Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
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Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 09/18/2009
at 12:34pm
by erpece
Ease of Use
:
9
It's easy to use. Nothing more to say.
Sound Quality
:
1
The sound quality is below average, due to the small built-in amp and driver. Not beefy enough when comparing to a Heil or Banshee (which are both more expensive).
The worst part is that the DTB-1 CANNOT be used in a band situation. It doesn't matter if you use the supplied mics or a quality vocal mic (I used an SM57, which is the ideal mic for a talkbox) and a professional PA. The DTB-1 simply does NOT produce enough volume to cut through the mix in a band situation. If you turn up the mic, the only thing you will hear is feedback. No limiter or gate can compensate for this.
You should be OK when you use the DTB-1 in a studio or home environment where there are no other sound sources to compete with.
Reliability
:
5
It didn't break down on me, but I have been gigging for close to 30 years and I know what crap looks like. The housing is fine but the knobs and inputs/outputs are feeble.
The DTB-1 draws 300mA of current when engaged and that's a lot for batteries or even most adapters. Make sure you use an appropriate adapter or bring a lot of batteries.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
don't know
Overall Rating
:
3
Stay away from this product unless you are sure you will only use it in your bedroom.
If you really want a good and easy to use talkbox (and use it on stage), go for a Banshee. Or get a Heil if you don't mind bringing ean extra amp and an A/B switch.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: CDN 50 USED
Submitted 09/05/2009
at 10:20am
by max
Ease of Use
:
10
I bought this used, mics, tube, box, not really knowing if it'd do anything useful for me, but the price was right, and I needed to buy something :?? That said, it plugged in, and worked like a charm. I had to tinker somewhat to avoid feedback, but after a few minutes I was mouth-wah-ing stuff I just can't manage with my feet on a normal wah pedal.
Sound Quality
:
10
Okay so it doesn't sound like Frampton (Show Me the Way) or Joe Walsh (Rocky Mountain Way) - the only two songs I've ever heard use a talk box. I had no expectations, and opened my mind and ears to the possibilities of a completely new toy. The first thing I played using it was Steve Vai's For the Love of God, and it was the most unique, gratifying aural experience I've had in years. Of course, that might sound dreadful to anyone else here, so this is a case of YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).
My board is set up with distortions before and after the wah pedal, so I tucked the talk box right next to the wah. Pre or post distortion gives distinctly different sounds, same as pre or post placement with a wah.
I've used it with a variety of guitars (Strat, RG, UV) and each has found its own voice with the talk box, it's amazing. A little difficult to control at times (evolution pickups through a Hughes and Kettner Switchblade) but manageable. And that's with the original mics. I haven't tried it yet using my Sennheisers.
Good or bad, I can't really say. But with this order - distortion, talk box, wah - using all three, I get almost the same sounds as those cats under my bedroom window make at three in the morning. Actually, since I got the talk box, it seems to have made the cats find another place for their trysts. No bad horsies, but lots of mad cats. I'm retired and I make interesting sounds for a hobby, and this pedal sure has helped.
Reliability
:
7
I read other reviews saying it won't work in a performance situation. I've managed to do some interesting things live, and the aforementioned feedback concerns don't arise. The box certainly appears sturdy, however the switch and control knobs seem kind of cheap. I'd expect them to go after a few hours of heavy use. I would definitely gig it without a backup, while I enjoy it, it's certainly not the only club in the bag.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Danelectro's site defines "useless" as far as getting any real info. It's nothing but a "hey lookee here" for their stuff. I've never dealt with them, and I doubt I'd even try.
Overall Rating
:
10
I play mostly hard rock, and experimental jazz fusion stuff, and this fits right in. I don't think I'd try very hard to replace it if it were stolen, but if I saw another one I'd get it. I'm a bit impulsive, when I see a pedal that someone's practically giving away, and as an added perk, the pedal looks like someone tossed a bag of Doritos onto my board, I pay and enjoy. :??
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 08/07/2009
at 09:51am
by Jesse
Ease of Use
:
10
I'm 13 and have had my talk box for about half a year now. I do like danelectro effects and even their guitars! I am new at the world of talk boxs and for my buget the free speach realy gives the bang for your buck. Sure it's not the best, but for the price it is great! I found it easy to use and also it only has 2 nobs to simply make it easyer to use. If I can figure it out, so can you!
Sound Quality
:
No Opinion
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 03/18/2009
at 01:18pm
by peevo
Ease of Use
:
10
I got this today. It is very easy to use - if you use it correctly. The mics that come with it will feature in sound quality, but here, this i really easy to use. Shove the tube in the hole, set the volume, and add a touch, and only a touch, of grit. It works immediately throwing your guitar sound into your mouth. To use it right, it has a clip for a mic stand, and that makes it all much easier.
Sound Quality
:
10
This is where all the people who give it 1 out of 10 are missing the point. It's not a guitar effect, it's a vocal effect, and you control the effect with your guitar. When I orderd it, I didn't know it had two little bat's balls attached near the mouth end of the tube to send the sound through to your amp, I assumed you used it like all other talk boxes where you mic up the tube by putting it with a mic in a stand. So I wasn't surprised that the mic's with it didn't work, especially when a good vocal mic costs more than this whole effect pedal. The sound that it made as I mouthed and played was what I expected, and now I'm inspired to sound like a robot in songs. It's essentially a vocal effect, and if anyone's ever tried putting any heavy effects on vocals in a live environment, you'll know they feedback like stink. Don't think of it as a guitar effect, think of it as a vocal effect where your guitar sings for you. It's good for practising on your own and writing cos the sound is straight in your head, and I'm gonna hook it up to the PA in my practise room and see how it fares at deafening volumes tomorrow. And don't put stupid amounts of gain through it, you can't do that with vocals without expensive gating equipment, so why would a cheap stomp box work better!
Reliability
:
8
These big ole danelectro pedals are sturdier than most within this price bracket. My danecho is going strong after much abuse, so this should hopefully be alright.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
10
Seriously, why are there so many dullards rating this so low? I'm rating it up to give a more reasonable and fairer score. It's a really cheap talk box, it does what it's meant to when you use it like all the other talk boxes available, and does it pretty well for the money. Forget the little attached mics, stick it to a proper mic, plug the proper mic into an amp or PA at your practise room / gig venue, keep the gain pretty low, and watch as your seemingly weak, useless talk box suddenly goes all Frampton on you. There are much better boxes available, but for a fraction of the cost this does the job WHEN YOU USE IT PROPERLY. Plus, it looks pretty cool too.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: 99
Submitted 06/24/2008
at 05:59am
by Nik Sampson
Email: jizzdapit89<at>hotmail dot com
Ease of Use
:
6
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.
Sound Quality
:
7
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.
Reliability
:
6
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.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Haven't dealt with Danelectro, so no comment.
Overall Rating
:
6
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.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: USD 99
Submitted 02/26/2008
at 04:52am
by rotorheadcase
Ease of Use
:
7
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.
Sound Quality
:
8
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.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
It looks like a pretty solid peice of equipment but I've only just got it so time will tell.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Not needed it yet but if the user manual is anything to go by... I hope I never have to!!
Overall Rating
:
8
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.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: USD 99
Submitted 01/13/2008
at 04:33pm
by mr. beefy
Ease of Use
:
4
got it to sound great in rehearsal & studio settings. live: beware - it didn't work at concert volumes
Sound Quality
:
5
easy to get good sounds in rehearsal and to tape. not useable in live settings.
Reliability
:
2
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.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
3
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.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 11/25/2007
at 06:21pm
by cid
Ease of Use
:
6
ease of use is pretty simple two knobs and a button.Got it used so no manual.It's pretty much stock.
Sound Quality
:
1
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.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
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.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
never dealt with em
Overall Rating
:
1
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.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: USD 99.00
Submitted 08/13/2007
at 06:25am
by Ernie Blair
Ease of Use
:
10
The pedal setup is pretty straight forward and easy.
Sound Quality
:
4
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.
Reliability
:
10
Typical Danelectro.....beat it, kick it...and it keeps working!!
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
3
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!
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: USD 79.99
Submitted 04/30/2007
at 04:10pm
by Nero F. Roxxx
Email: nero_hans at hotmail<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
10
Easy to use.
Sound Quality
:
10
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.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
strong pedal
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
nope
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
read above and you'll get the best sound out of it
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: GBP 50
Submitted 01/15/2007
at 02:52pm
by Blomp
Email: blompburster at hotmail<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
7
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.
Sound Quality
:
9
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.
Reliability
:
10
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.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
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.
Overall Rating
:
9
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.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: USD 50
Submitted 11/08/2006
at 09:14pm
by Brian
Ease of Use
:
6
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.
Sound Quality
:
1
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.
Reliability
:
2
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.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
1
Most worthless piece of guitar eqipment I've ever bought.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: USD 90
Submitted 09/19/2006
at 07:01pm
by daniel Brown
Ease of Use
:
7
Sound Quality
:
1
terrible
Reliability
:
1
it is now in the bottom of my bin, in bits...
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
1
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.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $80.00
Submitted 07/07/2006
at 05:59pm
by Sean
Ease of Use
:
8
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.
Sound Quality
:
6
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.
Reliability
:
8
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.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
7
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...).
