TC-Helicon VoiceTone Harmony-G XT Reviews

from Milwaukee WI
May 16, 2013Music Background:
Pro Musician

Great Pedal

This pedal has created so much more dynamic possibilities for me! It is intuitive and easy to use!

Paul
from Washington DC
April 4, 2013Music Background:
Musician

Great piece of gear

The harmonies are so clean and natural, very little loss of overtones. Easy to switch between different profiles, which makes testing out different set-ups simple. This is an essential piece for any solo artist.

Harold Mason
from Richmond, KY
April 1, 2013Music Background:
I have been playing rhythm guitar and singing for about 40 years.

TC-Helicon Voice Tone Harmony-G XT

I am certainly satisfied. This is a great product. It works fantastic with my Peavey sound system. Everyone who hears it is also excited about it. The guys in my band love how it works. Thanks Sweetwater for a nice product.

Harold Mason
from Richmond, KY
April 1, 2013Music Background:
I have been playing rhythm guitar and singing for about 40 years.

TC-Helicon Voice Tone Harmony-G XT

I am certainly satisfied. This is a great product. It works fantastic with my Peavey sound system. Everyone who hears it is also excited about it. The guys in my band love how it works. Thanks Sweetwater for a nice product.

james getman
from EXETER, CA
March 4, 2013Music Background:
Pro Musician

Amazing

Can't Go Wrong With This Pedal! If You Want High Dollar Sound For A Low Price, This Is It! I Have The New Voicelive Rack And The Sound In This Is Right Up There With That! Great Bang For The Buck! If Your A Singer That Can Sing, You Will Be Happy With This Pedal! Very Easy To Use! Perfect For Band Or Solo Gigs! Need The Backing To Round Out Your Sound, Look No Futher!

David Saikin
from LIttleton, NH
February 12, 2013Music Background:
50 years of playing;

What a Blast

This little device is a lot of fun. I use it for solo work and in the jazz trio I play in. Solo work: it provides many options, what I use basically are the A/B (2 setups) choices allowing me to use 1 and 2 part harmonies to allow modulation in my performances. With the trio, our female lead singer has really gone nuts with this. She had it figured out in about 5 minutes. It's unbelievable to suddenly sound like you're playing with the Andrew Sisters. It works nicely with the sax too.

Easy to use; you need to just play with it to see what it can do. I'm still learning (only had it about a month) and haven't even scratched the surface. It works well whether plugged into my PA or digital recorder.

For the price you can't go wrong.

'Jack James' (Powers)
from Ocala, FL
December 18, 2012Music Background:
Pro Musician-soloist/Music Theory teacher and vocal coach

I'm a local pro-musician and this thing just polished my act!

Ease of use, well written instruction manual, not too many functions to remember, and two best settings at your tap of a toe. I like the customization process for the harmonies and the abililty to to set octave intervals, doubling and harmonies by semi-tones, both minor and major 3rds. Just TOO awesome! The guitar initiated pitch correction works as advertised and the difference CAN BE heard. Perfect Pitch is the result every time. I'm a soloist and this gives my performance a whole new dimension! Two thumbs up T.C.! I had the chorusing unit by T.C., years ago and this present piece of equipment mirrors the quality, dependability, and proffessional-grade that T.C. has built their reputation upon. You will be satisfied.

Daniel
from KY
December 9, 2012Music Background:
Guitarist, song writer

Incredible, but find a better quality Wall Wart

Absolutely incredible. The only beef is the cheap wall wart that comes with it will definitely fail like mine. Plugged it in after having it less than a year and had a terrible ground buzz. Go ahead and buy a better quality one right off the bat if it shows up with the lightweight one.

Johnny R
from Westminster, CO
July 30, 2012Music Background:
Professional Musician & Entertainer

Great for harmonizing

I have used the Voice-Tone Harmony-G XT professionally for a month now, and and I would have to say that it blows away my old Digitech Vocalizer Live II. The harmonies are very clear and realistic sounding and I love that you can go from a 'duet' to a 'trio' with just a tap of the foot switch. Also, being able to easily store and select your personal presets is great. I would highly recommend the Voice-Tone Harmony-G XT to anyone who wants to add great sounding harmonies to their songs.

Bob
from Missouri
June 28, 2012Music Background:
Pro musician

Awesome and it really works

In over 30 years of playing music this is thee BEST thing I've ever bought. Our 3 piece band have used several other processors to help thicken live vocals but they didn't track well or sounded artificial. The tone, tracking and harmonies are WORLD CLASS. It DOES track great without holding a guitar chord and in our 40 set a nite song list there are no songs it can't work in. The unit is super simple to work and worth the doubling effect alone. We use pretty much only one patch and A-B between doubling and doubling/high. If your band is weak on backup vocals this will take it to a much higher level. Highly recommended!

