The Talk Box and the Gong

At a recent rehearsal with The Drop Daddies, my buddy Ian made an amusing and insightful comment…

Last year, I added a Rocktron Banshee talkbox to my pedal board, so that I could nail the intro to Sweet Emotion, and the solo in Weezer’s Beverly Hills.  Yes, it does that sound, and it does it well.

But over the last year, the guys have heard me increasingly frustrated at what a pain in the ass it is to set the thing up (thread the plastic tube up the mic stand, plug in the giant AC adapter), and clean out the spit after the gig.

All that hassle, just for a couple novelty moments during the set.  At rehearsal the other day, our drummer Ian came out with this gem:

I see. So, the talk box is the guitarist’s equivalent of the gong.  Except you can’t even light it on fire…

Ba dum bum. 🙂 Exactly!  I think it’s time to get this thing off my pedal board!