Talk Box - History - Talk Box

Talk Box

The first high-powered Talk Box was developed by Bob Heil but there is clearly prior art in the form of the Kustom Electronics device, "The Bag", which is the same concept housed in a decorative bag slung over the shoulder like a wine bottle, using only a 30-watt driver, and sold in 1969, two years before Heil's high-powered Talk Box. The Bag is claimed to have been designed by Doug Forbes, who states that exactly the same concept (horn driver attached to a plastic tube and inserted into the mouth) had previously been patented as an artificial larynx. But it was Heil that came up with the first high-powered Talk Box that could be reliable when used on high-level rock stages. His first Heil Talk Box was built for Joe Walsh's Barnstorm tour. Heil and Walsh both avid ham radio experimenters (K9EID and WB6ACU), along with Walsh's guitar tech "Krinkle" combined a 250-watt JBL driver and suitable low-pass filter which was used for Walsh's single "Rocky Mountain Way". Walsh gives credit to Bill West, an electrical engineer, Nashville steel guitarist and first husband of country music legend Dottie West, for inventing the talk box for him in the May 2012 issue of Guitar World magazine.

Pete Townshend, in his 2012 biography 'Who I am', claimed to have invented a version of the Talk Box during a Who tour of the USA in 1976. "I built a speaker in a small box, attached a tube and put the tube in my mouth, allowing me to speak music". Townshend did not specify if his version was for guitar or only for music.

In 1988, Heil sold the manufacturing rights to Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc., which currently builds the Heil Talk Box to the exact standards that Heil designed in 1973.

The 1974 hit single "Tell Me Something Good", performed by Rufus and Chaka Khan and written by Stevie Wonder, which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, was among the earliest hits to use the guitar talk box.

In an interview for the 1999 DVD Live in Detroit, Peter Frampton says he first heard the talk box in 1970 while sitting in on sessions for George Harrison's All Things Must Pass. While he sat next to Pete Drake in the album sessions at Abbey Road studio, he heard Pete using it with a pedal steel guitar. Frampton said in the same interview that the sound it produced reminded him of an audio effect he loved listening to on the pirate radio station Radio Luxembourg in the later 1960s. Frampton acquired one as a Christmas present from Bob Heil in 1974. It was a hand-built Talk Box in a fiberglass box using a 100-watt high-powered driver. This was the Heil Talk Box used for the Frampton Comes Alive tour and album. He then promptly locked himself away in a practice space for two weeks, and came out with some mastery of it. Due to the success of the albums Frampton and Frampton Comes Alive!, and particularly the hit singles "Do You Feel Like We Do" and "Show Me the Way", Frampton has become somewhat synonymous with the talk box.

Peter Frampton also now sells his own line of custom-designed "Framptone" products, including a talk box.

Two early examples of a talk box being used on studio recordings are Sly and the Family Stone's "Sex Machine" from their album Stand! and Al Kooper with Shuggie Otis' "One Room Country Shack" from their album Kooper Session, both released in 1969. The band Steppenwolf has used the Talk Box since at least 1970. On the album Live Steppenwolf, the talk box can be clearly heard on the tracks "Hey Lawdy Mama" and "Twisted". On the track "Someone Told A Lie", from the album Hour of the Wolf, some of the lyrics are sung through a talk box. John Kay was observed using a talk box on stage at two shows in New Jersey (Wildwood and Cherry Hill) in 1971. The band Iron Butterfly used a talk box in the song "Butterfly Bleu" from the album Metamorphosis in 1970. Alvin Lee used a talk box for the Ten Years After song "I Say Yeah" from the album Watt in 1970. Young-Holt Unlimited featured a talk box on their song "Wah-Wah Man", also released in 1970, on the album Born Again. Stevie Wonder first used a talk box on his album Music of My Mind in early 1972. Jeff Beck used the Kustom Bag talk box on "She's A Woman" from his 1975 release Blow by Blow, and was seen using it for the song on a BBC television performance in which he also demonstrates its use to the host of the show. In 1975, Nazareth lead singer Dan McCafferty used a talk box in the popular single "Hair of the Dog". In 1975, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry used a talk box in the band's highly popular singles "Sweet Emotion" and "Walk This Way", both off the album Toys in the Attic. In 1976, Steely Dan guitarist Dean Parks used a talk box during a solo in "Haitian Divorce", on the album The Royal Scam. It was also used in a solo section of "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo", on Steely Dan's 1974 album Pretzel Logic. Pink Floyd has used the talk box in "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" from 1977's Animals album, and in "Keep Talking" from 1994's The Division Bell. The band Stillwater used a talkbox on their song "Mind Bender" in 1977. Roger Troutman, lead singer of the R&B group Zapp, used the talk box on the group's first hit single in 1980, "More Bounce To The Ounce", and in other songs.

Matthias Jabs, lead guitarist for Scorpions, has used the talk box in many of their songs, most notably the 1980 song "The Zoo". Joe Walsh used a talk box in the song "Space Age Whiz Kids" on the 1983 album You Bought It You Name It, and in "I Broke My Leg" on the 1985 album The Confessor. Walsh, along with Don Felder, did a dual talk box guitar solo in the song Those Shoes from their 1979 album, The Long Run. The 1986 Daryl Hall hit 'Foolish Pride' features the talk box played by English guitarist Richard Morcombe.

Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora used the Heil Talk box in many of the band's songs, including 1986's "Livin' on a Prayer" from Slippery When Wet, 2000's "It's My Life" from Crush, 2002's "Everyday" from Bounce, 2007's "We Got it Goin' On" (Lost Highway) and 2009's "Bullet" (The Circle). Lead guitarist Slash of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses used a talk box in "Anything Goes" off their album Appetite for Destruction, released in 1987. Mötley Crüe's Mick Mars used a talk box in "Kickstart My Heart" off their 1989 release, Dr. Feelgood.

In an interview with Nuno Bettencourt, Brian May was questioned about whether the song "Delilah" was recorded using a talk box on Queen's 1991 Innuendo record. May answered: "Yes, I finally succumbed and used one ... I suppose there’s no other way to make the meow sounds, meow, meow, meow." Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine used a talk box on their song "Wake Up" in 1992. Bob Hartman, from Petra, used the talk box during the 1993 song "Underneath the Blood", from their Wake-Up Call album. Metallica have used the talk box during the solo on "The House Jack Built", from the 1996 album Load. The Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl used a talk box during their song "Generator" off their 1999 release, There Is Nothing Left To Lose; the usage of the device was partly inspired by Grohl's admiration of Peter Frampton and Joe Walsh. Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci used the talk box in studio and live for their song released as a radio single, "Home", from their 1999 album Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. Avenged Sevenfold vocalist M. Shadows used a talk box in their song "Lost" off their 2007 self-titled album, Avenged Sevenfold. In Godsmack's cover of the Joe Walsh song "Rocky Mountain Way", frontman Sully Erna used a talk box.

Alice in Chains, Adam Jones of Tool, Slash, the Eagles (which had a solo with one box in "Rocky Mountain Way" and two talk-box guitars in "Those Shoes"), Chromeo, plus dozens of other groups continue to keep the Heil Talk Box in their song sets.

The talk box was used in Elton John's 1975 album Rock of the Westies, on the song "Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future)", as played by Davey Johnstone.