TC Helicon Perform-VG

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by JakeStone

Well... This should be called "Jake's Multi Effect Adventures" !

MartinGitDave was right.. The TC Play Acoustic is the winner (no comparison).

Ok... So I have the Boss VE8, the TC Perform VG .. AND I just scored a used TCH PA locally for a great price.

Compared them all....... I ended up packing up and returning the Perform VG for refund (just under the 45 day limit).

The VG did sound good .. AND was easy to set up and use.

But in the end the effects ended up not being very robust,,,, there just was not very much control over them. Plus I really miss having some (at least 3) custom presets.

The Play Acoustic just has so much more for around the same price (if bought used)... Not to mention looper !
Plus the vocal effects (tone, sound quality and harmonies) are very smooth and Very tweakable / I use them subtly. Plus the Double is very nice. (not available on the VG).

I did keep the Switch 6... Turns the PA into a very usable and easy to use gigging machine.

Congrats! Glad you got a solution that works! That unit is one of the best things a performing singer songwriter can buy. Add it to any powered speaker and you have an instant PA. 15 years ago, we would need multiple racks of effects to accomplish the same thing.

[Per Burström]

Originally Posted by JakeStone

Well... This should be called "Jake's Multi Effect Adventures" !

MartinGitDave was right.. The TC Play Acoustic is the winner (no comparison).

Ok... So I have the Boss VE8, the TC Perform VG .. AND I just scored a used TCH PA locally for a great price.

Compared them all....... I ended up packing up and returning the Perform VG for refund (just under the 45 day limit).

The VG did sound good .. AND was easy to set up and use.

But in the end the effects ended up not being very robust,,,, there just was not very much control over them. Plus I really miss having some (at least 3) custom presets.

The Play Acoustic just has so much more for around the same price (if bought used)... Not to mention looper !
Plus the vocal effects (tone, sound quality and harmonies) are very smooth and Very tweakable / I use them subtly. Plus the Double is very nice. (not available on the VG).

I did keep the Switch 6... Turns the PA into a very usable and easy to use gigging machine.

Thanks a lot Jake! As I'm currently thinking a lot about which unit to get among the trio Perform-VG, Play Acoustic and VE-8, and with being a bit "in love" with the format of the Perform-VG, I have read your posts in this thread with great interest. So with the limitations of the Perform-VG, and with the Play Acoustic having both more flexibility and the added features of a looper as well as the 3 footswitches built-in, I think the Perform-VG is deleted from my list.

So remaining for me is the Play Acoustic and the VE-8. I really try to be "power outlet free", so the battery operation of the VE-8 is a big bonus. But fixing an external 12 V battery pack for the Play Acoustic will be easy, I basically already have it. So this is not a big deal.

While guitar sound is of course important, the vocal section is the priority. As a singer-songwriter trying to tell a story with my lyrics, and trying to improve my way of expressing them, I really want the best possible vocal sound without having to become an audio engineer.

As I'm not really that into using harmonies I have also looked at the option of getting a TCH Mic Mechanic 2. And then get a separate guitar fx unit. But I might be interested in harmonies in the future.

So with the my priority being the vocals over the guitar I guess the TCH Play Acoustic is what I should get. Or are there other options out there?!

Cheers,
Per

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by Per Burström

Thanks a lot Jake! As I'm currently thinking a lot about which unit to get among the trio Perform-VG, Play Acoustic and VE-8, and with being a bit "in love" with the format of the Perform-VG, I have read your posts in this thread with great interest. So with the limitations of the Perform-VG, and with the Play Acoustic having both more flexibility and the added features of a looper as well as the 3 footswitches built-in, I think the Perform-VG is deleted from my list.

So remaining for me is the Play Acoustic and the VE-8. I really try to be "power outlet free", so the battery operation of the VE-8 is a big bonus. But fixing an external 12 V battery pack for the Play Acoustic will be easy, I basically already have it. So this is not a big deal.

While guitar sound is of course important, the vocal section is the priority. As a singer-songwriter trying to tell a story with my lyrics, and trying to improve my way of expressing them, I really want the best possible vocal sound without having to become an audio engineer.

As I'm not really that into using harmonies I have also looked at the option of getting a TCH Mic Mechanic 2. And then get a separate guitar fx unit. But I might be interested in harmonies in the future.

So with the my priority being the vocals over the guitar I guess the TCH Play Acoustic is what I should get. Or are there other options out there?!