Lonnie Marler
from St. Louis, MO.
March 8, 2012Music Background:
Musician

The perfect harmony machine

I recently purchased the "Voicetone Harmony G-XT Machine". I 'm a single performer, singer & guitarist (rhythm & lead) and also work with 3 and 4 piece bands. This machine is perfect for the harmony needs in the work I do. I would grade it A+.

Mikhail A.
from Central CA
June 23, 2011Music Background:
Recording, Live performance musician

This device lives up to its hype.

I am a lead vocalist/guitarist for a California band, and we do covers as well as original music.
The G XT is intuitive - easy to figure out, has bright clear LEDs to show you whats engaged, and the sound quality is amazing.

The harmony intervals are useful, flawless, (provided your guitar is in-tune when you run through the G XT) and immediately gave me new ideas for songwriting. The effects are subtle and not overdone.

I strongly recommend the G XT to anyone who either wants a bit of extra "oompf" for their vocals, or additional harmonies for songs but lack the members to sing with them.
A+ TC-Helicon!

Kyle Matthew
from Denver, CO
June 8, 2011Music Background:
Musician

AMAZING!!!

Just received this from Sweetwater yesterday, and it's nothing short of amazing. Ready to rock right out of the box, very intuitive. The harmonies are spot on and sound extremely realistic. Effects are stellar, including the verbs, delays, and double (my fav). Lots of options to tweak every effect as well. Looking forward to many hours of customizing and exploring. Oh, and it also has a guitar tuner...bonus! This is a game changer, could not recommend more highly.

Dave Sizemore
from Richmond, IN USA
May 31, 2011Music Background:
Pro musician

Voicetone Harmony-GXT is FIRST CLASS!

i am a solo Guitarist/vocalist and I just purchased the Voicetone Harmony-GXT.
I had never been impressed with vocal harmonizers before because all the ones I heard had a robotic or unnatural sound to them, but this unit actually sounds like my voice singing harmony with me.
It is very easy to switch to each preset as I need them while I am performing.
I played in a band for 21 years and have been performing solo for the last 11 years.
This unit is giving me a much fuller sound by being able to have vocal harmonies instantly at the tap of a switch.
I have been able to add songs by groups such as The Bee Gees, Simon and Garfunkel, The Commodores, Orleans, etc. and have the same vocal harmonies that are used on the original rec ording.
I highly recommend it to any solo guitarist/vocalist.

Paul Bailey
from Raleigh, NC
April 27, 2010Music Background:
long time - part time musician (45yrs)

Love the Harmony G

I bought the Harmony G about two years ago. My band mates told me yesterday I better get another one for back up so I'm ordering the XT right now. This is a fantastic tool for any vocalist expecially if the other band mates can't sing harmony.

E Morales
from Central Texas
February 27, 2010Music Background:
Singer Songwriter

Awe Inspiring Results

I have the original VoiceLive unit with the GuitarControl interface, but I wanted to simply the setup and really didn't need all the advanced features of the VoiceLive. For the most part, I used 3-4 presets max. I saw the updared GXT and made the purchase. To me the GXT is very appropriate for users who want to leverage the more common features of the original VoiceLive without the advanced programming/editing. This would be the unit I would recommend to most singer/songwriters and pop/rock bands. Very clean and the settings are VERY easy to navigate. Harmonies/effects sound just as good as the original VoiceLive. I also found the response to the guitar chords much faster in the GXT than in the VL with GC interface (I'm sure the VL2 is much better too.) Of course you don't get the voice correction found in the higher end units, but if you are a half decent singer it's not really a need in live settings. What I like about this unit is that it really provides a superior vocal sound even when the harmonies are not activated. But I can tell you when you do use the harmonies, the response from the audience is amazing. Would highly recommend the GXT.

Tim A
from Florida
January 15, 2010Music Background:
Hobbyist

Can't Believe My Ears.

I'm telling you, if Paul Simon had this pedal around the late 60's early 70's, there would not have been a Garfunkel. Your sound goes from amateur hour to professional polish with the push of the tone button, and then you hit the on button with voice one and voice two engaged and the harmonies just floor you. I brought this to an open mike night and the look of all the jaws dropping was worth every penny I paid. Now to the review, the whole unit is solid construction, the effects are top notch, and with a quick read of the manual or watch of the videos on TC Helicons site you will be getting great results in know time. The sound you hear on the TC Helicon site and on the YouTube videos is the sound you get with this unit. If you play guitar and sing, then this a no brainer.

