Live Vocals with Guitar Pedals? (Eventide MixLink Alternative Ideas?)

[Robert Technology]

Hello!

I'm curious if anyone has experience with an effective DIY setup for running vocals through guitar pedals. I was looking at the Eventide MixLink pedal and it basically has the features I want but I'm always looking for a DIY option...

Seems like this is just a switchable "Low to High, High to Low" impedance effect loop switcher. Could I just use two back to back ReAmp box projects on a footswitch, along with a preamp for the mic signal? If so, anyone have a suggestion for a good ReAmp box project??

[Leo_Gnardo]

ZZ Top has been doing that in the studio since Esther was a pup. An MXR flanger on the vocals was one of the hooks on many of their 80's hits. "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" is a prime example. It's a matter of level matching as you suggest. Many mix consoles have a pretty hot "send" signal on their insert jacks, which you can easily cut down with a resistor voltage divider. Without this it's easy to crush the FX boxes' input circuit. The tricky part is boosting signal back up from guitar to line level. All it takes is a simple preamp, and it doesn't hurt to have a volume control on it. At one time there were studio gadget boxes sold to do exactly this. One from the 70's was stereo, called the "Headroom Horseman." They were made in North Tarrytown NY, which has since changed its name to Sleepy Hollow, for those who get the literary reference. In any case it was just a couple of op amps, a couple resistors and a power supply. You could devise your own, or find the Horseman's schematic, maybe use more modern low noise hi bandwidth op amps.

We can always stand to hear some ZZ Top:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIrhcOIYfA8

In more recent times Saint Vincent has been doing that sort of thing in live performance. She has one mic set up normal, and another that's passed thru some sort of chorus. What's going on here as far as signal conditioning / level matching is anybody's guess. I've put this video up once before, it's a hoot, enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lan-UQfN0zs

[Robert Technology]

Very cool!

I will look into the Headroom Horseman, and while definitely listen to some ZZ Top while doing so!!

[Gnobuddy]

The tricky part is boosting signal back up from guitar to line level. All it takes is a simple preamp, and it doesn't hurt to have a volume control on it.

My go-to box for this sort of thing is an ART Tube MP/C ( https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...-art-tube-mp-c ). It's a nice little mono preamp with both 1/4" and XLR inputs, gain and output level controls, a push button for an extra 20 dB gain, LED signal level monitoring, and, as a bonus, an extremely usable and useful optical compressor.

It's certainly not hard to roll your own simple preamp, but by the time you add basic necessities like signal level monitoring, it's not such a simple project any more. I've found these little ART MP/Cs to be extremely useful, and extremely versatile. Aside from solving level-matching issues like the one discussed here, they'll do everything from mic preamp duty to taming those "whisper then shout" singers to acting as a great DI box for bass guitar.

-Gnobuddy