On ebay there is a Kustom Talk Box listed........talk about butt ugly. What is it? Looks like the fabric is something my Grandmother had on a couch back in the 60's and it was gross even back then. Never have seen one of these or ever heard of such a thing.......not too hard to figure out why going by the appearance. So what is this thing?
stevem Messages: 4733 Registered: June 2004 Location: NY
Senior Member
Recall the effect on the guitar parts that Peter Framton had on his live record from the early 70s, like on the song " Show me the way", that's a talk box, but by a different manufacturer !
Thought that had something to do with blowing into a tube or something. I would think with the technology we have today that an effect pedal of some sort could easily do the same thing and look a heck of a lot more appealing.......guess everything has to start some where......but really this thing is just nasty looking regardless. Thanks for the info.
That one's in pretty bad shape for what the owner is asking for it.
It was one of the earliest commercially produced talk boxes out there. You wore it with a strap like a bagpipe. The tube sent the sound into your mouth and you made vocal sounds by moving your mouth.
They are pretty hard to use and never really caught on. I'm not sure how many were made, but they come up for sale every now and then.
stevem Messages: 4733 Registered: June 2004 Location: NY
Senior Member
My digital modeling pedal has a patch in it for talk box, it's not too bad, pretty usable, but can not get the inflections of the real thing as in changing the time of the sweep on the fly!
If you've ever moved your mouth near a tiny speaker to play around with the formants, you've experienced (kind of) what a talkbox does. For a better idea, imagine running a piece of vinyl tubing from the speaker into the corner of your mouth (getting rid of most of the ambient sound, making the formants more pronounced and clearer, making you fight your gag reflex and try not to drool like a mastiff). Heil, MXR, Rocktron...there are at least a few manufacturers still producing them, but they're also a dirt-simple DIY project. A friend of mine fashioned his own out of a tiny Radio Shack amp and a Styrofoam cooler...oh, and sometimes, blankets/comforters, as the cooler usually isn't as soundproof as he'd like. Goofy, but FUN.
How funny the cooler and all. Wonder if he used to yell into a turning fan as a kid? Can't help but wonder if a voice synthesizer and a wah wah pedal couldn't almost do the same thing. Anyway, I sure couldn't justify buying or even using one of those things. I find the sound annoying after awhile. One song of that noise is more than enough. Obviously it didn't ever catch on since that was the only album I ever remember hearing it on.
Guess I thought those songs were done with a wah wah pedal. Something new learned again. Remember the days when all there was was a fuzz box and the wah wah pedal? With all the fancy pedals they have today, makes you wonder about all the different sounds you can get now.........I wouldn't even know what to look for. It was easier in the old days, you wanted distortion, you faced your speaker until the squeal made your ears hurt. lol
Umm...yeah...used to talk into the fan, not like he still does it now that he's in his early fifties (OK, I'm pretty sure he does, but hey, he's got a grandson now, so at least when the wee one's around, he has an excuse). There's a Banshee...or maybe a Banshee II in our local pawnshop (minus the tubing, of course, that'd be like selling a used toothbrush), and I was thinking just last night about how, when I pick up a new toy, there are always months following when I use it WAY more than good taste would dictate...and in contexts that are probably pretty much universally considered "wrong"...like the unfinished sweetly old-timey little Nashville-strung guitar ditty I was listening to last night as I thought, "Now, there's one that might work with a bit of fuzzed-out talkbox lead..."
Never know, you might be on to the "NEW SOUND". I'm still very much old school................like it clean, and its harder to fake the notes if you screw up. Just like bands that are obnoxiously loud. If you try to listen closely and you have a good ear still left, you'll notice a lot of wrong notes or chords. Loud and garbled doesn't make it music.....just noise. Think that's why they call a lot of it garbage bands. Back in my day we referred to those kinds of bands as 3 chord bands.......they only played 3 chords and screamed.