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $100
Submitted 06/20/2006
at 12:45pm
by Ryan
Ease of Use
:
10
I think its pretty easy with a bit of pracitice to get the right sound, mine works great.
Sound Quality
:
10
ok, heres the trick, i think all the other guys on here are techniquely challenged because i've found the right setup that ill be gigging with in a matter of no time. All you need to do, get rid of the stupid minimics, all they do is not produce any sound, gag you, and cause feedback. Put the amp into the pedal, and your guitar. Hook up the power and such. Then, put the tube in, and cable tie it up to a mic stand, all the way up the mic, and a bit of it hanging out. (you can adjust it later) Turn on the mic, the amp, and the pedal, and start doing your thing. yeah, that easy
Reliability
:
10
thing looks like its made from freaking cast iron ..i think so
Customer Support
:
10
never delt with, hope i never will
Overall Rating
:
10
i play rock ..been playing for only about 9 years. own a crate with carvin mic amps. ive got a fender strat, sg, les paul, blah blah blah. if it was ever lost or broken ...id get a heil talk box ..just cuz i think there better, and i think the sound might be better. over all ..good product ..the band gets a kick out of it.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $90 (delivered to canada)
Submitted 03/04/2006
at 09:26am
by Ryan
Ease of Use
:
10
Depending on what you are using it for this can be awesome or just so-so. now for direct recording this thing is amazing. right out of the box I got the exact sound of rocky mountain way (Walsh) and house that jack built (metallica), and i'm talking exact I played it along side by side with the songs (through my 16 track and computer)and I was amazed at how well it sounded. my method was just turning up your track and puting the mics right infront of your mouth (Not in your mouth) and it sounded exact (prob best guitar sound I've ever got from a guitar from recording). now for live or goofing with an amp, you have to...HAVE TO... put the mics inside your mouth si that the amp will pic up the sound. this is harder to get a good sound because you are almost gagging on the tube and mics. DO NOT USE DISTORTION ON YOUR AMP WITH THIS!!!! the pedal already has distortion that is the growl!
Sound Quality
:
10
I'm using PRS guitars coming through a line 6 spider 2. it only has feedback when you are using distortion!!! with practice you will be able to get the noises you want (unless you are direct recording, then you will be able to get the noises right away) through an amp you will probably need to turn up the volume on the pedal, but don't touch the growl!
Reliability
:
10
I could definetly depend on this pedal, the soul reason is I will rarely use the pedal, it's pretty much a fun effect.... you will have to really work to find ways to fit this into every song... but it's still great! but the thing looks friggin tough!! you will have to clean the tube though just hang it up so everything drips out...
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never dealt with them.
bought from guitareffectspedals.com great service through them, only took 3 days to get to nova scotia!
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
I play everything pretty much rock and folk. i've been playing for around 12 years I own 3 prs guitars, an ibanez ak85, fender acoustic, yamaha classical, greg bennet bass, fostex vf16 digital multitrack, line 6 pod xt live, line 6 spider 2, behringer v-amp, bass v-amp, ultravoice digital, dualfex pro, virtualizer pro.... yada yada yada if it got stolen I'd eventually buy another one because they are so cool!!
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: #45 (GBP)
Submitted 01/04/2006
at 01:07pm
by JaY JaY (Band Name: Jnr) look out for me ill be famous one day!!! lol (15)
Ease of Use
:
9
cool only two knobs and a hole to insert the tube,
Sound Quality
:
6
only had it an hour lol. but starting to sound good i think with practise i will get the hang of it and stop gaging lol.
Reliability
:
8
metal casing heavy duty, i think itll last.
Customer Support
:
1
never need help!!!!!!
Overall Rating
:
8
great gadget, will help me to be more like my hero "slash" lol, be good wen the band aiming to miss (my/our band)start gettin the gigs comin in. cant wait yipeeeeeeeeeee
btw, i got mine from a german site, thomann.de #52 with delievery
quik delievery thx guys :)
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $70
Submitted 12/30/2005
at 12:42am
by Swaff
Email: jswaff08 at uni<dot>edu
Ease of Use
:
10
Easy to use, volume and growl (distortion). Figuring out how to use the mini mics effectively is another story, but once I got that down it sounded good(more on this later). Didn't come with a manual, so I had to figure it out on my own, which is no different from any other pedal I've gotten, with a little (errr...maybe more than a little) tweaking I molded it into something that sounded good to me. I find this process takes time, effort, and an ear for whatever sound your trying to achieve, and I've had to do it with every pedal I've owned, which is pretty much common sense.
Sound Quality
:
8
This pedal sounds pretty decent once you figure out how to control the feedback. I Use a G&L S-500 through a Peavey Classic 50 2x12 50watt amp. My effects include dunlop classic crybaby, boss blues Driver (BD2), Big Muff, and Boss Super Chorus. I use the Distortion from my amp mainly usually with it around 10-11(12 is max), the BD2 at a lower gain to get a clean overdriven sound with good response to dynamics and as a volume boost for my amps distortion(which sounds nice and heavy without breaking up the tone), I use the Big Muff with either of the other two combinations or by itself naturally which can give me sounds anywhere from Jimi Hendrix to Alice in Chains self titled album (examples sludge factory, and again, etc.). Back to the Free speech, It took me a while to figure out how to control the feedback, but I think I found a solution at least for me. The problem is that the stupid mics it comes with don't pick up the sound very well at all, so naturally I turned up the volume and/or growl, but through my clean channel I wasn't quite satisfied with the tone quality so I tryed to use my amp's distortion to bring the pedal to life, but then I got this NASSSSTY feedback. So I turned down the volume to just below 9 o'clock and the growl to about 11 o'clock and it sounded great, but It was REALLY quiet through my amp. So I messed around with it for another hour or so...and then found that by placing the mini mics JUST inside my mouth, w/o completely saturating the mic I got the volume I wanted. I just had to dry off the mics after I was done using it(it's not the most sanitary thing in the world). So far I have not had a problem with the mics dying on me which if they did I could always use a different mic through a pa, although I'm not sure I'd be able to get the tone I like so much when playing the free speech with my amps distortion. I have not had the chance to play live with this pedal yet, which I have read a lot of negative reviews, but I'm sure with a little patience and common sense of where to place my amp/pedals I could find a way to make it work, it's not like it's one of those pedals I would use all the time, just for certain songs etc. I can easily get the sound of songs such as rotten apple, and man in the box from Alice in Chains, but I truly believe that tone mainly comes from a guitarists fingers not his effects. I gave it an 8 because the effect by itself through the clean channel wasn't everything I was looking for, but with the overdrive of my amp I got the growl I was looking for.
Reliability
:
7
Seems pretty sturdy, I'm not very hard on my pedals/guitars anyways, my guitars and effects are some of the few things I don't totally destroy.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
8
I play a wide range of music from hard rock, classic rock, jazz, blues, funk with my fav artists being Alice in Chains, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Collective Soul, Jeff Buckly, Clapton/Hendrix etc. I've been involved with music my whole life playing piano for 8 years, trumpet for 7yrs, and after I graduated high school I picked up guitar and have been hooked, I've only had 3 years experience, but as my fiancee has told me I'm obsessed...well lets just say "I like to play." If it were stolen I would probably get it again, but I might be tempted to try the Heil box out since that's what cantrell used for his sounds, but Being that the dano was $50 or so cheaper, and seemed like less hassle I decided to give it a try. What do I love about it....hmmmm that it makes my guitar talk, I hate the freaking feedback I had to deal with (I think the feedback screams haunted my dreams for a while). It would be sweet if it had a Tone control that's my only true gripe about the pedal.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: 79 (GB Pounds)
Submitted 05/03/2005
at 08:27pm
by Vaughan Williams
Email: vjwilliams at lineone<dot>net
Ease of Use
:
9
Yep, this is a cinch to use. A volume and a "Growl" knob - easy peasey. There's a hole to shove the tube into, in and out sockets, a DC in and the on/off button - that's it. Paint job reminds me of something I ate.
The manual is brief and that's a gross overstatement!
Sound Quality
:
No Opinion
Strat plus -> Vox Wah -> Free Speech -> Marshall Edward -> Ibanez Auto Wah -> Ibanez Chorus -> Ibanez Delay/Echo -> Digitech Reverb -> Marshall TSL601
It feedsback big time unless the amp is in a different county! This is a pig to rehearse with when the band is cramped into a small space. It may prove to be a pig to gig in a small stage area when you are practically standing on your amp in the first place.
It sounds absolutely wild without the tube attached, it roars like a goodun!
Since being an adult and having ceased shoving all and sundry into my gob for want of a better thing to do I now find I have a strong gag reflex to contend with. I just get the feedback under control and, whoops, I feel I want to vomit!
