TC Helicon Play Acoustic

[Carbonius]

I understand that TC is better known for vocal effects, but I have not looked too closely at that realm. When I go to their home page, almost everything is about voice. So perhaps the guitar side of this unit suffers if it's their first try at it???... I don't know. Does anybody out there know??

I like that you can add a 3 button foot-switch for greater control. A HUGE difference here is that the 3 buttons can be assigned to do many functions within the unit, not just what the manufacturer decided.

However... The switches on this unit look like traditional stomp box switches. I think that's a big problem for a single player venue. That could mean that everyone hears a big "CLICK"
every time you hit a switch. Sure, it won't be noticeable when you are really going, but in those quieter moments when you are trying to do nice ambient layered music... "CLICK"
every time you add a loop, switch banks or add effects. That's my problem now with a POD HD500 that I use for effects and looping. The buttons are too loud! Anyone out there know how loud these switches are???

Another concern is that this unit only has 30 seconds looping available. The comparable Boss VE-8 has 80 seconds. 30 seconds isn't good for an all in one pedal. For 4 bars of music, 30 is more than enough. For 8 bars it okay if you're at 64 bpm or more. Anymore than that and it's not going to work.

So what do people here think of this pedal?? I found some here that own one, but couldn't find many opinions. Searching "play acoustic" on an acoustic guitar forum is pointless!

http://www.tc-helicon.com/en/products/play-acoustic/



For more about the Boss Ve-8 you can go to a thread I started earlier. I was going to add this as a reply to that thread, but it seemed better to start a new one. http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...30#post5067030

[g.man.as08]

With the latest firmware update you can even use the switch 6. The switches are non-latched (momentary) and there is no audible click at all. Looper time can be up to 60 seconds (mono, without undo). I bought the Play Acoustic for my various acoustic guitars and mandolins. The main argument was the deeply tweakable Bodyrez function which can be set for different instruments. The settings can be stored in different patches, which is also new for the latest update.

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[Ghostpicker]

I really like my Play Acoustic. It is a great pedal to enhance your vocals (if used modestly) and the Bodyrez feature can enhance your acoustic guitar, but looping is not one of its greatest features. The Switch3 is a must. Without it, I find the unit is cumbersome to use. I haven't experienced any "noise" when stepping on the Switch3, but I seldom use it for looping because the length of loops is so limited. I use it to switch from one preset to another or to change guitar effects. I've found that opinions about it are all over the map. Generally I've found that "purest" and very "talented" folks don't care for it and would never use it in a live setting. I'm just a hobbyist at best so I have no problem using it when playing for friends and family. It makes me sound better than I would sound without it, so I'm a fan.

[SwampString]

It sure cleans up some piezo quack with the body rez.
I've had mine for about 9 months and use it weekly at church, and have played out a few times with it at bar/VFW gigs etc.
I for one have been very pleased with both the guitar side of things (once they updated software) as well as the vocal side.
Vocals really benefit from the de-essing/gating and compression it automatically does. It'd take a fortune in separate gear to do what this thing does.
Harmonies are cool to play around with, you'll find 2-3 that do the trick for you gig-wise but there's tons of presets/changes/controls you can mess around with.
Looping wise, get a $99 ditto and put it in front of the pedal. Loop to your heart's content!
Like it advertises, it's a do-mostly everything a solo performer needs/wants in one box. I like mine and consider it one of the best toys I've bought!

[Carbonius]

Thanks everyone. Those switches had me worried! I will have to consider the other options that were mentioned too.

[Paleolith54]

Originally Posted by Carbonius

Searching "play acoustic" on an acoustic guitar forum is pointless!

Well yeah, but searching "Helicon play acoustic" gets you a full page of good threads.

