Use your vocal mic with your guitar effects pedals
If you’ve got guitar effects pedals that you want to use a standard dynamic microphone with, you could plug your microphone directly into the pedal, simply by buying a cable adapter.
But, don’t do it! If you do, it’ll usually sound barely audible, very noisy, and you won’t get a useable recording. Without getting into the weeds of defining what electrical impedance is, let’s just say that your typical microphone is not sending out the type of signal that a guitar effects pedal expects to see.
Luckily, we have a cheap and easy tool to solve this problem: the impedance matching transformer. It can turn a dynamic microphone output into a guitar instrument cable output, allowing you to use your guitar effects pedals on anything you can point a microphone at.
The Audix impedance matching transformer
This is the one I use personally in my own live performances. No affiliate link here: I don’t make any money if you buy at the link, but it’s gear worth considering. Why?
This video from Steve Albini shows a similar technique used inside a recording studio by using multiple passive DI boxes to turn a dynamic mic output into a guitar output. This also works great; it’s a technique used often in the professional studio setting, and it’s good advice.
But, using an impedance matching transformer lets you do this very same thing, only by using one piece of gear instead of two :-)
If you’re just using one piece of gear to do this, that’s one less point of failure in your touring setup when you’re out on the road. And, impedance matching transformers are usually cheaper and more compact than passive DI boxes, so they’re easier to carry around and set up on stage.
Advantages of a impedance matching transformer over a direct (DI) box
Cheaper, more compact, and easier to use.
This method doesn’t require an expensive microphone: any junky dynamic mic will do. If you really want to go nuts, try using a piezo (contact) microphone thrown through some guitar effects. You do need to use a dynamic mic here; any mic that requires power to operate (like most condenser microphones), won’t work in this application.
This gear allows you to get cool sounds by using effects pedals that you already own. No need to buy a bunch of new pedals or plugins.
Guitar effects can sound really interesting when used with instruments that are not the guitar.
Analog guitar effects pedals generally sound a lot more characterful, unpredictable, and fun than digital versions that do similar things. Some of the best digital plugins intentionally imitate the sound of analog effects. Why not just go straight to the source, instead of buying a cheap digital knock-off?
Now, what to do with the output of your pedals?
Ok, now you’ve plugged your microphone cable into the impedance matching transformer, and the transformer into your guitar pedals. What next?
Now, you can treat the output of your guitar pedals just as you would if you had a guitar plugged into them. The only difference is, now we’ve got a mic plugged in instead of an instrument.
You can run your pedal outputs into an amp, just like you would with your guitar, and then record that amp while singing through the microphone and using your guitar pedal effects. Or, you can use something like a direct box or a “Hi-Z” input on an audio interface or mixing board to record your pedal effects output directly, without using an amp.
For a complete list of my other recommended home recording gear, download my regularly updated Home Studio Gear Guide. It’s got everything you need to put together a great sounding, affordable home music studio.