I've only had this device a few days, and so I will experiment by removing the cable with the two spittle drenched mics (as supplied) and substituting an SM58 running through a mixer and PA unit. I will rehearse by myself without being on the receiving end of many ribald remarks from my cohorts until I can get over my urge to puke and get some sensible sounds via my vocal mic. (The one about putting the tube where the sun doesn't shine is wearing thin with me)
To be fair to Danelectro, their token manual has a note about the suppied mics being detachable which suggests that that is what they actually expect you to do if you are serious about music. Their aim appears to be the provision of a product that works straight out of the box without the need for two amps, AB boxes, vocal mics and PA systems. (They almost succeed)
I will therefore state a "No Opinion" in this category at this time. (I will return to say more once I change my shirt etc etc)
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Well, the best part of it is metal or some heavy duty plastic maybe. The section where the knobs and tube port are situated is definitely plastic and doesn't warrant a dig with size 10 trekkers I would think. The knobs themselves are not Boss quality but because the pedal is oversized compared to most stomps you probably won't step on the knobs in error. (I say "probably")
If I had backups of all my gear I would be in default with my mortgage supplier and so I take care and carry spare tubes, fuses and leads only. Ok, a spare amp and guitar makes sense if I'm playing for money.
I dare say that this product will prove reliable, No Opinion at present.
Customer Support
:
1
Not needed but I don't know how to reach Danelectro directly. Have you seen their website? They just splash some products in their comic book style with no links for contact that I can see.
Overall Rating
:
5
Played for 30+ years in bluesy rock and latterly reggae.
I use a GR-20 by Roland (now that's sweet to get on with)
If it were stolen, I'd hunt the sap down, back him/her into a corner and hand over the manual and rush round to all their gigs to find out if they have figured out how to use it properly. I wouldn't buy another. A Heil maybe, or maybe not.
Hmmm, it gets in my way at present but who knows, with a bit of cutting and pasting and a handy vomit bag, I just may get something all of my own out of this curious gadget. I will post again to update these first observations by early July 2005. I'm saying 5 here because I won't condemn anything out of hand until it stops breathing, or I do!
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 03/16/2005
at 12:20pm
by +
Email: +
Ease of Use
:
9
It's the simplest talk box you can buy, may not be the best, but is worth it. No extra setup, no mic amps or PA (unless you want to hook up your own mic and get rid of the mics it comes with). Like most have said, the manual is ridiculous, it is about 2 pages long (actually 2 pages short) and doesn't really say much, just tells you what you should aready know, common knowledge stuff. You really aren't goin to find an easier talk box to use, so it has to get a high rating here.
Sound Quality
:
7
To begin with, I have a Rocktron Banshee also, and it does require a mic and a mic amp or PA (works great with a PA). It is useless if you don't hook up a mic to it, if you don't, nobody will hear what you are doing unless they are a few few away from you and it's a quiet room. The Dan. talk box isn't that bad though, it's not as good as my Banshee. The distortion on the Dan. talk box is a lot better than the distortion on the Banshee. I too have to say, if there was a tone knob on the Dan. talk box, it would be a lot better. With the Dan. talk box you really can't get those squaky sort of sounds made famous by Frampton. Good example of how the Dan. talk box sounds, listen to GNR's Anything Goes, the riff Slash plays using the box you can recreate, but you can't get that high pitched sounds he does at times. Feedback won't be a problem unless you can't figure out how to adjust the pedals volume and where you place the pedal (how far from your amp). It's not as bad as some make it seem, but there are better talk boxes out there that will help you produce all the sounds from guys you've heard use a talk box. The Dan. talk box is just the simplest/more convenient talk box to use, you don't need to have a mic on the mic stand to pick up the sound from the end of the tube, no extra amp, and no risk of damaging any of your equipment.
Reliability
:
8
I'm not, and never have been, a big fan of Danelectro, I just bought my Dan. talk box a few years ago because I needed one that was simple, since I don't use a talk box on every song. The pedal is very rugged, I think it can last a while. The paint is cool, wouldn't want to drop it just because of it. The only thing you would have to replace for it would probably only be the 2 mini mics if you use them. Other than that, nothing should ever go wrong with it unless you are a monster with your stuff.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I think they have a website, but no email, not sure though. They aren't the best company out there, I do have to say that the talk box has to be their best pedal, but I've never tried any of their other pedals and don't plan on it.
Overall Rating
:
7
If you only use a talk box for a few songs or just need one that is very simple, no lengthy setting up, try this pedal out, it's going to be better than you are expecting. It's no Rocktron Banshee or Heil, but it is good enough if you just need something new or you don't use a talk box a lot. There is a huge difference in the volume of sound that comes through the end of the tube between my Dan. talk box and my Banshee, the Banshee is capable of dishing out 5 watts out the tube so the mic will pick it up with no problem at all. The Dan. talk box isn't as loud as the Banshee, probably can only max out to about 2-3 watts, not sure exactly, but I'm sure on the Banshee. If you use the mini mics, put the very close to then end of the tube.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 02/28/2005
at 03:08pm
by .
Ease of Use
:
No Opinion
---Follow up to my last review on the free speech talk box----
Sound Quality
:
No Opinion
Reliability
:
No Opinion
---Word of advice, always clean off the tube, even the inside. So much moisture forms inside the tube and outside of it, but if you just play, use it, and leave it and don't clean up, that's going to be one nasty experience the next time you use it. The Dan. tak box comes with a clear tube, so you can see how far the moisture goes, make sure you clean all of it out! Make sure you get like a paper towl or something to get all the moisture out of the stupid little foamy things on the mics, or else the moisture just soaks in and gets to the actual mics itself and may make one or both of the little mics not work. It happened to me, forgot to get the moisture out of the little mics, and it killed the one little mic, and didn't feel like replacing it, so used the one mic for a while, then bought a Shure mic and had to do a little rewiring to keep it simple. I got sick of it, so I had to order a Rocktron Banshee today (READ BELOW). With the Banshee, you will just have to clean the tube, inside and out, no mics or anything. I'll review it in a few months, I added on below.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
***If you are wondering what song on Appetite for Destruction Slash used a Dunlop Heil talk box for was the song "Anything Goes", but I was wrong, you can't get all the sounds from the Dan. talk box that you would need in order to play that song, you really need the Dunlop Heil or Rocktron Banshee. Also, if you wanted to know what song Brian Robertson used a talk box for on one of the Thin Lizzy CD's, go out and get or listen to Thin Lizzy's Bad Reputation CD, I don't remember exactly what song he used it on, but you need a Heil or Banshee to recreate the same sounds he did. And like you should know, if you want to be able to make all the sounds Frampton did, go out and get the Heil or Banshee. ---I HIGHLY recommend buying the DUNLOP HEIL talk box or Rocktron Banshee talk box over the Danelectro talk box, I know I wish I did even though I ordered the Rocktron Banshee today, so I'll review that in a few months once I can get all my facts straight instead of posting a useless "glowing new toy" review like many do. I'm not saying the Danelectro talk box is really bad, but for o-n-l-y $50 more you can get a talk box that is a lot better!!! Either the Dunlop Heil or Rocktron Banshee. I'd recommend the Banshee if you want to be on the safe side due to the Heil possibly blowing your amp up. THe Rocktron Banshee doesn't require *any* extra setup other than put it on your board, run the tube up the mic stand, and play. It doesn't require an extra mic, you can add one in if you want, but you don't need one. Extra output for an extension cab, and no risk of blowing your amps up. Can it get any easier and better? I bet not. Can't wait for my Rocktron Banshee to come in, I've seen great reviews on it and asked musiciansfriend.com a ton of questions on it, which aided to me buying it. I don't even have the Banshee yet, but I guarantee it is DEFINITLY BETTER than the Danelectro talk box, I don't know about the Heil, but I really don't want to take the chance of blowing my amp(s) up or having to order new parts or totally replacing the thing. THe Dan. works ok for both rhythm and soloing, but really won't give you the sound you are after. Like I said already, just spend an extra $50 on a Rocktron Banshee, you won't be making a wrong choice, you'll make out a lot better and get better sounds out of the Banshee. The Banshee is supposed to have more than enough volume and distortion, I've heard that more than enough volume comes out the end of the tube, way more than the Danelectro talk box produces even when at max volume.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $100
Submitted 02/27/2005
at 10:49am
by .
Ease of Use
:
9
Less work than the other talk boxes, but just doesn't give you the exact sound you hear from the guys that made this cool effect famous. You just plug it into your setup, run the tube up a mic stand, and make sure if you use the little mics this thing comes with, you put them very close to the end of the tube. Very easy, no extra amps or anything, unless you don't want to use the mics this thing comes with, which is something you should change anyway, use a Shure mic or something like that, better results.
