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[Thel Ihveen]

After my latest (and first) invasion, I discovered very quickly that my helmet muffles my already weak voice too much and I'll need a voice amp to be heard by anyone standing more than two feet away from my head.

So - for those with amps, how and where do you hide your amp setup? I'm a little lost and confused at the moment as I have a pretty wide waist sash under my ammo belt, which might make hiding my wires there tough. I also have a neckseal that goes underneath the standing collar of my flightsuit, which means running it under my vest will be tough since the seal isn't connected to it.

I thought maybe I could solve this problem by using something like this in conjunction with an aker amp, but I've heard nasty things about the delay while using Bluetooth speakers. Has anyone used any kind of bluetooth with any kind of success?

Another possibility - I already have a frankensteined gas-mask amp that I installed entirely inside my helmet, but had trouble with the speakers getting muffled. Anyone with in-helmet amp speakers - where do you place them and how do you let the sound escape?

If anyone has any wisdom they'd like to impart, I'd be super grateful! Thanks, vode!

[Jerek Darr]

At one point,my amp was in my jet pack, now that my pack is removable, i carry the amp in an ammo pouch.

[The Bearded Mando]

I hide my Aker in a back ammo pouch and use this. I just velcro the mic into the helmet.
If your looking to have everything in the helmet I would suggest checking out http://www.whitearmor.net the stormtroopers use hovi tip mics in their buckets.

[Thel Ihveen]

At one point,my amp was in my jet pack, now that my pack is removable, i carry the amp in an ammo pouch.

Ah! I figured ammo pouches were the go-to... How do you hide the wires? Did you cut a hole in the pouch or does the wire just snake in there?

I hide my Aker in a back ammo pouch and use this. I just velcro the mic into the helmet.
If your looking to have everything in the helmet I would suggest checking out http://www.whitearmor.net the stormtroopers use hovi tip mics in their buckets.

That wireless headset is exactly what I'm looking for! Thank you! Is there any delay/echo while using it...? I think I'll be going that route instead of trying to cram my speakers into my helmet - it's so simple and cheaper than most of the stormtrooper amps I've come across. Thanks for the trooper info, too - they have lots of useful installation tutorials.

[Mi'ix]

I've got an Aker 20W that I hide in a milsurp pouch on my ammo belt.

The Protector is setup to have it in one of the Boba saddle bags.

Our Sabine has a wireless one she clips to the backside of her belt. I think for that one she just finds an empty FM station and tunes her amp to that.

[Thel Ihveen]

I've got an Aker 20W that I hide in a milsurp pouch on my ammo belt.

The Protector is setup to have it in one of the Boba saddle bags.

Our Sabine has a wireless one she clips to the backside of her belt. I think for that one she just finds an empty FM station and tunes her amp to that.

Ooh! If I can figure out an FM station that would be great... I do think I'll have to start with an Aker amp and go from there, so I just ordered  the MR1506 - hopefully that's loud enough for me! I'll order the wireless mic setup when I have a bit more cash.

Thanks for all your help, everyone! I'll get back to you on whether or not the wired mic drives me nuts...

[Legion]

I use this amp with one of these transducers. Everything fits discreetly inside my helmet.

[Thel Ihveen]

I use this amp with one of these transducers. Everything fits discreetly inside my helmet.

Oh man that is actually exactly what I was thinking of! Thanks! I am... seriously conflicted now. The cheap part of me says "go Aker!" but the nerd in my thinks that the transducer is amazing and I will gladly pay more for the cool factor.

The demo video looks pretty great but I have no idea which size would work on my bucket - it's a scratch-build and I have room to mount a speaker on my forehead, which means it would probably be working through the bike-helmet plastic... Where is yours mounted?

[Legion]

Oh man that is actually exactly what I was thinking of! Thanks! I am... seriously conflicted now. The cheap part of me says "go Aker!" but the nerd in my thinks that the transducer is amazing and I will gladly pay more for the cool factor.

The demo video looks pretty great but I have no idea which size would work on my bucket - it's a scratch-build and I have room to mount a speaker on my forehead, which means it would probably be working through the bike-helmet plastic... Where is yours mounted?

Green circuit board is the amp, transducer is the round thing at the back. And, yes, I'm running it off a USB power source.

[Thel Ihveen]

Green circuit board is the amp, transducer is the round thing at the back. And, yes, I'm running it off a USB power source.

That is a really sweet, streamlined setup! Wiring it into the USB powersource is smart. Thanks for sharing!

After some research and number-crunching, it turns out that I live in the shebs-end of nowhere so shipping from Eternal Armory will cost almost as much as the electronics themselves, and the total cost is literally twice that of the Aker I just ordered. That and the other amp already shipped, so I guess the transducer/mini amp will have to wait. I will certainly keep it in mind though because it's exactly what I'm after - I'll probably end up trying out both setups and passing along whichever one I don't use to a clanmate (when we get a clan going) or just put it up in the trading station for another vod to take.

Now that I've got an amp in the mail, if anyone else wants to share what kind of amp they use, where they put it, and how good the volume/sound quality is just for the sake of education - go for it! I'm sure there are other people out there who are just as curious and helmet-muffled as I am. Thanks for all your help, everyone.

 

[Russiya]

I use an aker amp and I have made leather pouches with vent holes punched for the sound but I currently wear two boba canvas pouches and the amp fits perfect plus ads the effect of contents in said pouch

[MMcFett]

Green circuit board is the amp, transducer is the round thing at the back. And, yes, I'm running it off a USB power source.

