TC Helicon Play Acoustic - Initial Review

[GibbyPrague]

Thanks again, some great input.

Fact is that I still have not tried it as on vacation outside the country, so its just based on what i read and see.

I will definitely play around with it and see what works best. I definitely will keep the Aura Spectrum as that takes away the UST piezo quack, which from the vids Ive seen Body Rez does not.

I think from your suggestions below I agree Option 1 would probably be the cleanest option. It does need a clean signal, hence the Aura signal would be the cleanest. I hope XLR the line out from the G3 to the amp / PA will be clean and faithfull.

Option 3 is sort of how i use the Aura / GXT / G3 now, combining Aura - G3 for guitars, and running the GXT seperately. But the problem is that then I dont get a chance to utilise fully the accurate harmonies option as the GXT doesnt hear the root note coming from the guitar as it does not run thought it. I would like to apply this feature on the Play acoustic to get the cleanest of harmonies if possible.

However maybe one other option would be to get the 3 switch pedal from TC (or whatever its called) and ensure the looper, chorus, volume boost can be assigned to those three buttons, that would probably be almost enough.

I definitely would prefer to keep it simple if possible, and ideally have two units on the floor, the Aura Spectrum which is a given and .... one more.

The question is which one .... I will need to go home and play around with it for a day or so clearly.

Originally Posted by 8TrackJoe

You can purchased XLR to 1/4" cables, typically they are used for microphones. In considering the pieces of gear that you have I see a couple of options, but also possible problems.

Option 1; Guitar > Aura Spectrum DI > Play Acoustic > (XLR-1/4) Zoom G3.

Option 2: Guitar > Aura Spectrum DI (Zoom G3 connected to the FX Loop), then Aura DI output to Play Acoustic

Option 3: Split the guitar signal. path 1: Aura DI > G3
path 2: straight to Play Acoustic

When I purchased my VL3 I already had the Zoom G3 and was considering the Aura Spectrum DI. At first I was considering the Play Acoustic and thought that I would attempt what you appear to be doing in adding other pieces, but for me that became counter productive since the whole point of the TCH devices are to be all in one self contained units.

Now to the possible problems that I alluded to earlier. The TCH Play Acoustic/Electric and the VL3 are determining the harmonies/scale/key etc from the guitar input. The Play series may have the room sense mic, but I can't say for sure. Since the unit is depending on the cleanest guitar signal at the input point then Option 2 above would probably mess up with the vocal effects depending on the effects that you engage. With Option 1 you have a basically clean guitar signal, BUT unless the Play Acoustic will allow you to bypass or turn down the BodyRez completely and/or set the EQ to flat then you may have a guitar shaping sound going into another shaping sound would could potentially muddy the sound. And I honestly don't know how much of the Aura DI sound would or would not impact the detection of the chords/keys/scales for the vocal effects. Due to both of these potential issues that is why I listed Option 3, which then makes the guitar side of the Play Acoustic of no use (so to speak). If Option 3 became the one then personally I would either look at the VoiceLive 3 or the VoiceLive Touch 2 for vocals and use the Aura DI/Zoom G3 for the guitar effects.

Now I did not even consider the looper portion of the Play Acoustic. That will be another issue since IF you put the Zoom G3 after the PA then your looper track will be playing into the Zoom G3. So if you lay down a simple chord progression with only reverb from the PA on the Guitar part then you kick in the Zoom G3 for a delay effect for your lead guitar.........well your looping track would then be going into the G3 with the delay. Does that make sense? Yea the whole thing becomes quite confusing and convoluted quickly due to some of the limitations.

My suggestion is to take the Play Acoustic and work it by itself. See if the BodyRez settings will work for you and your guitar so that you can eliminate the Aura Spectrum DI and live with the effects that are inside of the unit itself. In my younger days I would spend weeks combining effects to see what could and could not be accomplished, but now I lean toward a simple setup. That is why after reading the manual of both units and comparing everything I went with the VL3.

Not trying to tell you what to do just trying to give you all the options and the possible results that could occur. Hope I didn't confuse you too much and that some of this made sense.

