Putting vocals through guitar pedals?

January 7, 2024 12:07 PM

I sing in a psych rock band and I want a better range of vocal effects. Can you help me weigh up the following options...?

Currently my vocals are run through the main board and out to the amp with a bit of reverb mixed in during live shows but would like to be able to use effects directly during the gig.

I have an DBA Echo master which is completely awesome for spooky delay in recording but has no off switch and is difficult to manage with live mixing. What I would LOVE to do is put my mic through the guitar pedals I already have - shimmer, phase, chorus and distortion - and basically run my own pedal board.

So! It looks like my options are to run my SM58 Mic into either a powered Pedal Cracker (probably V2 as it's about the same price as the OG), or a passive Radial Pro AV (1 or 2?), then into the pedal chain, then out to the desk.

My question is - am I right in thinking that this is the correct approach, and if so which option? The Pedal Cracker has signal controls and the Radial doesn't, does that matter? I also have a Klark tecknik mic booster with XLR in and out so not sure if I can do something with that.

Or is there some other option I'm not considering? (I'm really not interested in an all-in-one vfx unit, this is more about making interesting sounds, not 'enhancing' my voice).

I am a bit at sea. Any advice welcome!

posted by freya_lamb to Technology (7 answers total)

The Pedal Cracker would definitely do the job. The Radial Pro AV is just a direct box. You'd need something with an effects loop to run your pedals. That Klark Teknik thing just boosts the level of low output mics. It doesn't do anything for you in this situation.

A cheaper option than the Pedal Cracker would be a small mixer with an effects loop, like this :
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/802S--behringer-xenyx-802s-8-channel-analog-streaming-mixer

That one uses one jack for the effects loop input and output, so you'd need a Y cable.
posted by jonathanhughes at 1:02 PM on January 7

xlr to 1/4" transformer.

That particular one is from Hosa, other companies make them, like Whirlwind and Shure. This is the old school cheap way to do it - your 58 to that transformer/adapter, into your pedals, out of your pedals into another transformer/adapter the other way round, out to the mixer.

The wrinkle with this approach is your effects are always on 100% as long as the pedal is on - this is not always great (to put it mildly) in a live situation. Ideally you would also get an xlr y cable, one of the"y" goes into the adapter & your pedals, the other goes directly to another channel of the mixer so you (or the sound tech) have a "wet" channel and a "dry" channel and can balance the two as needed.
posted by soundguy99 at 1:21 PM on January 7

IME the best way to do this is through the mixing board - if there’s a spare channel the sound person can essentially use it as an effects bus and patch the vocal into it so you have control over the effects. You can do this with a Y splitter, or bigger boards often have patching/bussing capabilities for effects looping built in, whether through actual analog buses or internal digital routing.

Keep in mind that using guitar pedals for vocal effects can introduce interference/static and even grounding issues, especially with longer cable runs.
posted by aspersioncast at 2:46 PM on January 7

It depends on your budget, but a dedicated vocal pedal like a TC Helicon Voice LivePlay or a Boss VE-20 are the devices that do a variety of vocal effects through XLR in and out. They cost a bit more than a generic guitar pedal.

(TC Helicon Harmony Singer pedal blends your vocal XLR in and out with a guitar/keyboard in/out and creates vocal harmonies based on the chords the instrument plays. It's a neat effect.)
posted by ovvl at 6:32 PM on January 7

Vocalist in my psych-rock band uses a Boss VE-20. It's pretty easy to use. They run about $250 USD used on Reverb.
posted by KickTheBobo at 3:50 AM on January 8

if there’s a spare channel the sound person can essentially use it as an effects bus and patch the vocal into it so you have control over the effects

I don't understand how this helps though - does that not then apply to the vocal track for the whole show? What I want is to be able to switch effects on the fly with a pedal chain.

I genuinely don't understand what happens at the desk other than gain and reverb.

Thanks for the suggestions all. I'll have a play with what I have and maybe try the Pedal cracker.
posted by freya_lamb at 1:00 PM on January 11

Just coming back in case anyone references this in the future. Turns out my Echomaster is fine with an effects loop running through it. Final set up is The Echomaster then into a chain of Boss CS3, Overdrive, Phaser, Shimverb and EQ before going back out to the amp. This allows me to set the mix and have full control over whatever effects I'm running.
It sounds great!
posted by freya_lamb at 3:14 PM on February 6