Tinkering with electronics

Before even starting on my costume I wanted it to have voice amplification. You can hear it in the movies, so naturally you want to hear it in live.

There are plenty of different amplification systems out there that you can buy for cheap, they're composed of a microphone (generally a headset) and a speaker box. More elaborate ones will have an amplification module to help with static noise canceling and feedback.

You can also get fan-made ones that were designed for costuming purposes, with special voice effects, and that famous "static burst" sound that ends each sentence you speak.

• ROM-FX: currently out of stock, because it was one of the most popular.
• Deluxe "Pro" Trooper Voice Amp by Hyperdyne Labs: contains many different speech modes and voice effects (Boba Fett, Boussh). This is the one I use.
• Stormtrooper Helmet Sound Kit byTrikToys: comes with 2 modules instead of one, the mike amp and the effects module, 3 batteries required.

Here's a picture of my helmet rigged with the TrikToys microphone module. I didn't buy the effects circuit board because I wanted to try something a little less expensive. 

The microphone came as a headset with an ear speaker because there's an audio line-in function to the speaker amp. This was meant to make communications possible through an outside channel but we don't have that in my garrison. Anyway, the headset is tied to the amp box and can't be disconnected if I want to use a different microphone.

Recently I switched to the Hyperdyne Labs Trooper Voice system which looks like this:

I bought a tie-clip microphone and kept the speaker amp from the TrikToys kit since I can connect it to the Hyperdyne module. This one contains static burst effects, a push-to-talk function with a remote action wire, voice effects and changers, and lots of adjustable variables. It is much more costly than a regular voice amp but the end result is much better and more fun to use.