is perfect for the style of music i play. This thing has given me some nice ideas for recording so it is helpful.

Theres only 2 knobs; 1 for volume (which does almost nothing) and 1 for growl which increases the raspiness of the sound. You have to use a mic stand to keep the tube up to your mouth, i've tried pinning it to my shirt and everything but only a mic stand will work.

Worthless piece of junk. The only sound that you hear is the sound coming out of the unit itself...its got a little .5 watt speaker in it, much like the speaker they put in those singing greeting cards. No matter how loud I crank my amp up, I still cant hear more than 5 decibels of output from this thing. The internal speaker is louder than the output it sends to my amp. I used my really big amp and all it does is feed back. The only way this thing would be of any use is if you mic'ed the actual unit itself and cranked up the output.

I would never gig with this piece of junk. The only way to get any sound is to put a mic on the floor and mic the little speaker inside the pedal, and then you'd hear every time I moved my feet, it would be awful.

Most worthless piece of guitar eqipment I've ever bought.

terrible

it is now in the bottom of my bin, in bits...

I think this should really be aimed at very much the bedroom guitarists, as to use it live in a typical situation is impossible even using it in the same manner as the heil.. feedback with the "supplied mic" no where near enough volume out the tube, it should rattle your teeth... i destroyed mine to use the fitting for the tube in a home built version which is what i should have done rather than wasting near on 100 quid on this pile of useless junk.

This pedal is very easy to use, plug it in, and put the tube in your mouth. Getting good talk sounds takes some practice, but that is expected.

I do not like the microphones that are included with the tube. Although they are a good idea to make the pedal compact for the everyday guitarist, they do not always work well for me, sometimes I feel like I have to put them very close to my mouth to get them to work, sometimes making it uncomfortable or hard to talk. However, when they do work, the actual talk sound sounds very good and very cool. My only qualm with the actual sound of the talkbox is that I cant get huge range in terms of the equalization of the sound, but this could just be my voice's fault.

This is my first Danelectro pedal, and they always seemed like a cheesy company to me, but I was surprised at how well constructed the pedal was, just as sturdy as any Boss pedal. Occasionally the button doesnt switch, but as long is you hit it vertically it works fine.

Talk boxes are very cool, and unless you have an extra mic and PA and a lot of cash, the Danelectro Free Speech is the only way to go. The pedal is solid and sounds good, aside from the few problems that I listed above. I dont use this pedal as frequently as I expected, I mean its a fun little toy to use, and I use it during some live solos and on one of my band's recordings, but I think I'll keep it for a while (not that anyone will want my slobbered tube...).