[tommyga]

Originally Posted by Irish Pennant

I'm not a fan of the Play Acoustic. I had one for about three weeks and returned it.

Guys, I have had my Play Acoustic Pedal now for about 3 WEEKS...and I still cannot understand how the heck to use it!! Can someone..or a few of you...explain it to me?

[Marty C]

Originally Posted by tommyga

Guys, I have had my Play Acoustic Pedal now for about 3 WEEKS...and I still cannot understand how the heck to use it!! Can someone..or a few of you...explain it to me?

Can you be more specific? Kind of let us know your expectations and maybe we can help. Give us a scenario where you might say “I would love it if I could just do this”.

[JakeStone]

Originally Posted by tommyga

Guys, I have had my Play Acoustic Pedal now for about 3 WEEKS...and I still cannot understand how the heck to use it!! Can someone..or a few of you...explain it to me?

Here's a link to Quick Start Guide and User manual..
http://www.tc-helicon.com/en/support/manuals/?pid=1078

Here's a link to Youtube and a bunch of Tutorials
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...HJ3gWG-1bh_Sxh

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by tommyga

Guys, I have had my Play Acoustic Pedal now for about 3 WEEKS...and I still cannot understand how the heck to use it!! Can someone..or a few of you...explain it to me?

You plug a guitar into it and set the level.

You plug a microphone into it and set the level.

You decide how you want the output configured - it's best to have a DI out for guitar and voice seperately - and then you plug the outputs into an amplifier / PA system / mixing desk etc. depending on your requirement.

You choose a harmony that you want to use and off you go...

There are tons and tons of helpful videos on the TC Helicon Youtube channel ( https://www.youtube.com/user/tchelicon/videos )- and there's always the user manual if all else fails...

[Chickee]

tommyga,

Andy C.'s answer is right on the money. Also, you must read(really read) the owners guide, a few times. Once you know how the guide is laid out you can find any issue you feel is keeping you from enjoying this great machine.
I have had my Play Acoustic for approx three weeks and felt the same as you and the more I play around with it the more user friendly it is becoming. It's a learning curve, as with anything new, but with practice it becomes second nature.
Good luck and have fun!
Chickee

[tommyga]

Chickee/Marty/Andy, and Jake. Thanks, guys. I have gotten a LITTLE bit on the TC over the last 2 days. Their manuals, etc...are not very good at all, though. I think all I really need is 3 or 4 different harmonies, you know? Maybe 1 for above/below, one for 2 parts above, one for 2 parts below, and maybe one part below and another one part above. Do you have to use the presets? (some are kinda crappy).

[Hurricane Ramon]

Hello Gutch :

When I lost ( stolen ) my Digitech GNX4 I began a search to replace it .

The Play Acoustic was appealing and I almost got one . Then I found out
about the Voice Live series and began reviewing them each and then the
X came out and bowed me over .

The BodyRez is truly amazing compared to the competition as a stand alone pedal ,
but , to get it packaged with the other stuff in the different units like your's or mine
is a no brainer .

The options of adding electric guitar FX to the acoustic is genius IMHO . True
a little go's a long ways .

Recent firmware updates are looking great with a loop start off you hitting a note off
your guitar/keyboard/voice to begin the loop/recording .

There are more improvements as well .


EZ :

HR

[rmsstrider]

I am interested in trying one of these. I already have a TC Helcion Harmony Singer that I like and I was tempted to buy a Fishman Aura 16 imaging pedal to try and tame the "quack" from my Fishman under saddle pick up. I know that the Aura has 2 or 3 images for my Composite Acoustic CF guitar. Does this Play Acoustic have similar imaging software? or is the Bodyrez enough to tame the quack? I would prefer one pedal with harmony and tone control and guitar imaging as opposed to having a Harmony Singer and and a guitar imaging pedal.

[Marty C]

The Play Acoustic has 5 different Bodyrez images - if images are what they are called. There are also settings within each Bodyrez of 1-10, with 10 being all Bodyrez. There are tons of EQ options in each setting. It does help with the quack.