I just recently tried the same setup in my bucket. Had to put the mic right by my mouth and transducer about where yours is. I get a loud feedback if I turn the volume up before my head is in. It makes a neat sound effect, but isn't very loud, even with the knob all the way up. How's the sound quality on yours? I don't know if mine is installed right.

[Syko Voss]

I've got an Aker - I sewed a pack to allow me to attach it to my ammo belt next to the regular ammo packs

You can see it just behind the butt of my carbine in the following image (trooping at the Disney Store last year)

Head set wire runs down under neck seal and flak jacket then loops up and plugs into the pack on my belt.

[Thel Ihveen]

Update: My amp finally arrived, and I quickly found that only one of my pouches was big enough to fit the thing due to the height of the jack. However, about a half-foot of wire showed (due to where my belt sits) and I didn't like the sound coming out of my butt. However, I found out that because of how wide and bulky my sash is, it completely covers the amp, and I can probably hide the speaker on my front, held up with the supplied waistband. Next to my bulky pouches, you can't really tell. I'm... just that noodley, I guess! After a half kit-up it works pretty well, but I'll try and do a full shoot at some point this week/weekend to see if it really hides in pictures. I will have to punch a hole in my flightsuit and modify the headset, though - it goes all over the place inside my helmet, so I may be splicing wires sometime soon...

MMcFett - What material is your helmet made out of, and how big is the transducer? That might have something to do with the volume issue? I hope you figure out what the deal is with it...

[MMcFett]

MMcFett - What material is your helmet made out of, and how big is the transducer? That might have something to do with the volume issue? I hope you figure out what the deal is with it...

I have the 19mm transducer from Eternal Armory. My helmet is from NME Props, cast resin I think.

[Neomandalore]

I've got an aker 1506 in a surplus ammo pouch on my belt. I use a memorex mka382 wireless unit also in the pouch. The transmitter and mic are all inside my bucket. I wired a toggle switch and fabricated a mount to live on the belt to turn the mic on and off, so no wires going anywhere. I also run an iPod to the aux of the aker to play troop loops

[Dragonsoulj]

My amp finally arrived, and I quickly found that only one of my pouches was big enough to fit the thing due to the height of the jack.

You could get a right angle (90 degree) jack for it. This would let you direct the wire better.

[oldgamefreak]

I have the 19mm transducer from Eternal Armory. My helmet is from NME Props, cast resin I think.

Do you have and issue with it? How well does it should from the outside? I just ordered a Stalker from NME and i'm looking at the transducer.

[MMcFett]

Do you have and issue with it? How well does it should from the outside? I just ordered a Stalker from NME and i'm looking at the transducer.

I get a lot of feedback setting it up unless I have the volume all the way down before putting it on.
It sounds great once I get it going, but it's not very loud with the volume all the way up.
Don't know if it's a setup issues, as I'm new to all this stuff, and I haven't had much time to troubleshoot it.
I would definitely recommend getting a switch to add to the circuit. I think that would eliminate my feedback issue and make troubleshooting easier.

[Thel Ihveen]

You could get a right angle (90 degree) jack for it. This would let you direct the wire better.

Thanks for the tip! I hadn't thought of that... I have an old mp3 case laying around with a right angle jack, so I plugged that into the aker to test the size and... no luck, unfortunately.  The pouches I have are just that small. I'll give it a test run on my cod belt under my sash and see if it stays hidden there. If not, I'll be sewing my own pouch!

I've got an aker 1506 in a surplus ammo pouch on my belt. I use a memorex mka382 wireless unit also in the pouch. The transmitter and mic are all inside my bucket. I wired a toggle switch and fabricated a mount to live on the belt to turn the mic on and off, so no wires going anywhere. I also run an iPod to the aux of the aker to play troop loops

Sounds like a great setup! The switch is really smart. When I have the funds I'm gonna see if I can get something like that - wireless would be perfect. The sound quality on the aker is pretty good and I like being able to jack my phone into it if need be. Also - what kind of troop loops do you play? I'm curious.

[Neomandalore]

Sounds like a great setup! The switch is really smart. When I have the funds I'm gonna see if I can get something like that - wireless would be perfect. The sound quality on the aker is pretty good and I like being able to jack my phone into it if need be. Also - what kind of troop loops do you play? I'm curious.

Check Amazon and eBay. Those memorex wireless units are pretty cheap. I think I paid maybe $20 for one. The pouch is a saw ammo pouch. Big enough for my aker, transmitter, and extra batteries with room to spare.
The troop loops I use are ones from the mando comms project, and Death Star loops from the 501st. I load them on an old iPod and keep the playlist on repeat

[Darth_Vemon]

Any chance you have a link to those Death Star/ 501st files?  I use an old cell phone to loop the mando files through a Bluetooth speaker in my comms pack.  More files are always good.

[Neomandalore]

Darth, if you have any buddies in the 501st they can get them off their forums. At the time I did not so I think I ripped them from YouTube, and remastered them

[Guy'ikaab]

Since I'm looking at Comms brigade myself I was looking for comms chatter files. About a year ago someone from the 501st released the loop onto youtube, and provided the file link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I_N94dX97U&t=146s
Dl link for the file (419MB :O) is in the description.

I can also provide a dropbox link for interested parties.

[Darth_Vemon]

Thanks for that link.  I'll add them to my chatter files ASAP.