Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Twinfan on May 04, 2011, 03:23:04 PM
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Yep, the 80s have finally reached the TF household :lol:
I went to see Simon McBride on Sunday night with Matt77 and shobet, and I was really impressed with the switching system he was using. He had a tuner and MIDI controller out front, and a small number of presets to get his variety of tones. A much, much nicer solution to my cramped pedalboard/mass of cables/Bogner XTC footswitch combo :roll:
So, a bit of research over Bank Holiday Monday and I've picked up the following RJM producs from Sounds Great:
RG-16 effects loop and amp switching controller:
(http://www.rjmmusic.com/assets/rg-16/ad.jpg)
Mastermind MIDI footswitch:
(http://www.rjmmusic.com/assets/mastermind/ad.jpg)
Bogner XTC interface cable:
(http://www.rjmmusic.com/xcart/images/P/IMG_2040.gif)
7-pin MIDI cable:
(http://www.rjmmusic.com/xcart/images/P/IMG_2039.gif)
Using all the above, I can control the amp functions AND select effects simultaneously. All the power will be located by the amp, with the MIDI cable phantom powering the footswitch and a thin power supply extension lead powering the other pedals. That means only 4 cables to set up and a much smaller out-front stage footprint. Result!
The plan is to layout the rig as follows:
Very simple pedalboard:
BBE Wah
Tuner
Klone OD
MXR EVH Phase 90
Mastermind MIDI controller
If the switching rig or XTC goes down, I can still use the Wah/Tuner/OD/Phaser straight into the XTC/AFD100 to get through a gig.
Rack case:
RG-16 switcher
9v pedal power supply
Malekko Chorus (before amp)
Empress ParaEQ (before amp)
MXR Carbon Copy delay (XTC FX loop)
Malekko Chicklet reverb (XTC FX loop)
All the pedals will be installed in separate loops for independent access. For my first bank of 5 presets, I’m going to hook up my main tones:
Clean – green channel, boost off, chorus, EQ, FX loop on, delay, reverb
Rhythm (dry) – blue channel, boost off, EQ, FX loop off
Rhythm (wet) – blue channel, boost on, EQ, FX loop on, reverb
Lead (dry) – red channel, boost off, EQ, FX loop off
Lead (wet) – red channel, boost off, EQ, FX loop on, delay, reverb
It should be fun this evening setting all that lot up. I'll then just need to get hold of a 4U rack case, probably one of these:
(http://www.flightcasewarehouse.co.uk/content/productpics/2847_4_l.jpg)
It looks like I'm turning into Hunter! :lol: :D
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I can't even begin to understand all that (the mere sight of the word "MIDI" and my brain freezes), but it sounds like a bit of a sea change!
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Well, it's actually less complicated than it looks. What I'm effectively doing is using the same amp/pedals that I've always used, but I can link them all together to give me combined amp/pedal presets.
It's a modern solution to old-skool tone ;)
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You lost me at "switching". You mean amps can have more than one channel these days? :) Good 'eavens. Sounds like a great system for the gigging guitarist though.
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Oh christ, he's got a new hobby. Something had to replace the guitars :lol:
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Very nice. Before you know it you will be geting lots of rack preamps, rack tuner, rack power amp and building one big robot.
Will be intrested to here how the Switcher and midi controller works out for you.
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Cool... I think we can all blame the H man! I've been seriously impressed with his new set up and am thinking of going down that route too.
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Oh dear!
I've an ADA MP-1 if you want to borrow one. ;)
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Very nice. Before you know it you will be geting lots of rack preamps, rack tuner, rack power amp and building one big robot.
Will be intrested to here how the Switcher and midi controller works out for you.
too right, this is the beginning of one beautiful relationship with one's rack. You'll shoot up from A cup to double Ds very shortly!
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I've been admiring those for a while. Don't have anywhere near enough gear to justify so many loops but one would almost definitely feature in my "oh look, I just found a blank cheque lying on the street" rig.
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strange people talk about themselves in the 3rd person.
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Dave,
I have a SKB 4U Rack for sale if you are interested?
PM me if you still need one.....
