# Heil Talkbox



## bluesbird (Oct 30, 2007)

I have a Heil Talkbox, which is hooked up to a JCM 900 head & 1960A cab, and it sounds like shit when it is on. Basically, it sucks the tone of the amp when activated, and sounds frizzy and dry. Is there a way to fix this ? I do not use the talkbox extensively, but when I do I switch it on/off whenever I'm not using it. Would a bypass fix this problem ?


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## cbrown0019 (Jan 28, 2008)

How do you have it hooked up to your gear?


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

The best way to use the Heil or Dunlop reissues is to have a seperate head to drive them and usa an A/B box to select either your main rig or the talkbox.

In fact that's what Dunlop recommends. Take a little low powered head and overdrive the snot out of it into the talk box. You don't need anything hooked up to the output of the device at all.

I have one and had great results with it in this way.


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## cbrown0019 (Jan 28, 2008)

Thats the best way forsure.
Another way Dunlop says you can use is is to with just one amp is:
-connect a cable from the speaker output of your Amp to the input of the talkbox. 
-Connect your speaker cabinet to the output of the Talkbox. 
When the talkbox is on, the signal is passed up through the tube. When switched off, the sound is passed through to the speaker. If you set it up this way, make sure you are using good cables (heavy duty speaker cable), not a regular guitar cable.


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## bluesbird (Oct 30, 2007)

I am using heavy gauge cables to connect the talkox to the amp. I'm using on a JCM900 100W, connecting the IN Speaker to the 1960A Cab, and FROM Amp to the JCM900 Head. Also, taking into account, the head and cab are connected using the other two back inputs of head & cab. The pedal effects, however, go to the input of the amp, and not in the effects loop. 

Basically, the talkbox works but there is no tone at all just like playing a through a cheap wah. Somewhat acceptable, if you use the talkbox consistently, but when switching back & forth, it kills the overall tone.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

neno said:


> I am using heavy gauge cables to connect the talkox to the amp. I'm using on a JCM900 100W, connecting the IN Speaker to the 1960A Cab, and FROM Amp to the JCM900 Head. Also, taking into account, the head and cab are connected using the other two back inputs of head & cab. The pedal effects, however, go to the input of the amp, and not in the effects loop.
> 
> Basically, the talkbox works but there is no tone at all just like playing a through a cheap wah. Somewhat acceptable, if you use the talkbox consistently, but when switching back & forth, it kills the overall tone.


Use it the way I indicated above and it will be a MAJOR improvement.


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## bluesbird (Oct 30, 2007)

Milkman said:


> The best way to use the Heil or Dunlop reissues is to have a seperate head to drive them and usa an A/B box to select either your main rig or the talkbox.
> 
> In fact that's what Dunlop recommends. Take a little low powered head and overdrive the snot out of it into the talk box. You don't need anything hooked up to the output of the device at all.
> 
> I have one and had great results with it in this way.


Can you be clearer on how to A-B it ? If I connect the Talkbox to the A/B, then how should I connect it to the head and cab ? Basically, you want me to dedicate an overdrive pedal just for the talkbox channel, and use the other pedals for the main rig. 

btw: my actual setup of the talkbox is cbrown's suggestion on how to connect the talkbox.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

neno said:


> Can you be clearer on how to A-B it ? If I connect the Talkbox to the A/B, then how should I connect it to the head and cab ? Basically, you want me to dedicate an overdrive pedal just for the talkbox channel, and use the other pedals for the main rig.
> 
> btw: my actual setup of the talkbox is cbrown's suggestion on how to connect the talkbox.


You go from your guitar to the A/B box. 

From A, you go to your normal pedalboard and amp.

From B you go to the in put of a low powered amp. From the speaker out of the low powered amp you go to the input of the talkbox. Nothing is connected to the output of the talk box.

You use the gain on the small amp to overdrive the signal going to the talk box.

It's simple and it works. Also, because the weakest link in the talk box tends to be the horn driver itself. If the horn driver blows it's apparently not hard to subsequently blow your amp head so running it the way I (and Jim Dunlop) recommends is much safer for your gear.


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