I bought it a month ago and I love it, once you get the levels right it's really simple to use, includes pretty much everything and can run on batteries.

I think this kind of tech is cool and very much needed. Back in the good old days of the Who and Led Zeppelin, there wasn't really any vocal processing to speak of. Often, the vocal mic was not brought up to balance with the rest of the band. Imagine you are Robert Plant. You have John Bonham behind you, literally beating the drum heads to pieces (a drum tech standing by with a stack of replacements), John Paul Jones on a thundering bass. Jimmy Page with this crazy "wall of guitars" sound he created. And you've got a mic and one monitor cabinet. And an engineer who may or may not get the levels right, often keeping the vocal mic just a little low to prevent feedback.

Nowadays, you have mics specifically built to avoid feeback, which allows greater volume on the vocal channel, and you don't have to sing as loud to be heard. And pedal effects, where you can stomp into reverb or delay, at will, as you interpret the song. Maybe with some eq you set so that it doesn't matter what the venue is, you can match it. Neato.

Speaking of Robert Plant, I read somewhere (?), that it was Plant who had first experimented with vocal processing by using a guitar distortion pedal on "No Quarter".


I'd like to know which pedal it was.......

Last edited by Nightprowler (2010-07-03 20:56:25)

Ron,

I've been looking for that article, but it's been so long since I've seen it, I cannot seem to locate it !
It was definitely used in the live performances, though, and ONLY on "No Quarter". I seen Zep front and center stage both in 1973 and 1975 in Pittsburgh and THAT definitely was not Plant's vocals without "processing"....
I'm not a sound engineer by any means, bu I know for certain it wasn't the "Boss DS-1" guitar pedal. I tried it in my "chain", and talk about some "EFX" !!! Not exactly what I was hoping to accomplish if you know what I mean ---- 

Hi,

Any updated opinions or reviews on the Boos VE-20?
I'm thinking about buying this product, but don't want to get sucked in by ad hype.

Thanks for any help on this.
Basil

I received VE-20 for Christmas
I started playing around with my VE-20 today and some of the presets are pretty good after you adjust the input sensitivity and lower the reverb settings,but I'm going to have to tweek my own patches to make this work for me. BTW....I'm a 80's HR/HM vocalist so I think reverb,delay,doubling,chorus and maybe some slight harmony effects are what I'm going to create.
I'm always up for any help on the learning curve so if anyone else has things they found and are up for sharing ....please post your findings and settings .

I don't have mic effects. But I would assume (I am also from a guitar background) that you could plug your mic cord in the input of the effect and plug the cable that goes to the sound system into the output of your effect box. Or am I wrong?

Guys,

I've been playing in an original band in Aus for about 3 yrs, have toured the country and about to tour UK....

Regarding plugging in your vocal pedal...We use $50 guitar delay pedals and run our vocals through them....hence I found this forum as we're looking to upgrade from this to VE-20s.
Anyway....just let the sound guy know (nicely) that you'll be running a vocal pedal.
Make sure the mic is muted (i.e. tap it to check) pull thir lead out of the mic and stick it in the back of your pedal.
Provide your own lead to go from the mic to your pedal (don't ask sound guys for it, unless you're desperate).

By the time you've done this he won't even notice and you'll be ready to go.

Just be careful when you're using a power supply for it, especially if its from the same board as other stuff.
Some clubs have 'dirty' power and it will hiss through the PA...but maybe thats just cos we use shit pedals....keep fresh batteries handy

Anyway, sounds like VE-20 is the business....???

Ok so we got VE-20s and they're pretty good, just don't go overboard on the harmony settings or it gets a bit of a computerish/digital sound.

Delays and reverbs are pretty great though.

BradL22 wrote:

I am using the BOSS VE-20 and weas wondering if anyone had any settings to sound more like Bon Jovi.  I am looking to sing I'll be there for you and my voice struggles to hit the high notes.

Thanks

You could just sing it lower and put an octave higher harmony with a fair bit of reverb on it but that might sound a bit crap too.

If you can't hit the note I don't think there is a pedal around that can save you.

Or just don't sing Bon Jovi...probably your best option 

Just know how to quickly change it to 100% wet (and have a wye cable if there's no mic passthrough), so when you have a gig on which someone is mixing, you can give him dry and FX feeds and let him determine the appropriate mix (folks who do it themselves tend to way overdo it).

Hi,

I bought a VE20 recently and I'm very happy with it to say the least. I sing in a rock covers band - we've just started out so I'm a beginner basically. I use the Hard Rock preset and I have programmed pitch correct into the user channels for each of my songs. It has transformed my voice and it doesn't sound un - natural at all. I don't have a problem treating my vocals. If my guitarist has a bank of effects why shouldn't the singer? Just be aware that whilst I'm sure it's useful, the pitch correct won't turn you into Robert Plant - you still have to sing reasonably well! I can change from one preset to the next easily with my feet if I put the unit at the base of my mike. We have our first gig on Thursday this week which is an open mic night but I don't see a problem using it. You bring your own mic plug that into the back of the box and then plug their mic lead into the output plug on the back of the box - should be easy enough. 

I'm still getting used to it but if you have any questions let me know.

Hi Everyone,

Would anyone have some good custom patch settings that work for them?
I've been digging deeper into the Boss VE20 and there are some many different settings.

@Helikan
Is there a large volume change when using the distortion fx as comparied to other Fx you're using?
If so you may have to adject the gain.   
The VE-20 unit has some preamp settings which may offer you some more options.
Question:  When playing live are you providing the PA gear or using the in house system and sound man?

@Helikin

One thing I really don't like about the VE-20 are the global settings ....wish you could choose global or none global for each custom patch.

I 'm not sure what kind of distortion Fx you're tryig to create,but here's a few things that could help.

1. In the setup menu make your output mono/dry
This way the sound person has two feeds one with your FX and one dry.  The Fx can be added and controlled on a seperate channel and re-EQed if needed.

2. Turn off the distortion for now.
Under the Tone/SFX menu there are the Preamp settings ......try to recreate your distortion FX by overdriving the gain and adjusting the tone settings.

If needed turn on the distrotion and add a small amount ...being careful of feedback.

3. Under the Master menu change your level settings to closer match the level of your mic when the fx are in  bypass mode.
     This way when you turn your fx on there won't be large volume change which can cause feedback depending on close you are to the monitors.


Hope this helps.

Last edited by basil (2011-10-04 14:07:48)

You can set one of the outputs to dry and you can set the other to wet.   You will be able to give FOH both signals.

Learn the unit inside and out so you can make tweeks as needed.
Get to the show early and work with the FOH and monitor sound person on getting everything to your liking.
Some places I play I don't even bother with VE20 because the house sound person doesn't want to be bothered or there just isn't going to be a sound check.

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to chime in I just got one of these today. Played around with it in my home studio and it sounds good. The only thing I don't like so far is the pitch correct, even at the soft setting it have distinct artefacts from pitch correction - I guess it will only be useful if you really want a "modern" sound with very audible correction. This isn't a biggie for me personally since I will probably never use it, but it could be important to someone looking into the unit.
Reverb and delay sound good, moderate amount of harmonies sound surprisingly good. Don't think I will use the loop function much, but maybe for soundchecks it could come in handy. Very easy to use and tweak. Will try it in band rehearsal on friday and I'm looking forward to it.

I got the unit because the PA the band have contains no reverb or delay, and I felt like singing with some fx - not just dry vocals. Price felt ok, and I guess it's nice that it can run on battery power during gigs.