anyone compare tc helicon fx150 pa to fishman loudbox mini?

[Dancehallking]

we own a tc helicon fx150 pa system and while its a nice device, do not think it is meant for acoustics as night and day difference when I tried a SA220 by Fishman.

That said, while we are trying to save money, has anyone compared the Loudbox Mini to the FX150 to know if the Loudbox Mini would offer an improvement in sound, both acoustically and vocals-wise?

Only doing coffeehouse gigs so trying to save the money and not get SA220 as my used equipment inquiry as not turned up much in way of savings.

[Nick84]

Vocals - FX150 wins for me. The voice tone and reverb settings are designed with vocals in mind.

Guitar - Loudbox mini. It's a amp designed for acoustic guitars it's always going to be better than a PA.

I own a FX150 which I use as a monitor. i would use it as a stand alone PA only for VERY small gigs. Anything other than small gatherings I just don't think it would cut through the noise. You may be better with the Loudbox but I'm sure other users would chip in there with their live experiences.

[Marty C]

I own both and purchased the FX-150 since I did not like the vocals in the Loudbox mini.

I am currently sending my vocal and guitar through a TC Helicon Play Acoustic then to the FX-150. Much better acoustic sound. And it can get loud.

I do agree with the previous posting that the vocals are better through the FX-150 and the guitar through the Loudbox mini.

If I had to chose one, I would go with the FX-150. I think I can EQ my guitar with some type of preamp to improve the sound in the FX-150. But as a stand alone unit, I could never get the vocal to sound very good through the Loudbox mini. Maybe I just can't sing well enough.

I once even used both with vocal in the FX-150 and guitar through the Loudbox. Great sounds, but kind of defeated the purpose of going smaller and not taking a PA to a coffee house.

There's a You Tube video of a guy playing and singing through a Loudbox, but his sound has some processing. Can't tell what he is using, but it sounds really great. Look it up. If I find it, I will post again.

[Marty C]

Link mentioned above. http://youtu.be/0u2sOPaJxsM

[Dancehallking]

Originally Posted by Marty C

I own both and purchased the FX-150 since I did not like the vocals in the Loudbox mini.

I am currently sending my vocal and guitar through a TC Helicon Play Acoustic then to the FX-150. Much better acoustic sound. And it can get loud.

I do agree with the previous posting that the vocals are better through the FX-150 and the guitar through the Loudbox mini.

If I had to chose one, I would go with the FX-150. I think I can EQ my guitar with some type of preamp to improve the sound in the FX-150. But as a stand alone unit, I could never get the vocal to sound very good through the Loudbox mini. Maybe I just can't sing well enough.

I once even used both with vocal in the FX-150 and guitar through the Loudbox. Great sounds, but kind of defeated the purpose of going smaller and not taking a PA to a coffee house.

There's a You Tube video of a guy playing and singing through a Loudbox, but his sound has some processing. Can't tell what he is using, but it sounds really great. Look it up. If I find it, I will post again.

Would you mind sharing your settings on the fx150 and play acoustic?

[Marty C]

Output/input
Using xlr out with left channel to vocal in channel 1 on FX-150 and right channel out to guitar to channel 2 input on the FX-150. (Means settIng output to (voice/guitar DI). This allows me to EQ both vocal and guitar at FX-150 and save settings.

Play Acoustic
Out level is set at -10dB
Guitar level to 0 (passive pickup)
Vocal gain per Play Acoustic manual setting and never adjust it.
Made a few presets with a small 1/16 delay level at -15, feedback mat 43, bright plate reverb level at -16, decay at 1.8., micromod clone set at -10dB, speed at 0. Made three set ups this way with high and low harmony, high harmony and high/higher harmony.

FX-150
No reverb settings used. All effects from Play Acoustic.
Vocal channel I increased the high to taste, just above six, reduced mids to about 4 and increased low to 6.
Guitar channel was flat.

I also tried the headphone out to aux in as TC suggest, but found it too hard to EQ to my taste. However seems the output can get louder.
Once I even went mono out using only the left (wet) send to channel one (means both outputs summed to one) EQ my vocal on the FX-150 and put a Baggs para DI before the Play Acoustic to EQ my guitar (have no EQ on the guitar). This set-up actually worked but limits your EQ options somewhat.

My best advice is to take it where you will play and have some time to experiment. Make some notes on things you tried. If you can get it to work out better, the headphone out/aux in captures your effects better. Gain staging (output of Play Acoustic versus input of FX-150) is important and takes some time.

Put the FX-150 on top of a mic stand and get it high enough to carry over the crowd. I did a backyard setting and it even carried well outside. Nice thing about this as compared to the Loudbox mini is the ability to raise and mount the unit.

All the settings above were really to taste. You will need to experiment, but I find a small amount of delay is really all that is needed for the vocal.

Good luck and post again and I will help where I can.

[dannyg1]

I'm interested in knowing whether the FX150 is comparably loud, at higher gain and without breaking up or sound barky, to the Loudbox Mini. Are these competitive products, in terms of what they can do using a standard singer/songwriter set-up?