Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box

Very straight forward since the people at Danelectro made this pedal usable "in line" with other pedals. Dial in the amount of growl (distortion) you want, adjust the volume, put that tube in your mouth and play!

It's a talk box! It sounds like one. It can be rather feedback prone due to the mic mounted on the tube, but unless you're playing at concert volumes standing right in front of your amp, this isn't a problem. Les Paul > Free Speech> marshall JTM-310 ... not a problem!

Very well built, much more rugged than the mini pedals. I've heard 50/50 ratings for Dano reliability, so far so good in my case!

Never dealt with them.

Just another missing link in my effects chain, that elusive "talking guitar" ;) kudos to Danelectro for coming up with a user-friendly, inexpensive version of the Talk Box, I'm totally sold on that funky pedal! If lost or stolen, yes I would replace it with the same model, as it costs a fraction of what the competition charges.

Overall, a good bang for the buck, if you need that "talking guitar" effect, check it out!

Obviously, it's a standard Danelectro style pedal, so it's very easy to set up and use, but the long tube included can prove a bit annoying. You need to find some way of propping it up (eg a mic stand) so that you can easily stick it in your mouth. I'd imagine this thing would be a pain to use on-stage, but then again it probably won't be a permament fixture on your pedal board. It takes a while to get the hang of the effect (the maual isn't much help) - you have to move your mouth to make the effect work.

The 'talking' effect is good, a very distinctive and unusual sound that can add flavour to solos or straight-forward chords.It sounds a bit like a wah pedal to be honest, but a psychotic one! The pedal itself produces a mild hum when the effect is turned on, not very loud, but enough to be annoying. The 'Growl' knob is quite disappointing - the distortion is tinny and very muddy. It sounds much better with a low 'Growl' setting. I'd recommend using a seperate fuzz pedal. Adding a delay pedal after the Talk Box will help you make some fairly cool psychedelic sounds.
Of course, this isn't the kind of thing you'd use all the time, but you might want to use it for recording puropses. To hear what this kind of thing is capable of, I'd recommend checking out 'Keep Talking' from The Division Bell by Pink Floyd - David Gilmour uses a similar device to create a really bizarre solo.

Seems fairly sturdy, the pedal itself is very heavy. You might need to replace the 'Dano' tube after a while, but separate tubes are apparently available. As I'll probably only use this now and again, there's no need for a backup.

I play a lot of different music, from blues to punk to pyschedelic to industrial - a real mixture. This pedal was in no way essential but is a great toy to play with. If it got stolen I'd probably just stick with my wah, to be honest, but I do like the sound it makes and might use it on a couple of songs. It certainly looks great - it's really brightly painted in purples and oranges - and sounds very distinctive. As far as I know, this is the best incarnation of this type of pedal. I'm not adding it to my board for the long term, but will continue to mess around with it.

Plug in , stick the tube in your mouth, play. How simple can you get?

I love the sound of this thing. Walsh, Frampton, Cantrell with no problem.

Seems to be well constructed. Cast metal pedal that is heavy as hell.
I only play out 3 or 4 times a year, but jam with friends on weekends.
No need for backup when you play in front of drunks!

never needed support. So far, so good.

Good bang for the buck. Sounds alot better if you use a separate mic and amp. The little mics that come with it are a little weak for me. If the tube is too short for you, go to a heating and air conditioning supply house or Home Depot and get a lenght of 3/8" vinyl tubing and cut to your size!

Basicly it is very easy to USE,but it's not easy to make it DO what it is supposed to do.In the manual they have missed two words" for dummies",because it actually says what you see.No adjustment explanations;no alternative set ups...no trouble shooting etc.

One of the biggest disappointments is that it DOESN'T WORK WELL IN THE EFFECT CHAIN.I used(tried) it with a Parker Fly and Fender Stratocaster '79 w. stock pickups and I had to use a A/B swich box where my guitar goes in-then output A and goes to !!!PA mixer(or your seccond amp) in a separate chanel, while output B is goes to my effect chain and then to the amp.In that case you isolate the Talk Box from all the shala-mala of your delays and reverbs....etc.It always on and when you decide to make people throw up just bite the pipe and step on the A/B swich...the rest is fame and glory

Don't consider this "effect"any necessity-oposite-it's pain in the ass it takes valuable stage cpace,time and money(for extras) to make it work for you...and you'll love it.You've got to take your time and make it work for you...if you want to make a difference it can help you boost up your creativity.

I don't think they(from Danelectro) know much about this thing.Otherwise they would write a (better) manual.So unless EVERY BUYER starts asking and the Dano people say "ok Steve ,go down there spend some time with this cock-roach"I believe there wan't be any customer support.But who am I to know?

Don't buy it before you've checked it out PERSONALY and if posssible with your OWN amp,PA,effect gear.That'll save you lot of disappointment.Now that I have spend so much time( and effort) with it I'll keep it( we kind of have a thing together now ;-)) but if I'd had a chance to fool around with it in the shop I wouldn't have taken it home with me.And even now it eats my time( by me writing about it)...but I just wanted to help someone who ,like me, reads about this "amazing tool" in a guitar magazine and then picks up the phone and orders it from teh first music shop that's in the phone book.Cheers.

