Rocktron Banshee

This thing is an absolute breeze to use. I mean My God!! How hard can it be to plug in & play?. Any one who cant use this thing must be just slightly dim. Use it like a pedal simply plug in-line & play. The only thing is just making sure the tube is placed well, in relation to the mike (notice I said mike, not MIKES!.......read on). No extra Mike, no extra amp, NO bi-amping, No A/B switches....basically, No extra fucking about or arguing with sound men as to where to put ur second amp. This where the Heil lets you down & also in the price range .... Make sure u clean the tube every time & NEVER .....NEVER......let any one else use it ......yeeeeeeuuuuck. (My bass player almost got a kick in the bollox and a screwdriver thru his speaker for playin with mine during the break in rehersals!!!) but then thats bass players 4 U!!!

The 1st time I plugged this baby in, I was amazed, if not a little bemused by the concept if sicking a tube in my gob while playing. But the sound I got was excellent. When I heard it goin thru the P.A, I thought I was Mr Sambora Himself.....and more importantly, so did the crowd, even the sceptic muso freaks!! (ooooo aaaaa oooo aaaaaa ooooo aaaaa oooo aaaaaa .....Tommy used 2 work docks...etc etc ) I particularly liked the extra option of using it as a powered stomp box pre-amp with excellent gain, able to power an 8 ohm Cab..........sweet. You can also practice at home without an amp as the sound comes out of you mouth.

Ive gigged it with no problems, it's built like a tank....no worries.

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B4 I bought this, I checked out other models such as the digitech talker (5/10), The Heil Dunlop(6/10 because of all the extra bullshit u have 2 do with it), And the ....HA HA HA....Danelectro...HA HA HA....free speech (sorry, fell off my chair laughing there). I play mainly rock & tribute type stuff now & have been playing for over 15 yrs & have truck loads of gear, so im not some kid who hasn't a clue here. But lets face it, you can't do Bon Jovi or Peter Frampton etc without a Talk Box!!!!It is a tiny a pain in the arse to set up & the tube does get in the way of the mike when ur not actually using it. But that is a minor & I mean minor quip. I really cant says enuff about this we box. The Fact That its active makes all the difference here in my opinion & makes it sound nicer & fuller than the Heil model, which is it's only main rival. However, its an indulgence and not a necessity. But the main thing here is that IT DOES EXACTLY WOT IT SAYS ON THE TIN!!!...... Well Done Rocktron!!

Rocktron's manual explains everything, but it really is quite easy to set up. Guitar goes in one side, amp in the other, tube in the top. It takes some getting used to when you stomp the switch and the sound comes up the tube instead of to your amp. But it's a lot easier, and safer, to use than a Heil or Framptone. I set mine up as a permanent fixture in my pedalboard and it never moves.

Tube maintenance is a big issue. Keep it clean or you'll get some nasty oral infections. I swap the tube before and after use with alcohol pads, available at any pharmacy. I also recommend a clear replacement tube, available in the plumbing section of any hardware store. With the stock Rocktron black tube, you can't see the excess moisture that builds up inside the tube, not to mention any fungus that might be growing. I use an aerosol duster to dry up the inside of the tube after use too.

I've been playing this for a couple of years now. Despite having Gain and Tone controls, there really is only one sound that comes out of the Banshee. I like it, but it is pretty heavily distorted, even at low gain settings, so others may want something cleaner. I use a Shure SM57 microphone with a wind guard, and I can assure you that a good mic makes a world of difference. I tried cheaper mics, and the Shure is best for this purpose.

You need a good loud, clean PA amp, and outboard EQ if you want to affect the tone. I use one side of a dbx 215 EQ and bump the upper midrange. This really gives the Banshee a more authoritative tone, as well as extra volume when necessary.

I don't use it on all songs, naturally. I use it to play Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion," Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog," the Eagles "Those Shoes" and Joe Walsh' "Rocky Mountain Way." I haven't used it for any originals yet.

So far, so good. I wouldn't use a backup. If the Banshee broke down I would live without it until I could fix or replace it. Before the Banshee, I used a wah pedal to play these songs, and it wasn't too far off.

Never dealt with Rocktron. I bought this one used off Ebay. Their web site seems pretty informative, and you can buy replacement tubes and power supplies directly from Rocktron.

I play hard rock. Has anyone ever used a talk box for anything else?

It's got one good sound, but it's a specialty effect, some would say a gimmick. For the songs I mentioned above, it gives me what I need.

Extremely easy to use. Just hook it up like any foot pedal and your up and running

I got this to replace my Heil. I was tired of carting around an extra amp and amp switcher just so I could us a talk box for two songs. I would say the Heil is a little bit throatier but for the set-up convienence it sounds great. I read some other post where they did not think it was load enough. This is plenty loud. Either they are not positioning themselves in front of the mic correctly or their PA is not the powerful. Also if you do not put this into the stage monitors you will have trouble hearing yourself. I know my stuff and this product sounds very good for the price and conveinence factor

So far no problems but I've only done three shows with it. Time will tell.

