TC Helicon is a well-known brand for music and audio equipment, such as computer audio interfaces, bass amps, guitar effects, and more. In addition, TC Helicon is offering top-notch foot controls with multi-track looping, which improves the music performance.
Both these foot controls promise loud music without compromising on clarity. TC Helicon VoiceLive 3 and Extreme are the two most popular foot controls offered by the brand, and there are various differences between the two
The Differences Between TC Helicon Voicelive 3 vs Extreme
The Comparison Chart
| TC Helicon VoiceLive3 | TC Helicon VoiceLive3 Extreme | |
|---|---|---|
| Vocal Effects | 9 | 10 |
| Guitar FX | 8 | 9 |
| Size | 76mm long and 350mm wide | 76mm long and 350mm wide |
| Inputs | Phone jack, balanced XLR for the monitor, aux stereo mini-jack | MIDI, phone jack, and FX mic |
| Power Supply | The external power supply of 100VAC to 240VAC | The external power supply of 100VAC to 240VAC |
| Construction | Anodized aluminum and steel chassis, rubber knobs, tri-colored light rings, white backlight, and LED indicators | Anodized aluminum and steel chassis, rubber handle and knobs, tri-colored light rings, and LED indicators |
TC Helicon Voicelive 3
These foot controls or pedals are perfect for songwriters to create a full-fledged musical experience, and you will be able to play beyond the basic vocals and chords. It allows the users to create layered compositions. It’s particularly designed for live music.
The body looks bulky with ten footswitches, and they are very evenly spaced out. Each footswitch is surrounded by light rings, promising better visibility of active footswitches.
The pedal is 13.8inches wide and 8.5-inches back to the front design, which makes it a sizable choice. It has easy to grip design, which makes it easier to move around during the live music performance.
The footswitches are added on the bottom side, and the top is integrated with the control panel. The control panel includes the LCD display screen in the central part and has four adjustment dials to make changes to the settings.
In addition, there is one button on the right side and six buttons on the left side. The pedal includes a large-size control knob to make changes. The control is extremely precise, and the fine controls on the pedal’s upper level will help with the setup.
The pedal is designed with the layers system, with which there is a footswitch that’s essential for switching between the looper, guitar, and vocal layers. The six-effect switches from the right side of the pedal can be used to shift between guitar effects and vocal effects.
The switch toggle can be used to shift between vocals and guitars, or you can hold it down to operate the looper. The two left-side footswitches are perfect for switching between different presets.
There are approximately 250 presets, and you can feed 500 more sets. The presets are arranged according to the genre, which means you won’t have to tap through never-ending options to find the desired preset.
The pedal’s back panel has the outs and ins, including the mic and guitar inputs. There is an auxiliary input with a 3.5mm configuration and two XLRs designed for monitor connection.
In addition, there are special stereo outputs available for guitar and mix, which means you can have guitar outputs as well as stereo vocals at once. The pedal is integrated with the ¼-inches jacks and MIDI in and MIDI out jacks.
It comes with a special spot for connecting it with a 12V power supply and also has extra headphone jacks and USB ports.
In simpler words, it can be connected with anything you want. It is integrated with a myriad of vocal effects, such as pitch correction, delays, echoes, reverb, choice, synth, doubling, transducer, harmony, stutter, and rhythmic effects.
The users can easily make changes to the effects. There is amp modeling, delays, compression, reverb, drive, octave shifting, wah-wahs, pitch shifters, and μmod available, so you can fine-tune the music according to your taste.
All these features and effects make it easier for the users to create different music genres.
When it comes down to the looper, you can press and hold down the layer footswitch to switch on the looping mode. It helps the users select if they want to overdub the audios after recording or just want to play it back.
The looper makes it easy for users to record various tracks at once. In addition, the swap switch can bring the loops into the audio tracks. In fact, the recent firmware has also offered more than fifty loop slots to store the audio tracks.
The USB port can be used to connect a third-party device for importing or exporting the loops. Having said that, this pedal is worth your money.
However, this wide variety of effects and features can be hard to understand at first but will be suitable for professional musicians. All in all, it’s a promising multi-effects and looper unit.
TC Helicon Voicelive3 Extreme
TC Helicon VoiceLiv3 Extreme is a feature-packed pedal with vocal, looper, and guitar effects. It looks like TC Helicon VoiceLive3, but there are some makeover changes. For instance, it has a solid black appearance rather than a soft silver appearance.
The upper side of this pedal has the decal added, and the cosmetic changes look pretty great. There are around ten footswitches integrated on the lower side of the pedal, and six of them are dedicated to the looping feature and key effects.
There are four foot switches available on the left side for modes and presets. It is integrated with six buttons on the left side to access the in-depth menus as well as sub-menus. The pedal is designed with four control knobs and an LCD display.
In addition, it has a bigger control knob and a home button to make changes to the settings. There are two push buttons on the right side. The outs and ins of the pedal are the same as TC Helicon VoiceLive3.
There are guitar outputs, stereo XLR, MIDI out and MIDI in ports, expression pedal, footswitch spots, and the auxiliary input. Moreover, there are micro and full-size USB ports to connect the external devices.
There are special thru ports for connecting the monitors and have a special power supply connection. The footswitches in the pedal are evenly placed, and the bases are designed with lights, so you can check when the footswitch is active.
In addition, these base lights help see if you are using a looping, vocal, or guitar layer. There are multiple options available for connectivity. The upper section of the pedal is perfect for accessing the menus and making changes to the music, even during the live performance.
The pedal is designed to work in layers and has a well-dedicated footswitch, which can be used for changing the controls for the looper, guitar, and vocal effects. With each layer, you can store the setup.
There are over 250 factory presets integrated into the pedal, and you can add 250 of your own. The best thing about this pedal is the 16GB memory, and it can be used for storing the backing tracks. The users can easily import the backing tracks with the help of a USB stick.
With the vocal effects, the users can add the doubling, delays, and reverbs effects to enhance the vocal presence.
Moreover, you can use the octave shifting, reverbs, drive, amp modeling, compression, delay, rhythmic, and wash effects. The users can combine the guitar and vocal effects in the presets, and there are relevant footswitches available in every mode to see which one is active.
There are backing track features, which makes this pedal a promising choice, and you will be able to record the effects and replay them.
There is a looper function available with three loop tracks in every memory slot, so you can play two tracks at a time.
Moreover, it has the undo or redo function available. TC Helicon VoiceLive3 Extreme has a boosted storage and can support the backing tracks. All in all, it’s a reliable pedal for musicians who like creating independent vocals.
The Bottom Line
TC Helicon VoiceLive3 and TC Helicon VoiceLive3 Extreme have the majority of similar features, but the latter supports the backing tracks and has better storage.
However, it comes at a high price, but both of them are totally worth it, given their ability to support multiple effects to the music.