Alvino Rey use of talk box with pedal steel

[ICTGoober]

Alvino Rey - Talking Steel Guitar "Stringy" - YouTube

The first cat I ever heard using a talk box was Jeff Beck. Of course - Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton used them, too. Check out Alvino Rey and his wife in this movie from 1944 called "Jam Session". Get ready for some great big band jazz!

[beaubrummels]

I think my brain just folded inside out. But that was cool.

[Mincer]

I've seen this before. It is a much older effect than I thought, too.

[JamesPaul]

...as old as my Dad. I also had no idea the effect went back that far. This makes me curious as to why the talk box isn't utilized more today. Maybe it's still viewed as a gimmick?

[Mincer]

Outside Stringy here, and Jeff Beck on 'She's A Woman', it is also a sound I can't stand for very long.

[JamesPaul]

I was thinking not so much as using it on every Nth song, but just seeing more electric guitar players using talk boxes. Maybe even just 1 song per show.

I'm thinking every electric guitar player owns a distortion pedal. I'm not much of a pedal user and I own 3 distortion pedals. But how many own a talk box? I don't and right now I can't think of anyone else who isn't in ICTGoober's post except Richie Sambora.

I'm almost tempted to start a poll to see how many here own a talk box. But I'm still thinking so few own one that the poll wouldn't get much attention or votes. Of course I could be wrong, been wrong before.

[Mincer]

One of the issues is that they are a pain to set up. And..to what end? To do some sort of robot talking thing? The tone isn't really good. I'd rather just use a wah, and let the singer sing actual words if I need that.

[ICTGoober]

A pain? How so? I played for years with a guitarist who had one, it looked dead easy. He made his own from a small EV driver, with a length of half-inch clear medical tubing. A couple of velcro straps secured the tube to the mic stand, and he had a footswitch to turn it on and off. We performed "Rocky Mountain Way", as well as some novelty songs for special occasions we might play - "Happy Birthday" and the like.

[Mincer]

"A pain" meaning it isn't just another pedal to plug in and turn on. I am happy people enjoy it, but I could never stand the sound past a few examples Those are all I ever need to hear.

[AlexR]

Wasn't the talkbox (vocoder) originally invented at the dawn of telephone - I thought I remembered some info about the sound from the original telephone - it was so poor this invention was utilised to give it vocal quality

[GuitarDoc]

It's also a pain to clean. The tube get full of saliva which grows some pretty nasty bugs if not cleaned after every use.

[GuitarDoc]

Speaking of Alvino Rey...I knew his daughter, Liza, when she was singing in a "rival" band back in the late 60's. Really a sweet girl and a good singer, but she was exceptionally hot (I mean, really really cute). I think she also played violin on a few songs.

[Mincer]

It's also a pain to clean. The tube get full of saliva which grows some pretty nasty bugs if not cleaned after every use.

Most people I knew who used it, never cleaned it. I guess that protects you from someone asking to try it, though.

[beaubrummels]

Speaking of Alvino Rey...I knew his daughter, Liza, when she was singing in a "rival" band back in the late 60's. Really a sweet girl and a good singer, but she was exceptionally hot (I mean, really really cute). I think she also played violin on a few songs.

You ain't kidding

[ICTGoober]

Hubba-hubba!