I got my through Rocktron as an artist. The artist relations guy was very cool. We'll see what happens if I ever blow it up which I don't think I will...

My style is pretty heavy and the band has a very loud stage volume. If you have a decent PA and you have the technique down you should have no problems with this unit. I highly recomend it!!!

Ridiculous! 3 knobs and ready to go!

Very, very close to the Bon Jovi's sound. If you pass this thru a EQ or other similar effect you match the EXACT sound of Ritchie.
IMPORTANT!
When you turn the Banshee effect on, the signal for the amp is cutted off , so the "normal" sound of guitar DON'T comes out in the amp. You can't mix the original signal of your guitar (from amp) and talk box effect (from mic) without a splitter for this function. The whole sound of the guitar comes to your mouth, only! It's amazing what you can do with this baby. Make a "whoahhhw" and look at peoples face! FORGET ABOUT THE REVIEWS WHO SAYS THIS PEDAL NOT HAVE A GREAT SOUND QUALITY! My setup: Fender YJM - Banshee (first, yes. I don't want interference from other pedals, only the banshee) - Dunlop wah 95Q - Boss Cs3 - AMP Marshall VS-100 (I use his ODs). You don't need a Od or distortion before this pedal to get distorted sound like Sambora, it have your own.

I bought this pedal one week ago, so I'm not finish the stage map/ P.A connections yet. I dunno if I really need use a small amp only for talk box. I guess not, because the opperator of the P.A can put the talk box mic in same level of the mic of my amp. I play some Bon Jovi songs with talk box, but the most part of the set list is composed by Yngwie songs, so I use in a couple of songs, witch depends of the banshee. Ah, it's very robust too.

Before I get Banshee, I sent a email to Rocktron to resolve some technical doubts....... 3 months passed and nothing. I found the answers for my questions by other ways and bought it. Not too much respect for the future consumer...

Perfect for what I play. Certainly I will buy another one if it were stolen / lost. If Heil sounds better, honestly I dunno. If Banshee sounds like Sambora talk box, certainly do. Banshee have much more cost/bennefits and sounds great, without blow your amp. I wish the product had a switch who made the sound from guitar come straight to amp MEANWHILE the talk box was turned on. But it's ok, you can made it with a splitter.

It really is very very easy to get a good sound out of this one!

If you're looking for the real Frampton/Bon Jovi/Steely Dan-talkbox sound, don't look any further! In combination with the ease of use this is THE perfect talkbox.
You can also practice at home with this one because the amp is in the box.
There is enough power in the box to create that typical talkbox-sound.

Just bought it so I cannot tell you yet but the fact that the box is made of metal I'm sure it will last a long time!

Never dealt with....yet.....

I've had the Heil Talkbox (Dunlop), also a good one but since I use a stereo amp I had to use a seperate amp to drive the talkbox wich is not very handy.
The Banshee certainly deliver the same characteristic talkbox-tone with less effort!

Very easy to use, 3 knobs to control, gain,tone and volume.

set up is as following

Guitar (JS1000/Fender Strat/Epi LP with duncans) > Tuner > JD Crybaby > EHX Small Clone > Boss GE-7 > Legendary Tones TMB > Banshee > TSL100

The unit works fine, also you can give it a gain/volume boost or tonal change when using the GE-7 or TMB which works great but I neevr use them because it sounds awesome all on it's own.

Definetly nails the sambora tone and that's all I realy need, sounds great. Just you'll need a mic when gigging....I use the mic i sing in since I can't sing and play witht he talkbox simaltaneously but you'll need a mic. If your just a bedroom jammer it's perfect for no mic.

Built like a tank, nothing's gonna break this

I emailed them before out the power supply since I had to order it from Germany (to the UK). They got back within a day and were very helpful.

I'd like to try the heil but I dont want to risk blowing up my amp. Though this is great and will be in my setup FOREVER !

Plug it in & play - it's fairly straight forward. Just be careful not to plug the lead to your amp's input into the output jack plug on the pedal (i haven't but on a dark stage it could very easily happen!)

I use an Ibanez JS 10th Anniversary into a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. I use a separate SM-57 microphone (you need a decent unidirectional mic) for the talkbox. I do vocals in the band too so I bought an extension rod (Koenig and Meyer make a couple) for the mic stand that allows two microphones to be ued on the same stand. For the rubber tubing I actually use Gaffer tape wrapped around the tube + microphone. I just leave the two attached when I'm putting everything away so the tube is always the right length for the next gig. Just remember that this setup will tend to overbalance some crappy mic stands - I use a drink holder for my pint of guinness as ballast. Gaffer tape helps too though! :) I find the unit, while it sounds quite loud in a practice setting is not as loud as you would think in a live setting. I generally need the output cranked all the way to the top for live use - it may be my technique but I only ever seem to get a loud enough sound to be picked up by the mic this way. An alternative is that the sound engineer is being difficult - I have enough problems getting my vocals through the monitors, never mind the talkbox! I put a blues driver in front of the pedal for when I need an extra boost to volume (i use it as part of my regular setup anyway) especially on the higher notes. I've never used any other talkboxes but I gather the Heil is much louder. I'm still happy with this one but I reckon some day I'll end up blowing the power amp on it with the output the way it is. Having said that I'll be using it religiously till then! It gets an 8 out of ten, pretty much because of the volume issue...