Bill R.
from Weston, Florida / USA
January 3, 2010Music Background:
Former Professional, current recording hobbiest

Truly Amazing!

I just purchased the Harmony G. The Harmony G XT was not available at the time.
This unit is designed to connect to a quality Mixer (PA) using dual xlr connections.
I attempted to run it through my Acoustic guitar amp and was somewhat disappointed with the result. I then connected both XLR outputs directly through my mixer and set the EQ. The resulting harmonies and effects were outstanding. Listening on headphones, I was able to create a fantastix mix using the built in "tone" settings and various harmony settings. I recorded a few tracks with just guitar and vocals, and no one could believe the harmonies! Run this thing through a good PA, and you will be thrilled. For $200 it is an amazing product. Check out the TC Helicaon website and watch the product videos. It really is that good.
I have already ordered the upgraded XT model.

Brian Heffner
from
March 28, 2013Music Background:
Busy hobbyist musician

This is one great unit

This is my third Harmony G XT. I absolutely love it. I purchased an extra one so I don't have to "take down" in my studio when I go out and gig. I would give it a five but my 1st one crapped out. It was replaced on warranty no problem. I have to say though, it is my crutch, I do not want to play without it as most of my gigs are solo.

Peter
from Denmark
October 8, 2012Music Background:
Pro Musician/Recording Engineer

So nice

I`m a singer and I Gigged this weekend. 4 man band. Drums, bass (Hoffner), Electric guitar(Fender Telecaster), and my guitar a Gibson Songwriter with Fishman prefix plus-T.
The 3 other guys in the band don`t sing that much and I whished for a better sound "picture" in the chorus parts. So I bought this TC-Helicon VoiceTone Harmony-G XT. I was thinking what the heck let`s give it a try. The songs we sing are rock/folk covers from "Brown eyed girl" to "Honky tonk woman". I plugged it in - that was easy - remember to have extra jack/jack if you have other pedals and 1 or 2 Xlr/Jacks to the mic. output. and one Xlr/Xlr for the mic. input. I use a TC-Chorus/Flanger (also a very nice pedal ;-) after the TC-Helicon.
The TC-Helicon device was a BIG enjoyment - it added very nice and natural like harmonies to the songs. I used two setups - an A with two voices High and Higher and a B setup with a high voice. I found that in CSN&Y and other songs whith that kind of "Big" chorus harmonies - it was a breeze to step on the TC-Helicon pedal and have the A setup going. While on More rock inspired numbers like "Honky Tonk Woman" it was enough and more suitable with the B setting. The other guys were a bit sceptic at the start - with comments like: "hmm let`s see" and "don`t overdo it" - "it takes a lot of practice". They were soon convinced that this pedal was a BIG bonus in the overall sound picture.
I didn`t overdo it - the harmony knob between 9 and 11 gave nice choruses. And it DIDN`T take a lot of practice to use the TC pedal. I tried it once in the rehearsel room before we went to the gig.
The only thing I noticed on the minus list was a high irritating high noice that came periodically - maybe it was my monitor feeding with the guitar - I don`t know. Next time I gig I will try and find out what it is-maybe it`s gone. It`s just that I haven`t heard that noice before when we gig. I give the pedal 4,5 - If the pedal isn`t causing that high noise it`s a 5. It`s a keeper. I have duo and trio gigs - It will be a big plus with this pedal.

Jeremy
from Dayton, Ohio
October 25, 2011Music Background:
Pro Musician

Wow

I love this unit. It sounds great! I am still figuring out the ins and outs of the unit. It takes a bit of getting used to as sometimes I can hear some weird sounds but it's mostly when I get off pitch. So it actually makes you try even harder. Great pedal.

Steve
from Falls Church, VA
October 19, 2011Music Background:
30 plus years playing, occasional gigs for now

Glad I purchased it!

Really a nice piece of gear, easy to use right out of box. Practiced minimally with it and then brought it to an outdoor gig. Used the harmony sparingly as I was still getting used to it. The "Tone" and other vocal effects alone made a huge difference and actually got complimented on how the vocals sounded, so it's a keeper for what I am doing right now.

Mike
from Kennewick, WA
August 17, 2011Music Background:
Hobbyist/Songwriter

Not Just For Harmonies

This is such a great product. Not only does it give me harmony when I want it, it just flat out makes me sound better. I wish that there was an option for just outputting the harmonies. I don't have a great ear for figuring them out, so it would be helpful to hear them for recording purposes. I'm not a big fan of pedal harmonies on recordings, but I have recorded using the tone/fx/doubling features and they sound fantastic.