Sound Quality
:
7
I'd like to find out who that last reviewer was, he should consider doing his own mods or something, I'd modify my talk box, but I'd end up messing something up. The talk box doesn't sound too bad, it's actually pretty good, I can't really say it's as good as the Rocktron or Dunlop talk boxes, but at least you don't have to worry about blowing up your amp (Dunlop Heil). I'm going to buy the Rocktron Banshee soon, seems to be really good, a lot better than the Danelectro talk box. The Dan talk box isn't that bad, I really can't use it during solos, it doesn't work that great at all for solos, but works really good for rhythm work or just getting that your guitar to talk. If Danelectro would have put a tone control on the pedal, I bet it would have been better. I have to say this talk box is more for rhythm work, example - Slash, on one of the GNR songs from Appetite for Destruction, he used a talk box for the rhythm part, you can get the same sound using the Dan talk box. I don't really like Bon Jovi, they were a pretty good group, you can get some of the sounds he made from his talk box from some of their songs. The main problem is that the pedal has no tone knob and that the internal amp is pretty small. You really can't get that throaty talk box sound that you've heard from a few of the greats, you can mainly just get a computery talking sound and different ranges you can come close to getting by using a wah pedal. Cool little effect, but I don't think it's as good as Dunlop or Rocktron's talk box. I don't really have a volume problem with mine, I have the volume usually set anywhere from 3-max and distortion varies, I'll usually put it anywhere from 10-3, the distortion on this pedal gets pretty heavy. You can get a few of the sounds you have heard from these guys, not all of the sound they got from their talk boxes: Frampton (you really need a Heil or Banshee to pull his stuff up, Free Speech isn't throaty enough), Slash (he mainly used his for rhythm work on a few songs, you can nail them pretty good with this), Brian Robertson (if you are wondering who this is, it's one of Thin Lizzy's best guitarists they had, even though they had many insane guitarists. You can't really get the sounds he made, you need a Heil to really get it right on, maybe a Rocktron can pull it off too, but not the Free Speech) Sambora (you can get some of his stuff, I'm not too sure, really don't listen to Bon Jovi). Their are others, but I'd really recommend buying the Rocktron Banshee or the Dunlop Heil (if you are willing to risk it:Heil)
Reliability
:
7
The volume situation seems to vary, you really shouldn't come across any major problems with this pedal, volume may be your own problem or it might not.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
7
Overall, the Danelectro talk box isn't too bad, I'd definitly recommend the Rocktron Banshee over the Dan talk box, or maybe even the Heil. They both cost like an extra $50 more, but who cares, they both sound a lot better.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $99
Submitted 02/24/2005
at 09:17am
by steve
Ease of Use
:
9
I did a bit of mod'ing to my pedal, but it's still very easy to use, and sounds better than the stock Danelectro talk boxes.
Sound Quality
:
9
I modified my pedal like this: I added in a tone knob so I could change how the pedal sounded, because it really couldn't produce that nasaly sound you all are hoping for, with my modded in tone knob, this thing is finally getting some use by me. Also, I added in a volume boost switch and volume control knob, I can add in anywhere from 0 db to an extra 20 db, I could have made it more, but that's already more than enough, I didn't really have any volume problems to start out with, but just added it in for more flexibilty. Before I modified my talk box, I barely used it at all, because I couldn't really get that nasaly sound that you would hear from Frampton. So, I had to add in the tone knob which really changes the pedal, if you heard it, you wouldn't think it's the Dan. talk box, it's really that much better. I can get any sound from a deep, throaty sound, to nasaly, to that famous framptone sound, to the sound of Brian Robertson's and Gary Moore's talk box sound, and also a very squaky, throaty sound, which is pretty cool. Without the mod'ing I did to it, it sounded ok, but not what I wanted, you couldn't really play past like the 12th fret and have that sound you want, once you played past the 12th fret, the talk box couln't really hanlde that range. But, up by like the 1st through about 5th or 7th fret, you could hear the talk box really shine, you could really make your guitar talk, but didn't have that sound you might want or have heard. Even without the extra volume boost switch and volume knob I added on, I didn't have any volume problems with the pedal. Before I modified the pedal, I barely used it because I couldn't get the sounds I wanted. With the modifying I did, I always want to use the thing, it sounds so good! I would like to get Frampton's talk box, but not for $500, I can just buy another free speech talk box and mod it exactly to how Frampton's talk box sounds, well probably not exact, but close enough if I take enough time on it. A stock Danelectro talk box, I'd give it about a 6 or 7, with the mod'ing that I did to it, it get a 9, it's not quite perfect, but better than a regular Dan. talk box and better than that Rocktron talk box. I never tried a Dunlop Heil talk box, I'm going to buy it soon, but I just don't like all the setup you have to do for it. The Dan. talk box can just plug right in with your board and straight to your amp and just run the tube up a mic stand and use the stock mics if you want. I updated the mics because one of the little mics that the pedal originally came with died, and I didn't think the stock mics were too reliable. I don't put the talk box in a PA, there's no need for that unless you might have some problems with yours, but I don't or didn't when I didn't mod mine. Also, the distortion on the pedal isn't that bad. The pedal can also be used as a little practice amp, very little, and you can still put the tube in it to use as a little practice amp. I don't think I have ever used it like that, but you can. If you don't want to plug into your amp at night and want to use this pedal, just plug the adapter in, plug the tube in and there you go, pretty cool.
Reliability
:
8
I really don't like the on/off switch, it works perfectly, but seems like it can just die or not function properly out of nowhere. Once it starts to show any sign of malfunction, I'll have to fix that with a on/off switch like the one on the Digitech Whammy pedals, the WH-4. That on/off switch never gives off unwanted noises or sounds when I switch it on or off, it'll be a lot better to have on the talk box rather than the "button" that the Dan. talk box comes with. Also, the little mics on the end of the tube aren't that great, they are ok, but should be replaced. The pedal is built very strongly, it's built a lot tougher than most other pedals. Its got a very solid and strong metal housing, the bottom of the pedal is covered in rubber. The battery compartment is on the bottom, I use adapters for all my pedals thought. All of the jacks are located on the front of the pedal, it is a bit conjested up their if you use an adapter, but it all works out fine. I wouldn't want to drop this pedal though, even with its heavy-duty metal housing, the stuff inside is compact and if something breaks or comes loose when you drop it, have fun fixing it. Even when I modded mine, the space was pretty constricted. I really like the physcodelic paint job, I better not ever scratch the pedal, the paint job is awesome.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I'm not even sure if Danelectro has a website? They might, but I've never checked and don't need to.
Overall Rating
:
8
I bought my talk box two years ago, but didn't really use it that much once I realized it couldn't give me the sounds I really wanted/needed it to produce. Once I modded the pedal I use it a lot, it's an awesome pedal to have. Even the stock one isn't that bad, but just wasn't cutting it for me. I never bought or used any Danelectro pedals before, I doubt I'd buy any of their other pedals, but a few of their pedals seem good, I'm not talking about those mini pedals though, they seem like they are just a waste of like $20 or $30. But, the normal sized Dan. pedals seems pretty good, I've heard a lot of good things about the Fab Tone, but never used it before. Overall, a talk box is a really creative and fun pedal to have, especially if you can get it to sound good. I'd leave my screen name for questions about the mod'ing I did to my Danelectro talk box, but I really don't want to get tons of emails from people asking to modify their pedal also.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $115
Submitted 11/24/2004
at 06:37pm
by ---------------------->
Ease of Use
:
10
The easiest of the few talk boxes out to use. The manual for this thing is a joke, it is like a page or two, barely any information on it at all?
Sound Quality
:
9
I got this pedal to sound great, but I still want more from it. It is the most fun pedal to use. If you are having problems with volume, you probably have the pedal going anywhere after the guitar and then straight into the amp. If you have it that way, there is a drop in volume, quite critical for stage purposes. Run it through your effects loop, this way it doesn't drop your volume, it can add to it. For me it works perfectly, I don't know if it will work out for everyone else. I suppose everyone who has this pedal has a half stack, full stack, or even more. Definitly, if you are not running this through your effects loop, put it in there, or at least try it out to see if it works better. My head has input and output volumes, and an added volume boost button, which I have turned on since I have the talk box in my effects loop. My talk box doesn't drop in volume, I have it louder than my regular signal, due to my added boost button and effects loop volumes. If you have it in your effects loop already, try it in a PA, if you can, I don't know if it makes a difference or not, I never tried and don't need to try it out, but I wish I have so I could let you know. Another option is to replace the mics, I am sure changing the mics can make a difference. Just don't replace them with cheap ones, get quality ones. Or, if you left the small mics where they were when you bought this unit, which they are pretty far from the end of the tube when you buy it, move the little mics to just about the end of the tube, that makes a difference also. Try out these solutions if you are having a problem with the volume of this pedal, it can be solved.
Reliability
:
8
Seems to be reliable, I just don't like the on/off switch, seems like it can go out without any warning.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
9
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $95.00
Submitted 11/23/2004
at 08:03pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
Nothing to it really.
Sound Quality
:
7
I'm a rock/metal player. Basic LP or Floyd Strat into pedal board then into a Marshall. On it's own it's fantastic but in a band setting I'm having some trouble. I turned it up all the way and it broke. (they sent me a new one) But because it sounds great at home I'm determined to get it to work with a live band but that hasn't happened yet. On my own I simply love this thing. It's a lot of fun and a very cool effect. It's not a pro quality one like the Framptone ($$$) but it's very useable. Just needs more power. Frampton stated in many interviews that the secrete to getting a good talk box sound is power. The sound coming out of your mouth HAS to be loud. Turning the mic up is not the way to do it.
Reliability
:
5
Like I stated, I turned mine up all the way and it broke. But the Evetts Corp. replaced it right away without any hassle.
Customer Support
:
10
Took them one week to send me a new one after I sent them my broken one.
Overall Rating
:
8
I like it. I play anything thats overdriven rock. I have another talk box that I made but it's a hassle and I don't use it. Takes too long to set it up and too much stuff to lug around. This is the easiest way to get a talk box sound without needing another amp. It could use more power. But it works the way it should. I was surprised at how easy it was to get it set up and going.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: #80
Submitted 09/01/2004
at 10:41am
by Alex Oliver
Ease of Use
:
8
Getting a good sound is not a problem, despite the coloquial and rather silly 2 page manual.
