Synth pedal to emulate talkbox effect on Livin' On A Prayer?

[CJPJ]

We play a version of this classic Bon Jovi track and I'd like to experiment giving my bass line that wa-wa sound. I know the original was the guitar going through a talkbox (as per the YT clipbelow) but I wanted to play about with it and see if I could split my bass signal, maybe octave it up, and have this sound running in the background??! Any thoughts?

 

 

[tayste_2000]

Wah pedal

[bartelby]

Do formant filter Wah pedals exist?

 

Ooh, the EHX Talking Machine:
https://www.ehx.com/products/stereo-talking-machine/

Edited October 2, 2022 by bartelby

[itu]

https://www.premierguitar.com/news/audiospektri-pgv

[Cuzzie]

@Quatschmacher could the Source Audio C4 do something like this?

 I would check mine, but I have loaned it to someone!

 

[BigRedX]

Why isn't the guitarist doing this with a talkbox?

 

This is such an integral part of the sound of the song that if you can't get it spot on right it you might as well not bother.

[CJPJ]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

Why isn't the guitarist doing this with a talkbox?

 

This is such an integral part of the sound of the song that if you can't get it spot on right it you might as well not bother.

Fair. I’ve asked but he’s not stepping up 🙄. We are playing an interpretation rather than a faithful cover so I only wanted to nod to the original which is why I was thinking I could just echo the bass line

[Cuzzie]

41 minutes ago, CJPJ said:

Fair. I’ve asked but he’s not stepping up 🙄. We are playing an interpretation rather than a faithful cover so I only wanted to nod to the original which is why I was thinking I could just echo the bass line

https://www.sourceaudio.net/featured-neuro-preset-gallery/featured-neuro-artist-621-thehook
 

about halfway down, D funky and toothy twins

 

gives you the ball park 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Why isn't the guitarist doing this with a talkbox?

 

This is such an integral part of the sound of the song that if you can't get it spot on right it you might as well not bother.

This definitely. I’ve played this song live more times than I care to remember in various different outfits.

Current bands: Jovi tribute do it with talk box on guitar and it’s ace. Cover band also do it on guitar but with a pedal effect - good, but not great.

Obviously I don’t know what it’s going to sound like with your suggestion, but I’d have to get guitarist to step up.

[AxelF]

I've had to play this a couple of times and use a patch on my C4 with expression pedal controlling the mix - it works really well as you can fade it in and out.

[dannybuoy]

MXR Bass Envelope Filter always reminded me of this tone. Closest you’ll get with a standard filter if you don’t want to go down the Source Audio route.

[gafbass02]

I tried the talker on my zoom b9, but it just sounded better without tbh   Lost too much low end 

[Crusoe]

Clothes peg on your nose and just sing it into a normal microphone. 

[Al Krow]

17 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

MXR Bass Envelope Filter always reminded me of this tone. Closest you’ll get with a standard filter if you don’t want to go down the Source Audio route.

Hey DB! You'd not recommend the Digitech BSW? 

[dannybuoy]

On 05/10/2022 at 18:59, Al Krow said:

Hey DB! You'd not recommend the Digitech BSW? 

Been a while since I played one, but maybe!

[mcnach]

The Digitech Synth Wah, both guitar or bass versions, will get a very acceptable approximation. However I'd echo what others already said: get the guitarist to do that. It seems a bit silly that he won't.

 

If the bass ends up doing that you need a way to blend a clean bass too so that you don't lose that pumping bass line. I like the idea of using the C4 with an expression pedal blend the talkbox effect in/out. But really... why is the guitarist not doing it? It'd be the best and cheapest solution.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I used to use an EHX Bass Balls to cover the vocoder bit in Mr Blue Sky - it's got a gurgly, vowel-like envelope so might work for you.

[CJPJ]

36 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

I used to use an EHX Bass Balls to cover the vocoder bit in Mr Blue Sky - it's got a gurgly, vowel-like envelope so might work for you.

Interesting - used to have one of those. Might give it a try as it’s a great pedal to have in the line up anyway 

[stewblack]

If you want to do it on the bass then crack on I say. What could be more fun? There's a boss filter with vowel sounds and a bloody great heavy thing I used to have would talk to you . Can't remember it's name so I'm not much help. 

But I love the creativity in your idea.

[MacDaddy]

On 25/10/2022 at 22:24, stewblack said:

If you want to do it on the bass then crack on I say. What could be more fun? There's a boss filter with vowel sounds and a bloody great heavy thing I used to have would talk to you . Can't remember it's name so I'm not much help. 

But I love the creativity in your idea.

 

I used to have a multi fx and the wah options included 'ooh' and 'aah'.

The 'ooh' worked perfectly for Living on a Prayer.

Also can't remember which one 😟

[CJPJ]

5 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

 

I used to have a multi fx and the wah options included 'ooh' and 'aah'.

The 'ooh' worked perfectly for Living on a Prayer.

Also can't remember which one 😟

Helpful, thanks 🤪🤣

[PaulThePlug]

Edited October 31, 2022 by PaulThePlug

[JapanAxe]

On 25/10/2022 at 22:24, stewblack said:

 … and a bloody great heavy thing I used to have would talk to you …

That’s no way to speak about the missus!

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

On 13/10/2022 at 01:53, Cosmo Valdemar said:

I used to use an EHX Bass Balls to cover the vocoder bit in Mr Blue Sky - it's got a gurgly, vowel-like envelope so might work for you.

The bass balls has a couple of trimpots inside to adjust the range and resonance of the effect, but the mooer bass sweeper is the same thing, but has a couple of extra knobs for these parameters, so that might be an option.

[CJPJ]

I’ve got a Bassballs on the way and have an offer of a Talkbox from a BC’er. I’m going to try the EHX first (maybe combining with a light distortion/synth/fuzz) before investing in something more complicated and expensive. Ironically we have gig tomorrow night (Teddington Beer Festival) and we’ve dropped this song from the listing as we didn’t feel it was ready!