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Post by Don on Nov 28, 2006 21:42:08 GMT -7
I'm seriously thinking about moving my pedals off the floor and onto a small rack shelf. Anyone here using the Voodoo Labs GCX Audio Switcher and Ground Control Pro? Looking for comments besides going to Harmony Central. Somehow, I trust your opinions more!
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Post by rcrecelius on Nov 29, 2006 8:19:20 GMT -7
I'm not using one now but I have used them in the past...excellent unit. I used to have a rack setup with the pedals mounted on a rack drawer, tubeworks preamp, mesa power amp and a Rocktron effects unit(Intellifex maybe). It was as clean setup, 1 midi cord to the Ground Control, 1 power cord, 1 speaker cord. I made a midi "through" box that I had mounted on the front side of the rack...that way I didnt have to reach into the back of the rack to plug the midi cable in. I still have some midi cables, that "through" box and a single space rack drawer leftover from those rackmount days...if you get serious about that setup let me know, I'd sell that stuff cheap to get it out of my music room. I think I have some of those isolator tabs too...seems like I always had 1 piece that had to be isolated from ground to prevent noise/hum.
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Post by ke4unr on Dec 4, 2006 9:05:12 GMT -7
Same here. I've used my GCX/Ground Control in a few rack systems. The last one was a small 8U rack with a sliding shelf for the pedals. It does make for a clean setup. I like that the GCX will phantom power the Ground Control, so that eliminates a power cord. I also use a wireless setup, so the only cabling from the rack to the board was the MIDI cable from the rack to the Ground Control. There are advantages/disadvantages to this type of setup versus a pedal board. I've since gone back to a pedal board and like it. It's easy to transport, but I do miss the clean setup and the ability to program more than one pedal on and be able to control it with the press of one button on the MIDI controller. It's a matter of personal choice, of course. But, I can definitely tell you that the DMC (aka Voodoo Lab) equipment is top notch gear, and I wouldn't hesitate to use it if that's the way you decide to go. Btw, I have the Iso tabs that RC mentioned, but I didn't have any Ground Loop issues. Maybe I got lucky. Ray K.
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Post by Don on Dec 4, 2006 10:14:42 GMT -7
Ray -
Well, I'm not planning on using any digital rack mounted gear, so the iso tabs would not be a factor. Just curious, if it was such a clean and convenient setup, why did you go back to a board on the floor? I can see the advantage of having the pedals right there in front of you to tweak though.
What were the disadvantages that you found?
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Post by rcrecelius on Dec 4, 2006 13:13:52 GMT -7
I can see the advantage of having the pedals right there in front of you to tweak though. Depending on where you set your rack, they can be even easier to get to in the rack setup...dont have to bend over, just pull the drawer out and tweak. Just curious, if it was such a clean and convenient setup, why did you go back to a board on the floor? I'll go ahead and address this question as well(not sure if I covered it in our PM's)...for me, after ditching the digital effects, the switcher was just overkill for the # of stompboxes I was running(probably no more than 3 at the time)...plus it's an additional piece of gear to haul(rack AND midi pedalboard VS traditional pedalboard). The beauty of the switcher for me was that I could hit 1 button to turn on my overdrive, turn off the compressor AND change to a different patch in my digital effects unit at the same time. Nowadays I'm running a purty simple rig but if I ever found myself in a situation where I needed a lot more effects, I would certainly entertain the idea of getting another GCX.
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Post by ke4unr on Dec 6, 2006 10:25:20 GMT -7
Don, I missed the bright colored LED's, of course... Okay, this will make sense or it won't. I decided to go back to a less is more setup and keep it simple. Transport/storage was a factor as well. I keep my amps in road cases. Add the rack case, even though it was on nice casters, and it takes up more room in transport, storage and on stage. The pedalboard is easy, IMO, to grab and go and takes up less space to transport. My wireless receiver is on the board as well, so I still have only one cable, from the board to the amp. Well, I do need AC for the board now, so I guess that's two cables. Also, one rack shelf will hold only so many pedals. As I was adding more pedals (see my sig below), that would have meant going to an additional GCX and shelf. Starting to get back into "refrigerator rack" territory. I've already been there. Btw, I mentioned keeping it simple and I've wound up with a decent size pedalboard. And I've got a few more pedals I want to add. But, this is my "Swiss Army Knife" board for studio or other calls where I'm not sure what I might need. I will be buying or building a much smaller, bare bones board soon with only the essentials on it. This is what works for me. It definitely is a personal choice, and I'm not trying to persuade you one way or the other. Ray K.
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Post by Don on Dec 6, 2006 16:33:53 GMT -7
Ray -
You and Ronnie both make valid points on the pros and cons. I guess you're right when you said that it comes down to personal choice and convenience.
I'll try it both ways - GCX rack and pedalboard and see what works best. Thanks to both of you for your experience and input.
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Post by StrangeC on Dec 7, 2006 10:11:18 GMT -7
FWIW I did a similar setup with a Rivera Knucklehead and an Xpression. The Xpression had all the time based effects you could want and you could program patches; ie chorus with delay. The Knucklehead has 6 footswitchable sounds (so no boost pedals were really needed) and a controller that would control both so the result was you could hit one button and go from a chorused clean to a flanged high gain or whatever. PRO- no signal cable runs (have racked wireless and wah too). Xpression did an ok job mimicing analog effects. Easy setup at gigs. Lots of sound options. One button tone changes
CON- the main con was tweaking the Xpression was a pain. not hard, but not as easy a a pedal. stuck withthe xpression sounds.
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Post by steveinnashville on Dec 22, 2006 19:46:45 GMT -7
Check out the WOBO Programmable Analog Patch Bay and Remote foot controller. Search "WOBO Ebay" and you'll find they're webstore. They have two, one is programmable and the other is not. They can have 8, 10 or 12 loops and have a 20 foot cable connecting them (so your pedals can be 20 feet away). I just picked up a ProgLooper, which is similar but one piece (to go on the pedalboards) and am very excited to get it in the setup (2nd piece of WOBO gear for me).
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Post by jakeddy on Dec 22, 2006 20:35:07 GMT -7
Here's one for you to consider, it's a midi controlled pedal board. It has two Axess Electronics GRX4 switchers under the rear pedals and is controlled by a CAE midi controller but any midi controller that sends CC numbers will work. In fact any switcher will work but using CC's to turn the pedal loops on/off is best. (CC=contoller number) This thing isn't bad to carry at all.
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Post by jakeddy on Dec 22, 2006 20:38:41 GMT -7
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