Roland Forums

Hi this is my first post

As singer in a classic/contemporary rock covers band I use the VE-20 - mainly the hard rock preset 1. Played around with it a fair bit but that pre-set works well for my voice and our material. Our band is a 4 piece, other members sing backing vocals but I probably sing 90%-95% of our stuff. They've just asked if they can go through the VE-20 too.

I'm not very technically minded but not sure how this unit would handle different signal paths, or whether something like this affects mic calibration (the mic sensitivity - I use an SM-58 but not everyone does), or whether it would lead to a muddier sound. Would putting all mics through a preamp or mixer, then through the VE-20 lose clarity and quality of sound? . It'd be great them sounding better but I don't want to sound worse

Does anyone have any opinions or advice on this?

You would loose the ability for the harmonist to track with more than one voice, tell them to get their own one and don't be so cheap.
Also the VE-20 runs at mic level, so a desk line level send would overdrive the VE-20 input.

Thanks so much for replying, I hadn't thought about the harmony pedal but yes I can see how it would make that effect totally unusable. The point about mic level is really helpful too and completely passed me by. I hope there are going to be more posts on the VE-20 because it is a really clever piece of kit.

For interest here is what one of my band said when I explained the VE-20 wasn't really designed for multiple singers:

"Luckily I have a mic level preamp mixer I can put in front of your VE20. But I understand.. don't come asking to use my TC Helicon voicelive though.." !!!

Just to bump this - been using the VE-20 for a few months now, and my friend has his TC-Helicon. The VE-20 sounds great live and in rehearsal and I just use the factory preset setting number 1. It's subtle and enhances natural voice - you get more crunch and bite/growl. As for the TC-Helicon on the other hand, in my experience everything through it sounds a bit fake, I'd definitely stick with the VE-20.