Sound Quality
:
No Opinion
I use a Washburn HM20V with Dimarzio Evolution bridge humbucker, the tone and vol pots at various settings. The amp is a Marshall MG 50 DFX. I use full gain on the dirty channel, plus bass @7, thingy at 5, tone at 7, vol various depending on situation.
The one thing I needed was a giggable unit - ie loud enough - and this one isn't. OK, so I use a lot of gain, but it howls at living room volume and the makers try to sell more FX on the back of this seemingly disastrous gaff - due to the little mics inevitably looping. If you wanted to do Sambora Walsh whoever you'll get it - but at the expense of being unable to gig with it. I've not had chance to exp with other FX, but I intent to try this with the clean channel; in the hope it might reduce the squealing. Opinion? it sounds great until you try to use it in realistic circumstances when it becomes a useless hazard.
Reliability
:
2
It's obviously well made, but I can't see me using it for a gig. I have some fatter tube which I might try, leaving of the little mics so I can try it through the PA. But in my experince, 50 watts is minimum. This 5 watts thing isn't going to be heard over a folk band, let alone a metalblues doodad like RockandRollGypsy
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I've not dealt with Danelectro beyond asking if it was loud enough. Slight terminalological inexactitude, here, then?
Maybe we might see some honest guff on their home page? I think the best PR is admission and adjustment - even product withdrawal. I could of course be the silliest of people and be getting something wrong, but I think after 10 hours of messing I'd have got something right by now?
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
Erm...metalblues come tribal rock - I don't like hyphens and I don't like categories - my sound ranges from chain saw to waterfall.
Played since 1968/9, got through shoploads of everything. Just have the electric and a Spanish really, plus delay, phase and Crybaby (HIPPIE!!!)
This freespeech? Nah, I'd make one myself.
I love using it and the sound, but I loath the inadequacy.
I went allover the internet & more; I chose it because I was mislead - perhaps by folk who don't use feedback as part of their sound range?
Volume.
Right under me feet.
I should have known better than to buy something so personal off the net. I have such a driven set up for normal playing that most things need special treatment. Be warned, rockers, bluesers, metal, grunch et al. Try one before you buy one.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $100
Submitted 08/04/2004
at 06:26pm
by Steve
Ease of Use
:
10
One simple pedal to use that sounds awesome (most people who review this pedal give it a bad review because they don't know what they are talking about and how to work/use the pedal!). I have it last in my line of a ton of pedals, I get NO FEEDBACK AT ALL!!! You morons getting feedback, turn the volume knob down, duhhhh!!!! It is an awesome, sorta cheap pedal, compared to the Dunlop and Rocktron one! Just make sure you move the 2 mini mics close to the end of the tube, you gotta get that in your mouth too if you want the talking effect to go through to the amp!
Sound Quality
:
10
Its got 2 knobs, Volume (obvious what that does!) and Growl(distortion). The distortion on this pedal really isn't bad at all! I was expecting a weak distortion, it really isn't bad, and trust me, I have a ton of distortion pedals, from light to the heaviest possible, this pedals distortion is kinda like the DS-1. I use a Les Paul, through a ton of fx (talk box at the end of the line) and through a Peavey stack. Awesome sound, Peter Frampton at one time used this exact pedal!!! I will say it isn't the same as Frampton's Framptone Talk Box.
Reliability
:
10
I never used Danelectro pedals before, but I am very impressed with this pedal, I wouldn't need a backup for this pedal, this thing will last me!
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Don't know, don't have any problems! So, can't say!
Overall Rating
:
10
Don't listen to everyone else that said this is a bad pedal, they are wrong, they just don't know how to work/use the pedal right! *Make sure the 2mini mics are by the end of the tube to get that in yer mouth too!!!* If this pedal got stolen, I would definitly buy another one, but if I had an extra $50 at the time when I had to buy another, I would go for the Dunlop talk box to see how that is, but I think I wwould stick with the Dan. Talk Box! You can really get a cool talking guitar sound outa this thing! If you say something, you can hear it perfectly even though it has that cool roboty sound!!! One awesome and fun pedal!!!!
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $75.00
Submitted 07/23/2004
at 09:18pm
by Fuzzy
Ease of Use
:
10
TOO EASY TO USE EXCEPT FORGET ABOUT THE ON BOARD MIKES AND RUN IT THROUGH THE BOARD!!!
Sound Quality
:
8
HEY ALL YOU NEG. REVIEWERS...IF YOU WANT TO NAIL FRAMPTON AND SAMBORA ET AL.... DON'T EXPECT IT TO COME FOR UNDER A HUNNY BEE..TRY PAYING THE $150 FOR THE HEIL, BUY A SEPARATE HIGHWATT 50 WATT AMP AND BLEED IT INTO THE HOUSE P.A. OR, JUST TRY SENDIN THE TUBE UP A MIC STAND AND INTO A SHURE SM58 AND INTO WHAT EVER AMP IS LAYING AROUND OR INTO YOUR BANDS P.A. YOU'LL COME PRETTY CLOSE FOR A LOT LESS DOUGH. FORGET ABOUT THE ONBOARD MICS!!!!
Reliability
:
9
BUILT WELL
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
NOT BEEN THERE
Overall Rating
:
8
DOES WHAT IT IS SUPPOSED TO DO, IT IS UO TO THE USER TO FIND/COMPROMISE A WAY TO GET THE SOUND UP TO A BETTER VOLUME WITHOUT FEEDING BACK
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: was a gift
Submitted 06/14/2004
at 12:47am
by Jason Boggs
Email: Swampyboggs9<at>aol dot com
Ease of Use
:
2
It was as easy to unpack and put together as a cheese sandwich! Unfortunately, like the sea monkeys I had when I was a kid, the overall feeling diminished in about 5 minutes. This pedal is pretty useless.
Sound Quality
:
2
I plugged it into my Marshall JCM 2000 and it screamed feedback. I was a room away in my apartment and it still howled. I plugged it into my Fender Twin Reverb and instead of feeding back, the sound was non-existant. I used a BOSS grunge pedal and a Dan Fabtone, but nothing worked too well. Strange? I experimented to no avail.I used a Strat through my Fender and a Flying V through my Marshall. I doubt this makes a difference though.
Reliability
:
2
I would fear that everyone at a gig would just wonder why there is no sound coming from my amp while I would be attempting something pretentious on my guitar.Quite silly I guess. It stays in the box until further endeavors.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I am a fan of Danelectro. I own several Dans- a 59 DC, doubleneck 59 DC, Innuendo 12 string and a string of their pedals: cool cat, fab tone, cry baby, daddy o, the dreaded free speech and a flange pedal.The flange pedal would be better if you could control the noise level a little. The sitar pedal is a joke though. I emailed Danelectro once- they never responded nor did they bombard me with spam either. Odd?
Overall Rating
:
1
I play grunge/ garage- whatever the word is for rock at the moment!
I have been playing 9 years. I own 23 guitars and 4 amps.If it got stolen, it would be less clutter occupying my music room. I wanted this pedal because I admired Danelectro's pedal line. They have blundered with their pedals lately though. It is not worth owning, and anyone who thinks it is, is pissed off because they are out a hundred bucks. Be honest and admit it. I am sending this page to Danelectro and I encourage everyone else to do so.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: Not sure but certain it was too much.
Submitted 06/03/2004
at 05:06am
by THOR
Email: none
Ease of Use
:
4
It's easy to use, two knobs is no big deal, just stick the tube in the hole, plug the mics and you're ready to go.
Don't really care for the manual and you don't really need it if you got a good brain working.
About the construction: as a whole it appears to be really tough and heavy but look closer and you'll have the feeling you're holding a toy. I don't know if it's the tie-dye "paint" or just the general aspect of the thing but when I think about it, there's definitely something fishy here, like a bad omen.
Sound Quality
:
1
Well, I used it with two different amps and even tried it on those little Marshall "pocket" amps for the hell of it. I tried it on a 35 watts Fender Jam amp, an '81 JCM 800 and the above mentioned Lil' Marshall. Guitars were a '78 Gibson Les Paul Custom and a '99 Gibson SG.
The results were almost the same on each amp, it just produces uncontrollable and nasty feedbacks, I could get something hardly decent on the Fender amp but at a ridiculously LOW volume, same with the Lil' Marshall but this pedal is absolutely unusable on my JCM 800. I had brought it on rehearsal just to experiment with it, plugged the thing while the drummer was setting up his kit but only got feedbacks, ditch the thing aside, end of the godammed story.
To conclude, if you like to play at very low volume or just want to record (I frankly doubt it though) you can find a use for this pedal...maybe.
For my part I didn't.
This pedal is just a gizmo.
Reliability
:
1
Depend on it? Are you kidding?
Gig with it? Well, you can be the king of Rock in your bedroom with that thing, sure.
Customer Support
:
1
Didn't deal with the company, don't plan to although they're lying about their product, this pedal is a total waste of money, they should be sued for that.
