TC Helicon Harmony Singer vs Play Acoustic (Vocals only)

[JakeStone]

So the Play Acoustic is the kitchen sink for both Guitar and Vocal effects.
It's all rolled into one fairly compact unit.
The vocal sounds work fantastic for me.

But lately I have been considering other units for shaping my guitar sound.

Just curious if the TCH Harmony Singer unit will give me most of the Vocal features of the Play Ac....
Vocal Tone, Reverb and Harmonies.

Is it same or close to Play Acoustic in this regard... Or am I missing something?

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by JakeStone

So the Play Acoustic is the kitchen sink for both Guitar and Vocal effects.
It's all rolled into one fairly compact unit.
The vocal sounds work fantastic for me.

But lately I have been considering other units for shaping my guitar sound.

Just curious if the TCH Harmony Singer unit will give me most of the Vocal features of the Play Ac....
Vocal Tone, Reverb and Harmonies.

Is it same or close to Play Acoustic in this regard... Or am I missing something?

Hi Jake,

The Harmony Singer is what I use. It is very basic but works very well.

It is 'very' basic however in terms of reverb. There is a variable knob that sweeps through a range of different reverb types from room to hall. I find there is a sweet spot right at the noon position. The other knob adjusts the level of harmonies. 11 o'clock to noon and its subtle enough to avoid sounding too much like 'harmonies-in-a-box'.

The other knob adjusts which harmonies you want. (third above, 3rd & 5th, lower harmony and higher harmony etc.

as for tone, there is a push button (on or off) It actually sounds very good but there is no way to adjust tone.

Short version: Mostly its a set-it and forget-it type of box that works very well and has a very small footprint. I like it because it leaves enough room on my board for my Fishman Platinum Pro EQ preamp and other pedals. I use a Boss RV-6 for guitar reverb.

(I also use a Bose L1 compact) withOUT a mixer, so the TC Harmony Singer give me reverb on my vocals very easily and cleanly.

[Stratcat77]

I had the Play Acoustic for a while and liked it. Unfortunately, someone spilled a beer and fried it... At that point, I decided to go another route with individual pedals and ended up making my own pedalboard with an LR Baggs Venue (preamp/boost/tuner), a Ditto X2 looper and a TC Electronics H1 harmony pedal. The H1 is like the TC Harmony Singer, but no effects. I'm very happy with my current setup. But one thing I do miss a little that you wont get form the H1 or the Harmony Singer, but do have with the Play Acoustic is the ability to change patches with a footswitch. This was handy if you wanted to quickly switch the chosen harmonies for a particular song. With the smaller pedals, you have to bend down and charge it via the knob by hand.

[JakeStone]

Thanks Gary and StratCat..

I have the Bose T1 for added eq and effects if need be.

It's hard to beat the simplicity of the TCH stuff especially for my vocals (I need somethin')

The "set and forget" of the TC products works for me.

Also the battery operation is appealing for the summer.

[Groberts]

Here is my pedal board from a show I played last week

[Nick84]

I use the harmony singer and separate EQ pedals from LR Baggs (session and venue). Vocal wise it’s a nice, simple solution that I’ve been happy with for the last 4 years.

[Hurricane Ramon]

Dig :

The units mentioned are all great and I was considering one . I play electric / midi synth guitar / acoustic electric
nylon and steel 6 strings guitars / soprano ukulele / 000 resonator .

I was happy with my tube amp and guitar/blues harp set up . But vocals l still wasn't there gear wise .

When I realized a MFX unit would do it all for all my instrument it was a no brainer .

Even if you don't play electric guitar , having the FX onboard for them to use on you vocal and acoustic guitar says

- WOW - I want that .

I had that in my Digitech GNX4 - it was stolen and while I had it I saw the above mentioned TC units come out
and was as I mentioned about to make a choice to get one , the VL3 came out and then I wanted it .

So I saved up the $'s and as I did that the VL3X came out - waited a year to see how it worked out and what I learned
and saw made me decide on getting one .

EZ :

HR

[Hurricane Ramon]

Originally Posted by Groberts

Here is my pedal board from a show I played last week

Really cool set up - sweet .

EZ :

HR

[Marty C]

Jake,
What about the Mic Mechanic? No harmony, but a little more effects control. That will be my next purchase since I still prefer the Zoom A3 to the TC Bodyrez of the Play Acoustic. Also like that I can get this in version 2 with battery power. Looking to find portable solutions to accompany my new Bose S1 Pro. ☺

[Per Burström]

I considered both the Harmony Singer and the Mic Mechanic 2 as I was also thinking about having something more flexible than the Play Acoustic and Perform-VG when thinking about what to get, but as the Perform-VG is so little more expensive than the Harmony Singer and Mic Mechanic 2 I finally went for the Perform-VG. As I understand the specifications both Play Acoustic and Perform-VG has most of the features from the Mic Mechanic and Harmony Singer, although the Harmony Singer seems to have a way of manually setting the key for the harmonies. And of course these small pedals can run on battery, something I'm gonna solve with my Perform-VG by using an external battery pack.

