Do you need an expensive acoustic amp or PA?

[Mischief]

I'm with Dave. This is exactly what I bought my TC play Acoustic for.
I wanted a all in one box as my guitar DI box and vocal FX like reverb.
I also don't use the harmony I do not use the auto tune or pitch correction.

I do use the guitar EQ features which include parametric, shelves, notch also compression and more. All those features are adjustable.

It's definitely prosumer but. I can use the TC play pedal, a mic with stand, my guitar and my DBR 10 powered speaker and I'm set.

It's a good substitute for a small cheap mixer.

Now in addition to what's been mentioned; you get an okay tuner in the pedal which also mutes guitar so that can be handy for just plugging in etc. you can use headphone out for IEM and I use mine for practicing with headphones.

I've added the extra switch (switch 3 type) which I have assigned as a looper. I haven't learned to loop yet but..... I assigned the one switch to boost so now if I'm finger picking I just hit boost. Especially helpful for songs where I start with finger picking and mover to strumming it go back and forth.

Anyway for what they are they are great. Use sparingly and primarily for all the features that they are not promoted for. lol.

Anyway works for me for a lot of circumstances.

[Marty C]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

Marty,

Your post confirms everything I suspected. Your setup is what I assumed someone with the TC Play Acoustic could downsize to. Can you tell me about the venues you play in? When you are a duo, what PA gear do you use with the two SS boxes? You'd need two channels for the GTX, plus one channel for the Play Acoustic?

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Venues are mainly churches and outdoor gigs. A few open mics.

I use a Powerwerks 150watt with a Powerwerks sub. I feed my Play Acoustic via headphone out to aux in on the Powerwerks. The GTX is dual mono out - mic goes to channel one on the Powerwerks and guitar goes to channel two. Often the guitar is pass through the GTX straight to the Powerwerks or first to my partner's separate pedal (sometimes a zoom A2 and sometimes a para di with boss reverb) then to channel 2.

[midwinter]

I have two submix rigs like this (including one with the same little Yamaha mixer) and it is incredibly nice to just show up with whatever I'm playing, some mics, cables, stands, a powered speaker, and my submix pedalboard.

Originally Posted by The dman

When I play with other people I line out of the my mixer and plug into their mixer, I can take my sound with me and I don't have to be dependent on the skills or lack of skills the person running the board has because my sound is already there

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Well of course is there is no real yes or no and no right or wrong to it.
IMO while it is always advisable to use the highest quality PA system you can reasonably afford ( the weakest link factor). As far as what the particular pieces that may entail, is strictly a matter of what kind of ( Sound) the individual wants to achieve vs what level of complexity they are comfortable dealing with.

I personally prefer the sparingly judicious use of reverb, EQ, and compression. Beyond that it think it completely a matter of what the performer likes and is comfortable with.


This is the front end that I use for live gigs.
it is Monster 2500 power conditioner, a 2 channel Langevin (Manley Labs) DVC = Dual Vocal Combo that has Mic Pre,EQ and Limiter and a TC 3000 Stereo FX processor for the Verb. In an SBK 6 space rolling rack


Relatively simple system I plug my guitar and vocal mic into the DVC and plug my system outs into either my Fishman Solo, or the house board or speakers.

I own and record with a DVC, and for what is, a nice clean pre, with minimal EQ and a very nice sounding, albeit not too flexible, compressor, I could never use it for live play as the EQ just wouldn't have enough flexibility, so my question is, does the TC FX box have EQ? Or do the mixers you plug into have extensive EQ good enough to find trouble frequencies and rid of them without taking too big a slice so to say (ie fully parametric)?

[martingitdave]

Rockabilly, the SS boxes have built in adaptive EQ. In other words, you set it for one of the 8 or so vocal types and it applies an EQ curve, compression, de essing, etc. It might, or might not, be your cup of tea. It has a built in mix on the pedal for feedback control. Pretty nifty.