Cheers,
Per

Your logic makes sense. Several of us made the same argument. Mic mechanic and an Aura pedal would be another option but you lose harmonies and looper. Also, if you like TC vocals, you might like Bose DSP for vocals.

[Per Burström]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

Your logic makes sense. Several of us made the same argument. Mic mechanic and an Aura pedal would be another option but you lose harmonies and looper. Also, if you like TC vocals, you might like Bose DSP for vocals.

Hmm, that might be an option of course... getting a Bose S1 to replace my Cube Street EX! I haven't really used the Cube Street EX that much, and I'm not really that impressed with it does to especially my voice. At the moment I have, at home, setup the Cube as a monitor and guitar + vocals unit and connected the output of it to my Yamaha DXR10 pointing to "an imagined audience".

/Per

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by Per Burström

Hmm, that might be an option of course... getting a Bose S1 to replace my Cube Street EX! I haven't really used the Cube Street EX that much, and I'm not really that impressed with it does to especially my voice. At the moment I have, at home, setup the Cube as a monitor and guitar + vocals unit and connected the output of it to my Yamaha DXR10 pointing to "an imagined audience".



/Per

I was thinking maybe you would look at the new Bose T4 mixer. You can use a looper pedal and get the sound dialed in. Then, use the mixer with any speaker.

[Per Burström]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

I was thinking maybe you would look at the new Bose T4 mixer. You can use a looper pedal and get the sound dialed in. Then, use the mixer with any speaker.

Ok, got you!

[JakeStone]

I have tried the Perform VG, Play Acoustic and the VE-8.

All around.. The PA is the winner. It is very hard to beat it for the functionality and price paid. To my ear, the Vocals sound so much better than the VE-8. To me the VE8 just sounded more "digital" for a lack of better term. The PA just works better "out of the box".

Guitar tone wise, I thought the VE-8 sounded slightly better. BUT, I didn't like the foot switches and the limitations. That is where again the PA wins... You can buy the switch 3 or 6 and really be set for gigs. Turn on and off multi effects and looper works so much easier with the switch3/6,

[Per Burström]

Originally Posted by Per Burström

Thanks a lot Jake! As I'm currently thinking a lot about which unit to get among the trio Perform-VG, Play Acoustic and VE-8, and with being a bit "in love" with the format of the Perform-VG, I have read your posts in this thread with great interest. So with the limitations of the Perform-VG, and with the Play Acoustic having both more flexibility and the added features of a looper as well as the 3 footswitches built-in, I think the Perform-VG is deleted from my list.

So remaining for me is the Play Acoustic and the VE-8. I really try to be "power outlet free", so the battery operation of the VE-8 is a big bonus. But fixing an external 12 V battery pack for the Play Acoustic will be easy, I basically already have it. So this is not a big deal.

While guitar sound is of course important, the vocal section is the priority. As a singer-songwriter trying to tell a story with my lyrics, and trying to improve my way of expressing them, I really want the best possible vocal sound without having to become an audio engineer.

As I'm not really that into using harmonies I have also looked at the option of getting a TCH Mic Mechanic 2. And then get a separate guitar fx unit. But I might be interested in harmonies in the future.

So with the my priority being the vocals over the guitar I guess the TCH Play Acoustic is what I should get. Or are there other options out there?!

Cheers,
Per

After spending the last few days changing my mind repeatedly between getting the Play Acoustic or the Perform-VG, despite what I wrote in the quoted text above, I finally went ahead and ordered the Perform-VG. I'm well aware of the limitations of the Perform-VG, and that Play Acoustic would have been more future proof for me when I learn more how to use the features... I'm mostly used to just sit and playing at home by my own, with no audience and no amplifier.

But now I have a few events coming up where I will perform a few of my own songs among a bunch of other performers, where equipment is shared and time between the artists are limited. I simply want something with not too many settings which I can setup and practise with at home, with just a few different settings for different songs, and which is easy to setup once it's my turn to play during the coming evenings. And I really like the format of the Perform-VG, how it attaches to the mic stand, and the low weight and size so that I can easily put it in my gig bag.

At the moment I'm not getting a foot switch either, I don't want harmomies nor be able to switch any settings in the middle of a song at the moment.

If I'm happy with the Perform-VG I might get the Voicelive 4 or Play Accoustic 2 once they come out!

Cheers,
Per

[JakeStone]

Nice .. The VG is a great choice.
You get an easy to set up unit with the super TC Helicon sound.