So far no hiccups. Can't really give it a rating as I've only had it six months - but for now it's working really well.

Never needed any

We play 70s/80s rock mainly. The best night we had with it was a night in a club playing to around 350 people. We started into a song with a big talkbox solo at the start and the whole dance floor seemed to shift to the left as everyone was dying to know what was making the noise! It's a crowd pleaser first and foremost and a chance to show off something different. I'm happy with it.

10
I've always wanted a talk box but couldn't use it because I have a combo amp. But this piece of equipment is amazing. It has a pre amp built in that lets you plug in to your amp and use it like a pedal. After it is set up, that is it, you are ready.

9
The sound is pretty much what you have on your settings, I have a Fender Amp, but I use the effects from my effects rack. The way I have it set up is not through my loop, but as the last link in the effects chain, it gives me that Sambora (Livin on a Prayer)sound dead on. Even though if you plug strait through it. you can give it some gain by adjusting the knobs on the actual talk box. You can use it without a second amp, if you are practicing in your room.

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I've had it for only about a month, so I can't tell.

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10
At first I was skeptical about buying it. But after I did, I am so pleased with it. I would certanly buy it again if stolen (don't get funny ideas. I have been playing for about 15 years and own a few Ibanez Jems, a Peavey Wolfgang, several 80's Kramer Guitars, and a Steinberger. My style of playing is a weird mix between Steve Vai, Eddie Van halen and Richie Sambora. This thing fits perfectly with what I do. So far there is nothing I don't like about the talk box. and it is certanly more user friendly for the bedroom rockstar than the dunlop heil talkbox.

It's as easy as Madonna. Just plug and play. The built in pre and power amps make this an easy talkbox to set up and use. The manual is helpful, but not really necessary.

I think this unit sounds better than all the other talk-boxes.
I Replaced a Heil Talk Box, power amp, preamp and overdrive with this baby. My rig is lighter, less noisy and sounds better. I use an AB box to switch it on and bypass my other FX, this way I can do clean (or dirty) rythyms and switch to talk box instantly. I use a Godin LGXT guitar and a tiny Carvin amp (miked, we play BIG clubs) and a bunch of Boss stompers. I think one of the main improvements in this unit (over the Heil) is the hose. It seems to be a denser material that transfers sound well. It is LOUD! It nails the Frampton, Walsh, Aerosmith sounds and it is easier to annunciate words because of the hose. There are no super clean souds available, but all talkers are that way. I'm glad I bought it.

Seems rugged enough. Not as heavy as the Heil, but well built. The only real drawback is the 9V-AC (yes AC) wall wart that powers it. I don't like transformers in my pedalboard (I use a Godlyke supply for all my pedals), but will gladly take this one negative because of all the positives.

I've never dealt with them, so I can't offer an opinion.

I play in a Classic Rock cover band and talk-box is a real crowd pleaser. I've been playing for 33 years. I would definitely buy another one. Compared to every other talk box ever made this thing is definitely the best in my opinion. Just being able to reduce the cables and devices contained in my rig is huge, and it sounds better too!

IT'S EXTEMELY EASY TO USE. JUST PLUG IT INTO YOUR GUITAR...TO AN AMP...THEN PLUG YOUR MIC INTO THE LITTLE BOX AND GO.

O JUST GOT MINE YESTERDAY...I PERSONALLY LOVE BON JOVI...IF YOU'VE EVER LISTENED TO LIVIN ON A PRAYER OR LOVE ME BACK TO LIFE...THEN YOU KNOW WHAT A ROCKTRON BANSHE SOUNDS LIKE! I USE A MARSHALL HALFSTACK AMP AND A SMALL 10 WATT PRACTICE AMP FOR MY MIC...IT STILL SOUNDS EXACTLY HOW I WANT IT TO.

I DON'T DO GIGS SO I CAN'T PROMISE ANYTHING...BUT SO FAR IT HASN'T BEEN ONE PLACE FURTHER FROM THE POSITION IT STARTED IN.

MINE IS AS STURDY AS CAN BE SO I HAVEN'T HAD TO CALL.

I LOVE ROCK MUSIC...NOT PUNK...NOT ANYTHING SPECIAL...JUST ROCK. IF YOU'RE LIKE ME OR IF YOU JUST LIKE GUITARS...THIS IS DEFINITELY A GREAT PRODUCT.