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[KevWind]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

I own and record with a DVC, and for what is, a nice clean pre, with minimal EQ and a very nice sounding, albeit not too flexible, compressor, I could never use it for live play as the EQ just wouldn't have enough flexibility, so my question is, does the TC FX box have EQ? Or do the mixers you plug into have extensive EQ good enough to find trouble frequencies and rid of them without taking too big a slice so to say (ie fully parametric)?

I have other gear for recording. So I use the DVC for live only. I find in my situation (because my primary stage guitar has a Fishman Prefix pic up with Bass and trebble controls as well as a sweepable notch filter) , so for me the EQ on the DVC works fine for just slight boost or cut . The TC box, I use only for the reverb FX, so although I don't recall any , I am not sure about any EQ effects or not . As I said the only thing I wish the DVC had was two channels of send and return, because I much prefer reverb in parallel at 100% as opposed to serial at say 10-15%

[mtm]

My VoiceLive 3 simply is the most important component in my live rig. I play typical singer+guitar pop/rock stuff in venues small and large.

I'd advice anyone who's going for a similar scenario to consider adding a VoiceLive* or PlayAcoustic* before even thinking about anything else. The main reason is that it consistently(!) improves the sound. I can dial in a good guitar sound even when using a cheap beater guitar / simple UST. You get clear vocals with any standard mic (SM58, etc.). You get a good sound even when using a cheap PA. You setup your rig once and then just plug in to any system (your speaker, house PA, whatever) and sound good with no or only very minor adjustments.

In my experience, to get a sound that is better in all the dimensions, you need

• a good guitar with a very good pickup
• a very good vocal microphone (Neumann condenser, etc.)
• a capable mixing desk with detailed equing, compression, reverb, etc.
• a very good PA
• a very talented sound guy

The latter might be able to compensate any problems in the other parts, because actually a sound guy is a living SS (as the OP called it). ;-)
So we're talking about 1000s of dollars of equipment / man power to get to the point where a SS does not improve the sound anymore.

I do not use the harmony, auto-tune, etc. features of the devices. I think TC's marketing often highlights the wrong features. The best parts of these devices are their basic, semi-automatic sound improvements.

So to answer the OP's question: I'd chose "VoiceLive/Play Acoustic + simple speaker" over "sophisticated acoustic amp" anytime.


(*: VoiceLive and PlayAcoustic are the two devices I have experience with. I do not know how good similar devices of other manufacturers are.)

[The Kid!]

I use the bare bones TC "Harmony Singer" but it's very subtle. A low third harmony mixed in just enough so it's not too obvious. The Play Acoustics have many more and better features, but I'd be spending too much to use it the same way that I use the Harmony singer.

My PA setup is very scalable. I play a lot of different rooms, so I took some pics to illustrate the scalability. Here's the equipment that I have to choose from on any given gig:


2016 Gibson J-45 Standard
Washburn Timber Ridge Custom
Fishman Prefix Premium Blend Pickups in both.
DR Pro Mic Stand.
Heil PR 35 Vocal Mic.
TC Electronics Harmony Singer Pedal
Boss OC-3 Octave Pedal
Boomerang III Digital Looper
Aphex Acoustic Xciter Direct Box
Fire-Eye Red-Eye Preamp
Allen & Heath Zed10FX Mixer
Allen & Heath Zed60 14FX Mixer (if I need more channels)
QSC Touchmix 16 (for running my weekly open mic and sound for my band)
Line 6 L3T Powered Speaker (FOH)
Line 6 L2M Powered Speaker (Monitor)
Line 6 L2T Powered Speaker (If I need more coverage or an additional monitor)
DBX 223XS Active Crossover.
Yorkville NX720s 15" Powered Subwoofer.
EV ZXA1 12" Powered Subwoofer (for smaller rooms)
I don't use both subs together. Just one depending on room size.
Rock -N- Roller RT12 Folding Cart. Can load in and out in one trip.

Outdoor patio gig. Almost the full rig.















Almost the full rig here too


1 FOH speaker. 1 Monitor.



Chill low volume patio gig (1 three way speaker. no sub or crossover)



Another no subwoofer patio gig



My weekly Wednesday 6pm-9pm gig: I have since gotten rid of the floor monitor. We can hear the main very well from where we are seated. Killer sounding room.