Setup for using TC-Helicon Play Acoustic, recommendation

[EatingHumblePie]

I play the guitar and sing to it at home (folk, country, Americana). I’m happy doing that without any amplification or effects. However, I absolutely love vocal harmony. Thus, I’m trying to find a simple setting that allows me to incorporate harmony singing and hopefully sound somewhat decent (after all, my family will listen to it whether they want it or not ).

One of my guitars has a pickup, so I went ahead and bought a TC-Helicon Play Acoustic, a dynamic microphone (Shure Beta 58a) and a small mixing board (Mackie 802vlz4) on Ebay. If I’m correct, the final piece of the puzzle would be a powered speaker (maybe a JBL Eon 612), a compact PA (such as a Bose S1 Pro) or an amp (like the Fishman Loudbox Artist).

Which of these general alternatives would you recommend? Is there something even more appropriate for my humble aspirations?

Any insights would be highly appreciated. Please have in mind that I need a setup that is rather simple because I’m a total ignorant when it comes to technology.

[Daniel Grenier]

A couple things I would suggest: consider a QSC CP8 speaker and a 3 or 6 button foot switch to control the guitar effects (I.e. phase, reverb, chorus, delay, boost etc...). I use the 6 button foot switch and I have 2 CP8s for that glorious stereo sound. You don’t need 2, of course, as it sounds excellent in mono as well. And nor must you have a foot switch but it’s very handy (to me anyway).

Just make sure you download the latest software from the TCH site and don’t be shocked when you realize that the manual is nothing like the actual current software. There have been many updates, add-ons and improvements but they have never updated the manual. It’s a somewhat uphill learning curve but worth the troubles, imo. Have fun!

[EatingHumblePie]

Thank you so much for the recommendations and preparing me for the surprises ahead!

The Play Acoustic came with a thee-button foot switch. But I don't know whether that will be sufficient.

I've read and heard many good things about QSC. I'll make sure I'll check the CP8 out. Also looks classy.

[Marty C]

You may not need the mixer unless you want someone to join you. I tried using a mixer Together with my Play Acoustic, but trying to adjust all the gain stages got to difficult for me to troubleshoot any problems.

If you don’t want to bother your family, use a good pair of headphones from the headphone outdo the Play Acoustic. It really does a great job with the harmonies and any effects are in stereo. I enjoy doing this. It also helps me sing more on key.

Enjoy. It’s loads of fun.

[EatingHumblePie]

Thank you for the encouragement. I'm very much looking forward to it.

I might try it first without the mixer then. All the better if it works in a simpler setup.

Using headphones is a great idea. I will definitely do that. Thank you!

[willymartin]

For home use I would say the cp8 is overkill... The fishman is a great amp but the S1 pro is way better for vocals and will double as an awesome Bluetooth speaker.

[Marty C]

Originally Posted by willymartin

For home use I would say the cp8 is overkill... The fishman is a great amp but the S1 pro is way better for vocals and will double as an awesome Bluetooth speaker.

That’s a great idea.

[takatsukimike]

Originally Posted by EatingHumblePie

Thank you so much for the recommendations and preparing me for the surprises ahead!

The Play Acoustic came with a thee-button foot switch. But I don't know whether that will be sufficient.

I've read and heard many good things about QSC. I'll make sure I'll check the CP8 out. Also looks classy.

I'm also a play acoustic user. The question on whether the 3-button footswitch is sufficient depends entirely on your style of play, the features you need, and how you intend to organise patches in the play acoustic.

In my case, I have 3 main guitar 'scenes', these are defined primarily by the reverb type used - slapback, plate, and hall. I then copy the scenes and group the copies together. Within each group of copies, I then change the harmony assignment for the "hit" button, so with "hit" engaged, I could use "up" or "down" to change the harmony type while playing (though I seldom actually do this).

Each of these 'scenes' also has the umod and delay appropriate to the scene (though I never use umod with slapback), and I decided I needed the extension switch, because I want to be able to switch these on and off (in particular the delay) while playing. A third button is used for tap tempo.

Now, since getting in and out of looper mode was a hassle for me (I persevered for about a week but kept making mistakes) and because the price difference between the 3 and 6 button footswitches wasn't that significant, I went to the 6 button so that I could have a 2 button looper. This then forces me to have the play acoustic on the 'second row' of my pedalboard, I assigned the final button on the switch as "hit" as it's the button I press the most, and I don't want to go reaching over the switch-6 to get to it.

So, I'm happy with the switch-6 based on my needs above. OK they were really wants more than needs, and I seldom use the looper for serious practice, but my advice would be to play around with the play acoustic as-is until you figure out how YOU want to use it, then get the external switch that suits your needs.

Also, if it's mostly home use a 12 inch speaker may be a bit much. A column speaker will be best for low volumes and small spaces.

[EatingHumblePie]

Many thanks to all three of you for indicating the 12 inch speaker might be a bit too much and e.g. a Bose S1 Pro may make more sense. Decisions, decisions ...

Thank you also for detailing your use of the Play Acoustic. Really interesting and insightful. Only starting out, it may take me a while to get to such sophistication (if ever) but gives me ideas in which direction to experiment. It definitely seems that the 3-button switch will suffice for the time being.