#1
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What if you like the Play Acoustic, but don't need guitar effects?
So, I like the various voice effects of the Play Acoustic, but I don't use the guitar effects (I use a Tonedexter). What does TC Helicon (or anybody else) make that fills that bill? They seem to have so many products it makes my head spin. Any suggestions?
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2003 Martin OM-42, K&K's 1932 National Style O, K&K's 1930 National Style 1 tricone Square-neck 1951 Rickenbacker Panda lap steel 2014 Gibson Roy Smeck Stage Deluxe Ltd, Custom Shop, K&K's 1957 Kay K-27 X-braced jumbo, K&K's 1967 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Nashville 2024 Mahogany Weissenborn, Jack Stepick Ear Trumpet Labs Edwina Tonedexter |
#2
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Just turn the guitar effects off. You don't HAVE to use them.
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#3
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Yeah, I did that, but you cannot totally zero them out. And I was hoping for a smaller footprint, if there was one. I also wondered ifd TC Helicon has upped their game any on the voice effects, since this unit is fairly old.
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2003 Martin OM-42, K&K's 1932 National Style O, K&K's 1930 National Style 1 tricone Square-neck 1951 Rickenbacker Panda lap steel 2014 Gibson Roy Smeck Stage Deluxe Ltd, Custom Shop, K&K's 1957 Kay K-27 X-braced jumbo, K&K's 1967 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Nashville 2024 Mahogany Weissenborn, Jack Stepick Ear Trumpet Labs Edwina Tonedexter |
#4
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TCH Perform-VG has a smaller footprint and the guitar Thru jack which 'should(?)' give a clean sound without any influence of the pedals internals. More limited as to what vocal effects it can have available with the buttons, although more can be loaded from a library I believe.
https://www.tc-helicon.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DED I have a Play GTX which does have a guitar thru jack and I do use it to send the acoustic to another pedal as the acoustic effects are pretty limited onboard the GTX. If you already have the TCH Play and can live with the footprint, maybe a signal splitter to send one signal to the Play and the second to the Tone Dexter(?) Looking at TCH's website it doesn't appear they've done much in the way of new vocal pedal products. |
#5
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I have a TC Helicon Gxt. I think it is an older design than the Play Acoustic. The vocal harmonies are similar, but the Gxt is way less complicated. No guitar effects besides reverb. You can use a single line output where you get vocals and guitar on that line out, or run the guitar as a play-through line out. I haven't noticed any change in guitar tone with that, compared to running the guitar direct - it just uses your guitar to determine the harmony.
I sent the Gxt to my music partner and use the Play Acoustic myself. I think the harmonies may be a little better with the Play Acoustic, but I'm not a fan of the different menus you have to wade through on that.
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#6
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Well, if you don't need the effects then you could just send the signal from the headphone output jack of Tonedexter to Play Acoustic. That way Play Acoustic will know which key you're in. Then just use the DI-out of Tonedexter as your "effect free" output. Or did I miss something?
Play Acoustic is a fine piece of gear, especially for the money. And if you ever change your mind and maybe wanna try some guitar fx, it's all there to explore. |
#7
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I’d suggest you look at an eventide mixing link. This allows you to connect whatever effects units you like into the vocal chain, plus a lot more functions.
For what it’s worth, I’ve used guitar effect reverb/delay units through this on vocals and it sounds great . https://www.eventideaudio.com/produc...oop/mixinglink |
#8
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Maybe the TC Harmony G-XT might be a good fit. If I remember correctly, it has about 10 programmable slots. It has a guitar through which is a clean bypass. It just doesn’t have some of the effects like doubling. Mainly just various reverbs and delays. But it does very well in this area. Also still has the tone button.
FlyingFinn has a great suggestion. I do this with my Play Acoustic since I don’t care for the coloration this unit seems to imprint on the guitar tone, with bodyrez and effects off. I don’t use a tone Dexter, but I have a different unit which has a 1/4” out and an XLR out. I run the 1/4” to the Play Acoustic and turn the guitar Volume on the Play Acoustic to Zero. Then use the XLR out of my NuX Optima Air to my powered speaker. Or you can just Set the Play Acoustic on DI out and only use the mic/left output. Either way the guitar Input or 1/8” AUX input drive the harmonies from your tone Dexter. If you use the 1/8” AUX input on the Play Acoustic, you need to make sure you have the Play Acoustic set correctly so the AUX to main out is set to OFF so the guitar from this 1/8” input is not passing through. Also, if you use the looper on the Play Acoustic, you want to make sure the looper is not set to All or the guitar may still pass through. Set it to vocal only. |
#9
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The GXT is a nice form factor but it lacks some of the effects and the screen.
I would just turn the guitar effects off and use it for vocals only. I plan on doing this with my HX Stomp.
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#10
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I find that Play Acoustic does squeeze my guitar sound a bit too much, that's why I also only use it for vocals. My guitar goes into a Radial PZ-DI.
In Europe the TC Harmony GTX and Play Acoustic cost pretty much the same, but Play Acoustic is a lot more versatile, so it's quite an easy choice. |
#11
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Quote:
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2003 Martin OM-42, K&K's 1932 National Style O, K&K's 1930 National Style 1 tricone Square-neck 1951 Rickenbacker Panda lap steel 2014 Gibson Roy Smeck Stage Deluxe Ltd, Custom Shop, K&K's 1957 Kay K-27 X-braced jumbo, K&K's 1967 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Nashville 2024 Mahogany Weissenborn, Jack Stepick Ear Trumpet Labs Edwina Tonedexter |
#12
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I had the same issue and I switch the the TCH Harmony GXT. Gives me all the same effects I was using with the Play Acoustic without the guitar stuff and it has a "thru" output where you can plug in your guitar so I can tell what key you are in for the harmony's and then you can do whatever you like with the guitar signal.
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Gear: PRS Hollowbody II Piezo, Martin HPL 000, PRS Angelus A60E, Martin 000-15M |
#13
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The only "effect" I'm using with my guitar is either a DPA 4099G Core or a Nux Optima Air. I prefer a natural sound, due to the music I'm playing.
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#14
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I decided to simplify and replaced my Play Acoustic with a Perform-VG. Like MarkF_48 said, it has a Thru jack that I use to bypass the guitar effects (which I get from a couple of pedals) and does a very good job with 2 and 3 part harmonies, reverb and compression.
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Barry |
#15
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The Perform VG is a very underrated item. The nice thing about it is you clip it to your mic stand, so it frees up space on your pedal board. It seems to have the same harmony engine as all other TCH voice processors and is very simple to use. Also, in a pinch, for a quick setup or simple gig, it will provide useable effects for your guitar (reverb, chorus & echo).
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Gear: PRS Hollowbody II Piezo, Martin HPL 000, PRS Angelus A60E, Martin 000-15M |