Overall Rating
:
1
I saw the ad for this pedal and thought it was a really good idea knowing that with a regular talk box you need a p.a. system, I should've known better!
If it were stolen? Well, Danelectro already stole my money so if someone would stole the pedal I wouldn't see that big a difference.
I wouldn't buy it again for anything in the world, I should've save up the money and buy something more useful for me like a Phase Shifter from BOSS which is a real good company with real quality products.
I always thought, and this pedal kinda confirms this idea, that Danelectro offers a wide range of gizmo pedals, they're more toys than real effects.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $99.00
Submitted 05/26/2004
at 08:51pm
by Don K.
Email: d1k at netzero<dot>net
Ease of Use
:
7
Self explanatory. Has a one page pamphlet/user manual which fully explain the IN jack and OUT jacks meaning (whew!). Has tips and suggestions too. Sound gets better with a little mic experimentation, I will elaborate below. Has an insert which clamps tube, mic cord, and fits in a std mic stand clip.
Sound Quality
:
8
Using stock setup was relatively quiet inline. Using the supplied mic(s) and running into an amp, the unit growled and feeds back at any volume over bedroom levels. In an effects chain, it simply does not work. The driver is a speaker/driver hybrid and pedal housing IS audible by itself at a volume level over 4. Maybe, could double as a practice amp. Thats basically all the bad news. Has tons of gain, but accentuates the hi freqs when turned up. Gain best at 2-4. The good news is when used as a TYPICAL thru the Mic method, its fully functional as an effective Talk box. It is not being driven by a Head, so honestly the FANTASTIC THROATY sound like your favorite recordings is not nailed, but it can be very close. Sound is Mid-rangey with lots of top end. If used with a good vocal mic, the THROATY tone resurfaces. The stock mic's are VERY sensitive and Uni-directional to about 14-18". This is way too sensitive and the problem with the inline amp setup. I got 8+ db signal versus Shure 588 mic alongside it thru mixer. The mics are good enough for vocal response too with good mid and strong highs.
Reliability
:
6
This is not a good LIVE unit. When on it has an 50-70% volume drop when on (Gain up). Overdriven tone was good and had Metal tone not overdrive. I read this may be adjustable via internal trimpots, not sure...When bypassed, a clean signal inline has no significant hiss.
Customer Support
:
1
Dont expect any from Dano. More importantly, its UNRETURNABLE at many stores because of the mouth tube.
Overall Rating
:
8
THIS IS A SERIOUS review, not just just a player who is ticked off at Danelectro's cheesy product line.. So Here we go.. Ok, I got it as a gift and after reading the horror stories previously, its not a total loss as stated by many others. In fact, its a Good piece to record direct with, since it has built in amplification/gain, No A/B box req'd, good battery life (compared to other Danos), and no risk of smoking a amp head.. I run BOTH and Mix between the 2 channels. Stock tube is about 3/8 id. Changed to 5/8 id and sound got worse. Sound is not quite as Powerful as Heil or Supertalker, but those need high power to push them, this is practical and my recordings are good anyhow. I will keep this thing.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: 130.00 (Cdn)
Submitted 05/17/2004
at 11:16am
by Stef
Email: stefthebluesguy at hotmail<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
7
Pretty simple to operate. My only complaint is the same as everyone else...the mic's aren't the greatest and you have to get them pretty close to your mouth to get some volume.
Sound Quality
:
6
I don't experience the feedback problem that many others have. My amp is about 6-8 ft. away from me, and it seems to work well. Again, the mic's kinda suck.
Reliability
:
9
I don't think there will be any problems with it. It's well made, and I'll certainly gig with it.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
No problems.....yet.
Overall Rating
:
8
I play lots of different music, mostly classic rock in my current band. This pedal is great. I think the real trick is to put it in your chain of effects near the beginning. OR, run it separately through your effects loop. I use a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4x10 combo and it works well so far. A pretty cool pedal for the money. I'd buy another if I needed to. If you buy one, don't get discouraged if you do get feedback or not enough volume. Play with it! It's a toy!! Keep it away from your amp....rule #1!
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $100
Submitted 03/28/2004
at 09:06pm
by Jason
Email: cjpilot10<at>yahoo dot com
Ease of Use
:
9
Pretty easy. Not hard to set up at all just plug and play.
Sound Quality
:
8
I am running it through a small Marshall solid state amp that I use mostly for practice. Had some noise issues when using the setup as described in the book. The mics on the tube are absolutely useless they feed back too much so I dumped them and use a real mic. I have read lots of complaints about the box not having any volume back through the amp this is true in my case when running the setup as described in the book but I found that using a real mic and plugging the mic strait into the amp and not into the back of the talk box makes a huge difference it will scream.. Basicly I plug my guitar into the talk box, dont plug the box into the amp. Plug the mic strait into the amp then the volume and white noise issues are history. You can make it as loud as you like, but doing this you need a small amp just for the talk box and maybe an A/B switch for switching between your main amp and your amp with the talk box. I mainly just practice with it and havent compaired it with others such as Heil, Rocktron, and others on the market.. If you set it up right you can get some pretty decent sounds out of this little unit.
Reliability
:
10
So far so good. No problems. I would just recommend and external power source rather than batteries it will eat them alive unless you have plenty of money and dont mind buying batteries everyday.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never had to use them so I dont know...
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
I play mostly Rock and Blues. Some country but not much.
If it were stolen I would buy another one but maybe I would try another brand just to compare the difference.
I just wish sombody still made one of the old bag talkboxes that you could just through over your shoulder and walk around with..
In all if you set it up the right way it will work fine. The setup in the book aint worth crap im my opinion but what sounds good to me might sound like crap to someone else..
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $90.00
Submitted 03/23/2004
at 05:50am
by Greg S.
Ease of Use
:
9
Plug'er in and stick the tube in your mouth!!! Let's you sound like Frampton, Joe Perry, Joe Walsh or Charlie Brown's teacher!
Sound Quality
:
8
I got a pretty good sound out of it right away. Of course the first time I tried it I had a cough drop in my mouth and about gagged between that and the tube. It WILL feedback! Read the other tips and tricks here and you can avoid it. Number 1, don't place it right in front of your amp.
Reliability
:
7
It's heavy, it's metal, it's got a groooovy paint scheme. It'll eat batteries, get an AC adaptor
Customer Support
:
4
Their website went suddenly...........useless. Maybe they're doing a little upgrading.
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
This is basically a cool toy for me. Having worn out several copies of "Frampton Comes Alive", I'm a sucker for a talk box. Here's something stupid, I got the same feedback that everyone's talked about. I took the tube out of my mic stand and flipped it over, so the tube was pointing down, instead of up, and I swear about 50% of the feedback stopped, no kidding. I really think the trick is to only turn it on when it's over your mouth. "Waaaaa wahhhhh..wahhhhhh..."
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $99
Submitted 03/12/2004
at 07:47am
by Nick
Ease of Use
:
10
I have no idea what any one is talking oboute it is really easy to use it just takes alittle time.
Sound Quality
:
9
The sound is realy good. but their are alittle feedback problems but if you use alittle comoncents you should be fine
Reliability
:
10
it is reliable and I take it to gigs all the time all you have to do is figuar out how to controle it
Customer Support
:
1
the customer support does suck and the manual they give you realy wont help you
Overall Rating
:
10
I play everything you can think of and have ben playing for aboute five years I have compared it to the dulop and I think the danelectro is easer to use and much more user friendly and has just as good of a sound I am a ferm belever that the machine is only as good as the guitarest on the other side of the pedal.so just keep playing and finding out what you can do with it.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: #85 (Pound (uk))
Submitted 02/24/2004
at 05:46pm
by OJ
Ease of Use
:
2
the main problem i have with this pedal is the fact that no matter how much i try and what i use i have trouble with feedback, and god dont it feedback. I have bought the Boss EQ-20, to try to get rid of it but still it aint that easy. If you have any ideas let me know
Sound Quality
:
5
i dont like the fact that you have to rely on the pedal to generate the gain. It sounds too processed and gay. i would like more if you had your own gain / distortion pedal to put through it, you might have better luck with the feedback to.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
dont know, i aint had it long
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
3
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: 95 (A#)
Submitted 02/12/2004
at 05:33am
by Tess
Email: dreamofguitars<at>hotmail dot com
Ease of Use
:
9
as most of you said, it's pretty easy to use it. it needs a lot of practice and perseverance before you can get anything decent to come out of it. I think there should be more information in the manual and their website needs some info on it.