This product is very easy to use straight out of the box. That's fortunate because the manual is basically non-existent. Two knobs for volume and growl. Otherwise simply plug and play.

Playing an Ibanez SA160QM through a Randall RG75 along with a Digitech RP200 and a Boss DD-6 digital delay. As far as sound quality goes I am happy with the effect, but just like everyone else, I get a high pitched sqeal as soon as I turn it on at anything over bedroom practice volume. Anonymous suggested tearing it apart and adjusting the internal gain trim. I tried that, but couldn't find what I was looking for. For that matter, I don't know what I'd be looking for. So if anyone has some more detailed advice, short of buying additional mics, I'd certainly appreciate it.

Not sure if I can depend on it because I've only had it since x-mas. I'd gig without a backup if I could figure a way around the feedback.

Have yet to deal with the company.

I like to think I play a rather diverse mix of just about every style except country, mostly rock and alternative though. I think this would be an excellent match for my style (minus the feedback) because I've used the "synthtalk" setting on the digitech alot, which is like an auto talk box effect.

n/a

I thought I would give an update to my previous review and give a little more insight to my experimentation. I unhooked the cheap mics that they send you. Those things are only useable at LOW VOLUME SITUATIONS ! Dano needs to offer Better MICS. Now for The good news. I ran it like a regular talk box with a SHURE SM-57 , IT SOUNDS GREAT THROUGH THE P.A. ! IT is the business ! When it mutes your amp, the amp is a little noisy with that 60 cycle hum, but other than that...it pretty much rocks ! I will use this in a live situation.What makes it nice is that thier is no danger of blowing up your amp. When you are practice by yourself...you can use the supplied mic through your amp at a low volume. When you practice with your band, just unplug the mic an use a 57 to mic it ...instant Joe Walsh/Alice in Chains/Frampton. Dano should advertise it this way. It is not the all in one box for a live situation...but in the privacy of your own bedroom...it is the all in one box. Just remember to practice at low volume. If any one has more input you would like to share...please feel free to e-mail me.

Upon futher review ,Overall I will give it a 9. It is not a 10 due to the mis-stated advertising and the mute noise. It is a good box, it sure is cheap enough, and thier is no danger of ruining your precious amps, which I understand is a possibility with some of the other styles of Talk Box.

This thing is easy to get started, but it takes you a while to figure out how to cure the feed back...at least partially. The manual really SUCKS! You would think it would be a little more indepth due to the nature of this product.

I am using a 1983 Fender Strat with Lace pick-ups. I run through a crate TDP tube pre-amp, Digitech DSP 256,and an Aphex easyrider compressor. The sound is so-so. It does dampen my rig a bit.It is a bit noisy...but it is not the only effect in the chain.

It sure is heavy isn't it. i just bought it so I would not know how it will do in the long haul. i am not for sure if I will use this in a gig situation. I have never used a Talk box before so i am a newbie at trying to get that Joe Walsh.

I play mostly rock and blues and country-rock. I have been playing for fifteen years. It all started with hairspray and a desire to get laid by hot looking chicks(haha). If this thing were stolen..i would spend the extra cash a buy the Heil unit. I solved about 40 percent of the feed back problems by putting my mouth extremely close to the built in mics....almost swallowing them. It could be the design of the mics...Yes you will get saliva all over them and eventually short them out...but the replacement cost of the tube/mic assembly is about twelve bucks from all-parts, and I think that is by design! they want you to keep the cash flow rolling in. It will take a while for me to be proficiant with it...but the actual effect is the business..as I picked up the Man In The Box vibe really quick with an authentic sound. It soes mute your amp if you don't use the mic...Like I said...I have never used a Talk box before...BUT IT IS ALOT OF FUN...and what better way to show these Drop D kids who only seem to know how to be depressed somthing to be happy ! speaking of that..what are they depressed about? the $ 200,000.00 houses thier parents own or the fact that when you look that freaky only McDinalds will hire your loser ass? Anyway...overall I will give it a seven. If i can solve the feedback problem I might rate it higher. BTW I did pull it apart and never found the internal gain trim.

This pedal looks very easy to use, until you turn it on.

I am using a '92 Fender Telecaster w/ Lace pickups, or an '84 Les Paul. My amplifier is a Fender Stage 185. The Free Speech, when used, feeds back horribly and the actual 'sound' only comes up through the mouth tube. The mics are less than desirable. Even after trying the pedal in different positions in the signal chain, EQ'ing the bejeezus out of the sound (think REAL low frequencies, almost sub-human), and twisting my fingers out of joint adjusting the volume and 'growl', I still could not get a sound from my amp. Even using volume boosting pedals would not help.

Even though I do not play out often , I see no practical use for this pedal in a live situation. This pedal would be better is there were better directions and tips included in the 3x5 single page manual. I found this odd, since I also own five other Dano pedals, three of them being the 'deli' pedals (see: cheap but VERY effective). My furstration with this pedal got to point of not even wanting it anymore- hence, it is going back.