Michael
from Philly Burbs, PA
July 5, 2011Music Background:
singer/songwriter (trying to make it a full time gig :)

you need this pedal :)

I gotta say I love this box. Just broke it out and played with it for a couple hours and it is amazing. The two best things about it are that it keeps me from having to sing so hard and it also gives me much, much more confidence to let my voice come out.

I turn on the pitch correction and it is really pretty mild (no noticeable noise), the doubling, the tone and some reverb and it makes me sound amazing. I am a decent singer, but honesty this makes me sound incredible.

For doing solo gigs, I will probably use the harmonies too. You have to work out the right combinations of parts for different songs, but once I figure that out I will definitely try it. Not sure if it will freak people out to be not worth using live or not... we will see, but in the practice room they sound really nice... not static or boring either. A little movement with them and lots of options on how you want them configured.

The only reason I didnt give it a full 5 is that I am not completely pleased with the reverb. Its ok, but a little digital sounding to me (though it could be the monitor I am playing it through.

oh... one other nice thing about it is that you dont have to mess with EQ and compression settings to get good tone... the auto settings are good enough.

I highly recommend this baby. Just wish I had picked it up a long time ago

Jeff Morrison
from Tx
November 7, 2010Music Background:
all of the above

best bang per buck

even without the harmonies this pedal really adds some flavor to the vocals. tastefully it can do incredible liflike harmonies or untastefully it can sound like T Pain. Works great for acoustic shows as well as live with a full band. I tried running my bass thru it for the guitar chord demand but i think the low notes are not registering to the processor and the fact that im not playing chords doesnt give it enough information to do its math algorithym. even without an instrument going through it i am able to to get the harmonies i want. Very happy with this purchase. most processors that can do this and do it tastefully costs a hell of a lot more and require a soundman to operate. You dont have to be a guru to figure this little guy out.

Patrick
from Atlantic Beach, Fla
March 18, 2010Music Background:
50yrs, guitar, keys, player, producer, writer

As good as it gets!

Hats off to my Sweetwater rep- Austin- you are the BEST! I gave this a 4.5 only because I have little experience with other harmonizers. Fact is, this thing is just INCREDIBLE, right out of the box. You can connect a keyboard (line out) to it also. Works GREAT. I use a mono-mono y-plug and connect BOTH guitar and keys, since I play both live. That way, I can drive the harmonies regardless of where I'm sitting. Simple to use, GREAT sound- near studio quality. As long as you are even CLOSE, it will pitch correct your stinkers!
Love Sweetwater!

Eric Broviak
from Poland, OH
April 21, 2013Music Background:
Recording engineer (30 years), live sound, amateur singer/player

Neat little box with style

I got this as a dual purpose device. One use is as a solo act, guitar and vocals, which is clearly what they had in mind. In that arena it does almost everything I could ask. My only complaint is that you cannot mix the 2 backing voices. If you dial in a hi and a low harmony, they will be at the same level. You can certainly blend them against the live vocal but if you want more (or less) bass for example, you cannot do that.
The other use is as an effects box for live sound. Here I use an aux buss on the board to send whatever I want to the input. I generally tap the rhythm guitar to drive the harmony engine rather than selecting the song key manually. In this mode the drawbacks are lack of a line level input (and output). It DOES allow you to get effected signal only (at left output) and bring that back to the board (but on a mike input). Not a horrible limitation to be sure and it sounds fine when used correctly. Just would be an easier and cleaner setup with those line level in/out. Oh, and I'd like to not have to put a jack in the guitar thru connector to keep that signal out of the main output.

BebopGee
from Ft. Meade, Florida USA
August 8, 2010Music Background:
Semi-pro musician & hobbyist

Great sounding smooth natural harmonies ,but.......

Great sounding harmonies. Reads and follows the guitar chords you play. No song programming. Lots of combinations to play with. FXs are good too. In my opinion there two negative points to be made here. First, there is no power switch. You have to unplug the unit to power down. You'd think with all the thought and electronics that went into this, they could have added a $3 toggle switch. Second, the power supply is very cheap lightweight plastic and thin cord. When I take in to gigs, I'm always worried someone might step on it. If that happened, it would most likely crack at the very least creating a safety issue and probably rendering the unit useless.

Just on sound and FX, I'd give it a 5, but because of the lack of a power switch and the cheesy power supply, my max is 3.