Sound Quality
:
7
i use a les paul copy and a korgAX1500 multi fx box with it. it's usefull because it has a volume pedal to help stop all the feedback you get from this. you can bearly hear anything if its on clean but when you switch to a nice heavy sound you can hear it perfect. The mics that come with it are really baaaad, i tried out a few mics iv got lying about the house, i found a headset and tried that, it's most usefull because you can put the mic close to your mouth and it'll stay there so you can get a better sound out of it. i get a hum from it for some reason... my advise if you're gunna get one of these is to get a different mic.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
it's really quite hard to set up if you dont want lots and lots of feedback. other wise it's pretty sturdy i think.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
6
I've been playing now about 4 years. i play in a classic rock band. i like most sorts of music, i discovered the sound first when i started listening to bon jovi stuff when i was younger. my dad introduced me to peter frampton, some sweet stuff of his. I wish it had BETTER MICS! i think if you've got alot of time on your hands you might as well try it out, but it's deffinately not a must-have thing.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: 150 (CAN)
Submitted 12/26/2003
at 07:43am
by Josh B
Email: josh_b55<at>hotmail dot com
Ease of Use
:
9
Pretty good sound out of it. I didnt have a problem to much, just mind where your guitar is set up according to the amp. This will avoid the feedback problem that everyones having. Wordked fine live for me. The manual isent to good its like one page the size of your hand or so. REALLY small. But what is there to say? you just plug it in and your on your way. One thing. The led is Misleading. You may want to buy an adaptor with it. Dispite what they say, you do not need a special Danelectro adaptor that cost like $86,518 just go buy a cheepie from wal mart that is adjustable. Its all good. Even if the led is bring, it may have low batteries, and it wont pump out the juice you want.. Couldent find the internal gain.. Dosent matter, i didnt really neeed it i was just curious so 9/10 because of the LED
Sound Quality
:
10
Im a bassist. Yes on a talkbox. (Yamaha RBX 6JM John Myung 6 String Signature Bass) Works fine, no problems. I have a crap 15 watt amp but ive tried it out on a 160 live and it works fine. very good. GFreat it a band setting.The effects are allways good AS LONG AS the batteries are full, hence get an adaptor. Sounds good with anything really, I like to use it as the first pedel in my line of pedels. If not, it sounds really mucky. Its like playing a riff on the low b too fast for your talent. As long as its first your fine.. I dont find that adding effects are any advantage, some things (aka synth).. wait lets not go there. Id like to keep this review clean :P Wah? the 2 sounds wierd together. Kinda like just having 2 wahs a bit. A little dist if you want but the pedel itself has a nice dist so id say just go clean with the Talkbox. Just expirament yourself (Being a big Dream Theater buff, it can copy Burning My Soul perfectly)
Reliability
:
10
Cummon, its like cast iron steel. The mics? meh their ok but you know it lasts if you take care of it.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never had a problem.
Overall Rating
:
9
I play progressive rock and this works great its such a load of fun. It can work as a small practice amp too if you wanted because it hisses like nothing else. Also its fun to not bother with your amp just hoock up the pedel to the amp and talk away. Quite a load of fun. Ive been playing for 3 years. I have the 6 string bass (RBX6JM), A 4 string dean bass, getting a new 60 watt amp next month. Also hax a zoom bfx 708 effect pedel
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: #90 (sterling pounds)
Submitted 12/09/2003
at 07:13am
by Sam Wilkie
Email: Samrockstar80 at hotmail<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
6
Fairly easy to use, the talk box has a volume function and a distortion level. The tube and mic that controll the sound that is relected around the shape of your moth is relatively easy to use but takesd practice.
Sound Quality
:
1
Right, where can i start? This pedal is useless for anything other than mincing around at home on! I have some nice equipment, a fender and a 60w full valve mashall but this pedal insists on screaming like a bitch! There's no chance of ever using this effectively on anything other than clean settings because unless you have an extemely powerfull P.A system to run your amp through, there's no chance of gettin any volume abouve volume 2 because you can't hear through the feed back.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
it seems like i sturdy enough pedal and the tube that connects to your mouth seems fairly industrial but i wouldn't take it anywhere so its not worth relying on.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
n/a
Overall Rating
:
1
I'm your average funky monk and being such, i invested in this pedal to try and create some unique and interesting effects. My diagnosis for this pedal is that it it is a lazy man's wah/ phaser. Really, don't buy it, even if you think i don't know what i'm on, at least try it out before you buy it. think of the children.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: #89 (sterling)
Submitted 11/14/2003
at 04:12am
by Dave
Email: davidmartin_uk<at>hotmail dot com
Ease of Use
:
7
Easy to play in a 'bedroom' evirmonment, really hard to get a good set up live.
Sound Quality
:
5
The actual sound that the pedal produces is great. However, try and use it live and you wont get to the sound because of the feed back. I play in a rock indie type band and wanted an effect that I've never seen anyone else use. This appeared to be just the thing but but I have not been able to use it live. I tried a low volume setting but obviously there's a huge difference in sound when I switch it on. Tried 'EQing' the crap out of this thing and I suppose it worked but all you can do is take off all the top and mid range stuff and boost the bottom end. This sounds crap. However I used in the studio and dubbed it over a song we recorded, this worked quite nicely.
Reliability
:
10
Seem pretty sturdy, I knack most pedals with my size 9's but this is pretty robust. Dont use it live ergo no need for back up.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never dealt with 'em.
Overall Rating
:
6
Depends what yo are looking for really. If you want to pretend to be Sambora in your bedroom, or only want it for recording purposes then this is your pedal.
If you want something for a live set up then you need to look elsewhere. It didnt do quite what I wanted but somehow I'm not sorry I bought it.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $65 used
Submitted 10/26/2003
at 12:21am
by Lou
Ease of Use
:
5
The two knobs are simple; Volume and Growl. neither seem to do a whole lot. The tricky part is getting the tube in place and then hooking up the useless mics that go with the unit.
Sound Quality
:
5
I didn't get the gnarly feedback problems that everyone has been talking about. I was only getting moderate volume out of it and I tried it two different ways. One I hooked the tube onto my mic and let the PA pick up the sound from my mouth. I then turned the PA off and tried to get the sound from my amp but it was barly audible. I practically had to put the clip on mics in my mouth. I have my amp up at my normal stage volume too. I use a JTM45 head and a 2x12 cab. Crappy buzzy distortion. No true tone at all.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Seems like it is buit pretty good.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I've emailed them about a week ago and haven't heard anything. Their website sucks. There is no extra info at all on this pedal there.
Overall Rating
:
5
I figured I would try this talk box first just for the sake that it was supposed to be easier and safer than a Heil unit. You get what you pay for. I aint saying that you need to spend three or four bills on the Framptone. But I think for purists, you probably want the tone from your amp. Not from some rinky dink pedal. I always thought that Dan0 stuff looked hokey. Now I know it.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $60 (ebay) used
Submitted 10/21/2003
at 08:26pm
by J. Wilson
Ease of Use
:
8
It's as easy to set up as they say it is. I must admit, I thought I had done something wrong when I cut it on, and this 'hum' started coming out of the box.
Sound Quality
:
4
Very thin impersonation of the real deal. Danelectro makes some smokin good products. I've got a Danelectro Daddo O, and love it.
This thing is a different story.
Reliability
:
4
Way to much of a feedback problem to in any live application.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
2
I play a Gibson Les Paul Double Cut, Epiphone Les Paul Standard, and a Route 101 Solimar (custom strat copy), into a Marshall hedad with a homemade 2X12 cabinet. I have a Boss EQ, Danelectro DaddyO, Dunlop Crybaby WAH, Flanger and Chorus in my chain. Mostly, I play 70s style rock with a tinge of distortion. I wouldn't consider myself anywhere near the player that a tourning muscian would play at, but I do play lead guitar in a band that plays weekly to 350-400 people at a time. I guess I'm not bad for an amatuer, so I hope my inability to use this thing is not a case of "user error."
OVERALL RATING: Here goes a funny story, that sums up all I need to say about the Free Speech. When the UPS man delivered to my house, I went up to my studio, and plugged the thing in. I was as excited as I've ever been after purchasing a pedal. After taking a gander at the manuel (which took 3 minutes to write - max - and 15 seconds to read) I tried to figure out how to make it play without feeding back, humming, and to actually get it to sound like a talk box on my own. No joke, the manuel cannot have over 100 words in it total. After 30 minutes of failure after failure, I gave up.
About an hour later, my wife came in to see how it was going. Trying to please 'my girl,' I cut the thing back on, and tried to make it do 'something' to impress her. I used every ounce of talent and concentration I could muster. About 60 seconds into this attempt, she looked at me, and asked, "Can you get your money back?"
I'm not giving into defeat though, at least not for another week or so.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $99
Submitted 09/30/2003
at 12:07pm
by Marcial
Email: mandrade<at>timsul dot com dot br
Ease of Use
:
5
Basicamente eu dividiria essa analise em duas situac?es: aplicac?es em estudio e palco.
Se vc for usar somente na primeira situac?o, excelente, vc tera todas as condic?es de manusear esse pedal.
Ja ao vivo a coisa e diferente. E praticamente impossivel tocar com o volume necessario para seu som aparecer numa banda, pois a partir da posic?o 1 hora, o feedback se torna incontrolavel.
Sound Quality
:
5
As gravac?es que realizei ficaram razoaveis, muito proximo do Dunlop.
Ja ao vivo para controlar o feedback vc n?o podera avancar muito nos controles e ai fica dificil encontrar a posic?o certa com a mangueira para obter aquele vibe.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Customer Support
:
1
Escrevi para a Danelectro e n?o obtive nenhuma resposta.
