BOSS VE 20

128 Guitarist December 2010
BOSS VE-20 & TC-HELICON VOICETONE HARMONY-G XT £219 & £205
RECORDING
BOSS VE20
PRICE: £219
ORIGIN: Taiwan
TYPE: Vocal processor
MEMORY: 30 Preset and 50 User
patches
CONNECTIONS: 6.4mm jack/XLR
combi input, XLR outputs L (mono)
and R, 6.4mm stereo headphone/
line output
EFFECTS: Electric, Robot, Strobe
(rotary), Distortion, Chorus, Reverb
OTHER FEATURES: Phrase Loop
(Mono 38 sec)
DIMENSIONS: 173 (w) x 158 (d)
x 57mm (h)
POWER REQUIREMENTS: DC 9V:
6 x LR6/R6 (AA) Batteries (included)
or DC 9V AC adaptor (PSA series)
PHANTOM POWER: Ye s
BATTERY LIFE: Expected battery life
under continuous use: 2 hours
(Carbon), 8 hours (Alkaline)
INCLUDED ACCESSORIES: Six AAA
batteries
OPTIONS: Power Adapter
Roland UK
01792 702701
www.roland.co.uk
Test results
Build quality
Features
Sound
Value for money
GUITARIST RATING
TCHelicon
VoiceTone
Harmony-G XT
PRICE: £205
ORIGIN: Thailand
TYPE: Vocal processor
MEMORY: 10 editable patches
CONNECTIONS: XLR mic input, XLR
outputs L (mono) and R, 1/4-inch jack
Thru, 6.4mm jack In, USB
EFFECTS: Hall, room, echo, slap,
combi, SFX
DIMENSIONS: 130 (w) x 132 (d)
x 41mm (h)
POWER REQUIREMENTS: AC adaptor
(12 VDC 300 mA, tip negative)
PHANTOM POWER: Ye s
INCLUDED ACCESSORIES: Power
Adapter, USB cable, CD with
VoiceSupport software
RANGE OPTIONS: VoiceLive 2 (£665)
plus there are five other VoiceTone
pedals for various applications:
VoiceTone Create XT, Correct and
Double (£205), VoiceTone Synth and
Harmony-M (£249)
TC-Helicon
0800 917 8926
www.tc-helicon.com
Test results
Build quality
Features
Sound
Value for money
GUITARIST RATING
by a dedicated front panel
button but there are four more
buttons, including two cursors,
for getting into the menus and
editing. The left footswitch is
the on/off switch for the overall
sound, while the right
footswitch is set by default to
turn the harmonies on and off,
although you can opt to set it to
switch other effects within a
patch if so desired.
Sounds
The VE-20’s factory presets are
a varied cross-section of what
the unit can do and are based on
various musical styles, special
effects and different harmony
intervals. While you might find
something here that you can
use straight out of the box,
you’ll probably head for the user
patches where you can store
your own particular sounds. To
this end, editing is dead easy,
with perhaps the two most
crucial parameters instantly
available – one being the
previously mentioned reverb
level and the other being the
key for the harmonies, which is
accessed by a single press of the
right cursor – the rotary knob
choosing a key other than the
default C major setting. All
edits are automatically saved.
Other parameters are easily
accessed from the menu,
including setting the level, pitch
interval, pan and gender of the
two available harmonies –
unison and up or down thirds,
fourths, fifths, sixths and
octaves are all available.
Doubling is also available as
a harmony choice. While the
harmonies are an important
part of the VE-20, BOSS has
also put in plenty of vocal
effects should you want to
sound like a robot, Cher, or even
a tinny radio. The pitch
correction FX block has an
‘electric’ setting for that abused
Auto-Tune sound, while the
available tone/SFX types
include chorus, flanger, strobe
(a tremolo effect), radio,
preamp (for EQ and the like)
and distortion, which possibly
combined with an octave down
harmony should tickle the
fancy of death metal vocalists.
The BOSS is a lot of fun,
sounds pretty good and will be
easy to use onstage once you’ve
set up all your patches, if you
don’t mind bending down and
selecting them between songs.
Verdict
Both of these pedals offer
creative possibilities for
vocalists and may be
particularly suited to solo acts
that want to add a little interest
to their music or just present a
bigger sound to their audience.
Bear in mind, though, that this
type of pedal demands to be
used with caution, vocal pitch-
shifting technology isn’t
without odd-sounding
artefacts and a shift of just a
few semitones can sound
unnatural if mixed too high in
relation to the main vocal.
Keep the levels reasonable
though (and sing in tune!) and
you’ll be rewarded with
generated harmonies that will
enhance your performance.
The Bottom Line
TCHelicon
VoiceTone
Harmony-G XT
We like: Harmonies
generated from guitar;
dedicated footswitch for
harmony switching; two
different patches instantly
footswitchable
We dislike: Setting the key
manually requires a lot of
footswitching activity
Guitarist says: A cost-
effective way to enhance
your voice and add
harmonies that can be
pitched to follow your guitar
BOSS VE20
We like: Selection of voice-
changing effects; harmonies
with dedicated footswitch;
onboard looper
We dislike: No guitar input
Guitarist says: Why should
guitarists have all the fun?
This is a no-brainer onstage
pedal for vocalists
The BOSS is a lot of fun, sounds pretty
good and will be easy to use onstage
The VE-20’s presets offer a varied cross-section of the unit’s capabilities
GIT336.rev_tc 128 11/8/10 1:01:00 PM