Tom
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I am with Philly on this one-I wouldn't know where to start.
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Cheers Tom - I'll PM you!
Mr38th/PhillyQ - it took me about half an hour to set the whole thing up, including presets, so ANYONE can do it! :lol:
What a superb piece of kit. Complete control over my amp and stomp boxes with the touch of a button - the same old rig but easier to control.
I think I'm gonna like this! :D
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Looks complicated, maybe it's not, but I stick to my board and the vol. and toneknob on the guitars.
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I for one welcome our new robotic MIDI overlords
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Mr38th/PhillyQ - it took me about half an hour to set the whole thing up, including presets, so ANYONE can do it! :lol:
The problem for me would be not only figuring out how to set it up..... but working out what I actually wanted it to do! :lol:
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it took me about half an hour to set the whole thing up, including presets, so ANYONE can do it! :lol:
says the guy who works in IT ;) (if memory serves correct)
forgot about that EQ pedal, how you been using it?
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Nice one. The RJM stuff is great, much better than the Voodoolab GCX.
I find the mastermind a bit limited in its possibilities, but it's got a nice small foot print, which was probably one of the main reasons for you to chose it.
Are you gonna make an interace in the rack or plug in stuff from the board directly into the rack units? What cable will you use to rack it all up?
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Midi - Dave!! What is the world coming to
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The Mastermind does all I need it to do Hunter, trigger the stuff in the box near the amp, and the amp! I'm not sure why you think it's limited in use, unless you mean it only has 5 direct access buttons? That's fine for me, plus the function button triggers an 'alternative' setting, so you have fast access to another seting above those 5 e.g. dry rhythm to wet rhythm with one switch :)
I've got a bunch of mid-quality short patch leads hooking up the four pedals connected directly to the RG-16, and the pedals will be velcro'd to the top of the unit. I'm not spending a fortune on gold plated platinum cored cables made from space dust :lol:
I have the RJM 7-pin MIDI cable between the two units which powers the Mastermind from the RG-16.
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Here you go TF, this is the rack I was onabout....
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Cheers Tom - I'll take it :) PM sent.
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Love a bit of MIDI. In my old band we played along with MIDI sequences, and all my programme changes for my Digitech GSP2101 were sent at the same time. So my sounds would change with no pedal dancing.
The down side was that some people thought I wasn't playing.
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Have you thought about getting a rack drawer and velcro-ing pedals to that? I think that you may need 2u for that solution as I don't think that 1u give enough space...
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The Mastermind does all I need it to do Hunter, trigger the stuff in the box near the amp, and the amp! I'm not sure why you think it's limited in use, unless you mean it only has 5 direct access buttons? That's fine for me, plus the function button triggers an 'alternative' setting, so you have fast access to another seting above those 5 e.g. dry rhythm to wet rhythm with one switch :)
I've got a bunch of mid-quality short patch leads hooking up the four pedals connected directly to the RG-16, and the pedals will be velcro'd to the top of the unit. I'm not spending a fortune on gold plated platinum cored cables made from space dust :lol:
I have the RJM 7-pin MIDI cable between the two units which powers the Mastermind from the RG-16.
Sorry I didn't wanna come across as the righteous guy :)
Indeed I refer to the number of buttons on the unit and the display. I find that when you go from direct access to presets, the latter can become a bit limiting when you have a few fx and channels and boosts. On the GSC-3 I switch both, presets with full settings and the channels extra, because there are 10 buttons. Also has audio loops and a buffer in case there is still stuff on the board. But it's not as high quality as the RJM I suppose.
For cables, I went away from sky dust :lol:
All Mogami 2524 for me now. Cheap and sounds great. I became good in soldering meanwhile, so did em myself on custom length.
Plus I used one of these and locking neutrik jacks as well as XLR5 pin for Midi to get all my rack connections tidy and quick in one place. But that might be overkill.
(http://images6.thomann.de/pics/prod/141374.jpg)
Anyways, enjoy the new controllability, it's great once all is set.
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I only need a few core tones, so I can easily access all I need for my covers band. Very, very tasty :)