I picked up my TC-Helicon VoiceLive 3 on Friday. It’s been a fun ride this weekend.
I’m putting this discussion in the Vocals section even though I got this primarily for guitar, then as a looper (composition tool and rehearsal) and if it turns out that I use the vocal effects, that will be a bonus.
I’ve been using a TC-Helicon VoiceLive Play GTX for 18 months or so. Up to this point this was the only product in the TC-Helicon line that had guitar amp simulation. The looper was basic but at 60 seconds it was usable.
I’ve been looking for a better looper to use with the GTX. The VoiceLive 3 appears to do all that I need for less than the price of the GTX and a Roland RC300 looper (that I tried but didn’t really like). It’s huge.
So far I’m really liking the VoiceLive 3. I posted the picture with the dimensions because it packs a tonne of sound in a very compact but usable package.
The 10 buttons (vs 3 with the GTX) give you fast access to the features and the bright screen and lit bezels on the buttons make it easy to know what is happening.
Now the really good news.
So far I’ve run it direct into Compact Channel 2 and also a T1® into a Model II. I’ve very happy with the sound.
The vocal processing called “Tone” does a great job and I’m having a great time exploring the guitar styles (what TC-Helicon calls them instead of calling them Models).
Acoustic
Clean Brit
Cali Clean
UK Clean
Deep Clean
Bright Switch
Warm
Little Thing
Chicken Picker
Brit OD
AC Crunch
Chunky Brit
Lil Champion
Chime Drive
2 x 12 Combo
4 x 12 Crunch
Swamptone
Nasaltone
Brown
Scooped
Metallic
TC Dark Matter
OD Pedal
Dark OD Pedal
Distortion Pedal
Here’s a link to the VoiceLive 3 manual.
The Guitar layer is very very deep. See page 67 in the manual above.
Got mine on Friday too.
Here’s a quick note on how I’m connecting the TC-Helicon VoiceLive 3 to my Compact
Thanks for the new thread ST. I got mine Thursday but didn’t really get a chance to sit down with it until this weekend. I practiced a total of 7 hours Sat and Sun. Awesome! My back is finally better and the TC unit is spectacular. It even impressed my wife and she’s tough, she doesn’t like to encourage my GAS! 
But the combination of the TC, the Compact and the drum and bass backing tracks is rocking! It will take me a few weeks of practice to be gig-ready, I’m basically knocking the rust off now, but I’m very excited about this whole package. I’m out about $2K but I’m hoping I can make that back this year gigging.
I’m using the TC primarily for guitar modeling and vocal effects. I like the sounds I’m getting (I’m a big fan of slap echo!) and I like to use simple harmonies (3rd up typically) to add excitement to choruses. I have not tried using the looper yet and I probably won’t for a while. I feel like I’ve got my hands full with this as it is. It’s nice to know I can grow into that in the future though.
Looking forward to hearing others experiences.
I have had my Voicelive 3 now for two weeks and I’m still being amazed. I haven’t gotten into the looper yet. I have an A-B switch with one line running to my Fender Deluxe Reverb Amp and one to the L-1 Compact…trying to use the controls on the voice Live to get the L_1 Compact tone has close to the DRRI as possible. Will post more in near future. There is so much to dig into this thing. More later
Terry
I thought I would let all those interested in our little trio’s experience with Compact and T-1…I’ve been on the road and this was the second time we were able to hook up and practice. We are two guitars, An Telecaster running through #2 position via a Voice live #3. I am running flat with mono…ie. both in one cable…The Martin acoustic Elect. with Fishman pickup is running through the Taylor preset…works great for us…the lead singer’s mic, a Audix 5 is through #1 with Audix om3 reset…I should mention he is also running a Voicd med. pedal…using room and I also tweeked up his bass…The Telecaster is through two…flat and using various Vocie L -3 presets for guitar and voice…The Bass player is through 4/5 flat…via Tone Thumper with no over drive or distortion. After reading all the concerns about the Bass, I was happy with the D-box and so was the Bass player… we play mostly country and blues…this was in a 30x40 14 ft ceiling room…Compact at about 12 O’clock…trims same…and master 11 on T-1 and 2 oclock or little less on Compact.
We are very happy…
T and R
ST, that unit looks sweet! Have you had a chance to play out with it yet?
Hi Wayne,
Not yet. I’m still exploring the things that this will do that previous units did not. The looper is a completely different animal.
I’m really enjoying the guitar sounds.
More as the story unfolds.
Any update on this unit? It’s looking really appealing to me. I like the idea of only one pedal because after all, the less I have to carry = the less I have to carry.
How is the switching between guitar tones? Looks like you really need to spend some time with it.
Got my VL3 today - traded vl2 on it…waiting for wife to leave the house! 