The phone number goes to a corporation that supports many products. Again, I found this a little more than irritating. The salesperson at the Guitar Center where I purchased the pedal was more kowledgeable. Unfortunately, the store is thirty some mile from my house. I was not happy about getting it home on Saturday, then having to go back on Sunday for help. This pedal is going back on Tuesday, no hassles. I think the salesperson thinks it is not a worthwhile product, too. While the company has been reliable as far as sending back registration and warranty info, I would feel bad about cracking the Free Speech open to adjust anything, since that would most likely void the warranty.

I like to play anything that catches my ear. I am also a big fan of Joe Walsh. I have been playing for over 15 years, but that is not the point. I have used and owned many footpedals, each with vastly more degrees of success than this piece of garbage. I have not been able to compare this product with others, because 1) there are no others that do not use a separate mic/pa setup (to my knowledge, anyway) and 2) the other talk boxes are out of my price range, since extra gear is needed for proper use. This is even more disappointing because I have had nothing but great satisfaction for the Dano pedals I already own, even the EQ I purchased extra so the Free Speech could work properly. I wish the pedal lived up (or even tried hard) to the hype that Danelectro gave it.

At first, i could get nothing but feedback and could hear nothing but the sound coming out of the tube. with the supplied mics, you have to be practically on top of the mic covers or the sound is lost to the amp. they are extremely sensitive! however, once you get the hang of 1) having your mouth right on the mics and 2) getting far enough away from your amp to prevent squealing, the talk box is well worth its weight for the fun factor alone.

8.5. i found that my custom strat (with 3 Alnico V single coils) worked best. i run that thru the talk box, Snarling Dogs Blackbawls Wah, Digitech Metal Master Distortion, Boss GE-7 EQ, & Ibanez Phaser into a Crate GFX212. i was disappointed that my pedal & onboard amp distortion couldnt be used with the talkbox but i got over that because the talkbox's overdrive is very classic sounding and provides just enough variation to be used in various styles of music. I was able to use the digital reverb and chorus in the amp and they sounded absolutely great with the Dano. With the phaser cranked i can get some very trippy effect that i'm sure will come handy :) ! it is a bit cumbersome having the thing in your mouth at first but, like with anything new, it will take getting used to. like i said before, the mics need to be as close to your mouth as possible. with a few adjustments and distance changes, the feedback was gone and i was talking away! with practice i'm sure that "Sweet...Emotion" and "Do you feel like we do?" isn't far away as this pedal sounds amazing thru the warm single coils in my strat.

I've only owned two damo pedals ever: the Fee Speech and the Fab Tone. just as my Fab Tone was in the past, the talk box is built to last. to be cliche...like a tank. i'll have to practice my technique before i even think of gigging with it but if it decided to crap out on me i'd just have to settle for the extremely vocal qualities of my snarling dogs wah.

never had to deal with them...hope i never have to...

I've been playing guitar for about 6 years and I play everything from classic rock to ballads, from blues to alternative, from classical soloing to raging black metal. I've always been fascinated by this effect and was pleasantly surprised to find that danelectro came out with one that needed no external amp or mics. this has its drawbacks, as many have said before. It is prone to squealing feedback...nuff sed. but the pedal itself cannot be treated as any other because it has two VERY SENSITIVE MICS attached to it. with distance taken into consideration (from the amp and from your mouth), it is the funnest effect i have ever owned. it's kinda like the first time a young guitarist discovers the wah pedal and falls in love with it, overuses it, changes it's position in the effects chain, etc, etc, etc. for a gigging guitarist this pedal may not be the best due to the feedback problems. but for someone who simply loves to play guitar, doesnt plan to gig, and loves to experiment with new sounds ("Always try new things." Dr. Hannibal Lecter), this pedal will 1) be a great conversation starter, 2) provide that classic talk box tone, & 3) place your effects setup at the top of the food chain with your fellow musicians. I mean...ITS A TALK BOX! Simply put, i find it amazing that this effectr even exists and whoever thought up the idea should be either praised for ingenuity or locked up because of the insanity of it all. In closing, Dano does it again with another amazing pedal.

It is extremely easy to use. The manual is not very useful. Obviously it takes some practice to get really good sounds from it, but overall it is extremely easy.

I've been using it with a strat and jazzmaster through a crate and a carvin amp. The effect is cool, but if you use the supplied mics you get horrible feedback. I just used my own mic through a seperate amp or pa and it sounds great. I wish it could make a clean sound though.

i haven't had it too long so I am not sure

I like the pedal.. It is easier to use than a dunlop which requires copmlicated setup and a speaker cabinet rated at 8 ohms. i would suggest gettinics that came with the thing, otherwise the feedback can be a real problem. The tye-dyed finish is pretty cool too. I have read that people find the tube to be too short, but i think it is just fine and it even has a little slack. I am 6 feet tall, and i could still use it fine if I were 6'6. If I lost it, i would probably get another