Also the mic stand set up is pretty cool...

Look forward to hearing your review!

[Per Burström]

I got the Perform-VG a few days ago, and I'm starting to love it. I still need to take my time to read the manual to learn the different settings, but it's so convenient to have it on the mic stand and easily both see what's active and change modes.

I plan to buy a Digitech FS3X Footswitch, it's supposed to be compatible with the Switch-3 (which currently seem to have a long delivery time in/to Sweden), and it's much cheaper.

I plan to bring the Perform-VG to an event the coming Monday where I'm gonna play 3 of my songs, and use my simple cell phone headphones for monitoring... it's good enough for now.

I'll come back with more feedback on the Perform-VG once I have used it more.

/Per

[JakeStone]

Per - Glad you like the -VG.

It really is easy to work and sounds great !

One thing I remember learning... Was to set the mic gain manually.
Because when it was on Auto gain (or what ever they call it) ..
Mine sometimes would sound like the volume would cut out or go lower.
Which was the "limiter" kicking in... I didn't care for that.

SO do double check to make sure how to set the gain levels.

Let us know how it works out on your 3 songs.

Ps .. Good to know the Digitech footswitch and the TCH Switch-3/6 are interchangeable.

[Kindness]

While this is a year old review, it really seems like the Perform VG is a really really decent unit.

Originally Posted by JakeStone

The Perform VG is "gig ready"... Played this past Saturday night at a small wine bar with a friend.. Really tight space...So I didn't bring the foot switch or any pedals ... LOL...The wait staff probably would have stepped on them anyways .. passing by me

Anyway... The thing rocks ... Pretty much set it and forget it....I basically set it up and engaged the Reverb + Tone button for vocals and Body Rez + Reverb for Guitar... Hit the Chorus a few times. It was a very low key and low volume affair.

The -VG added some nice sparkle to my vocals and guitar. We both Played the gig through a mixer into a Powered speaker. So I came out of the -VG with 1 XLR cable into the mixer .. Very efficient and easy... Allowing me to take care of my sound from the unit (attached to my mic stand).

Compliments from the bartender and others... He commented on my J-45's tone. I know it helped my vocals cut through too. The VG is perfect for this sort of thing.

I will do a full review soon.. As well as comparison to my Boss VE-8. I actually think the vocals sound better on the Perform VG.. But the Boss beats this on Guitar sound quality, versatility and richer feature set. Never the less.. This thing may just have it's place in my arsenal.

Here a pict.. It's hard to see but the Perform VG is attached to the mic stand..Yep I'm set up next to the record player ! LOL

[JackB1]

But what would be the point of using the guitar's thru output? That would basically mean you are only using half the unit (the vocal effects only). Why would you buy a unit for guitar AND vocals and cancel out the guitar portion of it. I don't understand why they don't have a normal guitar output so that you can EQ each signal separately after it comes out of the Peform VG. It looks like your only choice is to use ALL the effects and use the one combined output or use the separate guitar pass thru which, like I said earlier, means you are only utilizing half the unit. Am I missing something here?

Originally Posted by JakeStone

Very nice unit at $199 price point.... Looks like late fall 2017 arrival according to some sites.

It's an Upgrade from the older Harmony GXT that I used for years ... But with the addition of the guitar effects and easier control over everything. Especially with the mic stand holder built-in... Just right for stage use.

I also see it has the Guitar Thru output on back (which the play acoustic does not). This allows to use the Guitar's input which is needed for vocals.. but can output the guitar signal separate to amp, mixer etc with no effects.

I think this will be a winner for a lot of folks. Simple, TC's great sound and with additional Foot Switch.. Very Gig ready.

We'll see in a little while when they hit the streets.

[lkingston]

Originally Posted by JackB1

But what would be the point of using the guitar's thru output? That would basically mean you are only using half the unit (the vocal effects only). Why would you buy a unit for guitar AND vocals and cancel out the guitar portion of it. I don't understand why they don't have a normal guitar output so that you can EQ each signal separately after it comes out of the Peform VG. It looks like your only choice is to use ALL the effects and use the one combined output or use the separate guitar pass thru which, like I said earlier, means you are only utilizing half the unit. Am I missing something here?

It’s just an option for those who have better guitar processing that they would rather use.

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by lkingston

It’s just an option for those who have better guitar processing that they would rather use.

if that was the case, wouldn't you just buy a unit for vocals, like the VoicePlay?