Simple rig for jamming to backing tracks (guitar and vocals, battery powered)

[des0free]

I like fooling with gear and have tried/described other more complicated setups before, but recently found a simple setup (see pic below) that makes it very easy to jam (guitar and vocal) with backing tracks. It gets quite loud, at least for living room use, so you can really "rock out". It is also battery powered, so one could use this for busking.

1. Behringer MP40bt (~$200) - PA speaker with Bluetooth (play backing tracks via your phone). Has a 3-channel mixer, so you can plug in a guitar and mic

2. TC Helicon Mic Mechanic pedal (~$150) provides vocal eq, compression, reverb, delay, and pitch correction. I use a CAD D90 dynamic mic.

3. Cube Baby AC - acoustic guitar pedal ($40) that provides Eq, IR simulator, compression, reverb, delay, and feedback suppressor. I use a Taylor GS mini guitar with ES-go magnetic sound hole pickup - alone it sounds terrible but using Eq and the IR simulator "Martin 45 sound hole" on the pedal makes it sound good.

So this is a ~$400 setup (not including guitar and mic) that can also be completely powered by batteries.

[StephenM]

very cool Doug!

I really like the idea of this and that mic mechanic sounds very intriguing as does the acoustic pedal...

I could use that mic thing anyway for playing out anywhere...I generally like Behringer products and have had quite a number of various things they make...so no problem with that brand for me...

thanks for all this research....

[des0free]

very cool Doug!

I really like the idea of this and that mic mechanic sounds very intriguing as does the acoustic pedal...

I could use that mic thing anyway for playing out anywhere...I generally like Behringer products and have had quite a number of various things they make...so no problem with that brand for me...

thanks for all this research....

If you're interested in that TC mic mechanic 2  pedal, you might also consider the " TC helicon duplicator" pedal instead, which has all the same features and the same price, except a vocal doubling effect instead of delay. I don't feel you really need both reverb and delay - reverb is enough, and it would be nice to try the doubling effect, I think the idea is that you can kick that effect in/out by pressing the pedal button, to for example thicken your vocal during the chorus

one thing to know about both of these pedals is that the EQ and compressor is not adjustable (besides a higher or lower setting) it supposedly auto adjusts to your voice.  But I find that it sounds good, and it's actually convenient that there are no adjustments to fiddle with.

However, now I am looking at the " TC helicon play acoustic pedal", which supposedly has both vocal and acoustic guitar effects, more adjustable, and can generate harmonies on your vocals based on the guitar chords that you're playing (although that pedal is $300).  It also has effects that are supposed to enhance the acoustic guitar sound - but I don't know if there are as good as the "IR loader" (impulse response) the cube baby AC pedal has (Supposedly with the Cube baby you can also download any IR files people have posted on the Internet (impulse responses for different guitars, recorded using different mics and different guitar pick up systems).  And the cube baby is only $40 from Amazon, so may be worth trying and can probably be returned if you don't like it (one issue I found is that there is a bit of noise/Hum). Also, another thing to know is that that cube baby pedal itself has Bluetooth, so you can stream a backing track from your phone to it, and that can be mixed with the guitar signal sent to the PA.   

Edit - they are appear to be different cube baby AC " brand labels" - the exact one I bought is on Amazon is labeled " LEKATO Multi Effects Pedal for Acoustic Guitar, with IR Loading 9 AMP Models, Acoustic Multi Effects Processor, Bluetooth 5.0,Recording, Built-in Battery"
https://www.amazon.com/LEKATO-Acoustic-Processor-Bluetooth-Recording/dp/B0BGRCYP87?pd_rd_w=VVCjM&content-id=amzn1.sym.b854a5c2-4475-41f8-a6d4-df92b2868104&pf_rd_p=b854a5c2-4475-41f8-a6d4-df92b2868104&pf_rd_r=BM8AGK09WSTQMRKZA0GC&pd_rd_wg=5prZe&pd_rd_r=d540079d-5f7f-4e63-97a9-2ce58bbecf36&pd_rd_i=B0BGRCYP87&psc=1&ref_=pd_basp_bia_rpt_ba_s_1_sc

[TPB]

Lekato works for me I bought the looper from them no problems once the learning curve was done. This looks good may give it a try
Tim

[StephenM]

great information here Doug.....  I like the idea of that last one you were talking about... I have seen a few of these types of things in use and I thought they were cool...

check this out... lately I found this open mic where there is a kind of house band to back a single person up (or not).  They are pretty young, some are very young but they are excellent and can play about anything, which blows my mind...

So I have been playing there.  Alot of people come, it is an amazing crowd and they get into the music.  So I have got to play a number of cover and originals with them.  It has been an absolute blast and it makes it so fun to play with a good crowd and a band...plus I got to play through a Marshall one of the guys brings.  I also got to play drums and bass on a number of other songs..  but when whoever's turn is up to play 4 songs you get the mic and that is when I do stuff I write or a few covers I want to do...
As crazy as some of my music is they follow me very well... there are so many great musicians that play there.  For me playing isn't and never will be about making money.  I get that for alot of people it is and it's totally fine. 

[des0free]

Ok - stop the presses!  I got the TC Helicon Play Acoustic pedal that has both vocal effects and acoustic guitar effects built in and now think I prefer that - see new thread with demo live cover of REM song:

https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?topic=34033.0

[des0free]

great information here Doug.....  I like the idea of that last one you were talking about... I have seen a few of these types of things in use and I thought they were cool...

check this out... lately I found this open mic where there is a kind of house band to back a single person up (or not).  They are pretty young, some are very young but they are excellent and can play about anything, which blows my mind...

So I have been playing there.  Alot of people come, it is an amazing crowd and they get into the music.  So I have got to play a number of cover and originals with them.  It has been an absolute blast and it makes it so fun to play with a good crowd and a band...plus I got to play through a Marshall one of the guys brings.  I also got to play drums and bass on a number of other songs..  but when whoever's turn is up to play 4 songs you get the mic and that is when I do stuff I write or a few covers I want to do...
As crazy as some of my music is they follow me very well... there are so many great musicians that play there.  For me playing isn't and never will be about making money.  I get that for alot of people it is and it's totally fine. 

That is totally cool that you can play with a backing band, and mind blowing that they can just roll with it and play anything.  That sounds like it will be a real blast.  But I highly recommend you also make yourself a set up at home where you can play along live to a backing track, because that's quite a lot of fun too and you can do it anytime you want.  For me, I desperately need to practice, so it helps me practice a song like maybe 100 times until I start to be able to play it without messing up every time.