I love my Perform-VG, and will soon pick up a Digitech FS3X pedal. Something I miss in the Perform-VG is compression for the guitar, but I have a cheap compressor pedal to put in front of it. I'm dreaming of getting a LR Baggs Align Serries Session (not the DI, but the new simplier one) with 3-band compression and saturation.

/Per

[JakeStone]

Originally Posted by Marty C

Jake,
What about the Mic Mechanic? No harmony, but a little more effects control. That will be my next purchase since I still prefer the Zoom A3 to the TC Bodyrez of the Play Acoustic. Also like that I can get this in version 2 with battery power. Looking to find portable solutions to accompany my new Bose S1 Pro. ☺

Ya... I checked the MM out.

MM has Tone, Reverb, Echo and Correction.
HS has Tone, Reverb and Harmony.

So for me ... I get a lot of use of the Harmonies and Tone. I rarely use the echo if ever. Correction I can take or leave.

But in the end... I may just stay with the Play Acoustic. Turn off the guitar effects. It's a lotta pedal for the $. Plus the switch-6 opens it up for live use and of course looper.

But when I go battery ops this summer... I will get a HS pedal !

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by JakeStone

Ya... I checked the MM out.



MM has Tone, Reverb, Echo and Correction.

HS has Tone, Reverb and Harmony.



So for me ... I get a lot of use of the Harmonies and Tone. I rarely use the echo if ever. Correction I can take or leave.



But in the end... I may just stay with the Play Acoustic. Turn off the guitar effects. It's a lotta pedal for the $. Plus the switch-6 opens it up for live use and of course looper.



But when I go battery ops this summer... I will get a HS pedal !

Jake, stick with the Play Acoustic. There is no pedal that does more in a smaller footprint. It’s not perfect, but it really gets the job done. We have to remember that studio quality effects processors are a waste of money in live situations. Our rigs don’t project the sound like a studio. And, space and weight are premium in a live solo gig. I’ve found that I am not using much of anything in the signal chain with the PA equipment I am using. The EQ and reverb have been great as they are. But, sometimes I miss using the harmonies. I tried the Perform VG, but there was no advantage as compared to the Play Acoustic pedal. With the VG you need a switch 3 or switch 6 to activate the harmony features. So, unless you are just a singer, and have another guitar player, you still need a pedal/switch on the floor. So, all you do with the VG is introduce more cables and mess to your performance space. To me, the VG is a good product form factor for a duo consisting of a singer and a guitar player, with the singer pressing buttons on the mic stand controls.

If I were to add anything to my setup in the future, I think I would add the Mic Mechanic 2 in a “set it and forget it” configuration right at the mixer.

Cheers!

[Gutch]

I've tried a variety of pedal combinations over the years, and have found the Play Acoustic to be the best sounding and easiest to use. The preamp, EQ, and effects included are more than adequate, and the advanced editing features on the Bodyrez option allow you to really dial out pickup artifacts to focus on the "Natural" tone of the guitar. I use quotes around the word "Natural", because nothing is going to completely eliminate the pickup, but this comes awfully darned close.

Audio effects and pitch correction for vocals sound excellent and very natural as well.

I run mine through a Bose T1 set flat into a Bose L1 Model II. Personally, I couldn't ask for a better sounding, easier to set up performance system.

[JakeStone]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

Jake, stick with the Play Acoustic. There I no pedal that does more in a smaller footprint. It’s not perfect, but it really gets the job done.

Dave's right AGAIN

Yes.. The Play Acoustic does work really well.

Today I used a Boss AD-2 Preamp pedal in front .. With it's Acoustic Resonance and Ambiance features. It works way better for my setup than the PA's Bodyrez for my Baggs M80 mag pup.

This was the missing link for me...
I am really satisfied with my sound.

As an FYI - the Boss AD-2 has dual outs.. One I route to the Play Acoustic to pickup chords for Harmonies ( then I turned off the guitar output from the Play Acoustic - Thanks Marty for the tip) .... So then the other is a balanced output which goes to my Bose speaker system (S1 Pro).

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by JakeStone

Dave's right AGAIN

Yes.. The Play Acoustic does work really well.

Today I used a Boss AD-2 Preamp pedal in front .. With it's Acoustic Resonance and Ambiance features. It works way better for my setup than the PA's Bodyrez for my Baggs M80 mag pup.

This was the missing link for me...
I am really satisfied with my sound.

As an FYI - the Boss AD-2 has dual outs.. One I route to the Play Acoustic to pickup chords for Harmonies ( then I turned off the guitar output from the Play Acoustic - Thanks Marty for the tip) .... So then the other is a balanced output which goes to my Bose speaker system (S1 Pro).

I 'get' what the BodyRez does, but I don't really care for it. I can shape EQ using my Fishman Platinum Pro EQ ...and dial in some compression if I want. I barely use any compression. Set it to clamp any arbitrary peaks. Otherwise I dont want to 'hear' compression. So for me, the Body Rez is not needed and not nearly configurable enough.