[jstegeman]

I've had one for about a month now, and I love it. Right now, I just generally use a single preset for my weekly set at church that has reverb, a very little chorus, and bodyrez. Really makes a difference in sound as opposed to a DI straight into the pa. I've just started singing lessons, so I can't comment on that side yet, but I have used it when I accompanied an singer, and it sounded great to my ears. Sparing use of harmony was sweet. Now that I think of it, on that song I also put a slap delay on the guitar for a nice Johnny Cash sound on my little boom chick chick, boom chick chick, boom boom boom, boom chick chick, sounded great

[Carbonius]

Originally Posted by Paleolith54

Well yeah, but searching "Helicon play acoustic" gets you a full page of good threads.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm... well when I do it I don't get much at all. Did you use Google or the AGF internal search. The first 2 hits are for this very thread. There's only 1 other thread on the first page that directly addresses the pedal. Even then, it's not the info I needed. The thread about posting pedal boards is currently 23 pages long! That's a lot of pages to go through looking for 1 particular pedal. Even then, there's next to no info.

[Mcirish]

Originally Posted by g.man.as08

With the latest firmware update you can even use the switch 6. The switches are non-latched (momentary) and there is no audible click at all. Looper time can be up to 60 seconds (mono, without undo). I bought the Play Acoustic for my various acoustic guitars and mandolins. The main argument was the deeply tweakable Bodyrez function which can be set for different instruments. The settings can be stored in different patches, which is also new for the latest update.

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I'd like to know more about using it with different instruments. Currently, I'm using a Zoom A3 with presets I programmed for guitar, dobro, bouzouki, mandolin, mandola and banjo. I get fairly good results with the A3 but it is a PITA to program. It has to be one of the worst user interfaces I've ever encountered. Can the TC Play Acoustic have presets to switch between instruments? I'd need a 6-7 band EQ or two parametric EQs per preset to get the sound I need from each instrument. If it can do that, I'd jump on it. I wouldn't use any of the vocal stuff but I'd like a more intuitive solution to the Zoom A3.

[jstegeman]

Originally Posted by Mcirish

I'd like to know more about using it with different instruments. Currently, I'm using a Zoom A3 with presets I programmed for guitar, dobro, bouzouki, mandolin, mandola and banjo. I get fairly good results with the A3 but it is a PITA to program. It has to be one of the worst user interfaces I've ever encountered. Can the TC Play Acoustic have presets to switch between instruments? I'd need a 6-7 band EQ or two parametric EQs per preset to get the sound I need from each instrument. If it can do that, I'd jump on it. I wouldn't use any of the vocal stuff but I'd like a more intuitive solution to the Zoom A3.

Yes, if you update the firmware to the latest version, it can save guitar settings per-preset. However, a 6 band EQ - nope. 2 parametric EQ - yup, as long as you turn on the "advanced settings" I don't have mine in front of me to confirm that you can save the parametric eq settings per preset (left it at church), but it should be possible

[Mcirish]

Originally Posted by jstegeman

Yes, if you update the firmware to the latest version, it can save guitar settings per-preset. However, a 6 band EQ - nope. 2 parametric EQ - yup, as long as you turn on the "advanced settings" I don't have mine in front of me to confirm that you can save the parametric eq settings per preset (left it at church), but it should be possible

Thank you. It sounds much more usable now. I will have to check it out further

[Carbonius]

Does anyone know how this compares to the Boss VE-8. I started a thread about the VE-8, but there wasn't one reply. It was before I knew about the Play Acoustic.

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...30#post5067030

[Carbonius]

Is the only guitar eq in the Play Acoustic within the body-res feature?? I will never use body-res as I have a K&K, but I want eq. I can't find it in the manual apart from body-res.

[121]

Originally Posted by Carbonius

Is the only guitar eq in the Play Acoustic within the body-res feature?? I will never use body-res as I have a K&K, but I want eq. I can't find it in the manual apart from body-res.

I have no experience using body-rez with K&K, but with-in a few weeks plan to have a guitar with K&K mini and the T.C Helicon Play Acoustic.

I had always assumed body-rez would work well with a K&K mini pick-up system.

Before I possibly make an expensive mistake, would you mind sharing the reasons you would not use body-rez with K&K ?

thank you

[steve_mac]

Been a play acoustic user for a while and yes the looper is upto 60 seconds and you can eq to your hearts content and no the switches aren't noisy.
Cheers Steve