Aphex HeadPod, TC-Helicon VoiceTone Correct and Radial JDX
I have always thought of gear as falling into one of three basic classes. First is the big stuff that soundcos get judged on (i.e., stacks, racks and consoles). Next comes the less pricey, smaller stuff that goes a long way in defining a soundco’s “flavor.” This is stuff like processors, EQ, comps and mic selection. Finally, there are the small “secret weapons” that can sometimes save a gig and fit in your briefcase. Here are three such armaments.
Aphex HeadPod
Ok, so it’s a headphone amp. Big deal, right? And it is way more expensive than some other ones out there. But here’s the deal — it’s dead quiet and sounds really good. Rumor has it that Max Weinberg is using one for his PM mix on the road with Springsteen. It’s your basic stereo-in with an aux and four stereo outs with their own volume controls. I have been using it in rehearsal and gig situations where I am short on mixes and have a horn section on wired PMs. I send one stereo mix to the HeadPod and each member of the section can plug in and control his or her own volume. My only complaint is the wall-wart power supply, but that is the norm for gear like this.
TC-Helicon VoiceTone Correct
It’s a pitch corrector in a stomp box with some added goodies. The bonus here is that it is dead easy to use. It has some tone-shaping tools including a compressor and de-esser, but TC-Helicon has developed some pretty cool algorithms that “listen” to the incoming voice and determine an ideal setting. Of course, we all have different ideas of “ideal,” so there are controls to set it yourself. But the key here is ease of use.
Have a new band in and the singer is a bit on the “pitchy” side? Patch the Correct between the mic and the board (yes, we would rather have it as in insert. TC makes another one like that, again, this is about ease of use) and you are done. You can route the corrected vocal to the mains and keep the monitors unaffected. Or, if the singer knows they are pitchy and just wants some help, you can even route the corrected vocal ONLY to the monitors as a “guide” to help them stay on pitch. World-class acts use very spendy alternatives to get just this kind of help live, and with the Correct, you can get it for $345 list price and well under three bills street price.
I started using one with a singer who needs some occasional help and literally threw it on the floor, plugged it in and never touched it again. Gotta love that. In fact, I just yanked two Antares Vocal Producers out of the rack if you know anyone who wants to buy them…
Radial JDX and Phazer
Lots of us have used the JDX or something like it (Hughes and Kettner Red Box?) as a way to avoid miking a guitar amp. I like the JDX a lot better just because it sounds more “real.” For those of you who have never used one, the JDX inserts between the speaker out and the speaker of a guitar amp and gives you a line-level balanced out that you can send to the console. The important thing here is that this is not just a “load box,” which converts excess energy to heat to get that signal.
The JDX uses some proprietary band pass filtering and what they call “reactive load tracking.” Basically, it constantly monitors the changes in impedence between the amp and the speaker and makes that important relationship part of the line-out sound. Bottom line is that it sounds like a guitar amp, not a direct box.
The secret sauce comes when you add a mic and the Phazer. The Phazer allows you to adjust and compensate for phase differences between the direct out and the mic signal. It takes a little playing around with it, but you will eventually find that “sweet spot” where the guitar — now fed into two channels on the console — sounds big and thick and double tracked.
Like all the Radial stuff, both boxes are pretty much bulletproof. My only problem in using either was that I am a combo amp guy. And like most combo amps, the speaker cable on the one I was using was very short — just long enough to get from the output to the speaker — and hardwired at the speaker end (Obviously, this is not a problem when using a separate head and cab). If you are using it with a combo amp, carry a coupler to lengthen the speaker cable so you don’t have to leave the JDX dangling from the back of the amp like I did. Radial makes a couple of mounting options for the JDX and I would suggest using one — especially on a combo amp.
The JDX will run you about two bills. The Phazer is a bit more spendy, listing at $350 and streeting at more like $300.