Overall Rating
:
5
Eu penso que se for o seu primeiro talk box e vc n?o for o Slash, por U$99,00 ate que vale a pena, nada mais que isso.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: #95 (english pounds)
Submitted 09/03/2003
at 04:31pm
by lee clark
Ease of Use
:
8
Inredibly easy to set up and use, however it eats the batteries. I do find the tube too short. Consider i have a large pedal board , a boom mic stand and a whole other bunch of people on stage including risers etc, it just doesnt reach! Making the sound with your mouth is easy, just expect to get saliva all over the place!
Sound Quality
:
1
I use a fender strat plus deluxe / 1221 pacifica into a cry baby, tubescreamer , marshall jmp1 art sgx200 fx processor into a marshall power amp driving a 2*12 marshall cab. On every stage ive played in the last 20 years i cant think of one that would be big enough to be able to get far enough away from your cab to enable you to hear it coming out of your amp without feeding back! This thing just doesnt work live at all. The drive level simply adjusts the amount of 'box of flies' sound you want and the volume actually adjusts the amount of ear piercing feedback you want. There needs to be a noise gate set in the pedal itself cos the mics are really sensitive at high frequencies thus causing feedback from a billion miles away when your amp is only audible! This is tottaly unusable live the way danelectro say it should be set up. I have set up a 2nd mic and ran it straight to my p.a but then you dont get the signal through your amp so you cant hear it. The tone lacks that rich , deep quality that richie sambora etc get Sounds cheap!
Reliability
:
2
Tottaly unreliable as a good talk box effect. If you want to annoy your band mates and seriously damage peoples hearing then crank it up to 1 !
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
None Danelectro said ' it simply takes a lot of experimentation to get it right' Rubbish. you need to be in your bedroom with almost no volume at all then youve got it cracked
Overall Rating
:
1
I play in a bon jove tribute band and i never use it cos its awful.
im gonna try and sell it to some spotty 14 yr old that doesnt know any better!
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $89
Submitted 08/19/2003
at 05:45am
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
Feels odd at first having this huge thing stuck in your mouth but you soon get the hang of it
Sound Quality
:
10
Fantastic. There is sooooo much you can do with this. It sounds great just on it's own but if you use your voice at the same time you can get some really cool sounds. You can emulate Bon Jovi's Livin' On A Prayer or It's My Life no problem
Reliability
:
10
Not had it for long so can't really say, but it's a good, solid piece of kit so I have no reason to think it's gonna break down soon
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never had to deal with them
Overall Rating
:
10
This is an amazing pedal. There is NOTHING out there which will do what this does for the price. It sounds just as good as a more expensive talkbox and it's all in one, which makes life easy. As for the feedback, etc issues well, use a bit of common sense and all should be fine. Get the tube stuck right in your mouth, don't stand right in front of your cabs and expect to get no feedback and of course, switch the thing off when you're not using the tube. If you're a Richie Sambora or Joe Walsh fan, this will suit you down to the ground.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $99
Submitted 08/11/2003
at 06:07am
by Dave G.
Ease of Use
:
4
The sound is not real finetuned, but it gets the job done. It growls if you want it to growl, and the tube does work rather well. Keep in mind, there is no manual for this product, your pretty much on your own... but trust me, its not to difficult to figure out.
Sound Quality
:
7
OK, i've been hearing about problems with the volume not being loud enough... I have the fix. In a live setting, tie down the tube around the mic of for your vocals (for me, its a Shure SM58). If you turn the mini-mics on the tube around so the face the other way, you can have the sound go though your SM58 into the PA. The tube will also be conviniently accessable next to your vocal mic. I need this effect to do "livin on a prayer" and "kickstart my heart" and i find it gets the job done... BE CAREFULL OF FEEDBACK! Make sure you sound test it before using it... must use at a low volume with little growl in a live setting. I use either a PRS Custom 22, 1979 Hamer, 2000 Mexican Strat, or 2002 ESP LTD through a Peavey XXX 2.12 combo amp.
Reliability
:
5
I wouldnt DEPEND on it. If you DEPEND on a talk box, there's something wrong anyways. A wah can be used to back it up if for some reason it fails... but it just wont sound the same.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Dont know.
Overall Rating
:
7
I play in a coverband, so its mostly used to play live. However, I have noticed in my home studio that it is really more valuable than in the live setting. I've been playing for about 14 years and have never seen anything like this.. its a really cool concept that allows an easy access to a talk box effect. Other than this pedal, my live rig consists of a Boss TU-2 tuner, a DOD FX7 processor pedal (i only use it for flanger/chorus/octive), and a cry baby... all through Monster Cables. As stated above, I use the SM58 to trasmit the sound back to the PA (All Peavey PA Gear). This is a great pedal, I would buy it again if I had to. There are much better talk boxes out there, but for the price... if your only going to use it for a couple of songs... this is the one to get.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: US $125.
Submitted 08/08/2003
at 10:39pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
5
It's pretty easy to use if you dont mind choking on the tube. It's hard to find a good spot in your mouth since the attached mics have to be in a really good spot everytime you use it, to get any type of a sound.
Sound Quality
:
7
one you figure out how to use it properly, it's pretty nice, the overdrive on the pedal is pretty versatile, goes from a frampton type sound, to the harder tone david gilmour used on pig's 3 different ones from the animals album.
Reliability
:
6
defeinetly would not reccomend using this at gigs, unless you know exactly how to use it, cause if you fuck up with it, it would probably be pretty embarrising.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
don't know.
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: 279 (AUS)
Submitted 07/15/2003
at 05:19pm
by Joe F
Email: ferla1 at tpg<dot>com<dot>au
Ease of Use
:
7
It is easy to use, once you get the hang of manipulating the sound with you mouth. The manual isnt very helpful at all. Id assume if you are buying this product, you'd know a fair bit about talk boxes anyway, so as far as the manual goes, how about telling us something we dont know.
Sound Quality
:
4
Ive got a couple of strats, and an ibanex rg with a marshall vs100. To get a good sound out of this talk box I have to turn my volume way up. So high actually that when I turn the pedal off, my volume is too high to play at. The feedback is unbearable. The actual quality of the sound isnt too bad at all. But the mics that are on the tube dont do the job very well. You can hardly hear the effect coming out of the amp.
Reliability
:
5
I would use this live, but only with a separate mic going to the PA. You will never be able to hear this effect through your amp live. How many people have a backup talk box? If it screwed up id just use my wah.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Havent dealt with Danelectro. I wouldnt buy this again. Id just go straight for the Heil. Although the Rocktron banshee is a similar inline talk box. Not sure how much better or worse that is!!
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
I play most styles of rock, especially 80's. I like Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, this being the reason I got this piece of equipment. I been playing 6 years. I wouldnt buy it again. You can't beat quality. If I really had the dough, id buy the framptone talk box, but those b**tches go for over a grand here downunder. But hey, its a talk box, and fun to use nevertheless.
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: 100 (Euro)
Submitted 05/25/2003
at 06:57am
by Dominik
Ease of Use
:
4
The tube is not very flexible. Attaching it to a Mic stand when going through the PA is a major pain.
Thhe manual is rudimentary.
Sound Quality
:
1
I do not know where one could possibly use this thing, since it is WAY to low in volume to use it together with a PA in a band situation. The unit on the floor emitts more sound than comes through the tube into your mouth.
As already said, when using it in the inline config, you get feedback for days. There is no way to cure this problem. There simply isn't.
The box does do the talk when playing at room levels, but again, the box on the floor does emitt so much sound, that I have to put some pillows over it to hear the modulate sound coming from my mouth.
The Volume pot does only affect the amount of signal going into the mics. The mics themselves are the cheap indeed. Growl does what it says. You get some pretty distorted sounds.
The unit hisses quite a lot.
Reliability
:
2
I will get rid of this thing and hope to get my money back. This thing is utterly useless in a band situation (volume simply too low). This is more of a gimmick than anything else, but for 100 Euro, I really regret buying it.
As said, I plan on handing it back, or selling (if possible!)
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Will not need support, since I will sell it ASAP.
Overall Rating
:
1
This thing is not worth the money I am afraid. Not of use in any musical situation. Should have gotten a real Talk box......
Product: Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box
Price Paid: 99 (#)
Submitted 05/18/2003
at 02:45pm
by nathan
Email: nathan<at>euphoricdesign dot co dot uk
Ease of Use
:
3
Easy to set up... but impossible to get a good sound...
Sound Quality
:
1
This is where this unit really fails. I feel I have to say this cos no1 else has and it's so damn obvious. There are two fundamental flaws with this pedal, firstly, for a talk box to ever work well you need a VERY powerful amp going into the tube, with plenty of volume. Secondly you need high quality mics. This pedal has neither - It appears that danelectro have spent more on the packaging of this product then the actual effect. I own a Fender strat, ESP esplorer and Ibanez JEM. I'm running this through a JCM900 100W Stack with various other pedals. NO COMBINATION OF PEDALS, EFFECTS, PICKUP, VOLUME Adjustment etc can make a useable sound from this device. By the time I cure my feedback problems, I can hear more sound coming from my mouth than my actual amp.
AVOID THIS PRODUCT
Reliability
:
3
No. You can't even use it why the hell would i want to depend on it? guess i could throw it at my drummer when he tries to steal my plecs...
Customer Support
:
3
Trying to get a refund now. Let's see what happens!
Overall Rating
:
1
This product is awfull. there is simply no way to avoid the feedback. believe me, i have tried
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